Drawn To You

2011-10-11T21:11:00.000-05:00

I turned my comic story into a nook book.
It's great for kids of all ages.
I'm not a salesman so I'll just straight up say I'd love to see it sell a few copies.
So check it out if you're interested and/or tell some one who has an e reader and either has kids who like funny stories or like funny stories themselves.

It's on Barnes and Noble here...

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/step-by-step-robert-snyder/1106355593?ean=2940013218901&itm=1&usri=robert%2bsnyder

Step By Step Page art

2011-09-26T21:37:00.000-05:00

Step by step cover art

2011-09-14T23:13:00.000-05:00

2011-09-12T21:47:00.002-05:00

Step by step cover art

2011-09-12T20:31:00.000-05:00

Cover version A

Cover version B

Painted window art

2011-09-10T09:26:00.000-05:00

This is the window art that I painted for Locks of Fun in Valparaiso Indiana.
They asked me to combine two of the drawings that I sent them.
If you find yourself downtown in Valpo go take a look at it in person.
Locks of Love is on Lincolnway across from the Centier bank.
If you know of anyone around the Valpo area, who would like to have their window painted let them know about me, or me about them.
My info can be found at my website www.robertsnyderillustrates.com

Close up of the scarecrow.

I enjoyed painting the window.

The hardest part is thinking backwards when painting.

Meaning I had to paint the highlights and shadows before the main body colors.

Window roughs

2011-08-16T00:45:00.000-05:00

Bear in leaves

Boy and Dog

Girl with Pumpkin

Scarecrow

New digital art

2011-04-28T13:02:00.000-05:00

I have been working on new samples for my portfolio.
I am going to rework my portfolio site to be broken into specific sections.
Traditional art
Digital art
Hybrid art - combining traditional and digital methods
and
Product design

These are examples of the Hybrid style.
They were hand inked and digitally colored.

Business cards

2011-03-29T12:53:00.000-05:00

March of the sketchbooks day 25

2011-03-25T11:34:00.001-05:00

I don't know why I'm drawing skulls in March, but I don't question the sketchbook and it's motives.

I'm going to continue to work this up by adding a lot of black so they look like they are flaming.

March of the sketchbooks day 24

2011-03-24T11:14:00.000-05:00

The Easter Bunny is trying to cultivate a new kind of carrot.
He's trying to mix carrots with jellybeans.

March of the sketchbooks day 23

2011-03-23T16:12:00.000-05:00

I am beginning to figure out how to draw Toulouse Lautrec for my next artist in a series.
These are the first explorations.

Zombunnies and critter pirates.

2011-03-23T14:12:00.001-05:00

I finished the color for the Zombunnie art last night.
Here's the process.

The rough drawn in my sketchbook.

The inked art in my sketchbook.

And finally the colored version. Digital.
I scanned it in to Photoshop and saved it, then put it on a layer in Illustrator.
I set the inked art to multiply and locked the layer.
The color was added on several layers below the inked layer.
Once I was done with the color in Illustrator I opened the file in Photoshop.
I created a noise layer over the top and reduced it to about 12%.

After constructive criticism I made some changes to the coloring of the image.

I brightened some of the color, and added a little more contrast.

March of the sketchbooks day 22

2011-03-22T20:45:00.000-05:00

I filled in the rest of this page from yesterday.

I heard today that Cap'n Crunch cereal won't be advertised to children anymore and will probably stop being made.

March of the sketchbooks day 21

2011-03-21T20:37:00.001-05:00

This page is only partially filled because I spent most of the day working on a chicken coup.
No I don't live on a farm. It's for 4H. My son is raising chickens as his project.

Nothing special. Just playing a bit with the puppet
theme and then the big hairy guy showed up.

March of the sketchbooks day 18

2011-03-18T16:03:00.002-05:00

Another day of subbing and drawing Kermit the Frog without reference or concern of staying "on model."

I've always liked drawing puppets as animate objects with personalities so I'll probably continue in this vein for awhile, but you never know, sketchbooks are fickle and things change from day to day.

March of the sketchbooks day 17

2011-03-17T16:46:00.001-05:00

The march goes on.

This is what you get when I grab a reptile magazine at the library to flip through.

