Maria Bogade

The Final Illustrations and a Giveaway! - Making of "SCHLAFPLATZ GESUCHT!"

2012-01-28T17:43:00.001+01:00

Für die deutsche Fassung bitte nach unten scrollen!

So with all the roughs done, the final illustrations were the next step to take. As "Schlafplatz gesucht!" is a digitally illustrated book I scanned in the roughs, opened them in Photoshop and started painting away. Well, not exactly. I actually made a little pallete of all the colors I wanted to use. This way I made sure I would be using the same colors in all illustrations and it would be consistent throughout the book. I also have a custom made brush I use most of the time, which looks a bit painterly. And I scanned in lots of textures and watercolor backgrounds to make the illustrations look less digital.

I usually end up having lots and lots of layers, as you can kind of see in the little video below.

All those layers give me the freedom to alter an illustration any time without having too much trouble.
Again as with the roughs I did not do the illustrations in chronological order, as they appear in the book, but did them randomly. One of the first illustrations I finished was the cover. Most of the time I have to do the cover before all other illustrations because the publisher needs it for their marketing and catalogue. This wasn't the case with this book, but I ended up doing it nonetheless as one of the first.
It is hard to describe how I work when drawing digitally. Usually I do the shapes in their plain color first and then start rendering the different parts. I also really like working from the background of an illustration to the foreground. It's nice to watch how the image builds up while working.

But enough said, I am sure you are keen on entering my giveaway. You can win a signed copy of "Schlafplatz gesucht!". All you have to do to have a chance to win is the following:
1. You either have to be a fan of my Facebook page or follow my blog
2. You should leave a comment either here on the blog or on my Facebook page, letting me know you want to be counted in.
The winner will be chosen randomly on the 7th February 2012! Good luck!

Wenn die Entwürfe alle fertig sind und soweit abgenommen, ist der nächste Schritt die finalen Bilder anzufertigen. Da "Schlafplatz gesucht!" ein digital illustriertes Buch ist, habe ich die Entwürfe eingescannt und sie anschließend in Photoshop geöffnet, um mit dem Malen zu beginnen. Zuerst lege ich mir eine Farbpalette mit den Farben, die ich benutzen möchte an. Dadurch gehe ich sicher, dass alle Bilder die gleichen Farben haben und das Buch in sich stimmig wird. Ich habe mir außerdem einen eigenen Pinsel in Photoshop kreiert, der einen sehr malerischen Charakter hat und mir daher sehr gut gefällt. Damit die Bilder nicht zu digital aussehen, habe ich zudem jede Menge Texturen und auch einige extra dafür gemalte Aquarellhintergründe eingescannt. Bei meinen digitalen Illustrationen habe ich meist unendlich viele Layer/Bildebenen, wie man oben in dem kleinen Video, wie ich hoffe, einigermaßen gut sehen kann.
All diese Bildebenen geben mir aber die Möglichkeit ein Bild jeder Zeit ganz einfach abzuändern. Wie schon bei den Entwürfen, bin ich auch bei den finalen Bilden nicht der Reihe nach, wie sie im Buch zu sehen sind, vorgegangen, sondern habe sie ganz durcheinander angefertigt. Eine der ersten finalen Illustrationen war das Titelbild. Oft muss ich dieses ohnehin vor allen anderen Bildern malen, weil der Verlag es für das Marketing und den Katalog benötigt. Obwohl dies diesmal nicht der Fall war, habe ich es trotzdem einfach schon am Anfang gemalt.
Es ist gar nicht so einfach zu beschreiben, wie ich arbeite, wenn ich digital illustriere. In der Regel male ich zuerst einmal alle Bildelemente als Farbformen, in ihrer jeweiligen Grundfarbe. Dann wird die Figur oder der Gegenstand noch ausgearbeitet und schattiert. Außerdem arbeite ich mich gerne vom Hintergrund zum Vordergrund eines Bildes vor. Es ist schön, wie man während der Arbeit langsam das Bild entstehen sieht.

