lil kim's illo blog

Merry everything!

2011-12-21T21:02:00.001+11:00

No matter what you may or may not celebrate, I hope you have a wonderful end to the year, and that 2012 starts out in style!!

It has been quiet here, I know, but there has actually been LOTS happening. I find myself pulling back a bit from the whole blog/facebook/twitter world a bit now. As much as I love the connections and appreciate all of you out there in cyberland, it can be difficult to time manage! (as we all know)

But I am not deserting you completely! The roughs for my book have been approved with minor changes (yay!) and as I move into doing the paintings in the new year, I hope to be able to show you some sneak peeks. I haven't told you much about it yet. For now I'll tell you it is a sweet book with a great message, and is being published by Bright Sky Press in the US of A.

and with that good news I will leave you to your turkey dinners and/or pavlovas, and hope that the holiday season treats you, your mind, spirit and waistline well.

lots of joy and good cheer from this lil blogger xo

Back in action

2011-11-14T20:47:00.001+11:00

Sorry for being missing in action for a month now! I had a good reason. This is what my studio has looked like for the past 3 weeks.....

We did a bit of bookcase shuffling in our house, and unfortunately the bookcase destined for my studio completely collapsed mid-shuffle! (thank you, IKEA.) So it took a little while to find something else (thank you, ebay). and now things are looking much better....

which is perfect timing as I am just starting a new book project! huzzah!

So it's good to be able to see my desk again.

Rapture

2011-10-14T13:52:00.002+11:00

Illustrators Australia is having its annual 9x5 exhibition.... Tonight!

The theme is 'Rapture'

There will be an auction of all the works and drinks as well as mingling with your friendly neighbourhood illustrators.

You can VIEW, VOTE and BID online here www.illustratorsaustralia.com

Space 39, Lvl 2, Little Collins St, Melbourne
Friday 14th Oct 6pm-9pm

We are also hosting illustration-related seminars all day on Sunday 16th October 10am-3pm -- Should be good!
You can see the piece I submitted here.

Omeo & Alice

2011-09-26T18:19:00.002+11:00

I spent a blissful few days in the mountains last week, in and around a beautiful little town called Omeo (wherefore art thou..) We had beautiful weather so a lot of my time was spent in the sunshine by a burgling creek, and the rest was spent in a rustic little cabin with a log fire.

Here is a little painting I did while sitting next to said burgling creek:

And here is another one I did (in a very different style!) for What is the Use of a Book Without Pictures, where illustrators are illustrating the entire text of Alice in Wondeland in B&W!

My paragraph, #415, was
"I mean what I say,' the Mock Turtle replied in an offended tone. And the Gryphon added [to Alice] `Come, let's hear some of YOUR adventures."

It was fun to play with ink again!

A few things (including IF: Boundaries)

2011-09-12T23:58:00.000+11:00

Rapture knows no boundaries

Here is my submission for this year's Illustrators Australia exhibition 'Rapture'. I'm really happy with how this turned out and look forward to working with this style of collage much more!

There are a few things I've keep forgetting to tell you about:

< Prints of my Morocccan Orange Salad recipe I did for They Draw and Cook are now available through Great Big Canvas

> I'm donating one of my Japan Tree prints to the Lighthouse Foundation Art Auction - another wonderful annual event

I've just joined ChildrensIllustrators.com, and found out I will be Featured Artist of the Week starting today! yippeee!

< Also, if you haven't seen it yet, I have a new blog Illustration Station which collates current worldwide opportunities for illustrators. Check it out and check often for lots of new posts!

Cheers x

New blog : Illustration Station

2011-09-04T11:42:00.004+11:00

I've just started up a new blog which collates worldwide opportunities for illustrators, whether it be a paying job, a casual art swap, a contest, a giveaway, or just plain networking.

http://illustration-station.blogspot.com/

Let me know what you think and please help spread the word!

Northcote Kids Festival

2011-09-01T21:23:00.000+11:00

I did some illustrations for the Northcote Kids Festival happening soon in the northern 'burbs of Melbourne. I think the poster turned out great! Tix are cheap or free, but even so you can go into a draw to win free tickets by liking their Facebook page.

I will also be conducting an illustration workshop for kids aged 6-12 as part of the festival, on September 30th. I'm very excited! I must admit that it is my first ever hands-on workshop (though I did teach ad hoc art classes to kids a few years ago) but I'm hoping it can become part of my regular repertoire.

In this workshop we'll discuss what it means to be a book illustrator, what makes up a good book, and then together we will come up with ideas for a story, and kids (and their adults) can illustrate their story together! All in an hour. Ambitious? I think not!

There are lots of other fun events and workshops happening, so check it out if you're in the area!

I-F: Influence

2011-08-25T00:10:00.001+11:00

This illustration is to accompany an article in Earthsong journal about the influence our industrial life has on our connections with local community.

It was fun to do more of an editorial piece this time!

Sketches for my secret home

2011-08-16T21:46:00.000+11:00

Here is an illustration I did recently for a kids theatre show called 'My Secret Home' by Curious Legends Theatre Company. I'm very happy with the way it turned out.

I thought I would show you a little bit of the sketching process behind this illo. The theatre piece is essentially about a boy's love of books and adventure. I was working with the director of Curious Legends Theatre Company, and his idea was to have the characters jumping out of the book. So here are some initial sketches:

so here is the more 'final' rough sketch I did because it's what he wanted:

and here is the sketch that I wanted... Even though the other sketches were more active, I felt that this one captured the cosy feeling of safety a child has in their self-made fort.

So as you can see, my first choice won out in this case. But it doesn't always happen that way! I was happy when he agreed with me in the end, but I think either one could have worked well.

I did the shading on the animals with graphite as opposed to coloured pencils which I used on the boy, to make them less intense so that they fade into the background more. I really had a great time doing this piece!

I-F: Obsession

2011-08-01T14:01:00.001+11:00

Ok, this is only a mild obsession, but I did have a LOT of fun doing these maps for They Draw And Travel ...

I did another one for New Orleans, too.

Illustration Friday : Gesture

2011-07-19T21:11:00.004+11:00

Well, this is illustration with a twist.

Click to see him run!!

This is a what I did for the State of Design Festival running officially from July 20-31 here in Melbourne.

It is a little light box with the animation (run little wabbit!) and a wolf making a menacing gesture. (Boy I really have it in for rabbits lately, don't I?)

This is currently in the window of the Hill of Content Bookshop, along with 11 other beautiful animating lightboxes. Quite a sight at night! :-)

footage by Sonia Kretschmar

It was fun getting back into some animation, which I did at my first 'real' job out of university, at ImageBuilder Software in Portland, OR (now defunct, sadly).

Illustration Friday : Stay

2011-07-11T13:19:00.002+11:00

New Orleans would have to be one of my favourite places to stay in the USA.

This is a map I did for They Draw And Travel -- they asked for a very personal map -- things that aren't necessarily in the tourist guides but the things YOU love to do in a city. And that's exactly what this is. We often visit NOLA due to my musician-husband's desire to have been born there, so we have many rituals, a lot of which are on the map.

I have always wanted to illustrate a map and I had sooooo much fun doing this. If I have time I may do another for Melbourne!

Illustration Friday : Remedy

2011-07-06T14:13:00.001+11:00

There are certain situations where there are no remedies....

(poor little wabbit)

The age of reason

2011-07-02T16:43:00.000+11:00

I watched a great movie last night called L'age de Raison (sorry no subtitles on link). It's a french film about a woman turning 40 who receives letters she wrote to herself when she was 7 (which the French call The Age of Reason -- the age when a child's conscience matures -- very interesting read here)

Did this powerhouse exec follow the dreams of her 7 year old self? Was she being true to herself? It made me think of something that my parents unearthed a little while ago:

A project I wrote when I was 8 called 'My Life as a Kid'. And it's basically 'my life so far'. It's pretty funny really, but the last part is the best: (click to see big)

It's been a difficult patch lately, and it's always easy for self-doubt to creep in through the cracks... so it was good for me to realise that I think my 8-year-old self would be proud of me :-)

Spacedog

2011-06-14T22:07:00.002+11:00

In between book sketches and book paintings, I squeezed in this commission for a little baby boy called Ethan. I hope he likes it.

Here is a reference photo I was given for their boxer dog. How funny is this!

Oh also, my blog has been kindly featured here, on Be@home's 'Best of the Web' - thank you very much!

I-F: Shadow

2011-06-04T14:33:00.000+11:00

I can just picture these two flitting in between the shadows and the sunlight at your local pond. I really enjoyed doing the watercolour background on this, and for the first time in a long time I have added some digital elements (the pattern in the background) which I'm really happy with.

