cathy june: pastel

Showing posts with label pastel. Show all posts

12.24.2011

IF - Messenger

Have a Happy, Joyful, Merry Christmas!
And Happy Hanukkah to my Jewish friends!

digital and pastel on paper

7.5 x 7.5

12.05.2011

IF - Brigade

This is my vision for the Illustration Friday subject this week - a brigade of peace makers, starting with one...

"Peace"
6.5 x 6.5
pastel on paper

This is another illustration that I used the process of scanning the original sketch. I then edited it in Photoshop, changing the pencil lines to black and blue. I also filled in the darkest areas with blue to avoid white paper showing through (below). I printed the photoshopped image on Canson paper and finished it with soft pastels and pastel pencils (above).

Finally, I scanned the completed illustration, printed it and tore the paper right to the edges of the image. Here's the finished product as a Christmas greeting card.

6.04.2011

IF - Shadows

This is my Illustration Friday entry for this week:

Two Strange Beings | 9x12 | pastel

"One evening, while he was lying there alone... he saw two strange beings creep out of the tall bracken near him."

This illustration is the result of a fun SCBWI Westside Illustrators project. I was assigned the above quote from a children's book without knowing the origin.

Would anyone care to guess what childrens book this came from?

3.26.2011

IF - Toy

Here's my Illustration Friday entry for this week.
For a child, it only takes a few toys to spark a world of imagination.

pastel on paper

In the spirit of March being Art & Music in the Schools Month, I'm compiling a list of the people/organizations that work behind the scenes to make it happen. If you have a group in your area that brings art, music, drama lessons to the public schools, please comment on my blog. I'd love to see this list grow!

http://cathyjune.blogspot.com/2011/03/art-in-our-schools-hats-off-to-people.html

1.28.2011

IF - Surrender

A giraffe in a boat,
and a stubborn little girl with plans...
guess who surrenders?

Tea Party

4x6

This is one entry in my sketchbook for
The Sketchbook Project: 2011

To see my complete sketchbook CLICK HERE.

1.27.2011

The Sketchbook Project: 2011 "Inside/Outside"

This is my contribution to The Sketchbook Project: 2011 with Art House Coop. My chosen theme is "Inside/Outside", which is great since I've been exploring dwellings in my illustrations as well as my fine art paintings. That seems to be my thing lately - tree houses, playhouses, windows, doors, interiors, etc, so it was a fun project for me. Of course, I had a gazillion more ideas that never made it to the sketchbook, but at least some of them are on paper.

The sketchbooks will be on tour around the country throughout 2011, ending as part of the permanent collection at the Brooklyn Art Library.
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To find out if The Sketchbook Project: 2011
is touring in your area CLICK HERE

1.17.2011

Book Cover Illustration and Design

I recently worked on a project for a book cover, so I thought I'd share a little of the process with you.

First I met with the author of the book and discussed the core message which I'll do my best to summarize:

Trumping the Red Queen by Ralph Frid, Ph.D., is a heavily researched book that takes a serious look at innovation and creativity in today's times. The Red Queen from Alice in Wonderland is used as a metaphor. She

represents business structures and systems born in the industrial revolution which no longer work efficiently in our fast paced, changing world. In the book the author explains a unique form of learning called Hyperstruction, increasing innovation and creativity without running everyone into the ground.

The client wanted the character of the queen to be the focal point of the cover. She is dictatorial, mythological, rigid, feared and living in the past. She is satisfied with her reality as she explained it to Alice, "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!"
It was also important that the cover expressed an element of hope, innovation, and new beginnings.

At first, all I could think about was, "Fifteen years of the author's life has been devoted to the the research and writing of this book and I only have a few weeks illustrate the cover. I'd better make this illustration count!" Then I got to work reading the Trumping the Red Queen, and researching the characters in the original stories of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass to refresh my memory.

The next step was brainstorming with lots of rough sketches: Different types of crowns, ways to illustrate the old crumbling system... and how do you illustrate creativity or hope, anyway? Should I use symbols of the red queen or an outright portrait?

Then I pulled together elements from the rough sketches and came up with the portraits above. The last one was just for fun... couldn't resist!

