Doodling in Photoshop

I started training on a Mac in the early 90s. At the time, I was working as a publication designer for an educational publishing company. As the art department made the transition from drawing board to computers, we had many discussions about how the computer would affect the future of commercial art. We knew the future would never be the same. No more Zip-A-Tone or Letraset. No more rapidographs for ruling lines. No more Amberlith cutting for prepress. No more hot waxers. Have I aged myself?

Although we all agreed the computer would change production art, none of us believed it would ever replace pens, pencils, brushes, paint. Even early versions of Painter — which I dabbled with a little — didn't produce anything that remotely resembled natural media. But that has certainly changed.

I use Adobe Illustrator every day in my work. I have since day one, and I love it. I've used Photoshop and Painter to create special effects in my illustrations, too. And I've used Painter's clone technique to make a photo look hand painted. But I hadn't had any real success freehand painting on the computer, mimicking natural media — paint, chalk or pencil. I just couldn't wrap my mind around the concept of digital brushes. But suddenly, I'm coming around. With a point in the right direction from the amazing CY, freehand sketching and painting in Photoshop is starting to make more sense. I doodled the above with digital brushes that mimic pencils, using my Wacom. I didn't say it was a good example, so stop laughing. Plus I do all my digital work with my left hand — long story — even though I'm right handed. But I'm on my way.

New work: Governor candidates and their hair

This is a recent illustration that ran in Saturday's paper. It's for a Features story about the Texas governor candidates, their hair, and what it says about them.

I was happy with the end result, thought I captured the likenesses well. I was a little nervous, though. Politics these days are so . . . touchy. Have you read the comments section of any online news story? Pure evil lives there. Figured I'd get a bunch of hate mail from readers unhappy with how I portrayed their political heroes. Thankfully, that didn't happen. As far as I know of.

Pictured are Governor Rick Perry (whose hair has it's own twitter account), Kay Bailey Hutchison, Debra Medina, Farouk Shami grasping a hot comb, Bill White.

I rendered this with Adobe illustrator and added brush effects in Photoshop.

Workin' my manuscript

The other day, my lit agent sends an editorial letter to me along with my manuscript. He tells me to take a deep breath before I read it. Says I should read with an open mind, and then set it aside for a few days before I address any changes. He even invites me to curse him out if it makes me feel better.

WTF?

I know some authors cringe at the idea of an agent doing anything other than selling their works. But for me, a first-time author with one book under my belt, I welcome guidance from an agent and one-time children's book editor. I can rest assured that when my manuscript hits the market, it will be polished and print ready.

So I open the letter and read his suggestions, and I'm relieved. There's lots and lots of red marks! Lots of questions. Lots of suggested changes. This is good. I've been an illustrator for little over 26 years. I've been writing for 6, I have absolutely no training as a writer, other than online courses and SCBWI conferences. Had he returned the manuscript with no mark-ups, I'd have been suspicious.

I've sat the manuscript aside, but only because my hands are full with other stuff right now. I'll pick it up again later this week. I'm feeling really good about the direction this manuscript has taken, and I'm much more hopeful about my future as an author.

And he's also talked me into creating some spec sketches and paintings, so that I can propose myself as the author and illustrator, something I had decided against, preferring to focus my time on the next manuscript.

Thankfully, I'm still working

I haven't posted any work lately, so here goes. The above illustration is for the Effa Manley book that I finished last September. I recently received color proofs, and I'm happy with how the book is turning out. It will publish with HarperCollins later this year.







The above are 2 of 8 images I recently created for National Geographic Kids.







Above: 3 of 11 paintings I created for a friend's business, Kingdom Calling.



Above: A poster image for the Take 190 West Arts Festival.






Above: Two of many, many, many images created for National Geographic.