My Weekend Sketches

Well, I spent my weekend doing sketches. Here's a few pages:

Sorry this is short but I don't have much time for more posts today.

Chicka chickas

I love this picture, even though it's not my best work. It really doesn't even make sense, but I think it's so cute. It's 3 birds, not penguins, in a tree. I applied the "scrapbooking" technique to this, since I cut out the limb, leaves, and birds and painted them before glueing them down over my painting of the tree. Right now, I have this picture framed and hanging in my room. There's just something about it that I love. :)

Silhouette

I absolutely love the look of these two. One is a silhouette of one bird on a blue background and the other is a silhouette of two birds on an orange background. I thought this style would make a good theme for someone's room.

Inspirations

I have had many inspirations for my art. I can only think of 3 famous artists who have made me the artist I am today. One is Thomas Kinkade. I love his work. The only problem, I could never do art like that. But his work has inspired me to be more creative and to try to paint things realistically. The second artist who has inspired me is Mary Engelbreit. My mother bought a calendar of hers a couple of years ago and I have been entranced by her work ever since. It was her work that actually pushed me into art. Before I merely twiddled my thumbs with it, but when I realized that I could use markers and colored pencils instead of paints, it launched my love for art. If I hadn't worked with those mediums first, I don't think paints would have been so easy for me. I learned to mix and create colors with colored pencils first and then I realized how to do that with paint.

Third, the artist who has inspired me for many years, is Bob Ross. I absolutely love watching his shows on the educational channel. He is the funniest artist I have ever seen and I wish that I could have met him. With his artist views of "Happy accidents" and "furry friends" he has played a huge role in the shaping and progression of my art. Recently I studied his work from one of his workbooks that I have and I loved how it came out. I've tried to imitate his work before, just for practice, but have never been able to do so. I always imagined that if I ever did anything close to his work, then I was a true artist. And now, at last, I have created something similar to his. Because it is based on his work, it is not necessarily my own ideas, but I did indeed paint this myself. Of course, if you love Bob Ross' work as much as I do, I'm sure you'll be able to tell the difference. I plan to give this painting to my mother as soon as I can frame it.

Look on the sunny side

I figured that since today has been so gloomy and rainy, I would post a sunny pic. I did this one in chalk pastels. I really like it, although I think the scan isn't as good as the original.

However, I have been experimenting with my basic 'painter' feature that comes with my computer and I inverted the colors on this piece. I actually like the opposite just as much as I do the original. Both ways look good to me. What do you all think?

My Sketch book

I love looking at other peoples' sketch books because they always look as if the ideas just flow from their heads onto the paper. Mine hardly ever looks that good when I do sketches. Normally the rough draft I do becomes the final piece and there really isn't much sketching done in between. However, I got a new sketch book the other day and have been fiddling around on the first page for the past couple of nights, so I thought I would share my own page. I wrote several words on it as I tried out different styles of my handwriting, so don't pay any attention to some of the words. Some are labels and others are just doodles of the words of the songs I was listening to at the time. I really like my pictures on here though. Especially the elf and the crocodile hunter. :) The witch is an early idea for a poem I'm working on. This sketch actually gave me a new idea for the poem, so maybe sketching is more helpful to me than I think it is. :)

Under the sea...

Well, I guess this post is appropriate, seeing as how it's been pouring down rain here today. (I'm not complaining though. We definately needed the rain.) As with most of my pics, I did this one over the weekend. I originally drew a really cute sketch of this, but seeing as how my sketches never match my final work, this one doesn't look anything like it. However, I do have a work in progress piece I started first that looks very similart to my sketch. I used the "Scrapbooking" method on it, while this is a painting I did in acrylic.

Is it just me or do drawings of octopuses look much cuter than the real thing? :)

My "Published" Works

So far, I have only been published in 2 things. One was my college magazine and the other is an online publication from SCBWI (a great site for people new to this world).
There is no way I can show you my college work since it was not online and is too hard to scan, but I can give you a link to view my online work. :) Just click the link below and it should take you there. *Note: the link will open in adobe.*
http://www.scbwi-midsouth.org/SUMMER2007Borderlines.pdf

Also note that my art are the 2 signed, Mindy Lou Hagan. The new issue should be coming out soon, and if so, I'll try to post it on here as well, since you don't have to pay to see it.

Sunny

This is a really small piece that I did awhile ago. At the time, it seemed like a good idea, but it really didn't turn out exactly as I had planned. Then again, if you've read my earlier posts, you know that I don't exactly plan ahead all the time. :)
However, it seems like a good header, so I thought I would share it at the top this time. I hope you guys like it! :)

My Prince

Lately, another friend and I have been talking alot about finding out "Prince Charming"s. For some reason, I keep thinking about fairytales and the young girl who kissed the frog who was really a prince. I even sent her a card I made (which looked more like a brochure) that was like a flyer for a kingdom. In is, I said that "Prince Charming" was missing and had a picture of a frog on the front.