Aber genug! Ich bin mir sicher, dass Du unbedingt an meiner kleinen Buchverlosung teilnehmen möchtest. Du kannst eine signierte Ausgabe von "Schlafplatz gesucht!" gewinnen. Alles was Du tun musst, um an der Verlosung teilzunehmen ist folgendes:
1. Folge entweder diesem Blog oder werde ein Fan auf meiner Facebook Seite
2. Hinterlasse hier auf dem Blog oder auf der Facebook Seite einen Kommentar, damit ich weiß, dass Du gerne an der Verlosung teilnehmen möchtest.
Der Gewinner wird am 7. Februar 2012 per Zufallslos gezogen! Viel Glück!

Making of "SCHLAFPLATZ GESUCHT!" - The Roughs and a Colouring Page

2012-01-24T18:23:00.001+01:00

Für die deutsche Version bitte nach unten scrollen!

Right after the storyboards the roughs are created. I have to admit that all the character design of Bruno, the bear, and Paul, the boy, had been done prior to everything else, but will not be dealt with in a separate post. I had a rather clear vision of what I wanted them to look like and just scribbled a while until they looked just like I wanted them to. Unfortunately I did not keep those first attempts of finding the characters, so there is nothing I can show you in that respect.

Back to the roughs. Basically they are pencil line drawings in the final size of the later illustrations. I really prefer, even if a book is illustrated digitally like "Schlafplatz gesucht!", to do all preliminary sketches and drawings with pencil on paper.
With the storyboard beside me, I started doing one rough after the other, but not in the same order, as they would be in the book. I rather did them randomly, drawing the images I had the kind of 'clearest vision' of first and move on from there. Due to the fact the art director of Bohem press and I had already nailed down many bits and pieces in the storyboard, there was only one round of roughs and all the changes that had to be made, were straight done in the final illustrations. The thing I had to watch out for the most, was keeping the characters, especially Bruno, the bear consistent in his body shape and size of his limbs.

Now that you have seen some of my roughs I have a colouring page for you to start your own Bruno and Paul illustration. Until next time with a bit about the final illustrations :-).

The coloring page can be downloaded from my publishers site Just click on the image and you will be directed to the link!
Oh, by the way, with the next post about the final illustrations I will also be holding a giveaway, so stay tuned!!!

Direkt nach dem Storyboard werden die Entwürfe in der Originalgröße des späteren Buches gemalt. Ich muss zugeben, dass die Entwürfe für die Figuren Paul, den Jungen, und Bruno, den Bären, schon vor allem anderen angefertigt wurden, es aber dazu keinen eigenen Beitrag geben wird. Ich hatte eine ziemlich genaue Vorstellung davon, wie die beiden aussehen sollten und habe einfach so lange herum skizziert, bis sie genau so aussahen. Leider habe ich keine dieser Skizzen aufgehoben, weswegen ich auch nichts zum zeigen habe.
Doch zurück zu den Entwürfen. Diese sind genau genommen Bleistiftzeichnungen der späteren Illustrationen. Auch wenn ein Buch digital illustriert werden soll, so wie "Schlafplatz gesucht!", bevorzuge ich es Skizzen immer traditionell mit Bleistift auf Papier anzufertigen.
Mit dem Storyboard neben mir fing ich also an, ein kleines Bildchen nach dem anderen in einen großen Entwurf umzusetzen. Dabei gehe ich aber nicht chronologisch vor, sondern male die Bilder wild durcheinander. Das Bild, bei dem ich das Gefühl habe, die genaueste Vorstellung davon zu haben, wie es aussehen soll, ist auch immer das, was ich gerade male. Aufgrund der Tatsache, dass die Lektorin von Bohem press und ich schon viele Dinge im Storyboard ausgemerzt und verbessert hatten, gab es auch nur eine Runde an Entwürfen. Alle Änderungswünsche und Vorschläge, die hier noch zu Tage traten, wurden direkt in den finalen Illustrationen verbessert. Das worauf ich am meisten achten musste, beim anlegen der Illustrationen, war die Arm- und Beinlänge Brunos, damit es auch immer der gleiche Bruno blieb.
Nun da ihr ein paar meiner Entwürfe gesehen habt, habe ich auch noch eine Malvorlage zum selber malen für euch. Viel Spass damit!
Und aufgepasst! Beim nächsten Blogeintrag, der sich den finalen Illustrationen widmen wird, werde ich auch ein Buch verlosen!

