wonderful collage paper + google

Last weekend my luvly hubby went up to Sydney and visited The Scrapbook Megastore (I'm sure there's a link out there somewhere but couldn't find at at the mo'!) and brought me back these beatuiful collage papers - they are wonderful! It's so nice to have more to choose from. He's the best :-)

The next thing I wanted to mention was about Google. I am in two minds about Google - it's a love/hate thing:

Love that I can personalise the header and have cool artists like Jimmy Liao (幾米) where the image changes with the time of day. The first one makes me smile every time:

(I have this on my 2nd tab)

Love Google Reader which tells me which blogs have been updated without me having to go check every one (thanks for the tip Alicia!)

Love having lists, news and weather for here, Portland, OR (where my parents are) and Montreal (where my friends are) at a glance

Love that Google has become a verb (well not really, but I think it's funny)

Hate that Google has supported censorship in China

and the orphan works bill.

hmmm.... ethics or convenience? one of modern life's pressing questions.

Surprise Monday : Week 13 : Karen's launch

Again I've been working hard but without much I can show you... I finished another double page spread and it is going really well. I now officially have 4 illustrations to go! It's very exciting! I'm hoping this means I will finish a bit ahead of schedule and have a bit of time to go over all the illos and do any touch-ups. I always like to have a bit of space and come back to things later if I can, to see it with a fresh eye.

But the exciting news of the week is that Karen has launched her Miscellaneous Press website, a permanent web presence for the book. (and also that she won a writing award - congrats Karen!!)

Oh, and remember how I was having troubles finalising the cover? Well head on over to misc press, there is a pic of it there - it will look strangely familiar if you have been following my journey here!

Surprise Monday : Week 12 : Double Page Spread

This week I started doing the double page spreads of the book, of which there are only four. In Surprise!, each of four characters has 2 spreads dedicated to them, the first being a nice lingering double page spread to set the scene, and the second being single page and spot illos which are a bit faster paced. Normally, I would prefer to do the dps first, to make decisions on colour scheme, lighting, etc. before moving on to the more detailed illos. In this case however, I only got files back from the graphic designer last week to check text placement. It’s a good thing I waited too, because a few things had to change to make more room for text!

So it’s very exciting to be starting on the larger illustrations after a month of smaller spot illos. The dps are 250mm high x 462mm wide + bleed, so a pretty decent size! (the paper practically takes up my whole artboard!)

I start out with a quick colour study in Photoshop. This is very ugly and is just blocking in colours, without any detail at all. At this point I am thinking about my original character sketch and how I gave them all favourite colours, etc, and trying to keep with these ideas.


In Photoshop, I use my rough sketch on the bottom layer, and paint colour on a higher layer which is set to ‘multiply’ to let the sketch beneath show through. Here is one half of the first dps with Hamish - I showed you the sketch of this one here (I can’t show the other half of the spread without revealing something important about the story – sorry!)

From there it’s on to painting. Once I’ve gotten a bit further into the painting I might come back to the colour study and add a few more details to make sure it will all balance out. But mostly it’s just painting, painting, painting.

It took me two days of solid work to finish this one, (you can read about Day 1 of it here). I am super happy with how it turned out! – especially the collage which you can see better here than in my last post about collage.. This has left me really energized and excited to work on the next dps....!

(as always, sorry about the colour, a heavy yellow tinge from taking the photo - it wouldn't fit in my scanner!)

ps. due to things like the orphan works bill as well as many stories about art being stolen over the internet, I have decided to post my images at a lower resolution and to start watermarking them (the ones that matter anyway!) I hate to have to do this but it's probably better to be safe than sorry you know?

A day in the life

Well I've been tagged by Alicia to continue Holli's meme. It's funny how everything seems to happen at once you know - I'm so busy with job work (overtime) and illustration work (surprise!) and doing the 21 day creative exercise and wanting to do I-F and then this meme! I was going to put it off but then thought it would probably be more interesting if I did it while I was busy anyway ;-) I'm sure once I finish the book everything will stop all at once and I won't know what to do with myself!

Anyway... here it goes...