I also explored other approaches using symbols for the queen rather than a character. On the left, gears & smoke stacks to represent the industrial revolution, and figures struggling to stay ahead the old way. On the right I went for a more techie feel to represent our times, the instability of change and movement into the future.

The client loved the center portrait of the Queen of Hearts. I used angular features and a downcast gaze to project the queen's character. I used gears and smokestacks as symbols of the industrial revolution. I chose Black, white, red, yellow, the traditional colors of playing card, and mimicked the typical Queen of Hearts pose. Factory smokestacks, industrial gears, fast moving freeways represent our fast paced world today and echo the queen's words to Alice.

Below are some different ideas about placement on the cover to dramatize the deterioration of the old way.

The client chose the middle image because it is bold and straight forward. The only element missing in the design was an element of hope which I added later on the computer.

I created the portrait of the Queen of Hearts using soft pastels and pastel pencils on white PastelMat, which was the perfect surface. It's velvety texture took layers of rich color easily and it was easy to get a smooth thin line as well for the details. I used PanPastels to block in color of the main elements and shadows, applying rich solid color quickly. The variety shapes of the small Sofftool Knives, were very easy to use for filling in colors and blocking in square or triangular shapes. I then added details with pastel pencils.

The above left image was scanned on my home computer which just didn't cut it, even with editing. So, I had the illustration scanned professionally, enhanced the color in Photoshop to match the color of the original, cleaned it up a bit and added the pawns, which were drawn and scanned separately (right). At this point it was ready incorporate into the cover design.

I used Adobe Illustrator to add bold red and yellow color creating a glow and a swirl design to give the impression of movement. I put the layout together in InDesign. Here is the final cover design of the book submitted to the publisher.

Read more about Trumping the Red Queen by Ralph Frid, Ph. D on the. Official Blog

1.23.2010

IF - Clumsy

Illustration Friday word for this week is Clumsy. Yep, that's me.

Two Scoops Deluxe
9 x 12
pastel on paper

5.16.2009

Fine Art Exhibit

I enjoy creating fine art pieces as well as illustrations. They give me an opportunity to express my appreciation for the beauty in everyday places that I enjoy so much. My paintings will be in two exhibits this week.

"City of Trees" exhibit at
Chemers Gallery

Artist reception
May 16th, 2009
5pm - 8pm

"Pastel Plus"
Southern California Artists Association

To see more of my fine art paintings go to www.cathyjunearneson.com

4.18.2009

IF - Impossibility

It's not an impossibility to go back in time when you have good memories. When I was five, my grandfather built a playhouse, dutch door and all, which provided a place for endless hours of make-believe for me, my sisters, and friends.

The Playhouse
8 1/2 x 11
pastel

Idea... wash doll clothes. Bucket, water, bubbly soap.. good.
Bubbly soapy water & dirt... ooh mud!
Shovel, dishes... mud pies. Great!
Need sign. Paper, crayons, tape... sign. Now we're in business.
Hmm. What to do next?

Kitty, kitty, kitty!

1.03.2009

IF - Resolve

Let's resolve to take more time to
smell the flowers in 2009.

"Tickled"
pastel on paper
8 x 10

Some "smell the flowers" moments from 2008 for me are:

Reading a story to a child.

Sighting a pair of Blue Birds in our back yard for the first time in 25 years of living here.

Soaking up the sights & sounds & smells of the California Coastal Redwoods, taking a million pictures as if I could capture some of it's grandeur in my little Canon.

Receiving a long distance "Happy Birthday song" on my voice mail from a grandchild. That was August - I still can't delete it :)

A summer evening walk by the beach with my one and only.

Spending the afternoon at the Discovery Science Center with the grandchildren and watching them explore with wonder and excitement. Spending the evening collapsed on the couch!

Waking up early one December morn to find a fresh cut Christmas tree adorned with lights that my husband had set up during the night to surprise me.

Playing Secret Santa and "Kris Kringling" a friend with a six year old.

Serving (at least) 20 cups of hot cocoa to my 2 year old granddaughter made in her Elmo kitchen. She drank every last make believe drop, then we made some more for Elmo.