IF - Pale

They met under the pale moon kite.

8.5 x 11

pastel on paper

This is a project I'm participating in with Westside Illustrators (SCBWI) in Santa Monica. The challenge was to create an illustration from three words randomly selected.

These are the words I was assigned:
SPACESHIP - SEA LIFE - URBAN

"Can Fish Fly?"
8.5 x 11
pastel on paper

This was my first version using Sea Life, Spaceship, and Urban. But half way thru adding the color, I thought, "Why didn't I make the characters cats instead of children?". So I had to try ... while I was at it I simplified the image and made it more whimsical.

IF - Contained

Max's excitement could not be contained - wind or no wind.

It was just a little homemade kite made from a couple of plastic grocery bags and two wooden skewers. Though it had been breezy that morning, fate would have it, there was not a wisp of wind that afternoon, but Max was in love. He ran around the huge field like a wild stallion set free, towing his kite behind him. Wish I'd had my camera, but this will have to do.

I highly recommend these kite plans from an Austrailian website, MyBestKite.com. I stumbled across them while looking for inspiration for an illustration I'm working o that included kites.

A Kite For Kids - The MBK Tiny Tots Diamond

Kassidy's Kite
decorated with permanent markers

The instructions looked so easy I had to try it. We let the grandkids decorate them with markers and helped them assemble the kites. It didn't take too long and they were amazingly easy to fly. We had no wind to speak of that afternoon, so the kids ran with them in tow & had a blast. Plus they were tuckered out that evening! Later we did have a chance to fly the kites with wind and they're very easy to fly... no skill required. Hope you can try them out!

CLICK HERE FOR KITE INSTRUCTIONS

PS: This is my first attempt at finishing a drawing in Photo Shop rather than pastels like I usually do... I enjoyed the process, but have quite a lot to learn to get the vibrant rich colors I like so much.