Saturday May 17th 2008

7.50 Alarm goes off

8.10 Get up, get dressed, grab a banana and leave for pilates classes (I must admit this is not my usual routine! I love my weekend sleep-ins and will be doing a pilates class regularly in the evening, this was a one-off)

10.50 Get home, there is a message from Karen, the author of the book I'm working on to call her. Check emails and some blogs (thanks for your comments on my last post!)

11:00 Chat with Karen about various book related things. Have a crumpet with honey (bought from our neighbour who keeps bees! It is the yummiest!)

11:15 My hubby calls (he is away this weekend). Another crumpet with honey.

11:30 Shower, dress in comfy WARM clothes because it is freezing here (13C) and grab a handful of almonds

12:00 into my studio! I'm starting on the double page spreads for the book (will post about this on Monday!) - cut paper to size, trace the sketch onto the paper, tape paper to drawing board. Listening to Groove Armada "Goodbye Country" (music is a big part of creating for me btw!)

1:15 Hmmm, that crumpet just didn't do it. Make quesadilla with cheese, avocado and ham. Feed the cat while it is cooking.

1:30 eat in my studio where the heater is on. yummm. do my 15 minutes of creativity (the 21 day creative exercise) while eating to loosen up the painting hand.

1.45 make cup of peppermint tea. Whiskey the cat is now curled up in front of the heater.

1.50 I do a quick colour study in Photoshop of the spread I am about to paint (again, will post about this on Monday!) Now listening to Groove Armada "Lovebox"

2.10 start painting!

3.30 a little break. change water for my brushes, check emails... have been tagged by Teri aka Princess Tomato! Will get to that later. Find reference images online of kids rooms and floorboards as I am painting a boy's room. Let the cat out. Have a biscuit. Let the cat back in.

3.42 Back to painting! Music: Thievery Corporation

4.15 Need reference for how a bed quilt would fall (folds, etc.) - go into my bedroom and sketch the bed quickly.

4.25 ooh it's cold in there! Back into the warm studio. keep painting.

4.36 Hubby phones again! So good to talk to him.

4.45 Back to painting. Music: Shpongle

5.01 My favourite part of this Shpongle album - get up and dance (another essential part of my creative process)

5.03 OK, back to painting.

6.04 I need a break. Clean brushes - oh, it's dark outside already! and still raining. That's okay though, the garden needs it. Scan in stuff for my 21 days post and make the post. Snuggles with Whiskey. Music: Sade

6.42 Go to make dinner. Can't decide what to make. I was hoping there'd be something quick like a soup I could just heat up but no luck. So I made rice + dahl with okra and green beans. Yummy, but it took over an hour to make - but at least I don't have to cook dinner tomorrow!

8.30 back to work! music: Corinne Bailey Rae

10.07 I'm at a good stopping point. I think I'll stop here before I get too tired and start making mistakes. A good day of work, I was able to lay down all the base colour, so tomorrow will be fun stuff like shadows, collage and linework. Phew!

10.08 Type up this post and read other 'day in the life's. music: Bob Marley

10.46 Put away food and do the dishes.

11.23 Back in front of the computer! we keep track of everything we spend so I put some receipts that have been piling up into our budget software.

11.30 Finish up this post, brush teeth and going to read in bed (where I'll probably fall asleep in about 2 minutes!)

Hope I haven't put you to sleep if it isn't your bedtime yet!

okay, now to tag some other victims... how about Diane Duda, Woody Miller, Mika, Leezy, oh... four's enough isn't it?

21 days creative exercise: Days 20-21

How did it get to be Day 21 already? That doesn't seem right. well looking back it looks like I skipped days 13-15 (not for any superstitious reasoning or anything, I just did!) - so maybe I should go to at least day 24.

Anyway here is Day 20:
I did a little series of sketches of a girl and her dinosaur (on post-its again!) - playing with perspectives again. yes i know he is one weird lookin dino!