I penciled most of these yesterday and inked them today while subbing at a local high school.

Kermit just kind of slipped in there today.

I was still subbing when I sketched this one.

And this one also.
Kermit came back with a vengence on this page.

March of the sketchbooks day 16

2011-03-16T09:32:00.000-05:00

I spent a good part of yesterday tightening up the pencil sketch and inking this page of my sketchbook
I used Micron pens with the intention of getting line work that looks like a linoleum block print.

When I started the sketch I knew I was going to use it for the Illustration Friday site this week.
The word of the week is "Stir."
So what you see is a group of animal pirates trying not to stir up the water as they sneak past the night guard of their enemies.
I'm going to add color today to create a moody night scene.

Van Gogh 300dpi

2011-03-15T11:15:00.001-05:00

Please feel free to print this out for your reference files
or to pass on to anyone who might like to hire me as a freelancer.
If you'd like to discuss any freelance opportunities I can be contacted at...

Robert Snyder
219-465-3246
what2wnt@jorsm.com
www.robertsnyderillustrates.com

March of the sketchbooks day 15

2011-03-15T09:52:00.000-05:00

Beware the Tides of March.

Adventure Mouse has discovered that that nice soft landing spot has it's downside.
For some reason I decided to draw a zombie walking in nose deep water.

March of the sketchbooks day 14

2011-03-14T16:40:00.000-05:00

This is my morning sketch for day 14 of March of the sketchbooks.

It's the rough sketch for Illustration Friday this week.
The word of the week is Stir.
The image is of a band of critter pirates trying not to stir up the water as they sneak past the guard on the shore.
It's going to be a night scene. Probably drawn to look like a linoleum block print.

March 2011 mailer

2011-03-11T22:20:00.000-06:00

In doing my research for things going on in March besides the typical Holidays it came to my attention that March 30th is The birthday of my favorite artist Vincent van Gogh.

So I decided to make him the subject of this months promo mailer.

I'm open to comments on improving it.

If you see any typo's let me know.

I'm planning on doing a series of these on different artists.

I'd like to tweak it to be the kind of thing a middle school art teacher would hand out to students, or be in one of those magazines that they hand out in class.

That's the reason for the title.

I'm planning on sending this out around the 20th so there's time for comments and corrections.

March is Van Gogh month

2011-03-01T17:18:00.001-06:00

Vincent van Gogh has always been one of my favorite artists.
While looking for a subject for my March promotional mailer
I realized that Vincent was born the 30th of March, 1853.
So I have decided to make Him the subject of my mailer this month.
In order to do that I took a trip to the library, two libraries actually, to
get the reference I was going to need.
So now I am going through the books to see what interesting things
I can find out about him and use them to inspire some art.
I don't intend to use his art in my mailer. It will contain original art
that is inspired by the reference materials. I will not attempt to learn/mimic
his approach to painting in less than a month.
So far I have spent the past two days doing sketches of the man in order to try an "see"
the him through the art he made.
Here are the sketches so far...

Page 8

I haven't decided yet if the art is going to be all digital or hand drawn and digitally colored yet.
As you can see by the last 2 pages I have settled on a basic head shape for him, and that I am working out different spot illustrations of him with his sun flowers, writing to his brother Theo, painting at night, ... These will run along the bottom of the mailer and there will be a bigger image in the center section.
The mailer is the first in a series that I would like to work out that features a different per page.
The 8 1/2 by 11 page would have art inspired by each artist, and information about the artist.
This van Gogh page will be titled "10 things you might not know about Vincent van Gogh."
Down the left hand side will be the list of ten things.

IF - Sweater

2011-02-15T12:11:00.000-06:00

It's been awhile since I have been able to have fun with Illustration Friday.
Yesterday I was able to sit down and let my mind wander.
Thinking about the word Sweater led me to thinking about those bad sweaters people wear at christmas time and how very few people would love to receive one as a gift. Especially a 10 to 14 year old boy.
So this is what I came up with...