This will be by submission for the Illustrators Australia A3 print show, which forms part of the Northern Exposure Festival. The opening is Friday June 17th, so come along if you can!

I-F: Soaked

2011-05-26T12:44:00.000+11:00

This is an oldie but a goodie. I'd like to redo this in my current (non-black-outlines) style one day...

Travelling home.

2011-05-23T18:08:00.001+11:00

I am back from my 5 week trip to the US!

It was such a great time....

Getting inspired, and meeting new and old friends at the SCBWI conference in Seattle (see previous post)....

Dancing all day and all night in New Orleans....

Catching up with family including two little nieces....

And to top it off a positive meeting with a publisher in Boston....

And I've returned to some fun news too:

My illustration is one of the chosen ones for They Draw and Cook's Cookbook, out now! (buy it here)

I will also be featured in 100 illustrations next illustration Annual

I will be starting work immediately on 2 books for Five Mile Press.

It's always nice to have some good news and something to dive into to help dispel the post-vacation blues!

Back in the Pacific Northwest

2011-04-23T17:55:00.001+11:00

As usual, the SCBWI Conference I attended just outside of Seattle was fun, entertaining, informative and inspiring.

I was lucky enough to get into the awesome illustrator's masterclass with the formidable Dan Santat and Anne Moore from Candlewick Press. Dan was first up and took us through some basics of colour theory and composition which is always good to review. But THEN he took a portfolio piece from each one of us (submitted earlier) and photoshopped them to make them stronger, using those principles. It was EXCELLENT.

We also had some homework for Anne and she took us through each piece speaking from the publisher's point of view, which was very insightful. It was so interesting to see how everyone had interpreted the same text (like with illustration Friday).

Then it was 2 days of inspiring and informative talks. I was also given a (very lovely) gift bag for being the person who had travelled the furthest to get there - true, there weren't any other people from Australia!

I think the best sessions i attended were:

Victoria Jamieson on creating book dummies, where she took as through the multiple versions of her story in dummy form, from beginning to publication (including agent/publisher notes along the way)

Rollin Thomas on story book structures and myths

Anne Moore on book and type design, which is something I've always been interested in.

The other wonderful part of these conferences of course, is meeting wonderful people. I finally got to meet Stacia who is the diva of Creative Cup, our online critique group. It was so lovely to hang out with her all weekend!

I also met Shane Watson who is a fantastic illustrator with sci-fi bent, and also all-around great person. Go check out his work!

And luckily I also got to see Richard Jesse Watson, the amazing illustrator who critiqued my portfolio at last year's LA SCBWI conference. It was a treat to catch up with him and also meet his family including his son illustrator Jesse Joshua Watson. At one point I found myself sitting at a table with Richard, Jesse, Dan Santat and David Hohn, wondering what alternate reality I had stepped into?

I have left with so many ideas swirling in my head, and a definite direction to go in both my writing and illustration.

Even though I'm on holidays, you can't stop these things working in the background.

But, next stop New Orleans. A city of music, food, culture... And not a moment to waste!

Blast off!

2011-04-13T17:49:00.000+11:00

I am soon blasting off for the U.S. of A. Actually - I was supposed to blast off today but my flight was cancelled! That has NEVER happened to me before. Sigh... I am NEVER flying United again!

So I now have an extra day to look forward to my trip - Springtime, SCBWI regional conference near Seattle, seeing family, a music festival, and lots of general merriment.

Can't wait to get there!

Recently...

2011-04-03T09:45:00.000+11:00

I've just updated my website with my latest work and split the two galleries into colour and B&W. I've been doing some more work in B&W lately which has been refreshing. Have a look and let me know what you think!

Some quirky illos for Tripple Ripple by Brigid Lowry:

Illos for The Music Cubby by Barry Carozzi, Sarah Cowan & Jerry Speiser:

I-F: Toy + IA for JP auction LIVE

2011-03-28T13:32:00.002+11:00

I am soon heading to the bustling metropolis of Redmond, WA, USA for the regional Western Washington SCBWI conference. woo! I was quick off the mark this time and managed to sign up for the Illustrator Masterclass which promises to be VERY cool. We were asked to illustrate some supplied text as "homework". The text I chose was:
"I love socks," said Blink.
"Some socks are more lovable than others," said Gollie.

Also, Illustrators Australia's fundraiser for Japan (IA for JP) is now ON for the next 6 days. PLEASE go visit this link and buy some wonderful art at bargain basement prices and help rebuild an amazing country. My piece (post below) is also included for sale.

I-F: Stir

2011-03-16T16:17:00.001+11:00

Japan has been shaken and stirred this week. I almost can't quite come to terms with what is happening there. It seems like something out of a hollywood movie with insane special effects - tsunamis 30m high, destruction far and wide, nuclear meltdown. Hugs of the biggest and warmest kind to them.

This is a piece I did to donate to Illustrators Australia's auction with 100% of money going to Japan. (the kanji characters in the right hand corner say 'for Japan'. I hope I got that right!) The auction is currently being set up, so stay tuned for more details as they come to hand.

Other ways to help out:
Art for Japan
comment at Karen Andrews' blog to up her donation
buy one of Alicia's prints
buy one of Kathy Hare's prints

It feels good to at least be doing something.

Dino-soar

2011-03-01T21:12:00.000+11:00

It was wonderful to receive my copy of this month's SCBWI mag and see Richard Jesse Watson's artwork on the front, and interview inside. Richard gave me a portfolio critique at the SCBWI conference last year, and he actually did a post about this T-Rex on his blog, here. Go check out his incredible work!!

I-F: Layers

2011-02-20T15:33:00.000+11:00

Why the princess really couldn't sleep...

Fresh off the presses for IF this week.

Look! Me & Leigh

2011-02-16T18:04:00.004+11:00

I went to see the fantastic Look! exhibition at the State Library -- and it's worth the trip into the city just to spend some time in that gorgeous building.

The exhibit was fantastic too of course, with original artwork by more than 40 Australian illustrators, including some of my favourites, below.

Freya Blackwood

Anna Walker, Big Red Bus

Ron Brooks, Fox

(bought a copy of this, finally!)

Alison Lester, Are We There Yet?

Leigh Hobbs, Old Tom

It was a really fun day. I went with my friend Jody Pratt (and her daughter Abby), who is a fantastic illustrator/painter in her own right. I am very proud to own her beautiful hooty piece below. You should check out her stuff!

And speaking of Leigh Hobbs, lookie here!: (click to enlarge)

Me & Leigh on the cover of the Victorian Writer's Centre mag! Hee hee. They did an article on lil ol me and Anne Mangan, the author of the picture book I illustrated, True Blue Santa. We got a full double page spread! It's about creating a picture book from both author and illustrator's perspectives, with Anne's viewpoint on the left and mine on the right.

Neato! Thanks VWC!

I-F: Sweater

2011-02-13T22:16:00.000+11:00

Here is my submission for IF this week -- these guys have built-in sweaters!

It shows how long I've been in Australia now (where a sweater is called a jumper, or a 'cardi' (cardigan)) - my first thought when I saw 'sweater' was about perspiration! ha ha.

I-F: Reverse

2011-02-09T12:38:00.003+11:00

I just got an email from the Art House Co-op saying they received my sketchbook project book! It made me realise that I hadn't posted all of my pages here - so I'm doing of all this in reverse! Anyway, here are some selections only. You can see my entire submission here.

I was unfortunately a bit rushed at the end to finish this, but playing with ink on paper was really quick so that was good! It was fun to be free and use big long strokes. I've always enjoyed painting in ink.

I-F: Dusty

2011-01-24T22:10:00.000+11:00

It can be pretty dusty out there in the Australian bush...

This is a commission I just finished for a birth card. The idea for the card was the mother-to-be's -- pretty funny I think. This was so much fun to do, I always love to draw cuddly little animals :)

Happy birthday to me......

2011-01-22T12:52:00.000+11:00

Here's a little guy I sketched on my birthday a few days ago. It's sort of how I felt on my birthday too! Those years are feeling heavier and heavier... eek! But despite that I did have a lovely day ;-)

Happy New Year!

2011-01-13T18:50:00.005+11:00

Did you have good holidays? eat a bit too much? drink a bit too much? I know I did! But now it is back to real life, and much less chocolate.

Starting very soon in the chinese calendar it is the Year of the Rabbit. I am a Rabbit. A wood rabbit to be precise. So this is my painting for the new year. My year! (here's hoping ;-)

It hasn't been a great start to the year for people up in Queensland, though. This crazy country-- if it isn't burning, it's flooding. Sending strength and resilience to all those affected....

