Aki Art

Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps: January 2012 preview 1

2012-01-12T00:43:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone and welcome to the first day of Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps 2012 January previews!
For those who don't know I design the SCRS stamps (based on eight characters I have created). Each month Sparkle Smith, the owner of the store release new stamps which creative people purchase for card making, scrap booking, label making etc.

Today SCRS is previewing Nurse Lucy! All new stamps will be available to buy on Saturday, January 14th, 2012 from the online store. Sparkle will be giving away a Nurse Lucy rubber stamp to one lucky person! For a chance to WIN follow the instructions here.

In the mean while check out some beautiful creations by some of the designers from the SCRS design team! Loving all the different textures, colours and patterns!!!

Margie Cortina

Amber Hight

A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2012-01-02T14:10:00.000-08:00

A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I wonder what has happened to the weather?? Usually Christmas and New Years are spent camping, fishing and BBQ-ing under the hot summer sun. This year rain, rain and more rain covered almost the entire NZ across all of the New Year days. Does 2012 being the year of dragons have anything to do with it I wonder??? Apparently dragons are considered as gods of water/rivers in some parts of Japan.

I suppose farmers can be happy, and I don't have to worry about watering the garden! (just worried about the overgrown lawn and the growing pile of dirty clothes...)

Anyway already many exciting things has happened! I have a nephew! I will upload more about that later. Aunty Aki is now too busy thinking of what make for the little angel.

2012 Resolution: Make a picture book written and drawn all by myself!!

Although I LOVE illustrating other people's stories I am really ready to write my own book. I have started so many during the past decade and have been too ~~busy~~ lazy to finish any. Knowing the publishing industry it is really hard to get any book considered for publication, but hey, without having anything decent to show, how can I be considered? Thus I am making this little public vow, this time I can't run away from this determination! Hopefully I can do some sneaks and previews on this journey :)

Another little news. My cat Dorothy is 20! She has been with me almost the entire time since I have immigrated to New Zealand 21 years ago. Santa delivered her to me :)

She has no teeth and her tail is furless... but I still adore her!

December Release: Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps

2011-12-10T20:46:00.000-08:00

Two new stamps have been added to the Sparkle Creations Rubber stamps store! The first is Hokey Oliver!

I didn't know until I have read Sparkle's blog, her hubby is a hokey player. Hope he approves of my illustration...

As expected Simonne has created a beautiful card with this new stamp! If you read her post you will see that she did a bit of research to make sure she got all the proportions right for the Union Jack Flag.

The second new stamp is Ice Skating Chloe! I wish I was as active as her... I was bought up in Nagano (a city where they held winter Olympic Sports some years ago...) During winter there would be ice skating classes at my old primary school. I think I was the only one who couldn't skate, even after two winter seasons! I guess I just suck at it...

Anyway, Chloe went through a couple to roughs to get things right!

Above is a very cute card made by Kim. Loving the colour combinations and the added ribbon!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2011-12-05T19:03:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I hope everyone is starting to enjoy the Xmas season now that we are well into the festive month! Here is a little illustration of Summer Santa in a wetsuit to help bring on the spirit (it's summer now here in NZ).

I remember the cold and cozy white Christmas when I was still living in Japan. We lived in a rural town called Nagano. It fell well below minus10 degrees Celsius during winter and we spent the Christmas making snow huts and eating snow with strawberry candies (tasted like strawberry slushies).
Now being living in New Zealand for over 20 years I'm really enjoying the summer Christmas here. People get very active during the summer break! Also we still get "white Christmas" at home as our garden has overgrown and we have white flowers (weed) everywhere! (not an ideal place for hay fever sufferers...)

Anyway Only a little left of 2011, will make the most f it! Back to work!

Fashion Illustration Entry

2011-12-05T18:31:00.000-08:00

Above is my entry for the Fashion Illustration Rally.

