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.
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'HOME IN THE WOODS' Book Video
A behind-the-scenes video detailing the process of writing and illustrating Home in the Woods.
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…