I-F: Winter

2010-12-31T15:05:00.004+11:00

Well I am back in Australia where it is going to be 40C/104F today for New Year's Eve (!) -- but up until a few days ago, I was enjoying Winter at my parents' place in Portland, OR. We didn't get any snow (unlike the rest of the country), but it was lovely to have a cold Xmas again.

I got into the habit of sketching each night before bed -- a ritual I hope to continue into the new year (a resolution, you might say). I sketched this dear deer one night and thought how the antlers looked like the ends of snowflakes, so here is my submission for Illustration Friday's Winter.

At my parents' place, I found what remains of a set of Prismacolor pencils that I had when I was 10. I was just about to buy myself a set!

I love that I am using the exact pencils I had when I was just beginning as an artist. I can remember adoring them, and placing each pencil in order by colour was one of my favourite things to do! It came in a cool box like this (long gone now) but it had two levels of pencils. This piece was done entirely with the Bronze prismacolor pencil - the metallic pencils were my favourites.

Anyway, I hope you have a rockin New Year's Eve, and all the best for a fun, happy, creative and fulfilling 2011!

Sun to snow

2010-12-17T21:43:00.005+11:00

The last few weeks have been a beautiful blur of meeting with friends, incipient illustrations, and lots and lots of sweets.

And for now, I am about to hop on another plane to be with my family for Christmas- my first Christmas in Winter for 10 years. I am beyond excited!

I'm taking some painting to do with me - I have to catch up on my sketchbook project and have a few other bits and pieces to work on. But mostly it will be relaxing, laughing, eating, drinking, and if I'm lucky, even some snow.

So for now I just want to wish everyone a very merry one, and hope this is a very joyous season for all!

Christmas season

2010-11-29T14:12:00.004+11:00

OK, so it's December 1st. Does that mean the Christmas season has officially started? I think so.

So, to celebrate that, I wanted to show you another step-by-step from my recently released book True Blue Santa. This is the final illustration from the book, and the only one which is set back in the Northern Hemisphere, and thus more "Christmassy" for all of you upside down people.

sketch of santa on his roof playing cricket with the reindeer

first pass with watercolours - lots of fun creating 'snow' with dabs of clear water on the drying paint
adding more colour

coloured pencil details & shading

collage finale!

top down view

a rather dark image of my drawing table / studio. I like affixing other illustrations from the project around me so that I am constantly referring to them.

Hope you enjoyed this step by step!

And so, if you've gotten this far, I will assume you are interested enough to know that True Blue Santa has been selling really well!! They printed 3 times the average print run and they have been snapped up by booksellers, with stock on the shelves quite scarce (and still the major Christmas shopping season around the corner of course) -- yowsa -- super exciting!

I-F: Savour

2010-11-29T12:31:00.002+11:00

Here is my submission for They Draw And Cook's holiday recipe contest. Yummy butter tarts from my homeland, to which I have added maple syrup to make them even more Canadian. My mum used to make these every year. mmmm... buttery, sugary goodness....

Oh and I'm very proud to say that my earlier recipe (Moroccan Date and Orange Salad) for TDAC was selected to be in their recipe book, to be published by Weldon Owen Publishing. wee!

I-F: Burning

2010-11-17T18:23:00.007+11:00

Elsie's ears were burning after Stuart didn't return her feelings, and walked to class with Peony instead.

...I'm trying to get some more sketching into my life -- getting inspired by The Sketchables and this post by Alicia Padron. I haven't joined PiBoIdMo or SaeMo or anything, just trying to take 10-20 minutes whenever I can for sketching, no pressure.

I'm doing a drawing exercise that Sam Hughes told me about - she learned it from her critiquer Cecilia Yung at the SCBWI conference:

Have different jars with different scene elements, pick one out of each jar, and draw it! You could have:

Jar 1: Character (girl, dad, pig, rooster...)

Jar 2: Emotion (relieved, angry, sad, excited...)

Jar 3: Location (on the roof, under a tree, on the moon, in the supermarket...)

optional additions:

Jar 4 : Lighting/time of day (more for a finished piece)

Jar 5: Time period

Jar 6: Story twist (and then someone arrived, and then the dog got out, then it started snowing...)

The main one I am focusing on is emotion because I know I don't bring that out enough.

So for the elephant above my drawing was: The elephant was disappointed at school.

Below, the rabbit was relieved, on the roof when someone left.

Fun, no? Maybe you should try it!

I-F: Afterwards

2010-11-10T23:06:00.005+11:00

Edgar had a nap on the rug...

and afterwards, wanted a tummy rub

and afterwards, chased a mouse.

and afterwards, caught the mouse.

and afterwards, was a bit bored.

An typical afternoon for a cat. Pretty hard life isn't it?

After a hiatus to take care of my book launch, I am trying to catch up on my sketchbook project. You can see my entire book so far here.

True Blue Santa Book Launch + GIVEAWAY!

2010-11-07T18:13:00.009+11:00

Yesterday was the book launch for my children's book True Blue Santa at Readings Bookstore in Melbourne.

So, how did it go? OK, well I am a humble person. I find it difficult to blow my own horn, but I do realise that in this modern world, it has to hoot a little bit. So can I just say... (toot, toot) that the afternoon was a hit!

Readings was packed to the brim. So many people came - new friends, old friends, business friends... thank you thank you thank you to all of them.

There was champagne. There were savoury treats. There were gingerbread cookies in australian shapes. [only starfish shown below, there were also kookaburras, koalas, australias, and the random roo, but I forgot to take a photo of them! drats!]

There was santa claus. And colouring in for the kids. There were speeches, there was laughter, and there were smiles. There were book signings. lots and lots of book signings (and book drawings too) So many in fact that the books sold out! I couldn't believe it!

WOW-- a very very big day for me. A milestone in my career, to have my first children's book published by a major publisher, in bookstores, selling well. This is where I need to sit down and take a moment because I Have Achieved A Dream. My dream from when I first got into book illustration was to get to where I am right now.

THANK YOU to all of you who read this blog, who have followed along with me on this journey, whether you read the blog every week or are reading it for the first time. I appreciate each and every comment, and somehow feel because of all of you, and everyone who was there yesterday in person and in spirit, that what I do is meaningful, not just to myself but to you as well.

so to REALLY say thank you.... it's time for the giveaway!!!

I plugged the number of comments into a random number generator and got:

Linda Tieu at Tortagialla! Congrats Linda!

You will receive a copy of the book signed by me and the author as well as a pack of 4 True Blue Xmas cards.

Thanks for playing everyone. For those of you who are not Linda, here is a freebie for you: a colouring-in version of the below illustration. Enjoy! :-)

IF: spent

2010-11-03T19:03:00.003+11:00

"A day spent with a loved one is a memory made."

This is an illustration I did for Sydney's Child magazine some months ago. It was a story about a mum wanting to protect her child from racist remarks from others.

...annnddd....

it is T-minus 3 days to my children's book launch! You can enter my giveaway for a signed copy of the book + a pack of 4 Xmas cards. Only 4 days left to enter...

Book launches

2010-11-02T11:50:00.007+11:00

I went to a book launch on the weekend for Paul Collins and Jo Thompson's The Glasshouse. It was a wonderful event held at the Prahran Market. Plus, lookie here! they were featured on the cover of Melbourne Weekly!

It was a treat to meet Jo (who I have met only through Twitter) and to see a few other familiar faces there, and to meet some new ones too! Because the main character in the book grows pumpkins, Jo had lots of pumpkin-related decorations and even her daughter had orange in her hair!

Well done Jo and Paul! A fantastic launch and I hope you have much success with your beautiful book.

And now it is T-minus 4 days to my very own book launch on Saturday Nov 6th. Have you entered the giveaway yet? Go on, do it now! **The winner will get a signed copy of the book (by me and the author) and also a set of 4 True Blue Christmas cards!

Until then, go here to download a colouring-in version of the above illustration. This is when Santa gives the reindeer a rest and uses some aussie critters to fly the sleigh instead. Stay tuned to find out who! I'll post the next one on the day of the giveaway, Nov 7th. Enjoy!

IF: racing

2010-10-26T23:12:00.004+11:00

OK so this is a bit of a stretch for 'racing' but perhaps he is racing to catch as many stars as possible?

This is also a submission for my critique group The Creative Cup where we're all illustrating the namesake. We will soon be revamping the public side to the blog which is very exciting!

Oh, and don't forget to check my previous post for lots of free goodies and giveaway madness surrounding the launch of my new children's book!