My thoughts were that the decoration of the sweater had to be big for impact so it needed to be a character.
The reindeer came to mind and took over once I figured out I could use the sleeves as his ears so that the whole torso could be the head. I liked the idea, but reindeer have antlers so I was thinking he might not be the best choice. I really liked him so I thought wouldn't it make the sweater that much worse if the antlers were on the shoulders and sticking up. Perfect!
I know that I would not be happy to be the recipient of a sweater like this one.
The dog and cat are hoping that they don't have matching sweaters.

Valentine's Day promo for February

2011-02-11T18:16:00.000-06:00

I used this image as my newsletter for my February e-mail promo.

I took characters that I had created for a client project and changed them up a bit by changing details and colors, as well as, adding the hearts and messages.

They went out early today so now it's a wait and see if anyone responds.

Robert Snyder on the Behance Network

2011-02-07T09:30:00.000-06:00

Robert Snyder on the Behance Network

Vespa Santa

2011-01-13T15:07:00.002-06:00

He's done and on his way To Miami for a well deserved vacation.

Thanks to those who had suggestions for improvement.

As you can see I added the candy cane guard rail to the foreground to add a little bit of depth.

And I drew up my own penguin to go along for the ride.

Day after Christmas

2010-12-17T13:19:00.002-06:00

This is a work in progress.

It started out with this sketch from my sketchbook.

An old guy on a vespa because I was searching for a motorcycle image on the web for a client drawing and some vespa images came up.

This is where I am at so far...

Since it's winter and Xmas time I decided to portray the guy as Santa.

I didn't want to do Santa in his work clothes, he doesn't deliver toys on a vespa after all, so I put him in his street clothes.

Then I decided that he would be headed for a well deserved vacation, thus the Dec 26th calendar page and Miami sign.

I'm working on the background now.

You can see that I have some snow drifts back there.

I'm thinking that I'll have to add something in the far background to breakup the blue sky.

I might put his workshop back there.

I think I may add a trailer loaded with luggage being pulled behind the vespa to add to the going on vacation feel.

Let me know what you all think of the image so far.

I'm looking for comments on color, contrast, detail, does anything look "off," that kind of thing.

Simple variation exercise

2010-11-20T10:36:00.000-06:00

Lately when I do art for myself it's with traditional media. Watercolor, gouache, pen and ink or pencil.
I like having a finished piece of art to look at and hold. It's a nice feeling of accomplishment.
Most of my client work ends up being digital, even if it starts out being drawn traditionally.
So I have been trying to figure out a "style" to call my own when doing digital art for myself that wil hopefully appeal to future clients.
With that in mind, I was flipping through my sketchbook yesterday and found a really rough sketch of a head.
When it comes to digital work I prefer Illustrator over Photoshop. I like creating flat/graphic areas of color over trying to make the figure/object look 3 dimensional.
So I drew up the head in Illustrator and played around with variations of it.
Here it is...

The 4 on the left are just changes in facial features and their positions.
The others are the Base 1 head with variations of facial hair and accessories.
After doing the pirate guy my daughter wanted to see him with a beard so I came u with this version...

I like the way he's looking so I'll be figuring out what kind of body to give him and put him in a simple setting.
Next she wants to see a girl pirate, so I'll post her in the future.

I just realized I need to change the color of his eyebrows to blue.
He's looking kind of like an elf with the big ears so I'll have to experiment with the idea of elfin pirates.

So if you ever find yourself stuck or bored when you are sketching, draw out several simple circles or ovals or whatever and just see what you can make out of them.
This is an experiment I recommend to everyone. It can stimulate your creativity and lead you to new ideas for your art.

Beatnic Bobcat color

2010-10-14T22:20:00.001-05:00

Here's the painted up Back Beat Betty.

This first version is straight watercolor and gouache.

This one was manipulated a bit with Photoshop.

I added two layers.

One filled with purple in the dark areas and set to multiply with a 70 percent opacity.

The other is a duplicate of the purple layer that I added noise to with the noise filter and then reduced the opacity to 50 percent.

It gives it a better feeling of her being in a spotlight up on stage.

I think I might have to go in and add her shadow that would be cast by the spotlight. Not sure about that though.

I also might go back in and add some more details to her to make her look more like a bobcat.

Notice she doesn't have any whiskers or any markings.

I have a good reference pick that I have been using for her so I'll go back to it and "plus" her up.

