I would love to create this costume!

SSo, this week I decided to participate in IF.  Immediately when I heard the subject was “scattered” I got the image of a little girl creating and her supplies and drawings scattered all over the floor.  I was/am totally this girl, and I see this every day in my daughter’s room.

Isn’t she something? I just adore her drawings with all my heart.  My son also loves to draw, but video games have a pretty strong hold on him so he rarely does it(sigh).

I did this drawing when I was in first grade.  It was part of a book about a big sister mouse.  I remember sitting at my desk(or on the floor) writing stories and drawing for hours and I was perfectly content every moment of it.  I think sometimes I need to channel THAT girl again- and remember that doing what I love should be simple and fun!

I wish I could stay and chat, but I have to run!  I start teaching in just a couple of days, not to mention loads of other things to do. To the school I go :)

Meet Kimmy, Dani, Celia, Gladys and Mo. Characters that I have been creating to challenge myself a bit.  I have been thinking about what makes a character portray a personality. I created in my mind a scenario where teens or tweens would have to meet and come from different places…CAMP!  They would all wear what would be a camp tee shirt so they could only show limited personality in the way they dressed(no dresses, skirts or uncomfortable shoes at camp). So I wrote down some names and characteristics that I wanted each name to be associated with. Something like this:

Kimmy: tom boy, sporty, friendly and competitive, freckles

Dani: studious, shy, loves cats, knits, wants to save the planet

Celia: tech savvy, photographer, from the city, laid back

Gladys: prissy, fashionable, wears makeup, does ballet

Mo: an artist, hip, wealthy parents, loves sushi, short

They have no actual story but they have come to life in my head. Having conversations about what gross things lurk under the mattress in their cabin, if there are any cute boys, why the camp director is so wierd and how exactly to sneak out at night so they can explore the off limit section of Camp Piney.

Like I said a few weeks ago, I plan on adding some women/tweens to my portfolio.  So, I have been testing “looks” for my ladies.  The top I am really not in love with.   This bottom one needs a little tweeking. Definitely some images on the stickers of her suitcase, maybe a little more detail in the skirt pattern, a background! I digitally collaged her a bit with watercolor, line art and some photoshop coloring. Oh, I really dislike the look of the dog in the top one as well…I would change it to a sheep dog for sure.

I am gathering some muses for my lady-drawing and gathered some of my absolute favorite ladies to take inspiration from. Take a peek, do you know all of them?

This weeks Illustration Friday topic: Stay.  For some reason when I heard the word “stay”, first I thought of a dog command then of a couple.  In this case a young couple. Remember those days?  When it was agonizing to say good bye and you never wanted to be the first to hang up the phone: “you hang up”, “no, you hang up” on and on.  Now I can hardly stand to stay on the phone for longer than 30 seconds!

 I am also adding some tween/women to my portfolio in the next couple of weeks, working with the lovely Kate Hayes on secret projects sure to be awesome, getting major renovations done in the basement, trying to entertain the kids, planning for classes and working, working, working!