True Blue Santa goodies - process, FREEBIE & GIVEAWAY!

2010-10-25T15:46:00.012+11:00

OKAY well it is T-minus 12 days to the book launch of True Blue Santa so it's about time for some FREEBIES!

Leave your comment on this post to go into the running for a copy signed by me and the author. As a bonus you will also get a pack of 4 True Blue Santa Christmas cards! The winner will be drawn Nov 7th so be quick!

Until then, you can download a colouring-in version of the illustration below. I will be offering a few more illos in this format so stay tuned between now and Xmas!

I took quite a few progress photos while illustrating the book and have been dying to show you my painting process.

This is one of my favourite paintings in the book, and the last double spread illo:

And here it goes from start to finish:

I sketch onto normal paper with a normal HB pencil. I will print out a frame for each spread at the book size so that I make sure I'm drawing to the right proportions. I erase and redraw a lot until I get it right. Then I scan it in and might touch it up a bit before I print it out at actual size.

I trace the sketch onto Arches cold pressed 300lb paper using my light box, tape it down to my artboard, then start painting!

I start first with the background. This is the funnest part really. I love big expansive washes. I leave spaces for all the foreground elements, making sure I fan out the background edges so I don't get any harsh lines (or I will soften these with some clean water if I do). I tend to work in sections.

More background work. Having fun with dabbing water on the paint while it is drying - creates some fun and completely uncontrollable effects, which is the thing I love the most about working in watercolours.

Switch to a different colour (I would change water/wash brushes at this point!)

And start filling in details.

More fun with backgroundy swirls and washes, the blank spot is where collage will go but I make sure to paint over those edges just in case I cut the collage paper slightly differently to my sketch.

Adding details and shading with coloured pencils. I currently use a mix of Faber Castell and Derwent but am considering a move to Prismacolours because they are softer.

Add in collage, some more coloured pencil on top of the collage, and voila! all done :-)

Hope you enjoyed a look into my process of painting. I'll post a few more of these in the lead up to the book launch and of course, Christmas!!

Around the edges

2010-10-23T18:09:00.006+11:00

Today I went to see an exhibition and talk from one of Australia's most amazing illustrators Graeme Base. I got to see the original art for his new book The Legend of the Golden Snail at Melbourne Arts Rooms and my, are they breathtaking. The detail is so incredible, and his rendering is top notch. He uses a blend of watercolours, airbrushes acrylic inks and coloured pencil to great effect. so very inspiring.

I TOTALLY forgot to take my books of his to sign (doi) so I got him to sign my notebook instead :)

.....

In other news, I've been working on a few illustratory things around the edges which I can't share with you yet, so instead here is something I was involved in as part of the Melbourne Festival last weekend - a flash mob dance! (SO FUN!) See if you can pick me out, ha ha. There were a total of 5 dances done throughout downtown Melbourne that day (I did two), but so far this is the only one I can find...

Moroccan Orange & Date Salad

2010-10-09T19:17:00.005+11:00

This is my submission for They Draw and Cook. I did this sketch AGES ago but then it dropped off my radar, until I realised that the deadline is TOMORROW! And... very exiciting, it is getting published by Weldon Owen Publishing, so hopefully mine will be chosen!

This is one of my favourite quick and mostly healthy desserts -- very refreshing in the summertime. So now that the weather is hotting up here (25C tomorrow - woo!) hopefully I'll be able to make it soon :-). It is from a fantastic cookbook Casa Moro which has recipes from Morocco and southern Spain.

And after all that food painting.... I am hungry - time for dinner!

Sketchbook Project: Pages 10-13

2010-10-04T00:29:00.003+11:00

yep, more cats...

you can see my entire sketchbook here

see other great sketchbookers at the doodleheads blog

Release the hounds! I mean, my book!

2010-10-01T23:33:00.000+11:00

No, the hounds weren't really released. But my book True Blue Santa was!! YIPEE!

(back cover)

So from now until the X-day, I will be hosting some Christmas fun (yes, I know it's early, but I'm excited ok?)

There will be giveaways of books and cards, sneak peaks and behind the scenes. There will also be a book launch in Melbourne for the locals. So stay tooned!

And if you happen to accidentally on purpose buy the book, leave me a comment and there will be something extra special for you! (it's not quite ready yet, I will tell you more when it is... hehe)

Happy early aussie christmasness!

Sketchbook Project: Pages 6-9

2010-09-25T01:41:00.003+11:00

more cats

you can see my entire sketchbook here

How beautiful is this?

2010-09-24T23:33:00.000+11:00

I was recently introduced to Pamela Zagarenski by Stacia over at my critique group Creative Cup.

All I can say is I am in LOVE. Her work is so incredibly beautiful and I must admit I secretly covet this style. (It is acrylics though. I need to explore how to make something similar work in watercolours) But the way she uses collage and words especially, and her colour palettes, and oh.

Here are some more images and you can see an interview with her with tons of her work here. Enjoy! (and remember to wipe up your drool when you're done ;-)

Tim Burton's freaky mind

2010-09-19T01:07:00.006+11:00

I went to see the Tim Burton exhibition at Melbourne's Centre for the Moving Image. It was reeaaaaallllllyyyy cooooool. It was a very well put together exhibition - I felt like they really tried to create his 'world'.

There was a giant topiary deer. Now you can't go past that.

There were also lots of otherworldly sculptures, early illustrated books, a wacky black light cave, and lots of movie accessories (like a batmobile). and also LOTS of sketches. I LOVE seeing that. the background behind all the refined stuff. All I have to say is he has a FREAKY mind, in a brilliant and hilarious way. I left feeling all spirals and red and white stripes.

I'll let his pictures speak for themselves!

(this last one is gorgeous - a retelling of 'Romeo and Juliet' as a love story between a land mass and a water mass. Film idea which never came to fruition!)

Sketchbook Project: Pages 2-5

2010-09-19T00:01:00.004+11:00

I finally signed up for

and am starting to fill up my book. My theme is "Secret Codes". Juicy eh?

At first I thought I would create a code and make the sketchbook into a secret message itself. I started on this, but it was taking a bit too long-- time is an issue here. We all have until January, but there are - count em - 80 PAGES TO FILL. Ack.

Then, while sketching other things tonight, I found I kept sneaking in little sketches of my cat who was sitting there watching me (rather unimpressed, I might add.) And I realised that would be a fun way to fill up 80 pages. Hence, The Secret Code of Cats.

And I remind myself over and over to Keep It Simple. It is a sketchbook after all! Each page doesn't have to be a finished artwork right? So I am having some fun, not worrying too much, and trying to stay loose with this one.

So let me know what you think about the first few pages!

IF: proverb

2010-09-14T20:31:00.004+11:00

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step"

This little polar bear is on a long journey. I'm going on the long journey with him, and together we've only just taken a few baby steps.

I'm putting together a story about this guy to submit to the agent I met at the SCBWI conference. I've done three paintings so far -- and I am happy with them, but I have been going around in circles about the next ones, so for now it is back to the drawing board. um yes, that pun was intended.

I redid this one in my current watercolour style. The original was acrylics:

hope you like!

Untold Stories

2010-09-04T00:25:00.003+11:00

Every year, Illustrators Australia hosts an exhibition called the 9x5 where each artist gets sent a piece of wood to adorn-- you can read more about the origins of it here.

This year the theme is 'Untold Stories' and this is my piece. I threw the works at this one and used watercolours, gouache, coloured pencil and collage!

If you are in Melbourne on Sep 17th then please come on down to Space 39 (39 Little Collins street) from 7pm for the opening!

The Greats

2010-09-02T00:32:00.005+11:00

I went to see the European Masters exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria today. It is a collection that is travelling from the Stadel museum in Frankfurt, so many of the artists were German or had lived and/or painted in Germany at some point (Franz Marc, Uhde, Beckmann..) and a lot of French too (Monet, Degas, Rousseau..)

Here are a few sketchies I did:

(one of my favourites from the whole exhibition)

next week, the Tim Burton exhibition.... can't wait!

I-F: Atmosphere

2010-08-26T00:06:00.000+11:00

I think I would describe the atmosphere of this painting to be, um.... PINK!

Well that was the brief. It's for a baby girl, new to this world. Pink was the order of the day. I hope little Maggie likes it when she is old enough to focus.

My First Trade Book!

2010-08-24T21:54:00.007+11:00

I resisted putting the title for this post in ALL CAPS, even though that's How I Feel. It's a bit like a first child.

Kim and her paintbrushes are happy to announce to the world that her little bundle of joy True Blue Santa has arrived, healthy and happy, weighing just under 5 kilos for 10 copies.