Making of "SCHLAFPLATZ GESUCHT!" - The Storyboard

2012-01-21T23:17:00.001+01:00

Für die deutsche Fassung bitte nach unten scrollen!

As promised in my last post, I want to give you a little behind the scenes, of how my latest book "Schlafplatz gesucht!" was created. I pondered a little on how to do it and thought it nice to split it into different posts, as not to make them too long and also dealing with one step at a time.

So when it comes to illustrating a children's book, be it my own story or a commissioned story by a client, the first thing is the storyboard.
I really like doing storyboards as they let you scribble away ideas and give an overview of how the book will come together. Things don't need to be too well worked out, but you can spot first issues in repetition of page design and maybe not strong enough story telling spot on. It also is a huge time safer, as making a full size rough, with all the details you wish to add to a spread, takes a lot longer than scribbling down a maximum 5cm x 10cm sketch. These were at least the measurements I was working in for "Schlafplatz gesucht!".
When I had the first version of the storyboard I felt comfortable with, I sent it to the art director and editor at Bohem press and she gave me feedback on how to improve some of the spreads. I will not post the whole storyboard here, but only a bit of it, as not to give too much of the book away ;-).

First version of the storyboard

The biggest change from the first to the second version was treating every "double page" as s spread and designing the illustration accordingly. Also some illustrations were kind of zoomed in to concentrate more on the two main characters Paul, the boy, and Bruno, his bear. The revision was done quickly due to the small size and sent back to her for feedback.

Second version of the storyboard

There was only one page that still needed a little tending to. After we both felt the storyboard was good and the illustrations needed to be bigger to take it further, it was time to make the full size roughs, which I will tell you more about next time :-)!

Wie versprochen möchte ich euch einen kleinen Einblick hinter die Kulissen geben und darüber erzählen, wie mein neuestes Buch "Schlafplatz gesucht!", entstanden ist. Ich habe mir überlegt, dass es schön wäre die einzelnen Arbeitsschritte in eigene Blogbeiträge zu unterteilen. Somit sei der erste in meiner kleinen Making Of Serie dem Storyboard gewidmet.
Der erste Schritt, wenn ich ein neues Buch illustriere, sei es eine eigene Geschichte oder aber die eines anderen Autors, ist das Storyboard.
Storyboards sind eine feine Sache, da sie einem ermöglichen einfach einmal drauf los zu skizzieren und einem einen Überblick über das Buch verschaffen. So sieht man schon in einem sehr frühen Studium des Enstehungprozesses, wie die Seiten einmal zusammen passen werden. Das Gute daran ist, dass es bei einem Storyboard noch nicht darauf ankommt alles ganz genau zu malen. Aber man sieht sehr schnell, an welcher Stelle sich Bilder zu ähnlich sind und das Buch verbessert werden muss. Zudem spart so ein Storyboard jede Menge Zeit. Die Bildchen sind sehr klein, für "Schlafplatz gesucht!" habe ich beispielsweise in einem Massstab von 10cm x 5cm gearbeitet.
Als die erste Version des Storyboardes, mit der ich soweit zufrieden war, fertig war, schickte ich diese an die Lektorin des Bohem press Verlages und sie gab mir dazu Rückmeldung, wie man die einzelnen Seiten noch verbessern könnte. Die größte Veränderung von der ersten zur zweiten Version, war, dass alle Doppelseiten des Buches auch als doppelseitige Illustrationen angelegt werden sollten. Bei einigen wurde der Bildausschnitt etwas verändert und quasi in das Bild hineingezoomt, um die Figuren Paul und Bruno mehr in den Vordergrund zu bringen. Aufgrund der kleinen Bilder des Storyboards konnten all diese Änderungen ganz schnell erledigt werden. Erneut ging das Storyboard für Feedback an die Lektorin und nur eine Seite brauchte noch etwas Arbeit. Anschließend ging es dann direkt an die großen Entwürfe, doch dazu mehr beim nächsten mal.