"up! up!"

up looking down

down looking up

Day 21: This is one of my favourites of the whole 21 days I think! I went to my first ever meditation class the other night, and as we were trying to 'clear our minds' the instructor said if a thought came into your mind, that was okay, and just to let it float by like a log on a river or a cloud in the sky.
I thought, wouldn't it be great if we could do that, just send all our negative thoughts and feelings floating away, and I guess I had paper boats on a river in my mind because I just can't stop thinking of flossy-p's beautiful painting... (if you don't know flossy-p or haven't seen this painting you must, it's gorgeous)

okay, three more days to go... :)

Orphan Works Bill

OK, I think most of us who frequent the bloggy community have heard about the orphan works bill by now. Just a reminder if you haven't already to please take action! It's really easy.

you can sign a petition here

if you are a US citizen click here

if you are internationally inclined click here

please act now! it is easy and quick!

*edit: due to things like this as well as many stories about art being stolen over the internet, I have decided to post my images at a lower resolution and to start watermarking them (the ones that matter anyway!) I hate to have to do this but it's probably better to be safe than sorry you know?

21 days creative exercise: Days 17-19

Here are a few scribbly sketches I did (on post-its!) of a few ideas:


Day 17: "I am an island" - I look forward to painting this one...

Day 18: Thinking about 'Electricity' for I-F .. green electricity!


Day 19: This is today's endeavour - my friends just had their baby so now that I know the baby's name (clay) I could finish this up :) It's ink on brown paper with collaged japanese washi paper. Now on to some work!

Surprise Monday : Week 11 -PLUS- 21 days creative exercise: Day 16

I've decided to combine my Suprise Monday, where I give an update on the progress of my current children's book, with my 21 days creative exercise post, because they sort of ran together today.

I must (ashmedly) admit that I haven't been able to keep up with the 21 days exercise - Some days, I just don't get into the studio at all, but then other days, I am able to play for longer than 15 minutes. Does that count? I don't think so. You're supposed to do it EVERY DAY. Sorry... :-(

BUT, I HAVE been doing it every day I'm in the studio though. As I've said before it really works for me to use it as a warm up. but today, something else happened...

And I don't have much I can show you from the book at the moment, (even though i've been working hard!) - I just don't want to give too much away. But I wanted to talk about the creative process and just how fluid and beautiful it can be. I'm always amazed when things jump out at me from the page, almost telling me what I should be doing with them, or reminding me that they are there, and that's what happened today.

I was working on the title for the book which I am doing by hand, and in trying a few different styles, I tried my beautiful japanese brush with ink:
It just isn't the right feel for the book. But in doing this I squirted out waaay too much ink, and didn't want to waste it, so I grabbed some scrap paper and just started playing around. I have this little painting of bamboo that I got in San Francisco and tried copying it.




I took one japanese calligraphy class ages ago, and I loved it, and this reminded me about the beauty, the simplicity of monotone colour and quick strokes. Not thinking so much, just doing. It's another thing I'd like to get back to and play with. all in good time....

But I guess it was just another reminder to go with those little whims, like I did the other week with the collage for the book, because you never know where it is going to take you, and all of a sudden you have added another dimension to your work, or you are going in a completely different direction than you thought you would be or should be, and that is the fun of creating!

I just want to say thank you to everyone for all of your comments, and I'm so sorry I haven't been able to make the rounds lately... I can't wait to get a bit more time to check in on what you've all been doing!! Happy creating everyone! :)

21 days creative exercise: Days 10-12

Instead of painting my header, I decided to stay with the idea of using my 15 minutes every day for sketching. (but nothing too impressive here I'm afraid!)

Day 10: I find I sit for the first 5 minutes trying to figure out what to draw. I've been trying to push quirky strange angles in my illos a bit more so this was an uninspired attempt to do a bit more of that.

Day 11: I got inspired by Alicia's perspective sketches so thought I'd try some myself. Here's Jack & the beanstalk bird's eye view...

Day 12: snail's eye view.

OK, off to do some painting now! :)

21 days creative exercise: Day 9

Wow, between my Surprise Mondays, creative exercise and IF, that makes for a lot of posts each week!


Here is Day 9. I kept working on my header and I am very happy with this, so may start painting it tomorrow. I started it over today, cause I realised I made a mistake yesterday, did 15 minutes, then was so excited to keep going on it I spent another 30minutes later in the day! I'm loving having sketching as a warm up before painting, it's really working for me....

Surprise Monday : Week 10 : Collage

Well I'm getting to the point where it's difficult to show you very much! I'm trying to stick to the illos I've already showed you the sketch of.

