Little Red Riding Hood

As soon as I saw this weeks Illustration Friday topic "Red", I got excited. I have made a couple of ink and watercolor illustrations of Little Red Riding Hood (or "Lille Rødhette" as we say in Norway) before, and I knew I had a lot of sketches to go back to for inspiration. After looking at my old sketches I made several rough thumbnails, then I scanned them and made a few digital sketches to see the compositions a bit clearer - and to do a simple color test. I think the acrylic paint is great for a fairytale picture like this.

Japanese Children's books

All things Japanese had always been an inspiration in my work. I am lucky enough to own a few Japanese children's books. The well thought out design, color- and not to mention- incredibly cute characters- puts a smile on my face.

My latest acrylic illustration

I used a lot of acrylics during my school years, paiting apples and mugs, but I've just started to use it creating my children's illustrations. I began exploring acrylics for this purpose four months ago, and I'm getting more and more comfortable with it. It's very different to work with acrylics compared to my usual watercolors, and it takes me twice as much time to finish an illustration in acrylics, but I like the results. I love the bright colors and the painted look!

Illustration for Kids promo

Christmas has come and gone, but I wanted to show the promotional mailer we sent out. I think it was a great way to showcase all our different styles.

Creative bunny

Paula's cute bunnies made me think of this illustration I made a while ago. I don't draw animal characters very often, but this is a part of a series of several pictures I made of this little bunny and a little kitten.

I've made lots of illustrations of characters who is drawing, painting or being creative in other ways. I guess it's because these things are very familiar to me, so it's natural to put it in my pictures.

Practice Piece: Greeting Card

Happy New Year's greetings! I'm getting a bit of a late start to returning to normal affairs post-holiday but I think this SECOND week in January will be the beginning of normalcy. I have been doodling a bit over the holidays. Whereas I'd been working on honing my line & wash style, I'm also working on my more painterly style. I keep telling myself that I don't have to choose a style if both feel authentic for me, right? I keep telling myself that, anyway...

Above is a piece that I posted on my blog a week or so ago. I wanted to do a sweet little piece that commemorated my husband's act of surprising me by joining me in South Texas for the holidays. It's also a greeting card design so it serves multiple purposes. I've not pursued the greeting card market much in my years as an illustrator (primarily focusing on children's magazines, general editorial, educational curriculum, etc.), but I'm going to spend some time this year pursuing this particular media, as well as others.