She's the first in a series that I want to do.

It's a series of Beatnic animals.

I have to get to the library and see if I can actually find any books on beatnics.

I'l also have to look up some musical phrases to be able to name the rest of the characters.

Some of the ideas for characters are a cat fish, yak, toucan, squirrel, mouse, sloth,...

Beatnic Bobcat

2010-09-30T23:08:00.000-05:00

This is the line art for my next painting exercise.
The circle will be a yellow spot light.
The areas around the circle will have a purple under painting.
She's a bobcat beatnic beatin' on the bongos.

White Bird

2010-09-27T10:47:00.002-05:00

The White Bird likes to wear Wigs.

It's not easy to paint an all white picture.

I can't do it. I know because I really tried with this one.

I like color. Kids like color. You like color.

So, the white bird has hints of color in her, and she has a nice red/orange wig.

I'm not sure the background is finished.

I'm considering putting a pattern on the wall.

Like this...

That pattern was added via photoshop.

I am purposely avoiding digital methods for these paintings so that the painted art is the same as the printed art in the book. So is I do a pattern it would either be simpler or have bigger elements in it.

This is the 3rd go at doing the White Bird.

The first one was this...

White Bird watches TV.

To me it's funny. But because he's asleep like a lot of dads who watch too many sports shows on Sunday.

I got comments about the "wife beater" shirt and all that's missing is the beer. So I rethought it.

The second one was going to be "White Bird goes for a walk."

It didn't get finished because I felt it was too boring.

After thinking about it. I felt that there needed to be another girl bird in the book, and she should make eye contact with the reader. Open eyes make the character more likable.

Now all I have to do is figure out the cover art.

I also need to figure out the type treatment or find a graphic designer who wants to do the layout for fun or his/her portfolio. I'm not asking, I'm just saying.

Everyone loves the Circus!

2010-09-24T10:15:00.000-05:00

This post is about the importance of keeping and using a sketchbook.
I carry one with me almost everywhere I go.
I don't always get a chance to use it, but I take it in case I end sitting around doing nothing.
It can be any kind of sketchbook you like from the really cheap ones for kids, Crayola makes some nice little sketch pads for kids that I have used to do client concept drawings in, to an expensive moleskin, I've never bought or used one, but people rave about them.
  I think the best ones are either the spiral bound or the hard bound with nice white pages.
A lot of artist have said that you should get the wire bound kind so that you can flip the cover and any previously drawn on pages around to the back and have a nice flat surface to draw on.
I tried one and I personally don't like the wire bound because the wire part always gets in my way, and I used to draw on facing pages so I smeared the sketches on the page that got flipped to the back.
  I only draw on one side of a page most of the time now and not on facing pages anymore.
I have come to prefer the hard bound sketchbook. It can be hard to draw into the gutter sometimes but it takes a lot of abuse and holds up longer.
  I try to buy the cheapest thinnest one I can find. After all you're not supposed to be creating masterpieces in it. It's a depository for the junk in your head, write down the title of that cool book you want to remember to look up on line, a web site you saw in a magazine, an idea that you won't remember if you don't write it down, and lots of sketching.
Your sketchbook is you. Put things in it that are important to you.
  My sketchbook usually starts from the back because I am left handed. I like to rest my hand on the page when I draw so I like to draw on the right hand page and rest my hand on the left hand page. That way I am not rubbing my hand all over my sketches as I go from page to page.
  The reasons for keeping a sketchbook are simple.
A. Drawing in one all of the time improves your skills.
   After you have filled a few sketchbooks you can look back through them and see progress.
   It's a good moral booster on those "I suck" days.
B. Even a really quick little sketch on a page that looks like nothing can become the starting point for
   your next great piece of art. If you are still reading you'll see soon see why I started this post.
C. A sketchbook is a great thing to take to a first meeting with a potential new client.
   I have had art directors spend more time looking at my sketchbook during an interview than at my
   portfolio of finished works. I have actually seen one or two art directors drool over it.
   One looked through my sketchbook and asked if I had any more. Luckily for me I decided to bring
   two that day. I don't know why. I was given a "try out" project because of those sketchbooks.
   A different art director for a greeting card company saw some halloween characrters in my
   sketchbook and asked me to do final art with them for cards. Those quick, fun sketches that were
   done for my entertainment ended up as paid work that I wouldn't have gotten if she hadn't seen
   my sketchbook.
D. You can eventually sell pages from your sketchbook and make some extra cash.
   Make sure you scan them before you sell them so that you still have the sketches to look at when
   you are looking for inspiration.