So, I thought over the weekend that this would suit us quite nicely. I have a story in mind for this picture, but have yet to put any of it on paper. I guess I'm still working out the kinks. :)
If anyone else is looking for their prince charmings, always remember that they'll be in the last place you look. And don't forget those swamps! Even in the least likely of places there are treasures! Lol! :)

The Circus

A friend of mine recently had a birthday party for her son with a circus theme. I was asked to come up with the cover for the invitations. I quickly did this picture, even though I didn't go with it. Still, I really was quite satisfied with the way it turned out. The tent is made of tissue paper.

What I do

I was just thinking, I haven't explained much about my work. If you look at my cabin picture, you might notice it's a little bit of a 3-d like picture. Well, what I do is what I prefer to call "Scrapbooking". I cut out a picture (such as the trees and cabin and snowbanks) from fairly thick paper (so it doesn't curl too much) and paint it to look like whatever I want. I hardly ever make pieces from my sketches, which I think both helps and hinders me. It helps me stay creative, but it hurts me when I'm not in a particularly creative mood, yet I still want to create something. Plus, I hardly ever can create the picture I want from my sketches. They never seem to come out anything alike.
I also will paint the background, since paint creates a nice, clean background picture (unlike my former medium of markers and colored pencils). Then, once everything is dry, I use just regular school glue (usually Elmers) and glue down everything where I think it looks best. Usually by now I have a picture in my head of what I plan to create.
Once I have everything glued down, I usually sign the picture and that's about it, unless I feel that I can do more with it later, at which point I will save it and finish it at another time. However, I've come to find that the paper still curls once the paint is dry, so I will usually press my work between some thick books, or find a way to make the picture stay flat again. So far, this hasn't been too much of a problem. I hope it never will be.
The reason I refer to this as my "Scrapbooking" technique, is because it reminds me of how people create scrapbook pages. (That and the fact that I also used scrapbook sheets as some of the backgrounds for my work.) There are raised pictures on quite a few of my new works and they have things glued to them, rather than painted or drawn directly on them. Plus, I have found that I like the mixed media look and have put other things on my work as well, such as buttons and string. It's all quite exciting finding out that there is more than one world of art out there. Now I know that I can create so many more things and actually achieve the look and style that I crave. The winter cabin picture below is a great example of that. I love that picture because it is 3-d ish and looks exactly how I would imagine my art to look like. It has that 'cartoonish' feel to it. I just love that! :)
If you have any questions or suggestions about what I do, feel free to leave me a comment. I enjoy the feedback and help! :) And if you haven't tried any new art techniques, I definately think it's something you should do. Even if you're not good at another medium, it helps you learn some techniques you can use in the one you like and you'd be surprised at some of the things you can create. On top of all that, it's just plain fun! :D

Over the Weekend

Well, I've been at it again. :) I always try to create a little something on the weekends, since that's when I have the most time. So now, I have a couple of new pictures to add to my growing collection. :)

I know this first one is a little early, but I just can't help but get a head start for some winter pics. :) I liked this one because it looks so...cozy.

This other one that I did is more summery. :) It's supposed to be a bird flying over a tree and house. I've had the bird for awhile, I just didn't know where to put him.

You know what's funny is that I keep having to tell myself that this is something I can do. It's not really that I don't want to do it, it's just that I keep thinking that maybe I can't. Maybe that I won't be as good as all of those other professional illustrators out there. Maybe I won't ever have any books or art published with my work in them. Maybe I'm not as good as an artist as I thought.

And perhaps I'm not. But I'll never know if I don't try. So if anyone else out there is having the same thoughts, just remember that you can do anything you put your mind to. I know there are other famous illustrators and artists out there who never had an ounce of education, so there's hope for me, too. :) Maybe one day I'll have my work published and it will be the number one best seller of all time. LOL! Here's to hoping!

It's a small world, after all...

Well, I figured I'd add some images, since I keep saying I love to draw and make pictures. I just have to warn you that all images are copyrighted, so don't even think about taking them!

If you would like to see more of my work or would like to buy some artwork or contact me for a job or whatever, just leave me a comment with your email address or a way to get in touch with you and I will contact you.

Otherwise, just sit back and enjoy the view! Life's too short to waste it! :)

Where to begin....

Well, this is a first for me. I didn't even know you could do blogs for free! (I'm no where near being able to afford something like that on a professional scale!)
For now, I think this will do to let people know that I'm an artist and that I want to be a children's book illustrator.
If you would like to see more of my work, let me know. Now, about me, there's really not much to say. I enjoy spending time with my family and I love art! I love creating art more than anything. :) It's so much fun to get lost in my own world and to create a world of my own. So far, I don't have any formal art training or education, but neither did Mary Engelbreit, and look at her!