Mr Sleepyhead pages 1 & 2

 

Mr Sleepyhead - Page 2

Page 2, with some more added elements - the pictures and the wallpaper.
Not sure yet if I will add other elements?

Page 1 concept picture

The  above teddy bear image with pillow - an idea for the first page. The image was created using 'Retro supply' brushes, Risograph.
The Risograph brushes create some beautiful textures. To see more, check them out here. Totally recommend.

Page 1 & 2 concept ideas

The above are just some experiments to see what the first two pages would look like. I will keep experimenting some more till I arrive at something that looks right.
I may even do away with the teddy bear image completely, and just have the text.

As always, thanks for visiting. 
Hopefully post up some more soon. Take care.

A daughters creativity

Indiana drawing

Todays attitude of gratitude, Pt 4, a daughters creativity.

Just recently my daughter expressed her love to draw. I felt very proud, but more so that she has found a great gift in this life, that of creativity.

I hope she finds the same joy, freedom to express, and to overcome challenges that come with finding your voice as I have, and my wife too, through creativity.

Love you Junebug

Mr Sleepyhead - Rendered page 1

 

Rendered Mr Sleepyhead and with some elements for page 1

Continuing on from the previous post, now a step closer to a rendered bear and some background elements, for page 1.

An observation I have made regarding color, from the classic Golden Books is the use of neutral colorings. Neutral maybe also meaning natural colors - which seem to be 'earthly', muted, and less on the fully saturated scale. Not to say that more saturated colors weren't used in the classics, but that they were used sparingly.

I know that there is a hierarchy in this, to control where emphasis is best placed on images.
So much to learn with color. But loving it, all the same.

Mr Sleephyead - values

Image of value range for rendered image. This helps to check that the image reads well, with enough contrast between values. And hopefully not to muddy in the process either.

Some elements for page 1 - close ups

Just some close up shots of elements that are populating the first page.
I have really enjoyed playing with texture and color to achieve a look which hopefully will work well with Mr Sleepyhead.

As always, thank you for visiting. Take care

Mr Sleepyhead - Character painting

Rendering with inked outlines

The decision visually was to not have any outlines for the character, and of his background. My reasoning behind this is to create a softer look.

This has been a complete shift for me artistically, as much of my art work is outlined in ink.

For this book, I really want the story to feel welcoming, warm and cosy. 

The idea behind the book is about a bear going to a place of comfort and rest, his bed. And of the routines to slow down, close your eyes, and sleep.

 

Hopefully I have captured that cosy-welcoming feeling in these below images.

 

Rendering without inked lines

Rendering close ups

As always, thank you for visiting. I hope to post up soon the completed painting of Mr Sleepyhead, the bear.

Mr Sleepyhead - Make Over

Maurice Sendak bear study

Mr Sleepyhead bear, I felt, wasn't doing it for me (visually). And this was confirmed further when I stumbled across a recent bear drawn by Maurice Sendak. After doing the sketch of the Sendak bear, I realised that my bear head needed to be more square-like.

So, out with the old head, and in with a newer variation.

Mr Sleepyhead version 2

Mr Sleepyhead - rough color flats

As always, thanks for visiting. Take care.

Maurice Sendak Tribute

 

Maurice Sendak Tribute illustration

Only recently did I discover the brilliance of Maurice Sendak.

I was familiar with ‘Where the Wild things Are’ and can remember as a younger child seeing those fantastical monsters, and of Max in his wolf suit. But now that have I delved into his other works, and much to my delight, many books on the man himself – I have come to find a creator that I very much admire. And now often look to, for words of wisdom, wit, and wonder, as a child might.

What is it that I find most magical about Mr. Sendak’s creativity?

Word play

There is a rhythm of words, that as you read, are fun to speak. To hear also. They sound magical. Maurice had this gift. Here’s one example, from ‘In the Night Kitchen’.

‘Where the bakers who bake till the dawn so we can have cake in the morn mixed Mickey in batter, chanting: Milk in the batter! Milk in the batter! Stir it! Scrape it! Make it! Bake it!
And they put that batter up to bake a delicious Mickey-Cake’.

It just has such a great lively tempo. And you also understand what is happening. No easy feat, I am sure.
Ok, another example, from of course ‘Where the Wild things are’.

