Friday, May 29, 2009

Coloring

I've been reworking the sketches for my picture book manuscript, and I need to have a couple of finished illustrations to send along with my sketched dummy.  All of my sketches are done in pencil, so I ran off several black and white copies and hired a team of expert colorers to help.



Meet Meg Anderson, Anne Hardy and Sallie Hardy.

They spent the afternoon trying out different cool color combinations for me.  I had never thought about trying a groovy combination of greens and purples for my main character's dress.  But, hmmm.

Why in the world am I doing this?  Since I do my illustrations by hand (that is on actual paper--not the computer), I hate to waste my good art paper experimenting and trying out colors.  And I hate thinking I've finished a masterpiece of an illustration only to find out the colors just look too muddy together.   By making copies on cheap printer paper and playing around for a few days, I can save my $$ art paper.  Plus, I hope my finished illustrations will show a little more polish.

And, we get to have a fun afternoon with the girls.  Incidentally, my youngest daughter opted out of the illustration session and decided to save the world as a power ranger.  Life is good.

sf

12 comments:

lisa and laura said...

Ok, how cute is your Power Ranger? Seriously.

And fabulous that you have a team of color consultants to help you with your work.

As always, the Plot This girls manage to surround themselves with fabulousity.

Love. It.

Katie Anderson said...

Ahem... You didn't mention the other big kid who begged you to let her color.

ME!

It was quite fun - but then I love playing around in your art stuff.

And yes, the funniest thing about the power ranger was that she casually walked into the kitchen with her red outfit and said, "Mom?" and SF just leaned down and helped her into the suit as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

Hardygirl said...

Thanks Lila!

And, of course I should have mentioned you Katie! After all, you were the one who created the spooky green dress.

BTW, it actually is quite normal for Julia to morph into the red power ranger. She just gets the urge to put on those muscles and save the planet.

sf

StaffPicks said...

Fun stuff.
I would love to have helped.
Maybe next time. |:~)

Elana Johnson said...

Man, I can't even draw a stick figure! Cool art!

Christy Raedeke said...

Will you be bringing your art to SCBWI LA? I am so looking forward to seeing this stuff close up!

Anne Spollen said...

Awww -- the kids are so cute!

Shelli (srjohannes) said...

keep plugging away girlie! u r almost there.

TAA said...

Oh that is too funny. Julia is just the coolest. Now that is a chick who will never fetch a beer for a guy unless she was planning on crushing it on his forehead! May we all folow Julia’s lead and learn to channel our inner “Power Rangers.”

Mimi

Corey Schwartz said...

Oh, how cute! And what fun to have a group effort!

Hardygirl said...

Paul, we can have a session in L.A. And, Christy! Does this means you'll be there???

Thanks Elena and Anne. And thanks Shelli! I'm having fun with these revisions.

Mimi--you have nailed Julia's personality. Too funny!

sf

Kelly H-Y said...

Sounds like fun!!!!! Cute pic!

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