SCHLAFPLATZ GESUCHT! - Book Release

2012-01-09T15:47:00.000+01:00

First of all I hope all of you had a wonderful start to the new year. I surely did. On the 2nd January my book "Schlafplatz gesucht!" was finally officially released and is now on sale! Yippie! Some of you might have already seen some bits of it over on my portfolio. Below you can see some images with the text. I did not only illustrate this book, I also wrote it and designed it. It has been a fantastic project and I learned a lot during the process of making it. I will do an in depth making of post soon, but first I have to tend to some upcoming deadlines. So stay tuned for more soon!

Seasons Greetings with the Penguin Greeting Card

2011-12-22T13:31:00.000+01:00

2011 is almost over. My gosh, that one went by so quick, I am still working on last bits and then I am off on my Christmas Holiday.
I am very happy with all the opportunities and projects I was able to work on. Last year about the same time I was still hoping and dreaming of being an illustrator, now, a year later, I can claim to be a published illustrator and soon author. What more can you ask for!?! I hope that 2012 will hold as just as many wonderful projects for me and I want to say thank you to all my wonderful clients, it's been lovely working with you!
I wish everyone a wonderful Christmas and a fabulous New Year! And hold on to your dreams! 2012 might just be the year to make them come true :-)!

See you all next year!!!!!!!

Bear - Greeting Card

2011-12-17T11:13:00.002+01:00

Unbelievable but it's only a week until Christmas. I am still in the midst of a picture book commission and preparations for our own family Christmas activities.
The card below is also the illustration I am using this year to send out to clients and potential clients. It is a watercolor illustration with a bit of digital touch up. For instance the sky and foreground were put together using Photoshop, although both were created traditionally. I also used a bit of collage in this one with the presents.

Well, I hope there is a cuddly bear close to you making sure all your presents arrive in time! This one is in a real hurry but having lots of fun in the snowy mountains.

Stork and Robins - Greeting Cards and more

2011-12-10T10:02:00.001+01:00

I've just returned from London where I attended the Bright Christmas Party and met all of the lovely Bright team aswell as some of the wonderful illustrators they represent such as Daniela Dogliani and Benji Davies and many many more (shame one of them doesn't have a blog, I would have liked to share a link! You know who you are ;-)). It was really nice to actually get to meet the people behind the art.
I also met Sandra Dieckmann for a cup of coffee and hot chocolate which was extremely nice, as I've kind of known her via twitter and blogger for I think almost a year now. She is such a lovely person and in case you don't know her, I highly recommend visiting her blog as she truly is an illustrator extraordinaire!

I promised you I'd be posting some more of my greeting cards artwork, so here you go. And as mentioned before they all differ a little in style. The ones below are mixed media with traditional ink and digital colouring. I really like the kind of clean and delicate look it gives the illustrations. And in case you wonder what a stork has to do with Christmas, not much really, I am afraid. But I thought it kind of funny to let a stork bring the birds presents for Christmas because they surely would have no clue what to do with a human baby ;-). Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Mouse and Squirrel - Christmas Greeting Cards

2011-12-03T17:38:00.001+01:00

I thought it'd be nice to post some Christmas themed greeting card illustrations I recently did for my agency. For the following seasonal weekends, I'll be posting those cards for you and hope they add to your festive mood. They surely do so for me, but I love Christmas anyway.
When joining the Bright Agency I told them, that I also wanted to do some licensed art, and as they have a whole "unit" just dealing with this, I got a brief and then was very free to take my chance. After some thinking about which characters to go for, I ended up with the idea of a mouse and a squirrel. I wanted them to be cute and set in a white wintery scenery with some birds and snow to add more movement.
The illustrations are digital but I have some traditional and mixed media ones up my sleeve. So stay tuned and I hope you enjoy!

A new Promocard

2011-11-27T18:29:00.001+01:00

It is about time I send out some promo mailers. Due to my workload and family life I haven't done one since my first mailer, which was successful and landed me a few commissions. But since sending the first cards a lot has happened also to my art. Nearly a year ago, when I started going after my illustration dream, I only had one style to offer my potential clients - my digital artwork. Now I also offer watercolour and ink with mixed media. Both styles already have been used in books published or to be released next year...so shhhh ;-).
I also have an agency representing me now and helping me to get commissions. I am so happy to be with the Bright Agency, which are just as enthusiastic about their artists as I am about my job. My Agency advised me to broaden my portfolio in order to get more commissions, which is the reason for my new black & white illustration below. I will have to do a few more pieces to be marketable in that area, but I enjoy it very much and think it is a nice addition to my other styles. The mock-up cover illustration also is part of portfolio work and will go into my next promo mailer (but with different text), along with some other pieces I will show you soon. So these two illustrations will be featured on one card for my next promo mailer, with the full colour illustration for the front and the b&w for the back of the card along with my contact details. I will reveal a little more about what will go into my next promo mailer as soon as the cards arrive from the printers :-)!

