Dreaming Big in 2013


Here it comes, the obligatory New Years Resolution blog post! I know you were all waiting for it, right? Thought it wasn't going to happen? Well... me too, haha. But it's so hard not to reflect and be hopeful when the calendar starts anew. I do often wonder why, if it feels so good to have this mental checkpoint, is it so hard to create your own throughout the year? Why can't I decide that July 15th is my next time to reflect?

For some reason, that just doesn't feel right. 

There's something about the snow, the cold (*in new England at least), the ball dropping, scarves, mittens, discarded holiday packaging...it's a huge rush all at once. Afterwards your brain kinda just goes, "PHEW...did that just happen?"  

I'm looking forward to this year, though, for some reason I'm slightly apprehensive. I work really hard. Really hard. Sometimes I wonder why I do...because it makes me so tired.

The labor of love...

I guess I'm just hoping for something bigger. Something to make me feel like it's all worth it. Being an artist or writer is sure not easy! We definitely all work hard to get where we are. 

 Many loud cheers to all of you hard working creative folks out there. Keep doing it, the world needs you!  And please have a happy, peaceful, and celebratory New Year! I'll try to do the same. :) 



~Renee

Bears, Bears, Everywheres!


If you see me on Twitter or Instagram, you've probably been seeing me post hash tags like this: #vmat. What is #vmat, you ask? Pioneered by Genevieve F.T and Cale Atkinson, it's the 1st Annual Very Merry Super Secret Twitter Art Trade and it's pretty cool. Over 70 illustrators signed up to make original art for a buddy, nobody knows who's art they're getting (hense "super secret"). 


I can't tell you yet who gets this piece...though I suppose I CAN say that it's getting shipped to another country...today!



Here is the final image. It was a good excuse to practice more painting. This time, instead of ink, I used colored pencil, which I traced from a sketch onto hot press watercolor paper using a light box. I painted over it with watercolors. I still haven't gotten the hang of it yet... I think next time I'll just to use paint to get my lights and darks. If I need an outline, I'll paint it. 


Logo Design by Cale Atkinson!
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Revisiting 2009


I'm still hard at work revamping my portfolio and the next step was to redesign an image that marked a turning point in my style...in 2009 (see below). The original image was so popular in my Etsy store and it hangs, large scale, in many of my coworkers houses, so this was a little challenging! How do I maintain the sentiment of that piece in this new style?

I started with a sketch:


I knew I wanted more movement and, again, a little more story. This time, her favorite stuffed animal is being chewed on by a little sweater dog...but she doesn't care. 

Here is the original image, the Flash influence is apparent in this one too:


I have one more piece that I'd like to redo for my portfolio...so stay tuned! 
Check out my other revamp here!

Cheers!
~Renee

Sunday Sketch #6


One of the requirements at our yearly FableVision Holiday Party/ Book Swap is to attach a recipe card to whatever food you bring! Here is mine - YUM. 

Wherever you may be, I hope you're having a cozy holiday season! I'll be here in Boston writing out my Christmas Cards and listening to the Home Alone Soundtrack on repeat. :) 

Cheers!
~Renee
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Out With the Old...


My portfolio suffers a bit from inconsistency of style and lack of story. Bit by bit, I have been going in and reworking some old pieces to bring them up to date. It makes me glad to know that I am not willing to let go of these old ideas (and even color palettes)...for new ones. 

I made the image below sometime in 2007? I was heavy into Flash at that point in my career and you can see that in the line quality and flat colors:


In the new image, I gave these guys a little bit more story. I thought about things like "Why would those birds be staring at that owl?" and "Why would he even care?" Adding a nice warm beverage to a snowy scene makes it look like the birds want a bit of that hot tea in his mug. Alas! There is story now. 

It's a daunting task, redoing my portfolio, but I know it will be worth it to get the kind of freelance work I'd like more of!

Cheers!
~Renee

A World Full of FUN!


For the past year at FableVision I have been whittling away at pixels, creating a virtual world for  Ranger Rick and his friends to live in. A daunting task, because the print magazine has been around since 1967 and has an insurmountable legacy! National Wildlife Federation's Ranger Rick Magazine is chock filled with FUN: fun facts about animals you love, fun jokes written by kids, amazing wildlife photography, equally as amazing illustrations, word searches, articles, etc. 