This one takes place in the kitchen scene, and I showed you how I came up with one of the kitchen sketches here. I've been having lots and lots of fun with collage and I feel like it's really adding a new dimension to the book. I am using it as little accents in a scene, and don't want it to overpower the characters.

So what I'm doing is sticking down a bit of patterned paper using craft glue, and then painting on top of it with acrylics. I use Titanium white to partially obscure the paper so it doesn't stand out too much, (and actually I realise you can't see the collage much at all in this scan!) - but then on top of that I use this "mixing white" that I talked about in an earlier post.

I mix the "mixing white" with whatever colour I need to blend it with (in this case, Lemon Yellow) and because the white is so transparent, it's like painting a 'wash' over the paper! It's really cool! and I think it helps blend the collage in with the rest of the painting, so it doesn't just jump out as 'oh, there's a bit of paper stuck on there.' I'm having a lot of fun with it and I think it's now one of my favourite parts!!

I'm pretty much on track with all the illos and they are going well. I've been focusing on all the spot illustrations, and soon will start on the double page spreads. It's very satisfying to see my little folder of final illustrations growing. wohoo!

Thanks again for checking in everybody, your encouragement is much appreciated! :)

21 days creative exercise: Day 8

I'm nursing a wicked hangover at the moment, so this was really hard work today! But I did feel much better afterwards. I've been wanting to redo my blog header for a while now, it really isn't me anymore. So starting on some sketches.... this is as far as I got in 15 minutes, so will finish it tomorrow. Hmmm.... but I just realised that it should say lil kim'S illo blog.... oops.... i'll have to start that one again I guess! Serves me right for having such a good time last night ;-)

as always, don't forget to check out all the other great illustrators doing the 21 days exercise - check Alicia's blog for the list. x

I-F: Seed

Okay so I already posted this illo earlier this year, and referred to it quite recently too, but never for IF, so here you go. It is a favourite of mine at the moment, and I think says very well what happens when a seed is planted!

21 days creative exercise: Days 6 & 7

Had a great day painting today, and I like using my 15 minutes of creativity as a loose-sketchy warm-up-sortuva thing...

Day 6: Hummingbirds

Day 7 : Humming inside (and no, I'm not pregnant! But Jules is! so I must have pregnancy on the mind because this is where my sketches went naturally.... congrats Julie!)

21 days creative exercise: Days 1-5

Some lovely illustrator-blogsters, Alicia and Gina, have started up a 21 day creative exercise. The premise is it takes 21 days to form a new habit and the goal is to get (at least) 15 minutes of creative time into each day.

Others are focussing mainly on trying new things and pushing boundaries. For me, I am pretty busy at the moment and don't feel like I have the headspace to push myself into new realms, so I am approaching this a bit differently. I am just hoping to get into the habit of sketching every day, and getting more whimsy into my art. I'm hoping that at the end of these 21 days I can have a catalogue of ideas I can refer back to as ideas for bigger paintings. (I also hope to perhaps make a few ATCs along the way as Diana is doing, but I'm not holding myself to that one.)

So... this is the 5th day I've been doing it (just haven't had time to post yet!), here we go:


DAY 1: I started off just sketching out a realisation I had that teapots look like elephants (or vice versa) - not sure where that idea is going yet but it's good to get it down on paper.
Then moved on to birds. I don't like the way I draw birds so trying to work that out a bit more.
DAY 2: Fish! Just having fun. Some from my head, some looking at pictures. I wrote down things next to them that might spark 'whimsy'!
DAY 3: Ever since I did this illustration I have wanted to elaborate on it - possibly create a line of greeting cards someday. For the moment I have some good friends who are having a baby soon so I thought I'd do a card for them.
DAY 4: Doing some sketches for Illustration Friday's "Wrinkle" - I hope I can get this done in time! not sure!
DAY 5: Just feeling really good today - had a productive day and a few nice emails, conversations with friends that have made me fly. so trying to capture that feeling....

I'll try to post my 15 minutes of creativeness a bit more regularly! And don't forget to check out all the other amazing illustrators doing it too - check Alicia's blog - she's got them all linked on her sidebar. Thanks Alicia and Gina!