sketch

Setting Goals

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It stands to reason that if you are taking care of a sick kid….eventually you’re going to get it too! So I’m taking it kind of slow today. I’ve been doing some sketches and thinking about goals.  Soon summer will be here and the kid will take up a lot of time… so here’s a list I’ve been thinking about for May.

1. Still looking for an agent. I would love to work as a team with some one out there.  I know you’re out there I just haven’t met you yet.  :)

2. Send that dummy book out. You know where you’d like send it, so what’s holding you back?  Kicks self in the butt! ;)

3.Those promotional postcards should arrive this week… get them back out ASAP!

4. Keep up those daily sketches…. work it!

What are your goals? Do you set a date or are they open ended?

Waiting

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So what to do while you’re waiting?  Maybe you’re waiting for that next assignment, that next conference, or contest?

Well,  I’m going back and practicing all the stuff that sometimes gets overlooked when we’re on a tight deadline or have gotten a little rusty, or maybe just too close to see it. Ya know what I mean?  I believe that you’re never to old or experienced to learn something, all over again.  It’s being creative with your time and nurturing your art.  So go create something while you wait!

“Assiduus usus uni rei deditus et ingenium et artem saepe vincit.” ~ “Constant practice devoted to one subject often outdoes both intelligence and skill.”  ~ Cicero.

Writing and Illustrating

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Click on the picture above to see the next page.

Here’s a new character for a story  that I wrote last month while participating in the 12 x 12 writing challenge.  It’s been interesting to  do a book design and character that was funny, but still sweet like the story. After wrestling with him for about a week, I think I’ve found him.   Now you don’t have to illustrate anything to participate in the 12 x12 challenge.

That’s just what I did with this one, but I am learning a lot about myself as both a writer and an illustrator.

There are eleven more to be written, and I doubt there will be eleven dummy books to go with them…. for now !      :)

It Started with a Sketch

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Often I’m asked, “What medium do you use?”
While I used to use watercolor and colored pencil as my medium… I started painting digitally about four years ago. I try to make my digital work have the same organic feel of traditional mediums.

 

 

 

 

It starts with a pencil drawing, sometimes very sketchy, that I take into Photoshop and clean up a bit. Often I paint over or eliminate the lines altogether, but If I’m going to leave the line work, I’ll ink them first and clean them up digitally.
After I’ve separated the layers, I usually always work over a layer that had been under painted with a darker color. This gives the illustration a luminous quality and helps define the natural contours and highlights. Here, I want them on a white background so that I can paste them into a another illustration later.

Next I paint in the details on a separate layer with a brush that has a texture added to it. This allows some of the under painting to show through and gives the illustration a pastel feel. I always turn the opacity and flow down to about 40. Then I go back and add more details and highlights on another layer.  Clean it up and it’s done. This is a very brief explanation I know, but I’ve learned and continue to learn by playing with my medium and making mistakes….. only now I get to push undo!                                                  Ctrl+Alt+Z… Ctrl+Alt+Z…Ctrl+Alt+Z

www.robertabaird.com

Home Alone

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I really like Home Alone. Though, I didn’t like the sequels much. Okay, I did like the pigeon lady in Home Alone 2.  So…… I watched this movie the other day with my six year old and now I hear the Home Alone scream constantly. She screams if her shoe comes untied… she screams at commercials. It was cute in movie, but to live with it 24/7…. not so much. It’s pretty funny to a kid, but to a grown up who has just waited a half an hour in the car rider’s line, it’s a little daunting. It will wear off as the year rolls along, only to be picked up again at next year’s holiday movie viewing. And, as I sit I here writing this, I have a sinister, but funny thought that I just might reenact that Home Alone scream on the day she introduces me to her first boyfriend!! :)

Grayling a la Redwall

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Some folks snooze while waiting to pick up their kids at school, it’s tempting but no….. Some read a book, which I too often do… and sometimes, I sketch. I try to see what I can come up with in 20 minutes. This is my version of Friar Hugo. Taken from the book Redwall that I read while waiting to pick up yesterday. :)