Gah! That's my name on the cover! And it's a real hard-cover-like book that's going to be in honest-to-goodness bookstores. neato mosquito.

I'm sooooo happy with how it turned out.

It will be on the shelves here in October, but you can go here to pre-order, if you're into that sort of thing. Not sure if that is for Australian customers only. I have my people working on world domination, so I will let you know.

SCBWI L.A. conf : Part 3 : BUDDIES

2010-08-15T21:19:00.012+11:00

One of the best parts of going to a writing/illustration conference is.... meeting other writers/illustrators! So, here are some I'd like to tell you about:

I arrived at the conference late on the Thursday before the early start Friday morning, so I was so relieved to be greeted by my roomie Jill Kassander, who I had met through the SCBWI forums. Jill had been to the conference 4 times before and so knew the ropes, and was a fantastic roommate, tour guide, carer, advice-giver, and confidante. Thanks Jill!! :-)

It didn't take long before I met the aussie contingent:

The unmissable Chris Cheng who was named SCBWI member of the year!

Then I found the fantastic Western Australia cohort: writer/illustrator Samantha Hughes, and writer Caz Williams. Here is some of Sam's spooky work:

It was fun meeting up with these ladies throughout the conference. Sam and I ended up waiting nervously for our portfolio critiques together, and then sharing a still-jittery tea afterwards to hear the outcome (she got really great feedback too!) And I knew if I wanted to find someone to sit with that I could scan the crowd and find Caz's bright red hair. :)

I also got to meet fellow Melbournian Angela Driver and I also briefly met aussie Kandace Mavrick (no link). HEre's artwork from Angela's up-and-coming-book:

At the illustrator social on the first night, I was introduced to the inimitable Kelly Light, who incidentally has just raised $10,000 through her Ripple blog -- Way To Go Kelly!!

Kelly in turn introduced me to the lovely Angela Matteson/Angelato (whale and boy image below) and Linda Silvestri/Sketched Out (monster image below), and together we formed a terrific trio. We talked, we laughed, we badgered Loren Long. It was such a joy to meet them. So funny because we all knew each other from bloggy land, but didn't know what the others looked like.

Then LAST but not least, I met and had a good chat with Priscilla Burris who just has such an incredible amount of bubbly energy it's amazing! (even after 4 days of organising disorganised illustrators!) As I mentioned before, Priscilla bought my ripple painting for her daughter Laura, who I also had the pleasure of meeting.

WEll I don't think I missed anyone. It certainly is such a pleasure to meet all these amazing artists in person. It's funny when you know someone by their work alone, you think you know them already. But meeting in person and sharing experiences, facial expressions, hugs, it really cements those friendships.

Everything is still sinking in for me -- the inspiration, the career opportunities, these new friendships -- but all I know is I am so happy I went.

So, all I can say to anyone who is considering going to the SCBWI conference.... do it do it do it!!!!

SCBWI L.A. conf : Part 2 : BUSINESS

2010-08-15T12:05:00.011+11:00

When I went to the NY SCBWI conference a few years ago, I was excited about hearing illustrators talk and gaining inspiration.

This time, with my first trade book under my belt, I was much more business focussed. My little group kept saying I was channelling Leeza, who I met in NY, and who is the queen of networking. Well it's not so easy for me. I have to force myself to talk to strangers, but I figured everyone was there for the same reason so everyone's open to being approached. Plus, I had made these:

business card size mini portfolio

...so I figured I owed it to myself to be bold and hand out as many as I could.

And while I'm at it, here are all my promotional materials: portfolio, mini-folio, postcards, business cards.

So, armed with these goodies, I tracked down as many editors, publishers, agents, and all-around good people as I could....

I got them into the hands of Stephanie Owens Lurie (Disney-Hyperion), Justin Chanda (Simon & Schuster), Claudia Gabel (HarperCollins), Jennifer Rees (Scholastic) and by mail post-conference to Josh Adams (Adams literary) (who was actually the one I really wanted to talk to but could never find him) Anyway, some salient points from them:

• Your book will be judged against publisher's 'list' - it could be a great book but if they have recently published something similar, it may not be attractive to them (so much of this business is about timing!)

• Your pitch/query letter should capture in 30 seconds or less

• An agent or publisher wants to build the career of the author/illustrator

• They will help with grow and shape your career but will not be your shrink, or your mother. you still need to work hard and give them something to work with!

• The ideal author/illustrator: keeps their audience in mind always, is selective on publishers, willing to promote the book, and is open-minded about future technology.

• Many editors prefer to receive material through an agent, but gems are still found in the 'slush pile'

• Think about how your story could be converted/used on new technology and think globally

I should say there was a lot of discussion at the conference about ipads and the like and how it will change (or more likely 'add to') the role of the author and illustrator. What wasn't discussed was whether the digitisation of books will ruin the industry as it has the music industry - where companies lose so much money because the free proliferation of the art is so rampant, it is unable to be monitored. that means less money to promote up-and-comings, and less confidence in the printed market...... but i digress.....

One of the most amazing parts of the conference for me was on Day 2 at 8am: My one-on-one portfolio critique with the man who created this:

Richard Jesse Watson

To say I was nervous is probably an understatement. I mean LOOK at that lion! You can see each inidividual curl. It's insane. He's an amazing artist.

But then the moment I sat down with Richard I was put immediately at ease. He is the kindest man you would ever hope to meet. Especially because, after introductions and niceties, the first words out of his mouth were 'I looked at your website - I really like your work!'

really?

wow.

cool.

He proceeded to go through my portfolio and point out all the GOOD things I had done! What a revelation! I thought I was going in to have my folio picked apart. But I realised what he was doing was so much more valuable: this is what is working for you, this is where your voice is strong, work on this, develop this.

Of course he gave me lots of areas to work on, all completely on the money:

• My characters are all very 'happy' -- show a range of emotion & experessions

• there should be a story behind each image. (I heard this several times throughout the conference)

• Show some B&W work and even some sketches

• my images are all quite flat -- work on perspective

and then..... came my million dollar question.

I asked Richard if he thought my work was ready for an agent.

--hold breath--

Yes, he thought so. I could talk to his agent who was at the conference.

--exhale--

really?

wow.

cool.

so i did.

2 days later, I met for a glorious 5 minutes with Rubin Pfeffer from East/West literary agency. He said Richard had talked very highly of me (really?). He leafed through my folio and picked one image (which Richard liked too):

and said if I could build up a story around this little guy for him, he'd be interested in working with me.

wow.

cool.

so that's my homework assignment. I've already brewed a lil story around him on my 14 hour flight home. I can't tell you how exciting this is for me. Now I just need to follow through on this amazing opportunity.

So I have to say, that business-wise, for me, this conference was a definite success...

next post.... conference buddies :-)

SCBWI L.A. conference wrap up : Part 1 : INSPIRATION

2010-08-14T13:14:00.014+11:00

I'm home! Back to winter.... back to work.... back to real life....

but let me delve back into a childrens bookmaker's wonderland for just a moment. oh please...

The SCBWI conference in LA was fantastic on many levels. I'm splitting it into three: Inspiration, business, and personal.

I'll do more of a general wrap up of my time and experience there as opposed to a workshop-by-workshop synopsis, seeing as you can get those in multiple places, not least from Team Blog who was blogging about everything live from the conference!

INSPIRATION

It was such a thrill to hear people like the ones below speak. (It was also great to hear M.T. Anderson sing a love song to Delaware.) Unfortunately I missed the last keynote Ashley Bryan because I had to leave for the airport.

A few tidbits of advice from the heavyweights:

Jon Scieszka:

The stinky cheese man himself

• read every picturebook you can!

• be proactive and determined getting your work out there

• if you have written a pb manuscript, cut it down by half, at least! (too true)

Loren Long:

amazing work and wise words

• start one sketch at a time

• work should have that "emotional hit" and tell a story -- think lighting, posture, mood

• what music might be playing during the scene? try to evoke the same feeling with the pictures. (I love this!)

• the characters and book should be your friend

M.T. Anderson:

• a great way to build a 'new world' is to base it on your own (eg. Delaware) but then twist it a bit. A place you recognise partially is more powerful than something completely outlandish.

• show children new ways to see

Gordon Korman:

this guy was hilarious!

• Do what the kid in you thinks is 'cool'

• Subtlety isn't lost on kids

E.B. Lewis, artistrator:

amazing inspiring art

• uses models for his characters

• find simplicity in compositions

Overall the main thoughts/feelings I came away with were things I already knew but are always good to have affirmed: do what you do. work hard. get it out there.