This is a page from one of my sketchbooks from last year.

As you can see I used the top part of the page to do a quick sketch of a Circus Train and then the bottom half to do a tighter version. Like I said, that was last year.

Yesterday I revisited this page and used it as inspiration to draw/paint this...

I had some watercolor board scrap that was left over from another painting and I wanted to use it to do a small one day painting. The only things that are similar are the basic proportions and the pose, but you can clearly see the inspiration.
He turned out nice so I think I'll use him as inspiration to do a set of paintings.
My sketchbooks are full of drawings. Some good, some bad. That's just the way it goes.
So go out get a sketchbook and start drawing in it. If you don't like the kind you bought, buy a different kind next time draw in it. Keep doing it until you find a kind you like and buy them when they are on sale so you have a new one when the old one gets filled up.
The important thing is that you keep drawing!

Purple!

2010-09-20T15:06:00.001-05:00

I just finished painting the purple bird for the book concept.

Here it is...

Purple Bird paints a picture of his pet platypus.

2 new birds for the book.

2010-09-17T15:33:00.000-05:00

Actually it's One new bird and One revised bird.

The new bird is the pink bird.
"The pink bird is a Princess who has found her Prince."

The revised bird is the yellow bird.
I revised the background color from this...

To this...

As alway comments and crits are always welcome.

I am currently working on the purple bird and will be revising the white bird.

Brown Bird

2010-08-26T22:52:00.000-05:00

This is the latest illustration for my color birds book concept.

Brown Bird bakes bread.

A simple rhyme that has nothing to do with the book idea.

Brown Bird, Brown Bird where have you been?

"I've been in the kitchen baking things guaranteed not to keep you thin."

"There's plenty to share, so please do come in."

New promo piece

2010-08-17T11:18:00.000-05:00

One of the hazards of becoming a full-time Illustrator is that you find it hard to just sit down and draw for fun.

What I've noticed in the past couple of years is that whenever I sit down to draw the first thought that goes through my head is "How can I make money off of this?"

It can put a real damper on enjoying the act of sketching.

Especially when you're in a slow period.

When all you're thinking about is how to get more work so you can pay the bills.

I do my best to fight off the "Money making blues" the best I can when I open up my sketchbook so that I can let my brain wander and relieve some stress.

I draw whatever comes to mind and try to fill up the pages with as many images as I can.

Sometimes they lead to an idea for a project that I can use as an Illustrator.

Like the image below.

I had been sketching birds in my sketchbook.

I often draw birds and bugs when I let my brain run free.

I guess it's due to a love of nature and a library full of books I read in school.

The image you see above originally started out as an idea for a simple animation for my church to show before services start. I decided to do it on my own and bring it in to show.

I haven't done the animation yet. I have to fire up my old G4 and open up my Flash program and learn how to use it properly.

I made a couple of animations way back when, but I never got the timing right.

So I'll have to spend some time experimenting.

While I was working out the bird characters I started liking the image as a moment in time and thought it would be good for a example of my digital art.

If you've followed this blog at all, you'll know that it's mostly traditional art that I post here.

I prefer to do my art traditionally lately because I spent 8 years doing mostly digital art and started missing being able to hold the finished piece in my hands and be proud of what I accomplished.

I do however still like being able to digital art.

I just like it to be kind of flat and graphic, not realistic.

So I decided to work this image up as a promo piece to send in an e-mail to prospective clients. Above.

One of the other habits you'll develop as a freelancer is that you will try to get as many uses as you can out of one image.

In this case the image will be used as the promo piece, the animation, and a mock-up of a book sample piece. Below.

As you can see, I cropped the image so that it would work as a two page spread.

So I have managed to take one image and figure out 3 ways to use it.
1. As an e-mail promo piece.
2. As a digital portfolio piece.
3. and as a animation.

