cycheng's Xanga

New Direction

Mon, 04 Jul 2011 22:41:22 GMT

Hi Xanga Friends,

After almost 10 years on Xanga, I finally decided to move my blog to Blogger because it gives me more freedom with the interface. So please follow me now at:

www.charlotteillustrations.com

That's right, I bought a domain ;). The new blog also provides easy access to my portfolio as well as my Etsy and Zazzle stores.

Hope to see you there folks and Happy 4th of July!
ttfn
Charlotte

midsummer night

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 19:23:00 GMT

Painted my gnome on the iPad last night. . did this in about an hour. I think I found a few brushes I like, but still can't seem to replicate the "sponge" brush I use in Photoshop.

Been reaallly busy preparing for the Creating Cartoons Workshop that I'll be teaching in Atherton this summer. I've been scouring the web finding good reference photos to illustrate concepts like line weight, foreshortening, cross-hatching, color scripting, etc. A lot of work, but I know it will be worth it :)

I'm also being considered as an illustrator for Byrne Publishing. They produce picture book apps on the iPad and iPod Touch and pay illustrators by royalty. Whatcha guys think? Should I take the plunge into digital publishing land?

launch

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 08:05:06 GMT

I know it's weird. . but that's what I thought of when given the word "launch" this week: a flying pig fleet driven by fighter chickens. They're launching an attack on the nearest Eggland's Best Egg Factory :P.

I spent this past weekend at the Book Passage Children's Writer & Illustrator's Conference. It was my second year attending and once again, I learned so much from each of the workshops/panels. The conference was relatively small in size, which allowed me to have one on one conversations with many of the faculty members there, such as Mac Barnett and Kathryn Otoshi. I also had a consultation with Thacher Hurd, who's written/illustrated over 25 picture books. . .oh, by the way, his father also illustrated Good Night, Moon! Most importantly, all the workshops had a very intimate and supportive atmosphere. . .you felt safe enough to explore and stretch the boundaries of your creativity.

One of the highlights was attending Dan Santat's workshops, where he broke down his own process of creating goooorgeous illustrations. I went home and tried a few of his tips, which you can see below.

I have to admit, to me, this image is a lot more eye-catching and dynamic than my usual style. A lot of his advice centered around making sure that, in each illustration, you told a different part of the story in the foreground, middle ground, and background. He also emphasized the use of contrasting saturations and/or color groups (cool vs. warm) to add definition to the major components in your composition. I hope you can see a few of those techniques in the illustration above. I like the sinister silhouettes contrasted with the warm/playful figure in the middle ground.

During the next few weeks, I hope to share how I incorporate more "ah ha" conference moments into my own work. Next up: establishing a fresh and authentic voice for your main character.

swept

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 22:52:05 GMT

This is a sketch I did while visiting the SFMOMA Stein Collections exhibit. It's Picasso's "Student with a Pipe" where the student is swept up in the plumes of his own smoke. Here's the original:

I love his quirky angles and use of different lines, textures, and patterns. It was really fun to try and replicate the style in Photoshop by messing around with various brushes. The exhibit is full of amazing paintings from Picasso, Cezanne, Matisse, and more! You also get to learn about the role the Stein family played in the careers of these famous artists. I highly recommend a visit.

Lastly, I donated two art prints to the Art 4 Japan project a while back and they're selling the final pieces from the project on ebay here. All proceeds are donated to AmeriCares in their efforts to provide relief to victims of the earthquake in Japan.

My prints were already sold, but you can still purchase them at my Etsy shop during the next few weeks. I will be donating all proceeds from these print sales to Give2Asia:

shadows

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 01:03:17 GMT

The setting sun makes shadows and silhouettes out of a safari scene. This sentence was brought to you by the letter S lol. I had inked the safari silhouette during a watercolor giveaway I was hosting at Tea's the Season:

The finished watercolor went to a good friend of mine that day. Afterward, I used the above photo to extract the black ink outline and repainted the sunset colors in Photoshop. The whole time I was painting, I heard Bob Ross's voice in my head saying "Just add a happy little cloud," so I added a few of those as well :)

If you want to see more scenery drawings, I have a few prints (like the one below) available at my Etsy shop:

asleep

Mon, 30 May 2011 22:18:12 GMT

You might remember this little guy from a previous drawing:

It's definitely a different style and I don't use it often because it's so time consuming! I use multiple brush types and widths to get at different textures in Photoshop -- his hat and his beard are good examples of this. However, I've been told by more than one publishing art director/agent that they want to see more of this work. Plus, I've always wanted to show where Mr. Gnome sleeps :)

I also wanted to share links to two amazing artists.

The first one is an old coworker of mine named Claudia Sutton. Her work is detailed and gorgeous. Her blog also gives health, video gaming, makeup, and Photoshop tips. What more could you ask for? :)

The other is of Isabelle de Borchgrave. She recreates famous gowns from the last 4 centuries or so. . .out of paper. We went to her exhibit "Pulp Fashion" at the Legion of Honor and were blown away by what she had done: lace veils made of lens paper, hand cut Elizabethan collars, hand-painted pinstripes. There's only a few weeks left for the exhibit so I highly recommend a visit!

soaked

Tue, 24 May 2011 17:34:17 GMT

I'm glad I can finally give you a more polished illustration for Illustration Friday. This was very fun to draw and brought me back to the water gun fights my friends and I used to have in each other's backyards. I also think I'm getting the hang of this looser painterly style and it's fun to do after working on the fully saturated look of Pudgy Puppy Zombie Dog.

I have also updated my Etsy Store with lots of new goodies including the following:

I have a few more items I'm working on for the store. . but may have to put them on the back burner until I finish a project or two :)

safari

Wed, 18 May 2011 07:04:27 GMT

This sketch was made while visiting the Curious George exhibit at the Contemporary Jewish Museum a few months ago. Did you know that Curious George's first appearance was actually in an earlier book called "Raffy & the Monkeys"!? It was a funny story about a giraffe who hung out with 9 monkeys. . one of whom was veeerrrry curious lol. How fun would a safari be with a giraffe plus nine smiling monkeys?

I apologize for the rough Illustration Friday sketches this month but I've been working hard on finishing up Pudgy Puppy Zombie Dog and a few other projects. Here's the final page for Pudgy Puppy and I'll be working on the cover page next week:

Lastly, I have my art event this Saturday and will be painting up a storm while sipping lychee tea. Hope to see you there!

beginner

Fri, 13 May 2011 05:33:25 GMT

If you've never watched Dr. Horrible then you are seriously missing out on some musical fun. He was a true beginner of villainry. . until a fatal accident spurred him towards true horrible greatness. I'm planning on cleaning this drawing up to sell at WonderCon next year, with a few extra characters, so I promise that he'll be back :)

In other news, I'll be hosting a farewell party for my exhibit at Tea's the Season on Saturday, May 21st from 1-5 pm. I'll be giving away free mini watercolors while supplies last and 10 percent of all my artwork sold during that time will be donated to UNICEF. So if you're in the area, stop by for some fun art, delicious tea, and scrumptious scones!

lesson

Wed, 04 May 2011 01:06:30 GMT

With fresh cracks and bruises, Ms. Dumpty definitely learned a lesson of caution during her first fall. Let's hope it doesn't happen again!! This is another sketch from the iPad. I wanted to go with a more monotone, desaturated feel and the illustration most assuredly reflects what I've been through the last couple of years.

The first comic of Pudgy Puppy Zombie Dog is coming along. Here's the first page, pretty much done:

The Illopond Community has really helped me improve my illustration and storytelling skills. Their critiques are always given with kindness and careful thought. I'm so glad I joined their project!