WRITING MASTERCLASS: Strong Emotions on the Page

The illustration masterclasses booked out so quickly, but I was able to get into a writing class by Arthur Levine, the VP at Scholastic and owner of his own imprint, Arthur A. Levine Books. It was really fun to put myself into a writing situation. We even had homework! Although the assignments were very interesting (write about a place, then write about it again evoking a totally different emotion), I don't feel like we got through very much in the class because there were 26 of us! Maybe the classes need to be even smaller next time, for more hands-on interactivity.

So I don't know if I'd sign up for a masterclass again, unless it was something I was 150% into. Because it was run for an hour each of the 4 days, that meant 4 other workshops I couldn't go to -- and there was so much to see!!

But Arthur was fantastic - a very patient, insightful, funny, deeply engaged and engaging teacher.

PORTFOLIO SHOWCASE

THEN, there was the portfolio show, with about 100 illustrators (including mine) displayed for all to see. So amazing to see everyone's work, perspective, creative presentation, aptitudes, talent, dreams. There was a winner: Molly Idle, whose work is, yes, jaw-droppingly beautiful (below).

The folio extravaganza was squeezed in between a 10 hour day of speakers/workshops and the 'heart & soul' themed dinner/ball, so after about an hour of looking at folios, thinking alternatively 'wow! this is amazing! how inspiring!' and 'wow! this is amazing! what am I doing here?' I took my leave to ready for the partay....

knitted heart 'brooch' my friend made for me to wear at the heart & soul ball

so next post, the business side....

tweet, tweet!

2010-08-14T11:05:00.000+11:00

Okay, I've finally succumbed, acquiesced.... I've JOINED.

Mostly due to meeting illustrators overseas who convinced me that Twitter is not just about what you had for breakfast or that the cat just coughed up furballs, but that it really is an encouraging and enriching environment. So, I'm about to find out. Except, um, I don't really know what I'm doing.. But I'll figure it out!!

so, you can follow me @lilkimfleming

and for that matter, find me on facebook too!

Eat Love Pray (Love)

2010-08-06T16:13:00.005+11:00

I think my trip can be summed up with the above title.

Montreal: Eat
some truly amazing meals with friends, including some very nostalgic ones of Montreal bagels with lox, and smoked meat sandwiches from Schwartz's!

Boston: Love
wonderful to see my brother, sis-in-law and two little nieces

L.A.: Pray
Pray that something good comes of the contacts I made at the SCBWI conference!! More on this later! :-)

Portland, OR: Love
spending time with parents and friends

I get back to Australia next week and there is so much to tell....

And fun was had by all...

2010-07-27T14:18:00.005+11:00

Have been having a fab time with friends in Montreal and family in Boston. Lots of good food, good drink, staying out late (one night with no sleep at all -- my 3 and 5-year-old nieces couldn't quite understand why Auntie-K needed nap time too) and genereal fun and mayhem.

In illustration news, in Montreal I got to meet wonderful illustrators Susan Mitchell (aka Sweet Pea), Paula J Becker, and Suana Verelst. It was great to have a face-to-face with these inspiring ladies, and to see Susan's work space. I was the lucky recipient of one of her lovely felted softy bunnies, and some of her illustrated Xmas cards which I will show you at some point.

I was also put to work in my time in Montreal and did a mural in my friend's soon-to-be baby's room. some photies:

And yesterday we went to the Eric Carle museum which was as much fun for little ones as it was for me! It was great to see some of Carle's original collage work, along with his amazing linoprint work I had fogotten he did.

They had spotlights on artists Leo Lionni and Lisbeth Zwerger - always great to learn about new (to me) illustrators. Zwerger's work was incredibly detailed - some pieces were so small!! one was about 3in x 3in. and she uses some amazing perspective in her work too.

While I was checking out the exhibition the littlies were having fun in the art studio making their own collages or in the library reading from the amazing book collection. fun had by all :-)

Staying in Boston until Thursday when I'll head to LA for the conference.. excited!

And I'm off...

2010-07-18T23:59:00.002+11:00

(this is what my cat was doing tonight to my packed suitcase)

A doodle in my lil book of ideas:

It's about 8cm x 8cm and will be coming with me everywhere on my trip. cute eh?

So... I'm leaving on a jet plane.....

first to the homeland

then to see the little ones

then to the conference

then to see more family

before returning home.

I have no idea if I'll have the chance to blog. If I do, I will. But if not, forgive me, and wish me luck! :-)

Check em out

2010-07-17T23:45:00.008+11:00

I'm checking up on some of the speakers who will be at the SCBWI conference. I got into illustration after I left North America, so even though I'm pretty au fait with who's who in australian illustration, I don't know some of the most common names in the US. So I'm doing my research. lookie at these heavyweights:

Loren Long

(he's got a great website)

EB Lewis

(can't you just feel that rain?)

Priscilla Burris - website & blog

(who, incidentally, bought my ripple painting, and who I'm looking forward to meeting at the conference. She also did all of the illustrations for this year's conference materials -- sweet!)

John Parra

(some lovely mexican influences here)

Phew! I think I need a nice cup of tea and a good lie down now...

Pick me! Pick me!

2010-07-15T23:26:00.000+11:00

One of the amazing things about going to an industry conference is that you just.. never.. know.. who.. will.. be.. there.....

In my case, it could be the publisher of my dreams, the agent of my dreams, or someone else of my dreams (except for husband, I already have that!)

And the only way they are going to find you is if you stand out from the crowd in some way. I guess, truthfully, your art should make you do that. But promotion is a such an important thing, though sometimes irreconcilable with being an introverted artist.

But I do my best to talk the talk, and um.. paint the paint? So here is my promotional postcard for the SCBWI conference in all its glory!

My folio is also being printed and bound this week, and I have a few other little tricksies up my sleeve... heh heh....

t minus 4 days to lift off!

Ahoy! Painting animation

2010-07-12T00:39:00.003+11:00

I've been wanting to do something like this for a while:

this is a little animation of the stages of the watercolour painting of 'playing pirates' that I started some weeks ago.

the colour difference at the end is because most images were taken with a camera except for the last which was professionally scanned. (painting was too big to fit in my scanner)

I used the animation capabilities in Photoshop for this. It was pretty easy, but I had to take the smooth fades out because it was making the file size too big. What do other people use to make videos/slideshows for the web?

(i hope it works!)

ripple cards

2010-07-09T23:47:00.005+11:00

I bought a few cards from Kelly Light's Ripple project and they have arrived!

this fun one from the talented Karen Erasmus who happens to live just around the corner (in global terms)

and this beautiful card by Emily Cole (no link)

Kelly has raised $7,400 so far to benefit animal victims of the Gulf oil spill. Way to go Kelly! that's a helluvalotta $10 cards!

I-F: Giant

2010-07-06T00:27:00.004+11:00

Imagine going on a surreal flight with a giant turtle?

I wanted to do something unusual and a bit whimsical this time -- this will be the last piece that makes it into my folio for the SCBWI conference in LA. I leave in TWO WEEKS !! wohoo!

and... I've finally discovered a few other people who are heading there too, (thank goodness!) through Chris Cheng at SCBWI Australia. So hello to fellow aussies Samantha Hughes, Caz Williams and Angela Driver! (Angela's website will be live July 10th) Looking forward to meeting all of you in person!

Happy Canada Day!

2010-07-01T17:30:00.000+11:00

Just wanted to wish a Happy Canada Day to all those back in the homeland... :-)

My first WaWe & I-F: Satellite

2010-06-23T20:13:00.006+11:00

I have joined Watercolo(u)r Wednesdays! It is watercoloury version of Illustration Friday. (Coincidentally, this piece works for IF too this week!) Themes for WaWe are more involved than IF's one-word prompt however... for instance last week was 'my strange pet' and this week is 'Archimedes or Galileo'.

I reckon Galileo must have started out like this....

Had some fun with ink this time, which i haven't played with for a while, as well as watercolours (of course) and collage. Hope you enjoy!

Ripple

2010-06-16T12:40:00.005+11:00

Here is my contribution to Kelly's Light's Ripple - where every donated artcard is sold for $10, with the money donated to help the terrible oil spill in the Gulf.

It is number 423 on the blog. **sold.

Thank you Kelly for helping us all to do something positive, no matter how far away we live!

wise words

2010-06-07T17:46:00.002+11:00

"If we, citizens, do not support our artists, then we sacrifice our imagination on the altar of crude reality and we end up believing in nothing and having worthless dreams."