Etsy Shop Opening - Illustration for Print Poll & Giveaway

2011-11-17T17:11:00.001+01:00

I wanted to do this for quite a while now, but never found the time to open my own Etsy shop. Today, however, I just did it! For now there are four original watercolor illustrations listed and two sets of cards. One being a collection of four cards of my illustrations and the a other a set of 5 Christmas greeting cards with a German text inside.
I hope to create more art and items soon to fill my shop with lots of goodies. In order to make items you would want to buy, I decided to do a kind of poll and ask you which of my illustration you would love to buy as a print. So please have a look around and leave a comment below to help me sort this. The illustration named the most will be made into a high quality art print and I will give away one signed print to one person chosen randomly, who commented either here or on facebook. So what would be your choice?

Winner Announcement of the "Wee Granny's Magic Bag" - Giveaway

2011-11-01T20:26:00.001+01:00

Time again to announce another winner of another giveaway. The winner of the "Wee Granny's Magic Bag" giveaway is .... Michaela Heimlich!
I will get in touch with you right away Michaela, so I can ship your little parcel as soon as possible. Thanks to everyone else who participated! Unfortunately the next giveaway will probably have to wait til my next book is released in January 2012. Currently I am doing roughs for a new book and working away on some Christmas Cards. I will tell you more about it, as soon as I can reveal bits and pieces of it.

A little bit about "Schlafplatz gesucht!" over on SSP

2011-10-23T11:11:00.001+02:00

The lovely people from Sunshine Smile Publications made a wonderful announcement for my soon to be released book "Schlafplatz gesucht!" (published by Bohem Press). Stop by their site to read and enjoy it!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway of a signed copy of "Wee Granny's Magic Bag" ending 1st November 2011!!

"Wee Granny's Magic Bag" - Giveaway

2011-10-18T19:30:00.001+02:00

In all the fuzz about the Frankfurt Book Fair I nearly forgot announcing a new giveaway. This time it is a signed copy of "Wee Granny's Magic Bag" along with some postcards you are able to win, if you are lucky ;-)!
To win this giveaway you can either leave a comment on this blog post or like my facebook page! Doing both will of course double your chances! The winner will be randomly chosen and announced on the 1st of November 2011.

"Wee Granny's Magic Bag" is a lovely story written by Elizabeth McKay. It tells a story about Emily and Harry and their Granny. Granny's bag is magic and contains the most astonishing things like a red old-fashioned telephone box.
I illustrated this book traditionally in watercolour and ink. I already posted about how I got commissioned with this book earlier here on the blog. In the process of making the illustrations I completely forgot to take process pictures, so sorry for having not much to share on this end. I did manage to get this done for a book I recently finished, so there will be more insightful posts on how I create my art soon.

Another wonderful thing arrived the other day... my copy of the "They Draw & Cook" book. My "Monsters favourite Pumkin Soup" illustration is in it among great art from wonderful artists such as Silvia Sponza, Jannie Ho and many many others. It's a fantastic book and I will try to cook all the recipes in there. One of my favourite recipes from the book is Jennifer A. Bells Vegetarian Meatballs but honestly all of them are amazing and it is an honour to be part of this great book! (note: This book will not be included in the giveaway!)

Jennifer A. Bells illustrated recipe

My own illustration among 107 other artits

So good luck with the giveaway of "Wee Granny's Magic Bag" everyone!

Back from the Frankfurt Book Fair 2011

2011-10-16T21:44:00.003+02:00

The Frankfurt Book Fair was busy as every year but this time around, it was my second time attending the fair, I felt not as overwhelmed and swamped by all the impressions. It was exhausting though nonetheless and in the midst of all the busy running around and meeting people I nearly forgot to take pictures, so I don't have as many as I wished I had to share with you.