The instructions were to create a work that is inspired by the photos from the wonderful RedRock boutique clothing line.

The photos I have used were:

It's fun to illustrate something different for a change! :) Now back to work!

Aki is moving!

2011-11-23T10:12:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone. I have moved out of my old apartment and will be house sitting a friends' house for the next few months while they go on an overseas trip. I will have to look for another place once they return but in the mean while I will enjoy ~~eating~~ looking after their vege garden, fruit trees, compost, rabbits and playing on their trampoline!
Above is a little illustration I have sent out to my work contacts (do let me know if I have missed you!).

Sparkle Creations November Preview: Snow Angel Ruby

2011-11-12T00:31:00.000-08:00

Today is the November Release Day for Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps Store and we are previewing the second new stamp Snow Angel Ruby.
Scroll down my blog for the previous preview of Snow Bunny Lucy Stamp.

Initially I have misread the brief (it must have been during one of those sleepless nights..) and did a rough for Snow Angel Chloe. Felt a bit stupid redrawing the whole image after realizing the mix-up. Ruby is wearing earmuffs, scarf and winter boots that the craft makers can have fun colouring in! Hope you like her!

Again Sparkle is GIVING AWAY Snow Angel Ruby to one lucky person! To find out how visit SCRS blog and follow the instructions! It's simple really, all you need to do is visit the blogs of the designers through the links provided and leave a comment on each blogs. You will have fun seeing how the designers utilized Snow Angel Ruby for their creations!

I've selected some to share with you for some inspiration!

Simonne Clay : Love the combination of grey tones and deep red!

Sparkle Smith : She's the wonderful creator and owner of SCRS!

Jen Shults, she's a guest designer for this month's release!

Sparkle Creations November Preview: Snow Bunny Lucy

2011-11-10T00:41:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the first preview for the November release for Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps! Sparkle is releasing 2 new stamps illustrated by me and 1 new Karber clear set this Saturday! Today SCRS is previewing Snow Bunny Lucy and sentiment, "Warm Winter Wishes"!

As you can see, I was being too literal with the word "Bunny" when Sparkle first briefed me for this image. With a few adjustments we ended up with with the final image.

If you are thinking about getting crafty for the Christmas season this stamp will be perfect for making greeting cards, tags, decorating paper bags for wrapping up presents or stamping Christmas recipes or part invitations???

Check out some of the greeting cards the designers have created using Snow Bunny Lucy!
Many of the designers of SCRS sell their cards so if you are too busy to get crafty yourself maybe contact the designers to get hold of some unique cards!

I love how Kim Yu used white as her main colour scheme for her card. Loving all the embossing.

Shaela Odd has also made another beautiful card!

Sparkle will be giving away Snow Bunny Lucy to one lucky person! For a chance to win visit SCRS Blog and follow the instructions! Good Luck!

Lily Lands in Bubble Trouble: November Release

2011-11-07T20:22:00.000-08:00

The fourth book in Lily the Littlest Angel series is out in bookshop around New Zealand now!

Announcing the release of "Lily Lands in Bubble Trouble"! Published by Scholastic.

Yay!

I had so much fun illustrating this one. Especially since I got to draw a lot of Frumplepuss! I have made sure that the two roughs featured Frumplepuss so that the final design will have him on the cover!

Above is the final coloured illustration I've sent to the designer. The designer played around with the layout and colour options......

I remember feeling a bit sad seeing Frumplepuss being casted to the side, being cropped off....

And here goes the final design!! NO Frumplepuss!

Actually he got to feature on the back cover! Yay. He gets to have the entire page for himself! (actually the synopsis takes up majority of the back cover space, nevertheless I am happy!)

Angel Freya, Amelia's Angel Academy's nurse appears in this book. She is a strict, neat-freak Angel. Still, I wanted to make her likable.

Lily interacts a lot with Frumplepuss.

Aaaahh.. had so much fun drawing them playing (?) together. :)

Check out Lily's Blog written by the author Elizabeth Pulford.

