Creating the look for my children’s book

Plus, new moving sale art is now available!

Amid the demands of exhausting rehab and renovation schemes, art is still being made—albeit more slowly than I would like.

I’ve been focused on designing my characters and establishing the style for my first children’s book illustration project, “The Perfect Ride.”

With my thumbnail draft of the full book approved in October, the next step was to design the characters. I tried several styles and levels of detail before settling on the above. As I’m still limited in the amount of time I can sit up in the wheelchair, I continue working on my iPad using my overhead stand in bed.

I spent a great deal of time creating different designs of kids using stock images of real kids for reference. I also looked at different wheelchair designs, as one of my big pet peeves of children’s books featuring characters with disabilities is that the wheelchairs don’t look like real wheelchairs. This one is based on Permobil Koala-R-Net, which caught my eye when I saw a petite teenage OI’er driving one. I liked that it’s a power chair that looks scaled to be kid-sized, so it doesn’t visually dominate the character.

Neither of my main characters is named in the text, so I’ve just been calling these two “Wheelchair Girl” and “Friend.”

I wanted Wheelchair Girl to have a distinctive and recognizable silhouette, so I gave her two fireball-like pigtails highlighting her speed demon tendencies. Also, because the book is all about the winter sledding adventures of these two girls, I dressed the friend in clothing items that will help illustrate speed, such as her scarf and long-tailed toque.

With the character designs done, I’m now working on the rough illustrations based on the thumbnails I finished previously. I’ll do a very loose sketch to feel out the overall pose with lots of messy lines. I’ll then drop the opacity on that sketch layer down to 20% in Photoshop and then do a clean-up layer over the top. I’ll also complete different characters on different layers so that I can tweak their position and size if need be.

In many ways, this multiple-layer approach is exactly how I used to work on my animation desk, refining the design over and over with one new sheet of paper after another.

I’ll be working on these rough illustrations until January, and then, once they are approved, it’ll be on to the final art.

New Moving Sale Items!

Stefan’s been busy excavating closets and packing items, so we’ve found some more art that needs a forever home. All of these are one-of-a-kind reproductions that were created for my 2019 solo exhibit, Find Your Heart(h).

January Chill - 24x24” canvas print on thick canvas, unframed
$150Cdn

This is the last of the big beautiful pieces from the exhibit. It’s a striking one that would look great in a home or office space.

It Began with Coffee - 12x12” canvas photo print on thick canvas, unframed
$75Cdn

My photography has become an essential part of my painting practice, but not one that I tend to showcase as artwork—making this a very rare piece indeed! It is a photo that I took that was printed on canvas specifically for the 2019 exhibit. I would eventually use this beautiful photo as reference for my painting “King of Cups.”

A Turtle’s Perspective - 12x12” canvas print on thick canvas, unframed
$75Cdn

A canvas reproduction of the tiny painting that I gave to Stefan very early on in our relationship. It symbolizes for us what it means to find the right environment in which to thrive.

All of these pieces can be picked up in Calgary with no additional shipping costs. If you would like me to ship a piece to you, I can, but I will ask that you cover the additional UPS cost.

If you’re interested in any of them, please contact me.

Online Store Shipping Hiccups

Speaking of shipping, as many of you are aware, Canada Post workers are on strike right now, which has brought online orders to a standstill for many small businesses. I absolutely support the workers and their right to strike, but it means that any purchases from my online store will be held until Canada Post resumes normal service.

Many thanks for your patience and for continuing to support all small businesses that are having a rough holiday season this year.

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