Children's Illustrator

My storybook series - Heather & Jack Adventures - to be published soon.

2015-07-03T22:59:00.000-07:00

About 7 years ago I decided to bring to life a true story I lived through with Heather & Jack

A Kitten and a Puppy. This two very unlikely pets who rarely get along found solice in each other that unforgiving summer month in Dubai. Which I was so fortunate to behold when I had the rare opportunity to adopt them for a month.

This is the Cover Design I have Illustrated for the proposed picture-book waiting until I am able to allocate a budget to get it published.

The book will be addressing 2 key virtues important for growing children. And will be still very special for the book is going to appeal to any age-group. So it will be a hardcover illustrated series that will be promoted as coffee table reference.

Check back in to learn more about the proposed publishing date.

Once upon a time.... there was a fairy and a pet dachshund

2013-12-26T07:20:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time I lived with my pet a chocolate brown dachshund. She lived happily for many years and today stays in my thoughts in spirit.

Look at her speak to my fairy, a painting I made at the comicon 2012 in Dubai....who also found her demise from my possession when she went missing from my Artist's Alley table when I stepped away for a moment. :o/

The only thing I can imagine right now is that the both of them keep coming back in spirits to remind me of the good times I had with them.

Glad to make this as an illustration post for "Spirit" on Illustration Friday.

See you again soon!

Disney Visual re-use

2013-07-27T22:50:00.002-07:00

Hi there

Just sharing some interesting info I found on http://www.missatlaplaya.com

A picture discussing how Disney has used the same background for "Winnie the Pooh" and "The Jungle Book".

I wonder what you think about re-using one's own creative in different combinations after period of time.

Thanks for stopping by. Do come back to update yourself with similar discussions.

Protesting Child - Sequential Illustration

2013-07-15T07:52:00.001-07:00

Last week the Illustrators participative community site had a theme to post for Protest.

Thanks to work...I missed last weeks commitment to submit along with 100s of Illustrators from around the world. Nothing like having a topic for our personal practice every week. So I had the following illustration which I had made a couple of years ago as a part of an infographic. The kid featured here was a good portrayal for Protest...and I named it the Protesting Child.

This was wholly a Vector Illustration made out on an emergency deadline.

Thank you for participating in my conversation.

Illustration Friday - Travel

2013-07-15T07:11:00.001-07:00

I am back to make a submission for this weeks Illustration Friday.

This weeks theme being travel and myself being on a part-holiday part work trip, reminds me of my unforgettable holiday to Pasadena back in 2005.

This strip illustrates my adventure from the point of landing at the LAX airport to taking an airport shuttle, finding my host's house and finding my way to my ever-welcoming guest room Mk had prepared for my stay.

Read this travel article here.

Pleased for IF giving yet another opportunity to bring another illustration to light.

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Children's Book Week! May 7-13 2012

2012-05-09T05:59:00.000-07:00

A time to celebrate with Children! for a promising tomorrow!!

Guessing the fairy? Quick Sketch

2012-04-11T11:27:00.000-07:00

Quick Illustration of Guessing the fairy!

Made as my "A cartoon a day" twitter campaign - countdown to my First Artists Alley Presence in the Middle East Film and Comic con (mefcc.com) showcasing my "Children's Illustration" at Table No. 42

Thank you for visiting

My day doing 3D Character Design/Mascots

2012-04-01T07:55:00.005-07:00

Thanks for visiting :o). My Design Days report shows that today I worked on these 2 characters.

A South American Insurance Executive: A Mascot and it is a bird!
My 3D character version of the Toucan with a cute smile and a vest.

And the other,

a Bizarre/scarey looking Amazon tree frog: Ugh! he scares the hell out of me too! ;o)I scrapped it anyway!

A Portrait of a Child

2012-02-20T02:01:00.000-08:00

Showcasing the portrait of a child which I made several years ago.

Sleep like a Baby (derivative Illustration)

2012-01-24T09:03:00.000-08:00

Fairy Tale - Selfish Giant turns friendly

2012-01-24T08:36:00.001-08:00

Fairy Tale - The mermaid and the seahorse

2012-01-24T08:34:00.000-08:00

Character Design

2012-01-24T08:20:00.000-08:00

Package Design

2012-01-24T08:11:00.001-08:00

A tiny sample of my book in the making

2011-12-03T05:04:00.000-08:00

Showcasing one of the pages I made for my Children's book.

My top 10 Children's Illustration Inspirations

2011-12-03T04:12:00.000-08:00

Sleeping Beauty

The three pigs

The frog princess

Rip Van Winkle

Cover Design for my proposed Story series

2011-12-03T00:06:00.000-08:00

Kids Story Animation (Montage)

2011-09-09T21:41:00.000-07:00

These are some of my Illustrations I turned into animation and a demo of some typical kind of animation I create for Kids Television. ENJOY!