You can see the real-Frumplefuss there.

Go Girl "Best Christmas Ever": November Release

2011-11-05T12:22:00.000-07:00

"Greatest Christmas Ever!", a new book in the Go Girl series is out in stores around Australia and New Zealand, published by Hardie Grant Egmont.

Unlike the other series like Billie B Brown and Lily the Littlest Angel, Go Girl books focus on one different girl character per each book. So the readers get to experience stories from many different view points and since all girls have different personalities, the readers will hopefully find it easy to see a bit of themselves or their friends or sisters in the featured characters.

Also all the girls in the series attend same schools and you will see that many of the characters and teachers reappear amongst different books. I find it quite fun connecting all the characters as I read more stories, it's like connecting a bit puzzle.

Anyway below are two roughs I did for the new character Ching Ching. Actually she appeared in "Sleep Over", the first book in the series, But this is my first time illustrating Ching Ching.

Above is the first version of the cover, eventually we settled on the final design below!

I can't believe we already have 8 books out for this series. I have just finished working on the 9th book last month. Working on the 10 and 11 now! Exciting :)

What's on my working board now.

2011-11-04T13:18:00.000-07:00

I'm working on some really fun commissions for educational materials right now. I can't share any of the illustrations for the actual books but here goes some roughs I did for the character designs.

It's based on a famous Japanese folktale, about Tengu and their magical fan. It's going to be published in the US so some western taste has been added to the story I feel. Tengu are Japaneses mystical forrest creatures with red long nose and wings, they wear outfits with specific features including geta footwear and little headpieces.

And here goes more character roughs. Beautiful girl and her wealthy father. The sneaky Badger and the Badger in his human form. The book should be published next year, I will upload more images then!

And here goes more sneak peeks from another educational book I just finished working on for Pearson publishers. Schools around New Zealand should have them in their bookshelves sometime next year!

This story is set in a modern classroom. I wanted to show as much diversity in the students' nationalities and features.

I think designing characters is one of my favorite stages in the illustration process. I love putting in balance and variations amongst the character designs to give them depth and individuality.

November Release: Lily Goes Skitter Skating

2011-11-03T23:04:00.000-07:00

I have a few books coming out this month! Exciting! :)

Today's post is the "Behind-the-scene" of the third book in the Lily the Littlest Angel Series: "Lily Goes Skitter Skating", written by the wonderful author Elizabeth Pulford, published by Scholastic.

I did a couple of roughs for the cover. I wasn't happy with the initial design I did for the "cloak" Lily wears over her "winter gown". Sleeveless cloak seemed unsuitable for the Winter Sports that Lily takes part in.

Did a little sketch to work out her "winter gown" with "winter boots".

After playing around with the gown colours we have finalized the cover design!

Many new characters feature in the story. My favorite is Wanda. The bully-from-the-past character. She causes a lot of trouble in the story and poor Lily has to face all the consequences.

There is a scene where "tip of Lily's skating boots and tip of Wanda's nose" crosses the finishing line at the same time. Went through a few roughs to get this scene right. I have ended up with a layout that captures the race feeling rather than being too literal with the text.

My other favorite character in this book is the athletic teacher, Angel Zara. After reading the manuscript, I decided to make her funky, active and young!

I must say, I am really falling in love with all these characters. Like the "Billie B Brown" series, I feel that when you illustrate for a series the characters really do grow on you to the point that you start to believe that they really do exist. When we're not writing about them the characters are still living, getting on with their daily routines. And when something exciting happens the authors put it into stories, and I illustrate them and the character's little "happenings" and "adventures" become books that we read for entertainment.

For Billie's series I felt this taking effect from the 5th book. Maybe because the first four books were illustrated at the same time and I had no time to adsorb the characters and the stories fully. For Lily's series, this third book proved that the characters were becoming real for me. I couldn't help but to cry when I read the ending. Now, the book does not have a sad ending, or even a heavily dramatic one, but I was so proud of Lily that I had tears in my eyes, my motherhood must have kicked in.