I might even take these characters and work up a couple of more mock up book pages, or a simple story.

Mermaid progression 8/05/10

2010-08-05T09:07:00.000-05:00

It is progressing.

Here's where I'm at so far.

I started by painting the turtle. He's was looking pretty good, so I started on the mermaid.

She's looking good so far.

Her hair going to be a challenge though.

I painted out the little sea horses in her hair. They might come back.

As you can see I haven't started the the single fish in the lower right or fish on the left yet.

I believe I'll start figuring out their "local colors" next.

They are going to be a bigger challenge than the hair.

I want to make sure I don't go color crazy.

I'm considering a rainbow effect.

Or maybe limiting them to 3 or 4 colors.

After I get everything mostly done, I'll go back and finish off the whole image.

Mermaid progression 7/22/10

2010-07-22T10:02:00.000-05:00

I just scanned this in so I can get started on the painting this girl.
This is the tight pencil on Crescent illustration board.

Right now I am planning on painting her as an Aboriginal Mermaid.

Dark skin and hair and white markings on her skin.

Her hair will be a dark reddish brown with some strong highlights.

I want her and the turtle to be the focal point so I believe everything else will get lighter as it gets farther away from them.

I had been planning on doing it the complete opposite way by painting the girl pale skinned with flowing red hair, but I like the aboriginal aspect for it's uniqueness.

If I was working smart I would print this out small on paper and do some color studies.

But, the original intention of this image was to experiment and have some fun, so I'm just going to "dive in"" and start painting.

I will search out some paintings by other artists of mermaids and give them a look for inspiration.

Mermaid progression

2010-07-13T22:40:00.002-05:00

I was able to get back to my mermaid art the other day.

I looked up some reference on the net for the sea turtle and various fishes.

I did some sketching in my sketch book of the reference materials and then put them away and drew the fishes so that they will have individual personalities. I don't think I'll be trying to depict specific species of fish. I'd like to just make them up and see what I end up with.

I'll go back to my reference for the markings on the turtle.

The mermaid is starting to look like she's going to be a "girl of color." Not your typical pale skinned mermaid. What color I don't just yet.

Here's where I'm at so far...

The basic idea is that she is ripping the net that is keeping the turtle and fish from having free access to the other side of the ocean. That ropy thing she is holding is the edge of the net. It's weave will make the left half of the painting darker than the right half. Her hair will fill the upper right corner of the page.

The bottom right corner will have a brain coral who's patterning will mimic the patterning of the net.

I don't have any idea what the color pallet will be yet.

I know there will be an overall color wash that will be built up to establish the modeling.

If you see anything that is glaringly wrong let me know.

I still have to figure of what kind of "top" the mermaid will be wearing.

As I am typing this I am thinking that I need to look up some reference of the indigenous peoples of Australia. She's starting to look like one of them to me.

I have transfered this to illustration board and I'm doing the tight pencils that will go under the under painting.

I'll show the tight pencil stage before I move on.

Country Characters

2010-06-26T15:52:00.000-05:00

One of the clients I work for owns www.cartoonmaps.com

I do the art and layout for many of the maps.

One of those maps is for the Darke County Fair.

Each year they have a big musical act at the grandstands.

Each year I get to do cartoon versions of "The Band" for the map.

So far the acts have been REO Speedwagon & Styx.

Each year I put more effort into the characters because the map itself only needs some cosmetic changes to freshen it up.

This years band is Lady Antebellum.

Below is how they will look on the map.

I enjoyed doing drawing them. I hope the band will actually get to see themselves.

Here are some of the characters that are wandering around the map this year.

Why a guy in a fish costume?

Why not?

Ribbit!

2010-06-22T21:28:00.001-05:00

I haven't been able to post anything lately due to being busy with a day job and housework, but things have started hopping again around here in the form of freelance work so I'll just have to start burning the candle at both ends again.

In the mean time here's a page from my sketchbook.

Frogs were just on my mind that day.

One of them may end up in a future book dummy.

Bird book art

2010-05-27T23:27:00.000-05:00

Okay, I'm ready for some constructive criticism on what I have so far.

Here's the set up.

