Fair, Brown and Trembling Sketches

My next project will be for the Celtic tale, "Fair, Brown, and Trembling." I referenced a Dover book of historic costumes for their dresses. The story is similar to Cinderella. There are three sisters, named Fair, Brown, and Trembling. Trembling is prettier than the others, so her sisters force her to stay home and clean while they attend church. But with a little help from the henwife, Trembling ditches her rags and dons fine dresses. She sits mysteriously outside the church on a white horse, catching the eyes of the town, including a few princes...

Fair and Brown are cruel to their sister.

 

 Poor Trembling, scrubbing away while her sisters have fun.

After her transformation, Trembling approaches the church and waits outside.  When the people come out, she quickly rides away, leaving everyone mystified.

 More sketches to come!

Illustration Friday - Round

To prove she was brave, the little elephant made a tower of circus balls and climbed to the very top.

The Field of Boliauns - More Illustrations

Tom demands treasure. Poor little leprechaun... But of course he knows where a treasure is hidden!

The leprechaun leads him to a field full of boliauns. It's right under this boliaun plant, the leprechaun insists. But Tom doesn't have a spade, so he ties his garter (a little belt that holds up your socks) around the plant before he runs back home to get it.  When he returns, he finds the leprechaun gone, and there's a garter tied around every boliaun in the field!

This is a knot to go at the end of the story.

Conferences and Portfolio Reviews

I'll be attending two events in the coming months. The purpose is to network and get some feedback on my portfolio, but the events will also serve as great deadlines to get my work done.  I am really looking forward to both.

SCBWI CA North/Central Pump-It-Up Portfolio Critique Fest
January 28, 2012

To prepare for this critique, I plan to...
~Complete at least 5 full watercolor illustrations
~Complete additional illustrative elements for each story I illustrate
~Create a high quality scan/print of each piece (still working this one out...)
~Put prints together in a binder-style portfolio with removable pages
~Have some business cards printed
~Have a website URL set up with something on it.


SCBWI San Francisco South: Golden Gate Conference at Asilomar-2012/
March 2-4, 2012
I signed up for a 15-minute portfolio critique at this three-day conference. I'll get the chance to do some workshops and get advice from successful illustrators. I'm really looking forward to it!

To prepare for this conference, I plan to...
~Revise illustrations based on January's critique
~Complete as many additional portfolio-quality illustrations as I can!
~Updated professional website


In other news, I completed several more illustrations for "A Field of Boliauns," which I plan to post tonight. 

Illustration Friday - Stripes

Explorer Manny found a new species of bug...

The Field of Boliauns Illustration

Here is the final illustration! See this post to see the process that went into this painting.

My First Illustration ~ Process



I started with this story from an old book of Celtic Fairy tales. The tale begins with a man who comes across a drunken leprechaun. I chose this plot point to do my first illustration.

 

I did quite a few sketches to work out the composition. These are some of my favorites. In the end, I got the leprechaun's look down, but wasn't so happy with the man - he looks too young and not quite malicious enough...



Here's the final drawing, done (very carefully) on watercolor paper. It took a while, but I got the man to look exactly how I wanted... yes! I wish I had gotten a better photo, but oh well, live and learn!

Here are two photos of the painting progression. I'll post a photo of the finished piece when I complete it this weekend.

And there you have it. I am really excited to have my first illustration under way. May many more follow afterwards!