My partner was very confused at my attempt to describe this phenomenon after he caught me crying with the manuscript in my hands. To him these manuscripts are girly-cheerful-Harry-Potter-stories sprinkled with sparkles and fairy dust... and that's not bad either!

Sparkle Creations October Release Preview: Sunflower Charlotte

2011-10-08T03:44:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my second preview post for the October release for Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps! Sparkle is releasing 2 new stamps illustrated by me and 1 new Karber clear stamp set, and they are available in the store NOW! Today the store is previewing the final new release Sunflower Charlotte

Sparkle will be giving away a Sunflower Charlotte to one lucky person! For a chance to win follow the instructions here!

If you want some inspirations on how to use the stamp check out this lovely card made by Stephanie Kraft!

I also love the colour combinations used by Shaela Odd below.

October last year we released other fall themed stamps. I really enjoyed drawing up Pumpkin Charlotte.

But my all time favorite October stamp is the Broomstick Lucy! When I have a spare time would love to colour her up!

I love Halloween, bummed that it's not really a major event here in New Zealand. I'm living in an apartment now and we usually get some kids coming by for Trick or Treat. I will be ready this year with a big bag of sweets! :)

I was brought up on a farm which meant that the closest neighbors were at least a few kilometers away... a bit too far to walk for just a treat! So gotta make the most of Halloween spirit while I live here in the city!

Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps store is doing LUCY promotion this month so check out all the Lucy stamps!

Sparkle Creations October Release Preview: Autumn Rin

2011-10-05T21:58:00.000-07:00

Hi stamp and craft lovers, here's a post for you!

Welcome to the first day of Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps October previews! October is the season of fall... if you live in the North hemisphere. Feels funny being asked to draw up a design for Autumn Rin stamp while we are just getting over winter here in New Zealand :)

Another new stamp designed by me will be previewed in a couple of days so stay tuned! All new stamps will be available from the store on Saturday, October 8, 2011.

Sparkle will be giving away a Autumn Rin to one lucky person! For a chance to win read the instruction HERE! Good luck!

Amy Tsuruta has made a beautiful card using this new stamp! Loving all the rich autumn colours!

The Big Book of Billie!

2011-10-01T14:15:00.000-07:00

Whooo! How exciting! For those of you (especially parents of Billie fans) who can't decide which book to buy here goes a BIG treat! This October release of The Big Book of Billie features the first twelve stories from the Billie B Brown series! You will also find fun games, puzzles and recipes in the book. I also did a "How to Draw Billie" page :)
It is priced AUS$24.95, not sure how much is will be in NZ though...

Getting over flu and deadline marathon!

2011-10-01T13:55:00.000-07:00

It has been a week since returning home from Australia Tour with the lovely Sally Rippin! I have met so many great people during the tour including teachers, bookshop owners, event organizers, publishers and of course all the great fans of Billie B Brown! Isn't it great that people from different backgrounds can connect through love of books and literature?
I have made so many friends. Sally was kind enough to invite me to her lovely home for a beautiful meal made by her loving husband. I enjoyed meeting her beautiful boys too! Felt like I walked into a page from a fairytale book as I walked through the gates of her funky home- the whole experience during the visit felt like a magical oasis during that busy tour.
Special big THANK YOU to Jennifer and Bethany for looking after me during the tour! And even though both Sally and I missed the Billie B Brown office bash party (we were both sick..) I got to meet most of the talented (and young AND beautiful) team at Hardie Grant Egmont!

Seems like I have brought back some weird throat bugs from Aussie??? Have been down with throaty coughs and flu :( Tackling all the deadlines I have left hanging over the tour. Enjoying every project I'm working on, but sucks that I can't put in all my love into each illustration when I'm worrying abut all the other piled work. But oddly, I do enjoy the feeling of being overloaded with work, makes me work that extra hard! Go away TV / fridge / facebook.