‘But the wild things cried, “Oh please don’t go – we’ll eat you up – we love you so!”
And Max said, “No!”
The wild things roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth
and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws
but Max stepped into his private boat and waved good-bye’.

Playful illustration

The tempo of text also resonates with his pictures. On the one hand, the pictures are fully grounded, in a world we could grasp. A kitchen, a bedroom, at your aunties house. Yet the characters lived vivaciously through their actions, and imaginings too.  Fully - animated.
Like Mickey, flying high in a plane made of dough for ‘In the Night Kitchen’. Max, and his rumpus of wild things baying at the moon and swinging through trees.
The child in me just loves these illustrations, teased to see what next will happen. So full of wonder. Maybe a little scary too.

And this is why I think the text and images of Maurice Sendak’s picture books work so well. The movement, both in text and illustration, melded together, yet working independently to create this culminative delight, a wonderous story. Worth re-reading, many-many times over.

So, in closing, my humble offering, to a great man, now gone.

Thank you, Maurice Sendak, for your boundless pursuit and deliverance, of stories so wonderfully made. Timeless. Universal. For the children in all of us. To ponder fourth with curiosity and an insatiable delight, for life.

Maurice Sendak, Age 83, 8^th May 2012 

The above illustration I created in Sketchbook (desktop version), then rendered with the additional text in Adobe Photoshop.

I will post up again soon some conceptual sketches in preparation for my tribute to Mr Sendak, soon.

As always, thanks for visiting. Have a great day/night, wherever you are..."and now", cried Max, "Let the wild rumpus start".

Snuggly Monster

 Part 3, Attitude with Gratitude

My daughter made this very cool, snuggly monster. And it also smells great, peach at the top and strawberry at the bottom.

Very grateful for school holiday programs.

Mrs Snuggly monster also climbed a tree with my daughter, our favourite tree. Just around the road from where we are living. Grateful for trees. Aren't they the best.

Take care, thank you for visiting.

Mr Sleepyhead - Color study

 

Mr Sleepyhead - color inspiration

A color inspiration for my children's book, a color palette taken from Golden book ‘Duck and his friends’, illustrations by Richard Scarry.
I eye dropped color samples from image, and did a very basic color lay-up, in Photoshop.  I found this very useful as it eliminates unnecessary details and, in this example, helped me to see relationships between colors.

Mr Sleepyhead - color version 1

With my chosen first page, I did a quick color mock-up, based roughly on the colors from ‘Duck and his friends’.
Done in Photoshop, just flat colors, no shading.
I also did a black and white preview of image, just to check that the different elements are contrasting nicely. Hopefully no muddy colors.

Mr Sleepyhead color variations

From there, I used a great little online tool called ‘brandmark’. This quickly generates many color variations based on your uploaded image.
There were some nice examples generated of which I wouldn’t have even thought of trying.
Find link here. Definitely recommend this great online tool.

I changed the hand (reaching for clock) of Mr Sleepyhead (see previous post for example). My wife commented that it looked a bit too cartooney – which I agree. 

More to come soon. Thanks as always for visiting 

Change in seasons, Lego and a Bug

 

ATTITUDE WITH GRATITUDE, No.2

With a change in seasons, it is still nice to get outside before the coming winter. So, climbing a tree, one of Indi’s favourite things to do at the park, a must do activity before dinner. Saw this strange – magical looking insect too, on one of the tree branches. Brave enough to touch it as well!!!

Never too young, or old, to start Lego, for all of us. So much fun. Very grateful for Lego instructions. 

In the pursuit of recording moments like these, we have put an A3 sheet of paper on our lounge wall, and attached images, labels, anything - that reminds us of what we are grateful for. To remind us, look, what beautiful things there are, all around.

Hope to post up soon some more content for Mr Sleepyhead, my childrens book.

Thanks for visiting. Take care. 

Mr Sleepyhead - Roughing it

 

Some thumbnails, on post-it notes, nice, rough and small enough to get the ideas flowing quickly.

Chose one of the rough thumbs, refined it (at a bigger size). 

Inspiration also came from some classic Golden books, to get ideas of objects that would populate Mr Sleepyheads world.