This art is for a combination self promo piece and book dummy.

The book is a children's board book for kids from birth to 6 years old. You know, the thick cardboard pages that the young 'uns like to chew on.

Each image is a 2 page spread. Each spread features a bird of a certain color. Red Bird, blue bird, green bird,...

There will be 10 spreads in all and a wrap around cover.

I wanted to keep the art simple without being simple flat colors. Not even clean colors.

Here's the art...

RED BIRD

ORANGE BIRD

YELLOW BIRD

GREEN BIRD

BLUE BIRD

PURPLE BIRD

PINK BIRD

Pink bird admires her Prince.

BROWN BIRD

Brown Bird bakes bread

BLACK BIRD

WHITE BIRD

WHITE BIRD alternative

Could also be WHITE BIRD Walks on windy Wednesdays

I don't have the wrap around cover art figured out yet.

In case you forgot by the time you made it all of the way down here, I'm looking for your thoughts on what's posted here. Think children's board book and let me hear what you have to say.

Depending on how this turns out I have some pages for an alphabet book roughed out already.

If any of you out there are graphic designers let me know what I could do to make the type treatment better.

I'm Blue

2010-05-20T00:01:00.000-05:00

It's been a little while since I have posted anything.

I've been working a temp job that makes it hard to get anything done.

I have been working on my art though.

Like this.

It's one page of a board book concept. It's our basic color color book.

I'm in the process of painting the pages now. I have 7 done and 3 more to do, as well as some alternate pages to choose from.

This is the blue page.

The type is to make it clear what I'm doing. It will most likely change when I get feed back from the graphically inclined.

The finished size of the book is supposed to be 5" by 10" opened up. It will have rounded corners.

Dragon

2010-04-19T21:38:00.001-05:00

I have had to put my personal projects on hold lately due to taking a temp job during the day to make some steady income for a bit.

I am still freelancing as an illustrator. I have a couple of projects that I am working on at night.

That doesn't really leave me any time for anything else if I want to be able to sleep at night.

here's a partial peak at one of the freelance projects.

I can't tell you what it's for yet, but I can tell you that it's being created using Adobe Illustrator.

I'll be doing another one featuring a "lost in space" type of robot.

New rough concepts

2010-03-29T22:43:00.000-05:00

I'm working on rough ideas for more portfolio pieces.

This one is pretty easy to read. It's a nice bright country scene of two boys fishing with their pet dog.

I the lower right corner will be a Kingfisher who has caught the first fish.

The background will be the lake and the shore with a simple fishing cabin.

I'm seeing a blue green lake, a dark brown-black tree and reflected light on the boys/dog.

As you can see I still need to take a good look at my dog reference to get his anatomy correct.

This one is my idea for the IF web site.

The word of the week is "rescue."

This is my mermaid rescuing a sea turtle from a fishing net.

I'm thinking a purple and yellow fantasy type of color scheme would be good here.

Her hair will fill up the top right corner of the image.

I wanted to do some simpler images as well, so I started drawing a character that filled most of one half of the page. I wanted to get a info page in science book feel.

This guy is holding up his peanut butter sandwich. The facts would be printed on the white part of the bread.

I'm not sure what she will be holding up yet.

Any suggestions?

I will be doing some paintings of characters standing on their own for practice/filler.

I believe I'll be doing a few more rough ides before I start painting any of them.

I would like to work up a night scene and probably a winter and rainy scene also.

Part of the reason for doing these illustrations is to solidify in my mind how I draw/paint people.

Another is to see if any of the people start to reoccur and become characters that I can show in multiple images.

It's Finished!

2010-03-21T15:58:00.002-05:00

It's Finished!

I worked into the wee hours of the night Friday night and got it most of the way done, and then did a little touch up here and there on Saturday morning and finished it up.

Here it is...

Here are some close up details..

The bird

The orange cat

and the dog

I'm happy with the way it turned out and am glad I tried out a new way of painting.

I now have a better understanding of why an underpainting is important.

I never understood why an artist would spend so much effort on an underpainting only to completely paint it over before. Now I do.

The extra step of a light coat of workable fixative over the underpainting was worth it also.

The fixative kept the water color from bleeding through the gouache.

