October Mailer

Here's our October Mailer for Once Upon A Sketch. Norm, Edrian and I will be mailing these bad boys out pretty soon! Just in time for Halloween!!!

Free Digital Stamp/Coloring Sheet 14

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

It's October and time for some Halloween images! Enjoy!!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD FULL SIZE!!

CLICK IMAGES BELOW TO DOWNLOAD FREEBIES FROM PAST WEEKS!

October Mailer Process

1. Roughs-Of course, we start with the initial scribble. I do this on any paper, any where, whenever the idea hits and I happen to have paper and pencil ready. It doesn't need to be fully fleshed out but enough that by the time I get home to scan it in, I'll still have some idea what the heck the idea was.


2. Tights-Here I refine the image more. Sometimes there will be a stage between this and that really rough sketch above. But time was of the essence and I had a pretty good idea of the direction I wanted this to take.


3. Light source study-I threw these tones in to give myself a rough idea of the light source. I laid a flat tone of brown in another layer and dropped the opacity down. Then I used the eraser to act as the light source and erased where the light was touching and generating from.

4. I start laying in some base tonal colors for the background. If I had more time I would have layed in base tones on every character as well. But time was short and I had a good idea of what colors the costumes and whatnot were going to be.

5. At this stage I start painting in the characters from the background to the foreground. You can really do this in any order that you like.

6. Moving more and more forward. It's the fairies turn!!


7. You'd think I was done at this stage, but with a break and a return to the image I realize how very, very GREEN everything is looking! Must correct that!

8. I use curves, levels and adjustment layers to pull out the green and boost my colors from being so murky. (Layer/Adjustment Layer/Curves-Levels) Curves to remove the Green and Levels to brighten my lights and remove murkiness. Isn't Photoshop great!!! Now I have a finished image ready to be added to our mailer in time for Halloween!

Let me know if you have any questions!!

New Art from upcoming project

New Art for an upcoming picture book. Amazing how many re-tellings of this classic are out there!! Amazing stuff!

Week 15 Collabo Coloring Sheet-Norm and Wilson

A free downloadable coloring sheet/digital stamp for this week! A new collaboration from the "Once Upon A Sketch" Group. Wilson Williams, Jr and Norman Grock! Wilson provided the pencils and Norm did the inks. Enjoy!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD FULL SIZE!!

Vesta Williams has passed away

The singer's body was found Thursday, Sept. 22, 2011 at approximately 4:30 p.m. in a Los Angeles hotel, where she was staying temporarily while transitioning to a new home.

The first time I heard Vesta I thought it was Chaka Khan. Then I saw her on an interview on BET with Donnie Simpson and I realized she was so much funnier, accessible and more sexy than Miss Kahn. (no surprise that she sang back up for her.) She then went on to host Donnie's show by herself a couple of times. Was rumored to get her own talk show. Flirted with being a stand up comic and even guest starred on 227 as Sandra's cousin/sister or something.(Her Jackee' impression was dead on.) And who can forget the Mcdonald's commercial with her scatting the BigMac song with Al Jarreau. Priceless!!!!

A truly talented, beautiful, confident and amazingly voiced sistah. My heart broke as I read of her passing. She will be missed.

My YouTube Channel!!!!!!!

I've just created my own YouTube Channel!!! I'll be using it to post videos and tutorials that show how I go through my creative process. Do Question/Answer sessions and things of that nature. So stop on by Bookmark and Subscribe so you can be the first to see when I upload new materials! Both of the videos I've done so far are already up and feature there! Stop by and leave comments and suggestions!!

(The image is for the sake of posting some kind of art in the post. Not anything that is over on the YouTube page! But hmm...you never know maybe later! I've been on a mouse kick lately! )

I'm living the last one right now!!!

Free Digital Stamp/Coloring Sheet 13

Thanks so much for all the hits on the image for last week! You guys seemed to really like that one! I was thinking for a while that images of children may not be as popular. Seems as I was wrong. Happily so.



A new video for your enjoyment. You can watch along as I go through the process of inking the image in Illustrator this time. Illustrator is a vector based program. Let me know which process you like more or if you really see THAT much of a difference.

Also, I'll be uploading on Tuesdays for the foreseeable future. I'll let everybody know if that changes soon. Enjoy!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD FULL SIZE!!

CLICK IMAGES BELOW TO DOWNLOAD FREEBIES FROM PAST WEEKS!