Apart from meeting the editors I worked with during this year, I also met some new ones and even took the chance of showing my portfolio in open hours some of the publishers held. It was all worth it as I landed a new book deal for next year and some other projects are in the making but it's just too early to talk about that now. I can only recommend taking the time and waiting in the cue to talk to the editors. Even if they feel your art might not fit the profile of their publishing house, they give you great feedback and somtimes hints who might just be your client. It is also a good way to make a nice and professional impression. Some of them even recognized my logo, so they got a face to the work they had already seen somewhere.

This year I even found the time to stop by the illustrators café and I saw my illustration up on the wall in the illustrators exhibition held this year for the very first time.

But the most amazing thing to happen at this Frankfurt Book Fair was getting my advance copy of the book I wrote, illustrated and even designed "Schlafplatz gesucht!". The print turned out so lovely and I am very pleased with the result. I don't know how many times I had to walk past the stand of my publisher and peek at "my book". It will be released in January 2012 by Bohem Press but the copies arrived just in time for the fair so my publisher had the chance to already present it there. Wooohoo, so exciting!

Getting Dressed Winner Announcement

2011-10-05T15:38:00.000+02:00

Thanks to everyone who participated in my giveaway here on my blog and over on facebook! The winner has been chosen randomly and it is......... Sandra Dieckmann! I will be in touch with you Sandra about your mail address.

There will be another giveaway here very very soon, so don`t be too dissappointed!

Book Giveaway Getting Dressed

2011-09-24T11:46:00.003+02:00

In order to celebrate the release of Getting Dressed I thought a giveaway would be nice. I've already told you about the little educational book I illustrated for Harper Collins and in order not to repeat myself thought I share some sort of work in progress with you.

Apart from the initial sketches done with pencil this is an all digitally illustrated book. As I have no real progress pictures of how I paint it to share with you, I thought it might be nice to show some sketches and let you see the way some illustrations of the book changed in the course of creating it.
For instance the illustration when the girl is dressed and jumps outside in the rain had do be revised. The editors wanted to show her more from the front and to have a connection to the house she just came out of. So I redid the sketch and voilá! I think it is much better and connects far better to the previous illustrations in the book.

Another illustration I had to revise was the cover. Although the editors loved the energy in the first rough they felt it needed more background and she wasn't supposed to wear things the wrong way. I did another one, but in the meantime had started illustrating the first pages of the book, as the deadline was pretty tight. The editors loved the illustration of her room so much they wanted to have it for the cover aswell. Also the girl shouldn't have put on too many clothes. So the final cover ended up being her room with the girl dancing in her tights and vest.

Back to the giveaway. In order to win a copy you can either leave a comment here and follow my blog or like my facebook page. If you do both you double your chances of winning ;-). If you would like to by your own copy, you can get it right here! Please do not forget to leave an email adress, so I can get in touch in case you win! The winner will be announced 5th October 2011.

Illustration for the Frankfurt Book Fair Illustrators Exhibition 2011 (if "boundaries)

2011-09-12T22:40:00.003+02:00

As promised earlier today here comes the illustration I did for the exhibition at the Frankfurt Book Fair this October. I heard about the exhibition quite last minute and as all artwork has to be handed in 15th September I used the weekend to get it done.
The exhibition is organized by the illustration foundation and is held during the whole time of the fair at the "Illustrators Corner" in hall 4.0. All the illustrations showcased will be for sale and half of the money will go to the illustration foundation. It is the first exhibition of that sort at the Frankfurt Book Fair.
The theme of the exhibition is "childhood" and the organizers gave around 60 or something quotes and aphorism to go with the theme one could create an illustration to.
I chose a Marcel Proust quote stating (sorry for my lack of giving a proper translation): "Maybe the days lived most intense of all days of our childhood, are the ones we thought we wasted: the ones we spend reading our favourite book".
As I am a great fan of books this had to be my quote. I also had the idea for the girl reading secretly at night under her blanket straight away. She obviously enjoys her book very much and so do her companions. It is again a watercolour painting which I enjoyed doing a lot after just finishing my book, which was illustrated all digital (I will tell you more about this when it is released early next year).