Not necessarily related to my story, this sketch was just to explore Mr Sleepyhead in a different environment. Also to work out how his body shape works, sitting down :)

 

More to come soon, refining that chosen rough further with some color ideas thrown into the mix.

Mr Sleepyhead

Mr Sleepyhead rough concepts

After completing a 32 page picture book for a competition in 2020, I had decided to do a smaller children's book in page number count. The main reason, that I would have a quicker turnaround time to complete the book. 

 

Therefore this book will be 13 pages of an actual story. This doesn't include things like the title page, dedication page and other pages that will need to be added.

 

I won't go into the story at this stage other than to say, its to do with a sleepy bear who needs to go to bed.

Mr Sleepyhead - Concept 1

There is only one main character, a bear.

I saw him as a classic looking bear. The look of the bear was derived from my extensive collection of pre-loved books, from such great illustrators as JP Miller, Mary Blair and Maurice Sendak. 

Research ideas for Mr Sleepyhead

Concept 1 model

Hope to put up some more for Mr Sleepyhead soon :) Thanks for visiting.

A New Journey

In 2020, during the Pandemic, lots of things were down, the job market for one thing. Finance was tight. I am sure like a lot of people, it was an incredibly hard time. Out of work, countless submission's of CV's and cover letters later, I took some time out, to do a children's book challenge. At first it seemed counter-intuitive. What, do a month long book challenge whilst your out of work? What about the bills? Your family? These things weighed heavily on me. But, I had to do this challenge.

 

So what happened? A seed of change begun. I started to ask myself, what am I trying to say in my art? What do I really value? See, I have been doing fan art for years. And I really do love this stuff. But I was starting to question the longevity of it. How could I possibly entertain creating this type of art and make money from it? It wasn't my original art to sell, and it just didn't feel right to do so.

I was in a calder-sac, a dead end. I was lost.

 

Now on holiday, Christmas of 2020, with my beautiful wife and daughter, in Wellington. Just rocking around a mall, I happened to come across this pop-up second hand bookshop. The books are free. Crazy, right?  Shuffling through a stack of books, I came across one I hadn't seen in years.

Copyright Maurice Sendak

Where the Wild Things Are.

Sure it was tattered, had marks and dog-eared pages. But I didn't care. I loved this book. The story, the colors, the monsters. Max in his sailing boat. Pure bliss.

Here is where it started to make sense to me. Children's books. I have always loved Children's books.

Why had I not put two and two together? Slow learner I guess.

 

Fast forward to 2022, and my collection of Maurice Sendak books has grown. Also, I have now amassed quite a sizeable quantity of pre-loved classic children's books. Classics by the likes of Bill Peet, Dr Seuss, and Golden Books (mainly 1950's to 1970's), as examples. 

 

And, I have finally returned to the drawing board. Wanting to craft my own children's book.

 

In my next post, I will hope to update my tentative beginnings, of this adventure. 

I imagine that going forward, this blog will start to change too. Not sure what that means at the moment, but I do welcome the new journey.

Copyright Maurice Sendak

Apologies for the word count in this post.

Thank you for popping on in. Take care.

Attitude with Gratitude

 

Lately I have been trying to adopt an attitude of gratitude. 

To stop, observe, and take in things, which though may seem small, are actually amazing gifts.

Just this weekend past, I was having some daddy-time with my daughter, hanging out in the botanical gardens. 

Such a beautiful place.

And my daughter, so full of life. Adventurous, sassy, determined. And always up for a giggle. How lucky am I?

I am learning to be more grateful.

Indiana & Bear illustration

 

This was an image that I inked up from an initial inktober drawing I did, over the 30 day drawing challenge. I wanted to see how I could push an image in a direction that might 'inspire' a story, possibly.

I also wanted to explore how different color schemes can evoke different feelings for your characters. These above images are just some examples.

What follows below are three images, rendered slightly differently. 

I ended up choosing the 3rd image. 

To see my inkotober challenge, click here 

As always, thanks for visiting. Take care

Love that Vinyl

 

Something I try to do often, is listen to music, and specifically on my Crosley Coupe Turntable. There is something magical about the experience found whilst listening to vinyl. 

Thanks to my beautiful wife for finding this record player, its been such a treat.