What FableVision did was take the FUN and bring it all to life. We also added interactive activities, a game room with flipping dolphins and leaping leopards, full screen videos of real animals in action, a rewarding Rick dancing on screen, an outdoor activity journal, and more, all inside of Ranger Rick's Tree House. 

My primary role was to create the "world" and oversee animation and production, which seems small compared to the genius of Creative Directors, Leigh Hallisey and Gary Goldberger, Super Producer and manager of my life schedule (and the bestest music picker) Kate Cotter, and especially the FableFabulous Developer, Matt Bargar (who made everything work...like magic...seriously). The Tree House main room was a group effort between myself and Art Director, Bob Flynn. Here is the early sketch he did for the main page, which I eventually turned into the color image below (click to enlarge):



Below is a sketch I did for the intro "zoom into the tree" animation, which eventually ended up looking like the top left image below it (along with a few snippets of final art from the app): 




It's not like any other Newsstand App out there...it's a magazine, 4 awesome games, journal, comics, videos, interactive activities and more. For $19.99/ year for 4 issues and 1 update per issue...that's a steal! Right now it's 25% off...so even better. If you're not quite sure about it, you can also download a Free Sampler that has a little taste of Issue #1. 

I hope you'll check it out, we're already hard at work on the next issue and there is so much more FUN to come! 

Download the Newsstand App. 
Read this heart felt blog post by Senior Editor of Ranger Rick Magazine, Hannah Schardt.

Cheers!
~Renee
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The Christmas Hamster Book Giveaway!


The Christmas Hamster is the first book I ever illustrated! It's a lovely story of a lost pet hamster, written by Bryan Gatley and self published in 2008. 


You can never really tell what's going to happen when you release a book out into the wild. Needless to say, every family member and distant cousin received one for Christmas in 2008. What surprises me year after year are the kids who "Ooo!" and "Ahh!" when their parents introduce me as "the illustrator of The Christmas Hamster!" 

Wait, you mean...kids...really like it!?? Kids really like it! 


I've come a long way artistically since 2008, but I can't shake the fact that year after year, this book is still part of some family traditions. That's the best feeling in the world. 

Which brings me to the giveaway part! 

Earlier this week, I was lucky enough to win John Schu (aka @MrSchuReads) giveaway of Michael Hearst's Unusual Creatures book. He's giving away books all week, actually, as are lots of others participating in the PiBoIdMo Challenge. This simple act of generosity really makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. 

Wouldn't you know I have a copy of The Christmas Hamster that is sitting here wishing and hoping to be part of your family tradition? I'll sign it and draw a little picture inside, too!

There are three ways to enter, either retweet my tweet about this blog post, tweet with the hash tag #xmashamster, or leave a comment below! Please include a way for me to get in touch with you! 

I'll keep track of names until Friday, December 7th at noon and I'm going to pick a winner the good old fashioned way - out of a hat! 


Cheers and best of luck!
~Renee

PiBoIdMo Weeks #3+4: Hunker Down


It's not my favorite idea of them all, but the above image may be my favorite in my entire PiBoIdMo notebook. One thing I discovered this month was that when I couldn't come up with words, I drew instead and the words inevitably followed. Sometimes they took up entire pages and I started to wonder if I was writing a chapter book:


I have never participated in a creative event that required so much dedication and thought. It made my November completely fly by. Where did it go!? Hello... November? 


I woke up each day to a new inspiring post on Tara Lazar's blog. It was everything I could do to not read them before bed, towards the end I cheated a little. :) Have you seen the motivational image that Tiffany Strelitz Haber posted on Day 28? I swear it's what kept me going. It would have been so easy to just say "Oh, I'll finish the last two ideas some other time." But guess what?


I didn't! 


My last idea was written on a peaceful Friday evening with my furry friend, Timmy, close by. I filled the entire notebook to nearly overflowing...

...and that makes me a winner! 

Logo Designed by Ward Jenkins

Cool.  :)

Congratulations to all the winners of PiBoIdMo. There are currently 301 pledges which means that there are 9,000+ new picture book ideas out there floating around. There's a success story in there somewhere! Thank you to Tara and all the blog posters for sharing so much and kick-starting my days in November!

