PJ's story continues...

So I'm working on filling out my portfolio, trying to fill in some gaps and get things ready to show to publishers, and particularly to show at the SCBWI Southern Breeze Illustrators Workshop coming up in October.

I really liked how my Illustration Contest entry came out (check it out in an earlier blog post), so I decided to continue building on the concept with another piece. In this scene, we'll see that PJ and the little furry critter have made friends, and the little guy has convinced PJ to help him on an adventure. Their quest is going to lead them first to a mysterious cave, and then into the cave and beyond.

Here's the initial sketch:


This is the final drawing on acrylic paper and the background inspiration image from an old copy of America - Land of Beauty and Splendor (Reader's Digest):


Stay tuned to see the final painting!

Torch

Way back when I was about 12 or 13 years old, I sat down with paper and pencil and created a little green dragon I named Torch. In the original drawing, I used a set of really cool markers I got as a gift to add color. I've kept the sketch all these years (it's now 15 years old - if you look in the lower right corner, you'll see my initials and the date). Torch quickly became my favorite character, sort of like Mickey was to Walt Disney. I drew him over and over, putting him in all kinds of situations. I also ended up putting a lot of myself into his personality.

Then I went several years without drawing him, and I have to admit, I truly missed the little guy. So I decided to break out my brushes and acrylics this week and spend some time bringing Torch to life again. I really enjoyed working on this project; it was like getting to hang out with a good friend you haven't seen in a long time.

plan on doing a series of illustrations with Torch, so check back for more of this little guy!

New Deviant Art Webpage

So my bud Trey finally got me hooked up with a new webpage through a site called Deviant Art. It's another great tool to promote your art on the web. Trey's had a page there for years and has been encouraging me to get on board. Now that I am, I'll be posting my illustration work there along with some of my other artwork outside of illustration. Take a minute and check out both our pages!

http://jeremydevans81.deviantart.com/ Jeremy's page

http://corumdeo3.deviantart.com/ Trey's page

Thanks Trey!!!

GC&SU Alumni Exhibit

Several months back, my wife Erin and I were invited to participate in an alumni art exhibit at our Alma mater Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville. Thought I'd share some of the pics on the ole' blog! It was really great getting to see our professors again, and the new college art gallery is so cool. I chose to exhibit one of my illustrations, and Erin selected Brushy Mini.

Southern Breeze Illustration Contest

It's finally finished! I've been working hard for the past three weeks or so on my submission for the Southern Breeze 2009 Illustration Contest. We were given the prompt, "PJ reached in and..." and were asked to finish the sentence with a creative illustration. I wrote out a TON of ideas for how to complete the prompt, but I decided to go with an idea that my wife really loved:

"PJ reached in and thought he saw something hiding behind the baseball."

The idea is that PJ is out playing a game of baseball with some friends, and the kid at bat hits a good one way out of the park. PJ, who's playing in the outfield, has to then search through the woods to find the ball. He comes across a fallen tree, and something draws him closer to look there for the ball. When he looks down a hollow branch, he sees the ball... and something else hiding behind it!

Once I got the idea together, I started the painting process. First, I drew out the illustration on acrylic paper, traced the lines with a Sharpee, then taped the paper to a board on my easel:


Next, I covered the whole image with a layer of gel medium, and then a dark brown glaze layer for my underpainting. Once both dried, I started blocking in the painting with basic colors:

From there, I built up the painting in layers, adding more details to give form to the figures, working with highlights and shadows, etc:


I reworked PJ's facial expression and the shadow on his hand a few times as well as the color of the little critter's fur and cape before I felt satisfied with the piece. Here's the final product!


Click here to see last year's winners!

New Project

I've been working on a new illustration project. I just finished this sketch last night:

SCBWI Bulletin - May/June 2009

It's here!! The article I wrote for the SCBWI Bulletin is now in print, and I finally received a copy!

Here's the backstory on how it all came to be...

I was about to leave the SCBWI National Conference in NYC this past January when Aaron Hartzler (director of communications and design/webmaster for SCBWI) approached me out of the blue. He asked if I would be interested in writing a short article for the SCBWI Bulletin about my first conference experience, and of course I said yes! I came home, wrote the article, and sent it in to Aaron. And a few months later, there it is in print! Hope it encourages others to take the leap of faith and get involved with the SCBWI.

My New Hand-Bound Sketchbook

A couple of years ago, I really got interested in personalizing my sketchbooks, and in particular, binding books by hand. I checked out a few books from my local library on the subject, and I knew I had to try out some of the techniques I learned from them to take my sketchbooks to the next level.

The first style of bookbinding I attempted was a traditional Japanese technique. I basically took a generic sketchbook you can purchase from any arts and crafts store, deconstructed it, and rebound it using the Japanese technique. I was really stoked about the results!

This past weekend, I attempted a second technique for creating a multi-signature hardbound sketchbook. This method turned out to be way more challenging. I had to start with supplies from scratch in order to create all of the parts of the book: book board, pages for the text block, book cloth, end pages, etc. Instead of just rebinding the parts of a pre-made sketchbook, I was going to be building this one from square one. In the end, I think I'm really satisfied with how it turned out!

Illustrators Exhibit

Coming up on Friday, May 22nd, at 5:00pm, Decatur's own Little Shop of Stories will feature an exhibit of children's book art created by local illustrators. The exhibit will be on display through May 31st. I definitely plan on attending - hope you will, too!

First Big Steps

So here's a little bit of back-story to bring things up to the present...

Last summer (2008), I started taking some of my first big steps to becoming a real illustrator. I had been checking out picture books on a regular basis from my local library to get better acquainted with the world of children's books, and in particular with authors and illustrators. And somewhere along the way, I came across the work of author/illustrator Jarrett Krosoczka. I read Punk Farm and Baghead, and really liked Krosoczka's style. I visited his webpage, and eventually wrote him an email to say that I liked his work and to seek his advice on getting into the world of children's books. I was thrilled to get a reply from him, and the biggest piece of advice he offered was to join the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.

Later on in September, I learned that Tony Diterlizzi would be coming to Atlanta for a book signing of his latest title Kenny and the Dragon. I had read and loved Spiderwick Chronicles, and thought it would be a great opportunity to go to the book signing and meet the author/illustrator. It was a great experience. Not only did I get to hear Tony read an excerpt from Kenny and the Dragon in person, but I also got invited to come up and create a sketch of a dragon with him! Later on, I asked Tony for his advice on getting into the world of children's books, and he said something I had heard before: "Join SCBWI!"

(Tony draws a dragon as I describe it.)

Needless to say, I took their advice and became a full-fledged member of SCBWI. By the time 2009 rolled around, I had booked a flight to New York City to attend my first SCBWI New York Conference. It was an amazing experience. I even got to meet Jarrett Krosoczka and thank him in person for his advice!

(J and J - yeah, that's how we roll.)

(My wife Erin, Pamela, my brother Josh, and me in NYC after the conference.)

Since the conference, I built my website, created some new illustrations, and started going through my copy of Children's Writers and Illustrators Market to find out more about contacting publishers.

And that about brings us to the present!