Yogi Bear

 

This was a real chance for me to try out some new brushes in Photoshop and also veer away from my more outlined approach when creating character designs.

This was definitely a labour of love as I was pressed for time. Just doing little bits week by week until it was completed.

Thanks for visiting.

Yogi Bear T-Shirt

 

The one, the only, my beautiful daughter, Miss Indiana Grace Crawford. Along with Dad (Me), showcasing a recent Yogi Bear illustration I did, on a T-Shirt.

Will post close up of image soon.

Thanks for visiting

Journey to become, Cartoonist

Why Cartoons?

Why not, that's what I say. Why not...but, well... I cannot help but be drawn (literally) to art. And to create. Pencil in hand. Scratching out shapes, erasing, refining. I just...love it. The whole process. And cartoons - a love affair. Stretching way back to some of my first fond memories, as a child (see below on Murray Ball).

It started when I was young. At my Grandparents house. My Grandad had these receipt books which had this transfer paper. Which, when you placed it underneath the page you were to write on....it would magically copy the marks you made and transfer them to the next page. For a five year old - mind blowing!!! 

I was never really great at school. Average were most of my school grades. But I always did well in the arts. I loved it. 

Fast forward to my mid twenties where I reconnected not only to my art, but started to wonder, could I do this as a career? It was during this time that I found a correspondence course that offered a Diploma in cartooning. I was sold. It is funny, but even as I write this now, this course was still one of the best decisions I had made in regards to my education. Even now the Diploma certificate is mounted in a picture frame. Which is saying a lot, as other courses I have completed are just stored away, in a box, somewhere.

Fast forward another year or so, Sonya, my wife and I, did a graphic design course. Two years in the making. And at the end of it, I had fairly much done a concept art portfolio. I went out into the big wide world, met with working designers and also applied for design work. Of which all these experiences revealed that graphic design was not the path for me. So I took that Graphic diploma, put it in a box out in the garage. And said good bye to graphic design.

Proud achievement

First fond memory: a letter from Murray Ball (at primary school)

Back in primary school, maybe around 6-7 years of age, a friend and I decided to write a letter to Murray Ball. Murray Ball is an iconic New Zealand cartoonist, best known for drawing a syndicated cartoon strip called Footrot Flats, which is awesome!!!!

Footrol Flats, number 1

I will admit the details are a little hazy but it went something like this. After sending the letter off to Murray Ball, we got a response. From thee Murray Ball... on an official Footrol Flat letter head. To say that both my friend and I were blowing away was an understatement. As for the contents of the letter from Murray Ball, it was an encouragement to keep up our drawings and best wishes for the future. And it had a small drawing of dog on it - awesome.

Unbeknownst to me, this single event would shape my love for cartooning, inspire me to draw like my art heroes (and Murray Ball of course), and actually discover a passion.

As a side note, both at home and between both sets of my grandparents, it was common to have cartoon books lying around. This exposure to these books helped me to discover the joy of art which has lasted me a lifetime. And a love for books, reading and cultivating the imagination too.

So thank you Murray Ball. You are a legend.

So why cartoons?

I always marvel at how someone comes into their happy place (enjoyment), by way of passions/gifts. 

This joy is not something you can manufacture or force (whether by your own efforts, or the efforts of others). And if you are fortunate enough to not only discover what makes you happy, but nurture it throughout your life, you are blessed indeed. 

I often need to remind myself that creativity, the joy of it, is a truly high order of spirituality. It nourishes you. Sustains and keeps you of sane mind. There has been countless times when I have felt down and restless, only to be re-focused and fulfilled after a session of drawing. Reading too.

So why cartoons? Why this particular art form? I can only answer it through a magical lens - that it chose me. I didn't go initially looking for it. And I didn't try to force it. I just found myself, scribbling at first, then doodling. And from there, marveling at these magical beings called cartoon characters - how they occupied a world that was funny, sad and everything else - so human, yet so zany, crazy and loveable.

So in a nutshell, I love, cartoons.

A little collection of cartoony stuff I own

** the x2 footrot flat images are cels from the actual animated movie.

Murray Ball - Legend - R.I.P

 

Murray Ball, pictured at his home in 1993 - BILL KEARNS/STUFF

Kiwi cartoonist Murray Ball farewelled

The life of iconic New Zealand cartoonist Murray Ball was celebrated in Gisborne today.