Here goes some little peeks on what I just finished working on.

I have been working on a few educational titles for PEARSON. These have been fun as I get to experiment with different styles and characters as each stories are short one offs. Schools around New Zealand should get these titles sometime during next year.

Also I just finished working on the 9th book in the Go Girl series, "Back to School".

And currently working on the 14th book in the Billie B Brown series. Can you guess what Billie is holding?
Hint: Cute and fluffy :)

Also thank you for becoming a fan on my Facebook page. I did a little giveaway last week. I am planning to do more giveaways as I get more "Likes" so please check out my Aki Art Facebook page!

St. Catherine's School Visit

2011-09-13T03:18:00.000-07:00

Today I finally got to meet Karri Hedge in person, the editor of Billie B Brown, after working with her for over two years! It was a bit like old friends meeting together, hugs and chats as we greeted. With the lovely Jennifer guiding the way we finally arrived at St. Catherine's School (it was actually a bit of a challenge finding the building, then the entrance, then the reception, followed by a walk up stairs to a lovely library with the greatest views! Good thing we got there early!) we were welcomed by a lovely librarian :D

A lovely display of Billie B Brown Books in the Library

Today was a combined session with Karri and we talked about all the editorial and illustration process behind Billie B Brown and book in general.

Karri talking about her role as an editor.

Very interesting as it is first time for me to hear this too!

Me talking about being an illustrator

After our talk we had a little "Designing New Billie" activity. In every Billie books, Billie B Brown's "B" stands for different words depending on the themes of the books. Such as "Ballerina", "Brave" etc
We asked the students what "B" words should their own version of Billie be. After many call outs and suggestions we landed on three "B" words, "Beautiful", "Bad" and "Balloon". So Karri suggested we should draw a "Bad Billie who popped her Brother's Beautiful Balloon".

Before I commenced on the drawing we asked the girls what expression, outfit and pose Billie should have. And below was the girls' order :D

-Cheeky smile
-Stripy Hair clip
-Pig tails
-Star Tshirt
-Shorts
-Leggings
-Gumboots
-Holding a pin (that she popped the balloon with)

So I began to draw! Feeling rather nervous as there were some serious Billie fans amongst the girls!!!

Done!!

After that we did another character designing exercise. Similar to what I did yesterday with the St Cecilia's Primary School. The girls came up with different words to describe their unique character, which then they had to draw. Being an all girl school, after some voting, we landed on a character profile "Sweet, Cute, Kitten". Awww

The girls got straight into it! There were so many creative and unique "Sweet, Cute, Kitten"s, shame I didn't get the chance to take photos of their pictures...

Then the challenge was on me! Here goes my version of a "Sweet, Cute, Kitten". Got positive feedback today. Phew :)

The girls named the kitten "Angel"

Some time were spent signing and meeting the lovely readers of the Billie B Brown books. Feeling all warm and fuzzy inside!!

THANK YOU St. Catherine's School for welcoming us! And thank you Jennifer and Karri for making me feel so at home!

St Cecilia's Primary School visit & Aki Art CARD give away!

2011-09-12T13:34:00.000-07:00

I have just had my first day of school visit at the St Cecilia's Primary School!

Before I get into writing about the wonderful day let me announce that I have hit over 100 likes on my new Aki Art Facebook Page! Thank you! I will be giving away one of my printed cards to a lucky person! For a chance to win leave a comment on Aki Art's wall and finish the comment with the code "CARD". You have until 12:00am 26th of September to leave a comment as that is when I am back from my Australia Tour! Also new fans can still LIKE Aki Art and comment for a chance to win, so spread the words and happy commenting!