New Promo Image for October Mailer

Here's my latest image done to send out as a mailer to clients and potential clients in October with my group of pals over at Once Upon A Sketch!. I'll be posting some process stuff for it soon. (Psssttt...I did record the process, but managed to erase it in while I was editting it. Sigh. Next time I'll work on a copy, like a sane person!) Ha!

Oh and as always click on image for larger version! :)

Free Digital Stamp/Coloring Sheet 12

Something different this week! I finally wrestled down some of the video software on my computer and recorded myself while I inked the sketch for this week. You can watch along as I go through the process of inking the image in Photoshop. Next week I may ink the image in Illustrator to show a different process. (Though I think it will be pretty similar.) Ha! Let me know what you think and enjoy!

Also, I'll be trying different days of the week to upload my images. Largely to see which day works best for my schedule. Enjoy!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD FULL SIZE!!

CLICK IMAGES BELOW TO DOWNLOAD FREEBIES FROM PAST WEEKS!

Free Digital Stamp/Coloring Sheet 11

A free downloadable coloring sheet/digital stamp for this week! I plan on putting up one of my own of these each week as well as the collaborations I do with other artists. Please sign up and watch my blog, I may start putting up updates during the week and may not list them in my normal places. I'll be creating a newsletter soon as well. Let me know what you are looking for! I'm open to suggestions! Enjoy!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD FULL SIZE!!

CLICK IMAGES BELOW TO DOWNLOAD FREEBIES FROM PAST WEEKS!

Free Digital Stamp/Coloring Sheet 10

A free downloadable coloring sheet/digital stamp for this week! I plan on putting up one of my own of these each week as well as the collaborations I do with other artists. Please sign up and watch my blog, I may start putting up updates during the week and may not list them in my normal places. I'll be creating a newsletter soon as well. Let me know what you are looking for! I'm open to suggestions! Enjoy!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD FULL SIZE!!

CLICK IMAGES BELOW TO DOWNLOAD FREEBIES FROM PAST WEEKS!

Week 12 Collabo Coloring Sheet-Norm and Wilson

A free downloadable coloring sheet/digital stamp for this week! A new collaboration from the "Once Upon A Sketch" Group. Wilson Williams, Jr and Norman Grock! Wilson provided the iinks and Norm did the pencils. Enjoy!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD FULL SIZE!!

Free Digital Stamp/Coloring Sheet 9

A free downloadable coloring sheet/digital stamp for this week! I plan on putting up one of my own of these each week as well as the collaborations I do with other artists. Please sign up and watch my blog, I may start putting up updates during the week and may not list them in my normal places. I'll be creating a newsletter soon as well. Let me know what you are looking for! I'm open to suggestions! Enjoy!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD FULL SIZE!!

CLICK IMAGES BELOW TO DOWNLOAD FREEBIES FROM PAST WEEKS!

Lion and the Mouse Process A

I am in the process of Illustrating a picture book for Benchmark Press based on the Aesop Fable-Lion and the Mouse. I wanted to throw up a quick process image from the book. This will quickly show my transition from rough sketch to final image of a lone character. I'll show more process later about backgrounds, layout and type. But till then here's the Mouse!!!

This was the initial rough sketch.

This is where I really went in and tightened the sketch before going to finals. (BIG difference huh!!)

Here is where I lay in the base colors of the mouse and establish his/her color scheme. I do this by having a second layer beneath the tight sketch. The tight sketch is set to multiply. This allows only the black portions of the sketch to show up when the layers are viewed together.

The final step is the finished painting. I paint this on a layer on top of the tight sketch and base color. If need be, I merge the three layers to create the final file. 

Let me know if you have any questions!! :)

New Pic for Upcoming Avengers Movie

I'm excited for the Avengers movie. Giving all the characters their own movies to build them up and then doing a group movie is a great idea. Can't wait to see how it comes out, especially with Joss Whedon of Buffy fame, directing. Fingers crossed!

Thanks to my friend Vik for the image!!

Free Digital Stamp/Coloring Sheet 8

A free downloadable coloring sheet/digital stamp for this week! I plan on putting up one of my own of these each week as well as the collaborations I do with other artists. Please sign up and watch my blog, I may start putting up updates during the week and may not list them in my normal places. I'll be creating a newsletter soon as well. Let me know what you are looking for! I'm open to suggestions! Enjoy!

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD FULL SIZE!!

CLICK IMAGES BELOW TO DOWNLOAD FREEBIES FROM PAST WEEKS!