Ball was the creator of the famous Footrot Flats cartoon strip, which was made into a movie in 1986. Footrot Flats: The Dog's Tale was New Zealand's first feature-length animated film.

He died aged 78, after a long battle with Alzheimer's, at his home at Gisborne on Sunday.
Funeral celebrant Norman Maclean said the family, wider community in New Zealand and abroad were hopeful Ball's death was a long way off.

"But it was not to be. The severe limitations of ill health imposed on Murray for such a long time have now gone. He has been released from all that has hampered him from being the man he was."

But the departure was still a major blow.

"He was a man larger than life itself."

For Ball, the sun rose and set on his wife Pam.

She was a wonderful partner and Mason, Gareth and Tania (their children) and seven grandchildren were privileged to have a husband, father and grandfather of such calibre, said Maclean.

More than an expression of sympathy, the funeral at the Bushmere Arms this afternoon was a celebration of Ball's extraordinary life.

All walks of life from the Gisborne community were represented at the funeral.

"Your fundamental decency and kindness touched us all."

Murray Ball was the antithesis of the party animal.

"He would shy away from crowds and publicity. Interviews he did not enjoy at all but, to avoid disappointing his fans, he did them."

Gisborne Mayor Meng Foon said Murray was a legend who lives on in his work.

"I thank you for your marvellousness, from our community."

He loved travelling and music, rugby and cricket.

His daughter Tania Fowell thanked all the health workers involved in caring for Ball on his difficult journey.

"Without these people helping, dad would not have been able to stay at home."

She thanked her mother Pam.

"Dad's rock, best friend and fierce protector of dad's privacy."

Fowell said her dad had strong beliefs and principles.

"And he was the enforcer. We soon learned to do what he said. He was hardworking and up before anyone. That was his favourite part of the day. He had a strict daily schedule and I always knew where he was at any time.

"Sometimes the boogie man came out in the form of dad dressed in a sheet and he would jump out and frighten us. He would walk around in his undies . . . freely . . . was known to pour a bucket of water over his head in the courtyard . . . often. And he sneezed so loud he would scare the sheep and it echoed around the valley."

He did not show much emotion, but she remembers sadness when the cat Horse died.

"He was really sad - Horse was real, he was our cat. He really used to drag eels across the road from the creek."

Her husband James Fowell said Ball was "like a father" to him and loved the All Blacks.

"Once I remember watching him being interviewed and up came this probing question - 'if you could change something what would that be?' He quickly answered, "that the All Blacks would keep winning all the time."

Fowell said he found solace in the Ball household.

"I loved the structure. There were right and wrong ways to do things and no one stepped out of line."

Eldest son Mason said even though his dad was not comfortable with crowds, he would have appreciated the large crowd at the service.

Family members had travelled long distances, including from Tokyo, Australia, England and from around New Zealand.

He said Ball's dad Pop Kelly was very important to him.

"He was monumental in dad's eye. He financed dad in his early writing and cartooning days - without this support at the start he might have got nowhere."

Mason said his dad was not funny "at all - in fact he was always very serious at home" - he had one standard joke he reeled out now and then, and did not get into chatting.

"His idea of a chat was 'so what are you going to do with your life? Where do you see yourself in the next seven years?' - well that was the end of the chat."

Ball's wife Pam said it had been a devastating, sad week.

She is English and Murray a New Zealander. They met in the middle in South Africa in September 1963 and married in under a year.

"Some people, including our parents, thought it was a bit quick, but we proved them wrong and recently celebrated 53 years of marriage."

She said her children had been amazing support, but it had been a hard journey.

"He has not talked for the past two years. I found that hard. It is time to rest now Murray - you have given us all wonderful lives. We miss you. We are so lucky to have had you in our lives - rest now darling."

Article: 17 Mar, 2017 05:20 PM / NZ Herald - click for original article here

Inktober 2020 - What I learned

 What I learned in Inktober 2020

After 31 days of rushing to the art-board and drawing yet another image, my two characters for a potential comic - I said to myself, why am I doing this? Why? So I started to take some basic notes to answer that very question. I realised, I had to to be conscious enough to see some improvements. What was the measurement for improvement? For me it was not enough to just submit an image only. I had to see an accumulation of my efforts rewarded.