So back to the school visit! It was just great! I got to meet Jennifer and Hilary (Public Relations and an editor from Hardie Grant Egmont) for the first time! Since we have been emailing all the time for Billie B Brown and other titles it felt like we have already met before! They are both so beautiful and young, and made me feel so welcomed!

Once Hilary, Jennifer and I were at the school we were greeted by a lovely staff, Anette, and for the rest of the day Hilary and I gave editor/illustrator talks/drawing sessions to over 100 students at the school.

I began my session with a slide show showing how the Billie character was created. Followed by a "character designing" activity with the kids. Like how the designing of the Billie character originated from a description of "Feisty 7 year old-ish girl" the students and I came up with a unique combination of a character description together, "Happy 114 year old Whale"! :)

The kids then gave a go at drawing their own unique versions of a "Happy 114year old Whale" character.

Then we sat in a circle for a showing and critiquing time!

Then the challenge was on me to draw "Happy 114 year old whale". I got a mixture of positive and negative feedback! :D The kids were just GREAT!

The group after this came up with "Active Chubby Baby", Whooo! :)
I didn't get a chance to take picture for this one, hopefully one of the staff at the school will send it to me :)

Mean while Hilary was giving a talk about being an editor in the other room...
The kids loved her!

I also spent some time signing books and drawing a big Billie for the school to keep!

This is my first time drawing such a big Billie!

My thoughts at this moment was.. "uh oh... is Billie going to fit on the paper???" Feeling rather under pressure with harsh critics around me, watching closely, very closely, commenting at every stroke of line. I was really happy when I heard comments like "She is the BEST illustrator in the world!!!" and "I am DEFINITELY gonna become an illustrator when I grow up!" Hehe.

I was given a chance to take a group photo with the second group! :)

It was such a great day! The staff and students were great! The entire school was so warm hearted and kind to me. Such a nice change to get out of my cave-of-madness (my studio) and actually meet the most important groups of people, the readers of books! Dealing with editors, publishers and advertising agents all the time this experience has been a wonderful refreshment. Sometimes you forget who or what you are working for, it's not for the publishing company or for the money to pay the bills, it really is for the children and adults who read the books that I have worked on. The kids are just so inspirational!

Thank you!!!!

P.S. Thank you Anette for the lovely lunch and the bottles of wine!

Looking forward to meeting Karri (editor that looks after me for Billie B Brown works) tomorrow and Sally Rippin on Thursday!

Sparkle Creations September Release Preview: Franken Josh

2011-09-10T07:56:00.000-07:00

All the new September stamps are now available at Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps store!

The second stamp I have illustrated for the September release is Franken Josh! Accidentally I've selected Oliver for the Frankenstein theme only to find out Josh was who Sparkle wanted :)

Don't you just love all the nuts and bolts coming out of his head?

Sparkle will be giving away a Frankenstein Josh to one lucky person! For a chance to win visit her post here and follow the instructions!

I love how Kim Yu used the stamp! Loving the colours and all the little details!

Also the store is featuring Emily this month! Starting with the release this weekend, all Emily stamps will be 15% off!

Sparkle Creations September Release Preview: Mummy Oliver

2011-09-08T03:07:00.000-07:00

This is my second post today, scroll down for the earlier post on Billie B Brown.

It is time for Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps September release preview! The theme is, you've guessed it, Halloween! I was briefed for two Halloween image for September. There was an initial muck up of the characters (my fault!). Accidentally I've selected Josh for the mummy theme only to find out Oliver was who Sparkle wanted :)

Here goes my work process of the image.

This new stamps will be available on Saturday, September 10, 2011. Sparkle will be giving away a Mummy Oliver to one lucky person! For a chance to win visit her post here and follow the instructions!

I love how Alice Wertz used the stamp! So cute and spooky! Loving the purple hair especially!

Billie B Brown: Spotty Holiday

2011-09-08T02:56:00.000-07:00

Wooh, only a few more days to go until I leave to the big Billie B Brown Australia Tour! Getting very nervous (about my other deadlines...) and excited (about the trip!).