Cheers!
~Renee


Glorious Black and White

I usually think in color...vibrant, saturated color. What scares me just a little bit, but not enough to back down from a challenge, is black and white. Lately, I've been receiving some nudges to include more black and white work in my portfolio...along with more traditionally hand drawn work. When Tomie dePaola's Award guidelines popped up a few months ago on the SCBWI website, I saw it as the perfect opportunity to experiment.

It took me that long to finish reading The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. Between getting married, commissions, my day job, and holidays...it's really, really hard to find time to read! And no, I have never read this book before and had only a vague idea of what might happen.*

The hardest part was choosing one scene out of the entire book to illustrate. You could take it in any direction because there are really funny moments (Fodder-Wing and his antics and the way they poke fun at Ma Baxter), really tender moments (between Jody and his father), hard times (a violent week long noreaster, a vicious plague, or fire), and internal thoughts of a child coming of age.

In the end, I chose...well, the end...but not the part where he has to (SPOILER) put an end to his beloved pet's life.

To me, the story was really about a son's adoration and admiration for his father. When Jody felt like Penny turned on him, that's really why he suffered. He had nobody left to trust. In the end, the only thing that could get him out of it was realizing that his father was right (and nearly starving to death in the process).

Maybe I'm getting too deep, here...but hey, I have to explain why I chose this scene!

I wanted to show a totally different emotion than I normally show in my work....in hopes that the honesty will show through. Not every moment in life is carefree, there are hard times too.

I used scanned pencil and brush pen sketches in combination with Photoshop to make this piece. Here are a few of the scanned images, see if you can find them in the final:




There's something really soft and natural about pencil shading. You'll be seeing lots more of this type of work out of me in the next few months!



There are already so many lovely submissions for the 2013 Tomie dePaola Award. Houston Illustrator, Diandra Mae is caretaker of the unofficial online gallery. I'll be crossing my fingers, but mostly I'm just proud of myself for submitting this year after ogling from the sidelines for too long. :) 

Good luck to all!

Cheers!
~Renee

*Funny Story: I was nearing the end of the book and one day while perusing Twitter I saw a conversation that read: "What's the name of the book about the boy who has to kill a deer?" to which someone replied "The Yearling?" Thus... the ending of a book written in 1938 -spoiled by modern technology! It really was funny!

The Many Phases of Mary

I recently completed a new portfolio piece that I like to call: Mary Had a Gigantic Lamb. You might have seen the image floating around my Instagram or Facebook pages last week! Like any other illustration, it started off as a thumbnail sketch no bigger than a business card:



I sketch a lot like this, it's my favorite part of creating art. It's freedom. There is no such thing as a mistake in this stage and you never know what you'll end up with. In this case, I liked the idea of Mary and her lamb in the rain with an umbrella. Why does it pay to show your sketches to friends? Sometimes they offer up fresh ideas that help break you out of your story telling comfort zone. Because of a quick conversation with a friend (Thanks, Ellen!) I chose a different moment of the walk to illustrate:


I don't usually do a color study, but I planned to watercolor this illustration and thought it might be smart to play around. I flipped the composition to keep the focus on lamby and kept the study pretty primary:


And then, oh my, I can't even believe I am showing this to the world...I attempted to watercolor a more finished sketch version. I'll just call this one another color study test, ok? 


I would have liked to continue working on my watercolor skills with this piece. Currently, however, the computer just allows me to do more with texture and contrast. (It also allows for a lot more quick experimentation with color palette.) I love adding natural wood grains, patterned fabrics, and experimenting with different brush textures in Photoshop. 


And there they are, from start to finish! 
Time lapse: About 2 months

If you enjoyed the process posting, please let me know and I'll make it a point to do more. Feel free to leave comments below. I'd love to hear from you! 

Cheers!
~Renee

Sunday Sketch #3



Regretfully, I am one day late posting my 3rd Sunday sketch! Yesterday, however, was a fabulous distraction as we were spending time with my family in Pennsylvania celebrating early Thanksgiving. Turkey coma time! 

Also I believe that it's now OK to submit to the ever lurking Christmas season...I started sketching some ideas for holiday cards. :) That's allowed, right? 

Cheers and have a very HAPPY THANKSGIVING week!

Gobble-Gobble,
~Renee



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