Yann Martel in Life of Pi

Christmas in June

2010-06-06T19:11:00.000+11:00

I recently took a trip to Sydney to visit a friend, but also did some business while I was there. I met with my editor at HarperCollins who is publishing the book I just finished illustrating - True Blue Santa - an aussie christmas story. I felt so little and nervous walking in there - check out this imposing building!

Anyway, it was all okay-- the editor was lovely as was the designer-- we had cups of tea and chatted, and then looked over all of the layouts. It turns out my timing was good as it was going to print that week, so I was able to go through it with a fine tooth comb and make final tweaks. I have to say I am VERY happy with how it is looking, and.... very proud (*blush*) of this being my first trade book. (eeee!)

So, it is due out in October! But I reckon it's about time I give you a sneak preview.... this is one of my favourite paintings from the book.... santa heading home after his australian adventure...

work-in-pirates

2010-06-03T21:26:00.005+11:00

I've gotten into the habit of doing a quick colour study in Photoshop before starting a new painting. I generally work out a colour scheme using either the Kuler plugin in Photoshop or the colour scheme designer which is very cool, or sometimes I'll even take it from the collage paper I want to use. Here is the one for Ashton's pirates painting which I am keeping in primary colours:

here's how it's looking at the moment:

I-F: Early

2010-05-24T01:45:00.004+11:00

Here is an early sketch for a commission I am working on for a young boy called Ashton. (sorry for bad photo)

Here is even earlier one - very quick in a small journal to figure out basic composition:

I'll be showing the sketch to Ashton's mum tomorrow - hope she likes it!

**edit: she did like it! thank goodness :)

. . .

It's good to be back online after some weeks of computer troubles. Oh how I missed thee, internet, and invisible cyber buddies....

I-F: Ahead

2010-04-27T21:45:00.005+11:00

At the moment I am looking ahead to the SCWBI conference in LA in July (anyone else going?) and revamping my folio. I hardly ever redo pieces, but I thought I would redo some which have gotten good feedback, but which need a style update.

This is one I orginally did for I-F: Skyline, almost 4 years ago. yeesh!

Drawing out Drawing In

2010-04-24T16:22:00.006+11:00

Last night I went to hear one of my favourite illustrators, Shaun Tan, speak at Melbourne's State Library new Wheeler Centre. I always pick up some tasty tip or get inspired by a piece of his work I haven't seen before.

He was speaking as part of Drawing Out, Drawing In : Spotlight on Graphic Novels. I must admit I haven't been in to graphic novels much but the talk was eye-opening for me in many ways. I picked up Persepolis which I am eager to read (and see the movie/animation, once I have read it)

Shaun Tan talked a lot of the themes he enjoys exploring in his work: Language or lack thereof, miscommunication, displacement, and giving a voice to the voiceless (like his dogs in Tales from Outer Suburbia)

It made me think a lot about what themes there might be in my work, what I would like to explore in my painting on a deeper level, beyond technique and improving skill. One theme I see in my work is exploring the notion of 'home'. Tree imagery appears a lot in my work and I think of them as a home to many things, and I think of grounding, roots and family trees... there are many metaphors. Anyway that's something I'd like to delve deeper into in the coming weeks and months as I develop my folio for the LA conference....

a good day, a good life.

2010-04-22T22:31:00.007+11:00

This morning.... I registered for the SCBWI summer conference in LA in July. (eee!)

Today... it was 28C.

This afternoon... I painted.

This evening... I had yummy food.

I'm very lucky.

My life is so good.

Books and book launches

2010-04-15T23:29:00.004+11:00

Last night I went to the launch of Karen's new book Miscellaneous Voices, an anthology of blogging in Australia. Some of the contributors were there and read engaging passages of the book. It was good to see Karen again - it had been a while since we worked on Surprise! together - her kids have grown, her hair has been cut, but she is still forging through the complicated world of publishing with great avidity. Way to go Karen!

And while I was at Readings for the launch, I of course couldn't help pick up something for myself. This would have to be the most cleverest book I have ever seen:

The Black Book of Colours is an all black book - the grey parts you see in the picture above are actually black embossed glossy illustrations, on black paper. The only thing that is not black is the text in white, but it is accompanied by braille, in black. I know there must be tons of books for seeing impaired children (is that the correct pc term?), but I must admit this is the first one I have ever seen personally. It is quite exquisite. This one will not be for little greasy fingers in this house, and that means adults too!!

I-F: Dip

2010-04-05T23:19:00.004+11:00

Boris the Bilby felt every dip and rise in his hot air balloon....

Hope everyone had a lovely easter! Here in Australia, we have easter bilbies, along with easter wabbits. I love the Australian spin personally.

I had a blissful long weekend - cooking yummy food for friends, planting trees and pottering in the garden, my first Illustration Friday since September! It's lovely to have 'normal life' time again after finishing a big illustration project.

so much to share about the book process and other things too... more coming soon!

seminars & websites

2010-03-30T19:23:00.000+11:00

Illustrators Australia held seminars this past Saturday about contracts, copyright and pricing from and illustrator's perspective. It was a great day!

I learned a lot about PLR and ELR (Public Lending Rights and Education Lending Rights) which I hope get for the first time with the book I have just completed. Basically, PLR/ELR are payments made to australian authors/illustrators to compensate for books being available to view and photocopy for 'free' in libraries and schools, in theory diminishing sales of the book. You can read more about it here.

I was also finally able to meet the lovely Majory Gardner in person. Marjory and I worked on a similar series of books for Five Mile Press (Brimax) last year, and she also has a brand new sparkly website. Do go have a look - it really is beautiful and her bright work just pops from the page!

some other cool revamped illustrator websites to check out too:

<< flossy-p

sonia kretchmar >>

such lovely folio sites - they make me realise mine needs a serious update/revamp too!

amongst the gum trees....

2010-03-24T20:41:00.005+11:00

I had to paint a lot of eucalypts for my aussie Christmas book, so one day I took a little walk down to the creek at the end of my street to shoot a few reference shots:

and here's a snippit of how some of mine turned out:

It's official.

2010-03-20T22:53:00.006+11:00

It's officially done. 14 double page spreads, 6 single pages and one spot illustration for my latest children's book. Cover sketch 10c ended up winning (see earlier post), so it was approved on Tuesday, I finished everything on Thursday, couriered it all to Sydney on Friday, and had the biggest sleep-in ever on Saturday. :-)

I have to say I am proud of what I accomplished, and I can't wait to see it in book form!! I will miss the project in my life - Not so much the book itself but the time I dedicated to painting every day and how that has affected my discipline. I really learned a lot illustrating this book, which I will share with you over the coming weeks.

I am looking forward to getting back to a bit of normal life though -- some blogging, some Illustration Fridays, but most of all seeing my husband and friends! I have been locked inside my studio for the last month, and as much as I have loved every second of it, I am keen to rediscover my social life (and the house needs a good clean too!)

Flora's giveaway

2010-03-08T14:35:00.003+11:00

If you don't know Flora's art, otherwise known as Happy Doodle Land, you MUST go check her out. Now is an espcially good time to do so because she is having a giveaway of one of my favouritest prints ever. go... now!

Cover pains

2010-03-04T23:22:00.004+11:00

I'm drawing to the end of my current book project (pun intended!) -- except that we still don't have a cover! I've just submitted my 9th and 10th sketches for it.

I think a cover design is always fraught - it's so difficult to find one image which sums up the book, plus there are lots of people to keep happy: editor, author, marketing, publicity, etc. oh, and yeah yourself in there somewhere too. In my experience I've found I usually need to relinquish control of the cover, and just be happy with the rest of the book to myself. Hard to do though, I still have to put my two cents in even if it's ignored sometimes ;)

I'm reminded of when I heard David Weisner speak at the SCBWI conference, and he told how he went through about 20 cover ideas for Flotsam. He showed us many of them, and they weren't all good! It doesn't make me feel so bad, seeing as he won the Caldecott and all...

For the love of art supplies

2010-02-22T16:36:00.008+11:00

For anyone who's ever fallen in love with art materials, check out the link below for a guest blog post on author Damon Young's blog from artist Steve Light (from Rachel). He professes a love for his ink pen I can totally understand. I know there are a few paintbrushes I would want to save from a burning building!

I like what he says about how his pen takes him on a journey and he is really just along for the ride.

I didn't know of him but he's got a really fun, loose style.

http://damon-young.blogspot.com/2010/02/write-tools-17-steve-light.html

g'day.... remember me?

2010-02-15T23:42:00.003+11:00

Hi... just a little post to say yes I am still here.

I have had some V.I.P.s visiting for the last two months (my parents, from USA), and have been busy making memories.

