Rough Comp of Horse and Rider cover picture

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Here's a rough comp done in Photoshop of a new piece I'm working on.  I'm actually working on the acrylic painting right now.  Once again, it's a cover picture but not for any particular story.  She's some sort of Celtic-ish warrior woman I think.  I haven't done many horse pictures before, and I haven't done too many action pictures either so I thought I would try that.  I like horses in fantasy and mythology so I hope to put more in pictures in future.

  Speaking of horses, I was back in Upstate NY visiting my family over Christmas and I was able to do a little riding.  My cousin Sarah operates a horse stable and riding arena (handy!) so while I was there I got a chance to take one of her horses out for a spin.  I rode for quite a few years when I was younger.  I used to compete in English style and do some jumping.  But that was many years ago now.  I was so rusty and those muscles you need were really not there anymore.  I definitely enjoyed it--I was riding a beautiful and big horse named Paris--but I was very saddlesore for the next few days!

tree drawing

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  OK, so my two favorite subjects to draw are people and TREES!  I love their sculptural organic shapes...the trees I mean.  Well, people too, I guess:)

  Here's a tree drawing I did the other night when I was killing some time--I teach a night art class at Golden West College and I was waiting for the last student to finish his final project so I could go home.  It turned out to be cool getting to really spend some time on this drawing.

still working

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I haven't posted anything in a while though I have been alive and drawing!  Here is a sketch of a dragon done recently that I'd like to turn into a cover painting.  I like it and think maybe I'll do more dragons:)  I'm also working on a cover showing a horse and rider, but I'm struggling a bit on that one still.  I hope to have something to post for that soon.

the final is done

Pin It Now!   Over last weekend I was able to get this one done:)  Once the face finally started working for me, it all finished up fine.  Not sure what to call it since it's not from a real story.  I'd love any suggestions.  This one is horizontal so it could be a wraparound cover (did I already explain that?)  Now I'm looking forward to getting going on the next one.  It's only in the thumbnailing stage right now though.

  In other news, I'm looking forward to attending Illustrator's Day coming up in November.  It's an SCBWI annual event for SoCal.  They always get some great speakers and I can get my portfolio reviewed by an industry professional--intimidating but exciting:)  I just wish my portfolio was a little more consistent, but I'm in this in-between stage while I'm creating this new series of covers.  I'm really working hard to let it "flow" on these covers I'm creating this year (I think that's oxymoronic somehow :).  Anyway, I tend to get overly self-critical when I work on my art and sometimes forget to ENJOY myself in this creative process.  It really works better when I can manage to find that "zone" where I relax and just let the illustration process flow without too much constant analysis!  That's the trick, isn't it :) 

the color rough version

Pin It Now!   And here's the color rough I painted in Photoshop before I got going on the actual painting which is in acrylic and currently in progress.  I'm trying to keep a moody/stormy kind of atmosphere with this one.

drawing for the next cover

Pin It Now!   Here is the drawing for the next cover painting I'm working on.  I decided to go ahead and do a horizontal format make it a wrap-around book cover.  The trick will be making the boy look like the same boy from the other picture.  I'm glad to get a chance to put another tree in this picture since I love drawing trees :)  The tree is from my head, but the boy I drew after shooting some reference photos of the same boy, as well as a few of myself to try and get the body position how I wanted it:)

new painting

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Hey there,
I finished another of my cover illustrations and wanted to post it for you. I need to get it on my website but I'm having some difficulties with that...hopefully to be resolved soon. In the meantime, here it is. I'm pretty happy with it, I think. I can see a couple of little things I might go back and touch up, but for now I'm OK with it. I'm getting going with the next one now. It's still in the drawing stage though. It's going to be a continuation of the same series and will be focused on the red-haired boy on the right. I'm thinking of doing it as a horizontal painting--that could be a wrap-around for a book cover.
By the way, in case anyone is wondering, this cover painting is not for any particular story. I am just creating works that could be for a story.
Hope you like it.