The day I changed my child-gifting conventions

2011-09-09T00:17:00.000-07:00

I enjoy giving gifts to kids as much as I did receiving them when I was a kid.

The only difference I see in the modern day kids is that the varieties in kids toys and the gift-getting is plenty and too fast for the child to keep track and enjoy each toy to the maximum, so much so that even before they actually explore the potential of it, the toy is broken because it is fragile and sometimes even dangerous for a child to handle. My nephew's habit was to explore a gift like a "train on a railway track"...break it into pieces and it becomes like some extra-filling to his baby bicycle in 10 mins. defeating the purpose of teaching him much more about the train or the railway station while playing :o)
I too felt I never had the opportunity to take part in the joy of the child I gift the toy to.

So a few years ago, I shifted the type of toys I gave my nephew and niece. I started getting educational toys or raw-material to make great gifts and in the process make it a learning experience for the child as well as myself to enjoy and bring out the child in myself when I sit with them on the craft project.

So I started getting the kids in my family, eco-friendly toys which were non-toxic as well as catered to the explorative nature of the child.

I started getting them toys like the following: Paper Toys like the one you see below which my nephew was assembling. I enjoyed the experience so much and got involved in the process that I missed my flight that day. :o) I am really not making this up! I just could not let the joy of this pass.

This is a model of a ship made of paper mache....my 12 year old nephew enjoyed building up. And I loved taking part in it because I too along with him brushed up the different parts that go into making of the ship.

Do gift your little friends and kids with picture books, printables, educational toys which not only adds to their development intellectually but are also completely non-toxic and eco-friendly.
I will be back with more snippets on my wonderful world of papertoys...
Stay tuned!

Storybook Cover Illustration - Concept to Completion

2011-09-08T02:21:00.000-07:00

You may want to take a look at the making of one of my Children's Book Cover Illustrations.

where I had to take the job

... From this..

To this...

The following were the different stages of the creation.

These are the close-up of my final characters...

I must say that they turned out to be so friendly, colorful and good humored ;o)

This job was executed using software such as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator, using the Wacom mouse as my only drawing aid. Wierd to think that I never use my lightpen to sketch at all. I have only used it to teach how to use the tool to my students but never use it myself for any work... In fact I am faster using my mouse. This habit of mine must be because I started drawing on the computer much before lightpens were invented and shipped to India in the early 90s. So I guess I am still old school that way.

I hope all of you enjoyed making a note of the details that went into this illustration as much as I did creating it.

Thanks to this job, I was inspired to make this water color painting. I remember that day, there was a power-cut at home when it was just dusk and dark but yet I never allowed my spirits to die. Perhaps it was these characters which made my day. I just lit the candle and painted away. So, here I am sitting enjoying a day at the beach with my imaginary friends. Oh how i wish they were real !

I will be pleased to answer any of your queries regarding this project or the like.

You have a pleasant day!

I invite you to read my detailed instructions regarding the above job on my article here:

Kids Animation Tools Update

2011-09-07T07:58:00.000-07:00

Toon Boom Studio is a 2D animation software which assists learning and creating animation better. Ideal for artists, students and hobbyists looking for an easy-to-use animation program, targeting for teachers and educational institutions. They claim to makes all animation techniques accessible to users, offering a most creative and rewarding experience. * It allows to create content in multiple ways: draw digitally, scan-in paper drawings, capture live images or import existing artwork * Apply colours * Allows to set camera moves * Animates using bones, pegs and animated elements * Allows for audio tracks and lip-syncing * Ability to publish animation projects for print, TV, HDTV, the Web, Facebook, YouTube and iPod/iPod touch/iPhone/iPad

Looks like a great tool to get back to from time to time. I am going to dig into my software archives and buy its update to check out the latest!

Some art I really enjoyed creating

2011-09-06T20:52:00.001-07:00

1. 50 ecards in 50 days !!

An assortment of basic Ecards created a few years ago for a kids television channel !

This is in tribute to my dear friend - the programs executive who is under the weather for a while. I wish her a speedy recovery.

Although this site needs some serious resurrection....

... my ecards still seem to be in place :o). Software used Flash and Adobe Illustrator
Please click on a thumbnail to view my cards

2. Does this kid need a hair-do from a bunny? Cool !!

3. Pieces broadcast or published on popular television in Dubai.

4. A vector version of my greeting card, originally created on paper as seen at the header of this page.

From my Picture Story Book editions

2011-09-04T11:58:00.000-07:00

It is a pleasure to make my first post with this reference drawn from a two-inch seahorse ornament I have. It has always inspired these beautiful fairy-tale images in me. How better to compliment a proud and pretty seahorse than with a beautiful Mermaid taking a ride on him.

This is a quick-sketch I made of them in their underwater world with some colored pencils I could get hold of before my mood to sketch passed by.

Today, I have a seahorse that has traveled from my shelves into a fantasy world. I know he will surely be enjoying the ride. I just might one day think of having a picture storybook with the Mermaid and my Seahorse.