Here are some places we visited together:

clockwise from top: blue mountains, aboriginal paintings, sculptures above Broken Hill, blue mountains, Murray River (near Mildura)

So.... I'm aware there hasn't been much illustration on this blog lately. sorry about that. I've still been doing lots, I just can't show it to you yet! But I promise to post some more interesting things soon, perhaps after I have finished illustrating my current book (3 weeks left - eek!)

hope you are well out there in bloggy land...

over and out,

for now.

and a new decade begins....

2010-01-01T19:20:00.004+11:00

A new year, a new decade...

here is how the end of 2009 looked for me:

(31C inside/ 40C outside for us aussies)

I wouldn't have imagined that as 2009 turned into 2010 I'd be....

- Bringing in the new year in Australia with my parents & husband

- Working on my first 'real' children's book with a major publisher

- Renovating my first house

For the upcoming year, I am bestowing it with the moniker Year of Friends. I feel like last year (09!) was the Year of Home. And now that the renos are mostly done (will show you some pics soon!) I want to get back to a more social lifestyle. More sharing, more giving, more meals, discussions, wine, laughs and play.

Of course, I will still be working hard. I have started the paintings for my book and am loving it, and look forward to whatever new illustration projects, discovery & inspiration might come my way this year.

But this year I want to restore the balance between work and play.

All the best to you - and to everything you hope for, dream of, plan excessively for, but perhaps more importantly, to all the unplanned happinesses that you find along the way.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-23T12:48:00.005+11:00

Sorry for my prolonged absence from blogland.... soon I will show you some photos of what I've been up to.

But for now I just want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and all the very best for the new decade!

lil kim xoxo

A few good things

2009-11-06T23:38:00.004+11:00

Since I handed in the roughs for my book, I have been up to my neck in home renovation land. I am soooo happy to say that it is almost done! The last few weeks have been a blur of plasterboard, insulation and power tools. (how different to paper & pencils!) But by Monday, the walls and ceiling of our 3rd bedroom and new pantry will be ready to paint. Very exciting!

In the mean time, here are some good things:

spring blooms

tomatoes, spring onions, olives and haloumi with cumin.

I then cracked a few eggs into this and it was so yummy!

My blueberry plant has blueberries on it! Apparently you're supposed to take them off the first year so that the plant puts its energy into growing, not into the fruit, but I can't help myself - I want some homegrown blueberries! (and that's my little puddycat again, Whiskey)

Cuteness.

2009-10-21T22:42:00.003+11:00

I got a lovely little present in the mail yesterday from the lovely Monica. I am the lucky recipient of Monica's first giveaway - a totally cute little puddytat.

Thanks Monica! I will give him a very good home here :)

And speaking of cats, sometimes I find it very hard to work, I'm not sure why...

Phew!

2009-10-15T20:35:00.006+11:00

I am excited to report that I have finished the rough sketches/layouts for my current book. Just some scanning and a bit of touching up, then they will be off on Monday!

I have to say that I am having the BEST TIME with this book. It has been so much fun, so free. It's just sublime to interpret and bring my ideas to a text that isn't completely straight forward, and allows some room for humour and interesting perspectives.

Once I've 'officially' sent off the roughs I'll post some more about my process of illustrating this book (without giving anything away of course!) Until then if you were curious you can check out some posts (starting here) that I did when illustrating my previous book Surprise!

more soon...

Tips for getting started as a children's book illustrator

2009-10-12T20:22:00.003+11:00

The lovely Paige from Fox in Socks has posted several illustrators' tips for plunging into the wide world of children's illustration. Some good stuff there-- Thanks Paige!!

9 x 5 = 20

2009-10-11T19:31:00.005+11:00

The Illustrators Australia annual 9 x 5 exhibition opened this past Friday with the theme of "20" as it is our 20th anniversary this year. It was part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival and it was a fun time had by all! We had lots of people through, lots of food and drink consumed, and lots of artwork sold (including mine, hooray!)

I had a very good night. Lots of good conversations with fellow illustrators which is always such a treat! We are such a solitary bunch aren't we? so good to talk shop once in a while.

Annd, because my artwork sold, I always like to share the love... so I bought Penny Lovelock's piece, who, besides having the best name in the world, is also one talented painter!! See for yourself:

Cute eh? I love the humorous blackbirds. I'd like to frame this and hang it in my kitchen!

I have so many posts about different things that I want to do... children's books I have acquired, the process of illustrating my current book, but I am still working hard at the moment. but soon.... very soon..... I will have a bit more time on my hands, so stay tuned sports fans.

bread and butter

2009-10-03T00:17:00.007+11:00

For the past 6 weeks I have been working on an educational book about handwriting which needed a lot of illustrations - 140 of them! It was a change of gears for me because they wanted digital illos (in Illustrator) which I don't really do anymore. (I worked on a similar project with this publisher a few years ago when I worked only digitally, and they wanted the same style)

It was pretty fun to do, but all I wanted was to work on my Christmas book! But educational work is often the bread and butter that helps you support the more fun illustration projects.

So now I am back to the book and absolutely 100% loving it! I am having sooo much fun doing the roughs - an especially good sketching night tonight :) I will post more about that soon. Until then, here are 3 of the 140 illos I completed recently...

winking wombat

old ostrich

coughing camel

I-F: Pattern

2009-09-26T15:03:00.006+11:00

There are a lot of different patterns going on here - and I suppose 2 by 2 is a pattern too!

This is my submission for Illustrators Australia's annual 9x5 exhibition, where artists paint a piece of wood 9x5 inches in dimension. I used watercolours and coloured pencils for this -- I've never painted w/c on wood before so that was quite interesting!

The theme this year was "20" seeing as it is IA's 20th year anniversary. Mine is entitled '2 x 10'.

All pieces are for sale. You can go have a gander at them here, and bid! Or better yet, come along on the night if you are in Melbourne - Friday October 9th. Not long now!

postcard from Espana

2009-09-24T17:20:00.006+11:00

What a treat to find a postcard in my letterbox from the lovely Natascha!! Isn't it so exciting to receive real mail these days? Especially when it's so whimsically illustrated (and collaged, love that happy bear). Thank you so much Natascha!

I have been burning the candle at both ends the last few weeks. Just yesterday I finished up one of my two big illustrations projects I had on the go (I will post more about that soon), so I am very happy!

For now though I am diving back into working on my Christmas book which has been sadly in the back seat lately. (I kept looking at it longingly in the rear view mirror.)

I found it hard to shift my headspace between the two projects because they were so different -the one I just finished was digital, relatively rote, the book is traditional, extremely creative- so now I'm excited to really dig my teeth in again.

so off I go! But see you soon :)

uber cute

2009-09-11T19:36:00.003+11:00

Here are the characters I have developed for my Christmas book that will be out October 2010. Personally, I think they are uber cute!

I-F: Strong

2009-09-08T00:10:00.005+11:00

Some strong winds a blowin!

This is a bit of a companion piece to my previous I-F painting (Caution), both potential entries for Image Zoo's contest for their artists (of which I am one). It's a 'show off' contest, but unfortunately I only had 2 hours to do this from start to finish so don't feel like it's much of a show off, so not sure if I will enter at all...

The topic was 'social networking' - so these are both entitled "Face-book (old school)"

Also, as a bonus here is a previous IF post "Strength" that I did aaaaages ago, when I was still working digitally. Have I really been doing Illustration Friday for 4 years? wow.

I-F: Caution

2009-08-26T22:42:00.001+11:00

No need to use caution when lost in your imagination! The scan isn't great on this one - you may want to click on it to see it bigger + some more details.

Well, I have come to a decision about which medium I will use for my book (gouache vs. watercolours). I'm going to stick with the tried and true (w/c). I think more than anything, learning gouache to any level of mastery in a limited time is a stress I don't need to put on myself!

And I think watercolours will be just fine, thank you very much. I want to make sure I use them intensely, brightly - so I will keep having fun with this. Also experimenting with using coloured pencils for shading in this one, giving it a bit of a sketchy/hand drawn feel, which I like.

I-F: Wrapped

2009-08-17T23:10:00.002+11:00

There's nothing more comforting than being all wrapped up in bed when it's stormy outside. (As it was here in Melbourne this past weekend!)

Well thanks again for all your encouraging comments on my brush painting from my last two Illustration Friday submissions. As fun as it was (and as much as I want to continue!) I need to get down to the crux of my dilemma at the moment: which medium will I use for my book?

I've used watercolours for several years now, but I want to incorporate collage a lot more into my work, which is difficult to do with w/c - because it's transparent, you can't paint on top of the collage paper. So at the moment I am experimenting with gouache, hoping it will get me where I want to go....