"Behind the book"
A behind-the-scenes video detailing the process of writing and illustrating Home in the Woods.
Eliza Wheeler is an illustrator and author of books for kids, teens, and the young at heart. Her book Miss Maple’s Seeds was a NYT bestseller, and her book Home in the Woods was dubbed “Gorgeous” by the New York Times book review. Eliza is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Mailing List Sign-up
Sign up for my newsletter “Creativi-Tea Time” for a 1-2 minute bite of inspiration for creatives, 1-2x month
I just finished a new illustration for the portfolio—It’s a stand-alone image done in pen and ink. I started with a thumbnail sketch, and then created a crude clay model for lighting studies. I created the full size pencil sketch on my final watercolor paper and began inking the lines. I realized before inking the whole thing that I should try a few tonal studies, so I scanned in the sketch, and printed it out on watercolor paper at about 8×10″ (with waterproof printer ink). This made good practice for the final piece before applying the ink washes.…
With the SCBWI Summer Conference only a month away, my mentee group gives some great advice on how to prepare your portfolio if displaying in the conference showcase. SCBWI Illustrator Showcase Mentees: Class Of 2010 – Illustrator & writer.
There are some artists that I come across that make me want to drop everything, grab my sketchbook and go. This is one of them. KiahKiean » Blog Archive » 植物園路印度廟 Sri Meenakshi Sundaraeswarar Temple, Waterfall Road. KiahKiean » Blog Archive » 檳城市議廳 Penang Town Hall.
When creating a new illustration where lighting is key, try building a simple 3D model to photograph as a helpful reference. As you’ll see in my examples below, it can be a very crude model made with whatever materials you have handy. I started trying to sketch the figure as a series of basic shapes. Realizing it would be more helpful to see the figure in 3D, I used modeling clay (available in arts and crafts stores), some toothpicks and a pizza box top to recreate the scene in my thumbnail sketch. Building the scene also gives you the ability…