 So, what follows are my observations of what I learned in Inktober, 2020.

1. Define/practice on x2 characters only

I decided from the get-go to illustrate in inktober only x2 characters. By doing this I

1. Eliminated the feeling of being overwhelmed with where to start. Because I knew I had to make the x2 characters work with the daily prompts, half the battle for me was already settled.

2.  Because I was constantly drawing the x2 characters I really started to get a feel for them. And my confidence grew when drawing them. I also found out what I didn't like - where on some days the characters became too cartoony. Overall, by the time Inktober was finished I had amassed a great deal of drawings. These drawings will definitely benefit me when I get around to doing up a small comic of these guys.

2. Using limited inking tools

In past Inktobers that I have done, specifically digital inking - I really tried an array of digital inking brushes. Which was good in some ways. A real chance to try them out. But more than not, because I was trying so many brushes, I wasn't able to pick up on the nuances of a particular brush. Let alone persevere with its limitations also. And as a result of this, I wasn't able to track progress. So, I used only x4 pen's for the whole challenge. They were

1. Zig Mangaka (Kuretake Brush pen)

2. Tom Bow ABT N15 (Brush pen) 

3.  Zig Art & Graphic pen (Kuretake Brush pen)

4. Artline 200 0.4mm (fine tipped pen with dead line weight) 

The go-to pens for me were numbers 1-2. The Zig Mangaka (1), which I only found days before the competition, is awesome. I found that you could keep a steady line, almost bring the pen to a stop, and then push it around and get a lovely smooth transition. It also gave nice fat-to-thin tapering effect. Number (3), Zig Art & Graphic pen was almost running out. But I found out you could get some nice textures as a result. So lesson learned - don't throw pens out until they are well and truly gone.

3. Where to place areas of black

It was rather by accident, but my wife had left a compass out on our drawing desk. And I thought to myself, drawing a circle might help along the composition for this image. Which yes, it certainly did. And so there a now quite a few images which have a circle (filled black) for my images.

So, the circle shape is a very pleasing element. It also helps to guide your audience to a particular section of your image - and create a hierarchy or focus. 

4. Not to be perfect

Perfectionism is such a beast. It can silently come upon you and then devour and destroy all your creativity, within minutes.

For me, doing Inktober is as much about getting better at inking as it is about pushing through to complete an image - no matter how (eek), ugly or imperfect one image maybe. And I certainly created my fair share of eek pictures. But what I came to appreciate was I could see why something wasn't working. And I still had to go through with it, say its done. And then upload it. Pat myself on the back, and do another drawing for the next day. And it was the next day where I found you had to overcome the beast of perfectionism. Because now you had a failure in your mind only a day earlier.

Lesson learned - fight the beast. The more ugly you do, the more resilient you will become and bounce back to hit those good/great and amazing images.

DON'T GIVE UP!!!!

5. Composition and the use of extra elements

This is something I am always struggling with. I think some days I've got it, then, damn it, it gets away on me.

Composition is challenging for me as I often go straight into the pose of the character/s without often thinking also about how other elements will work in a pleasing way, within the piece. And so often what will happen is, I will be stuck trying to add elements (like fire, wind, smoke, etc) with the characters.

These above poor babies (my imperfect offerings) - sad face, are for me, compositions which, with the added extra elements just weren't doing it for me. The one at very far right I laboured over. I used the black mountain (which is hard to read I think) to help frame the x3 creatures. However I feel that this then competes with the dark area at bottom left (which I initially thought might help frame for the bottom x2 characters). I just feel that overall the image doesn't read well - it's a little jarring and confusing. So to make myself feel better, here are some images of which I feel have good composition. And also good use of elements.

That's it. Survived another Inkober challenge. Wahooo!!! Until next year, 2021. Bye for now.

If you, yes you, dear visitor. Have read all the way to here. Thank you. Really - thank you.

Please check out my instagram account here for all new stuff. I upload there more often.

I hope you have learnt something, or enjoyed this read. Have a great day/night.