HarperCollins "Getting Dressed" - New Book Released

2011-09-11T11:56:00.004+02:00

I have some new work to share with you all. The book I illustrated earlier this year for HarperCollins educational series Big Cat "Getting Dressed" has been released.
It is a small book that shows children how to dress according to the changing wheather outside.
I illustrated this book in my digital style. As the deadline was pretty tight I only had three weeks to do all of the final illustrations. I really had to work out a schedule in order to meet the deadline and also deliver high quality artwork. I met the deadline and the client was very happy with the results. So all good in the end!

I had lots of artistc freedom with this project, which I enjoyed very much. The brief was very open and they sort of handed the manuscript to me telling me to just leap ahead. The character I designed for the book was approved straight away. I had to revise some of my roughs, mostly because another background was wanted in one of the illustrations and they wanted to have a few more frontal views of the girl.
The colour scheme is rather girlish especially in her room, which I don't do so much but had lots of fun playing around with. So here are some illustrations from the book, I hope you enjoy it!

Advance Copy of "Wee Granny's Magic Bag" arrived

2011-08-17T12:25:00.003+02:00

It's been a bit quiet around here lately, as I am ploughing away on two new picture books. As always, I can not share with you what I am currently working on but yesterday I received my advance copy of "Wee Granny's Magic Bag" and I want to share some pictures of it with you. It is such a rewarding feeling to finally hold a copy of the book you've been working on in your very own hands.

These are some of my favourite spreads. I will do a give away as soon as the rest of my copies arrive which will be sometime September! I hope you enjoy!

Featured Illustrator on That's My Folio

2011-08-03T08:30:00.000+02:00

I am currently the featured illustrator over on the new portfolio site That's My Folio. I did a little post on their blog telling a bit about my work process. So if you are interested just stop by their blog.

Showcase At Sunshine Smile Publications

2011-08-01T13:29:00.000+02:00

I am showcased over at Sunshine Smile Publications. Make sure to have a look.

First Impressions of That's My Folio

2011-07-15T10:35:00.002+02:00

There is a brand new portfolio site around called That's My Folio. Some of you might have already heard of it but for those who havent't, I'd like to give you my first impressions of it.

The first thing that really speaks for it is the more than reasonable price ($125/$145 per year) and the option for a monthly payment. But the thing that really got my eye is the dimension your work is shown in. A lot of the other sites only allow really small images, which is ok. But if you want people to see more detail of your work, it surely is helpful if your images show up a little bigger than that.
The second thing I really love about this site is the overall design. I think it is subtle and very nicely done not distracting from the illustrations it's supposed to focus on. It looks like a little book with a nice gallery of thumbnails to navigate through your work. You can also link to your other social media accounts and LinkedIn, aswell as to your Website, which I think is really important.
I uploaded some brand new work to my protfolio on That's My Folio, so if you are curious and want to see it a little bigger than down bellow make sure to drop by!

Beach Holiday with a Cat (IF "remedy")

2011-07-02T11:05:00.004+02:00

The remedy against the heat
seemed to be a bath in the open sea.
Little Kitty couldn't quite agree.
It just was so very wet and fidgety!

Not the best rhyme, I know. This is another new portfolio watercolour piece. I got myself some new colours and will take more care of my colour scheme from now on when working in watercolours. This is something that is more easy when working digitally but I think it is important to take care of the colours as the illustrations just get a more clear "design". I only used seven colours in this illustration and I really like the outcome.

Picture Kelpies Catalogue

2011-07-01T15:40:00.002+02:00

The other day I received mail from my publisher Picture Kelpies, an imprint of Floris Books, with their brand new catalogue containing all their new books. And of course "Wee Granny's Magic Bag", the book I illustrated for them, was in there too. It is such a rewarding feeling to see these few bits of the book printed. Somehow it makes it seem more real to hold some kind of proof in your very own hands. I will have to keep it for memory, I guess.
A wonderful weekend to you all!

Interview on "THE ARTFULS"

2011-06-27T21:39:00.001+02:00

I've recntly been interviewd by Tony, the person behind "The Artfuls". The Artfuls is a site packed with lots of talented illustrators from various fields. My interview is now up. I hope you enjoy it!