Before that I will be going to the Rugby World Cup Opening Game tomorrow, NZ vs Tonga. The whole country is going totally crazy with rugby fever right now, very hard to concentrate on work, especially when I can hear rugby fans singing and cheering outside my apartment every day.

I'm actually not much of a rugby girl, but having a club rugby player as a partner it's impossible not to get swamped by all the madness- looks like the whole city will leave work early tomorrow for the big opening night!!

Anyway putting that aside, a second post on Spotty Holiday today! 13th book in the Billie B Brown series! Check out the first post here! The editor at Hardie Grant Egmont asked for a "fun" and a rather "funky" grandma. So for the first lot of roughs I put her in artistic outfits and a funky hat. After seeing the first roughs the editor suggested we make her into a more young looking, fashionable and a working grandma.

We want to avoid drawing adult faces in Billie books so I had to make sure she still looked "old".

Wish I will look as good as her when I grow old!!

Giraffe Attack and new Go Girl Releases!

2011-09-06T14:08:00.000-07:00

September is an exciting month! I have three new books coming out! The first is a picture book written by Chris Gurney published by Scholastic NZ, "Giraffe Attack".
I had so much fun illustrating this book. Chris's writing is full of beautiful rhythm and rhymes. Here is a little passage from the book:

"Golly gosh!" said Dad, as the door went wham-ker-bang.

"That fierce and flustery giraffe is making things go clang!"

Jack heard the handle on the door go sneaky-creaky-clack

and raced to lock it good and tight to stop Giraffe Attack!

Character roughs

Above shows work process from rough to adding colour....

Like any illustrator I am inspired by everything around me. I believe I had my old house in my mind when I drew this house up for the book. I used to live in a country side in Nagano of Japan. We were surrounded by organic farms and dad built his first house here. I took above photos when I visited Japan with my sister 5 years ago.Had a funny feeling seeing other people living in our old house..

Finished illustration!

Also two more new titles has been released for the Go Girl series, published by Hardie Grant Egmont.

I have to have a different mindset when illustrating for series books compare to illustrating for children's picture book. I am focusing more on the characters, their emotions and how they flow from chapter to chapter. Also I tend to have much less time to complete a series book, so the whole process is more spontaneous compared to a picture book, which usually take months and months to complete. For picture books I tend to treat each picture page like an artwork on its own as well as part of a whole story.

Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps: August Release

2011-09-03T16:01:00.000-07:00

Rather a bit late post on the Sparkle Creations Rubber Stamps August release! Better late then never....

August was a month of Football!

Being living in New Zealand, when Sparkle first briefed me for a Football Josh image I automatically drew Josh with soccer ball! Silly me. Anyway after the initial misunderstanding I came up with a Josh looking all buffed up, a nice change from his usual cool-street-boy-look!

Simonne Clay has created another wonderful card using the stamp! I am such a fan of her work!

Obviously Cheerleading Emily was a perfect duo match for the August release!

And here goes another wonderful creation by Simonne!

Lily The Littlest Angel:Has A Secret Cover

2011-09-01T13:10:00.000-07:00

My editor at Scholastic has been telling me the two new Lily the Littlest Angel books has been rather successful amongst girls since their launch a couple of months ago! Here goes a post on the cover illustration for the second book in its series "Lily has a Secret". (can you guess what the secret is?)

Like the first cover I have tried out a few drafts. And image of Lily and the new kitten "Petal" on the moon popped in my head so I played around with that concept.

Playing around with different poses .... the last draft seemed to convey the most connection between Lily and Petal, so we went with that!

After the initial colouring I enhanced the moon more in the final version. Also changed Lily's mouth so that she looks like she is talking to Petal :)

The designer placed this on the background and walla!

The author Elizabeth Pulford has written a post about Petal and Frumplepuss in her Lily blog. Love finding out where the authors get their inspirations!