You have to be careful not to put too much fixative on though. If you do the gouache will just puddle on the surface and not stick or cover well.

As a final step I sprayed a couple of coats of clear sealant over the image.

Gouache can pick up fingerprints and such very easily so I wanted to protect it.

I believe I will be revising my website so that this image will be the splash/home page.

The image that is up now was created digitally and I want to let visitors know that I am a traditional illustrator first and a digital illustrator second.

You can see my web site at ...

http://www.robertsnyderillustrates.com

to see what I mean.

I believe I'll be taking what I learned from this painting and revisiting my bird book ideas.

I have two ideas I want to work on. A Boardbook about colors and one about the alphabet.

Status Report 3/19/10

2010-03-19T19:19:00.003-05:00

I was able to put some more time in on this.

I worked on the two cats the bird, the girl and the ground plane since the last post.

It's coming along fine.

I need to get it finished over the weekend because my agent wants to post it on their section of www.picture-book.com

I should be able to get it done.

I just have to do the dog and his bone, the bushes in the foreground, and some flowers on the bushes in the background and foreground, and then step back and see what needs more work before I call it done.

I'll do a good scan of it tomorrow and show some details.

IF - Expired

2010-03-19T09:06:00.002-05:00

I found a great new way to combine two weeks worth of IF topics this week!

I started to do a piece for last Fridays topic - Subterranean but didn't have time to finish it.

So it fits perfectly into this Fridays topic - Expired.

Here's what I was able to do before time expired.

It's The Moleman and his minions in their subterrannean lair playing charades.

It's The Moleman's turn and he's trying to get his team to guess his word.

He's doing the 4th syllable - jar

See him acting like he's trying to open a jar?

His word is Kilimanjaro.

The guys on the opposing team, on the right, are telling him his time has expired - it works twice.

As you can see, I was still working out how to draw the minions and what the background was going to look like. I couldn't remember what his subterranean lair looked like back in the 80's.

If you look a little longer you'll probably see the John Burne influence from my comic book collecting days. He was the big cheese when I was really into comics.

Status Report 3/11/10

2010-03-11T13:16:00.003-06:00

I was able to do some more work on this...

Mostly, I focussed on the dark green tree and the fence.

I believe I'll be changing the color of the hearts on the fence now this is not going to be finished in February. I don't want it overly hearty anymore.

Next up is everything on the ground plane.

Status Report

2010-03-05T16:07:00.002-06:00

I finally got some time to get back to work on the girl illustration.

I started in on the background - sky, bushes, fence, and tree - with the gouache.

I want to eliminate as much of the line work in the back as possible so that it has a nice effect in the foreground.

The bushes will need more work after I have established the foreground art.

As you can see I used a blue grey on the fence to set it back.

I will continue working on the fence to make it lighter. I need it to be dark enough not to blend in with the dog. He will be white with some large patches of color.

I added a dark base coat to the tree. I'll continue to work on it so that it looks like it's in the evergreen family. Lots of needles, not leaves.

I'm happy with the way the gouache is going over the spray fix so far. In some spots I have to work the brush a bit to get the color to soak in and take hold. I'm guessing those are areas where I overlapped the fixative when spraying it.

New work

2010-03-04T14:10:00.003-06:00

About this time last week an old client reconnected with me to do some work, a new client job got the go ahead, and some map work needed to be finished up.

Here's a bit of what the old client wanted.

There are more projects in the works with this client which is nice.

Here's a bit of what the new client wanted. It's waiting for final approval.

The client is in New Zealand so I can put a pin in that country and a mark it off my list.

The map stuff I can't show you. There aren't really any characters in it anyway.

For all 3 clients I do the work using a combination of hand drawing the rough and then pasting it into Adobe Illustrator and using it as a guide to draw the final art.

You'll notice that I have used two different approaches in the way the art is created for each client.

For the older client I used a soft blended approach without outlines.

There's a lot of gradient mesh use in that image.

The image of the girl is a flat approach using outlines. Kind of like a gouache painting.

I really have to push myself in both approaches to try to create volume in the art.

I'm not going for realism, but I don't want it to look flat like cut paper.

I like the way the girls hair is looking.

Val girl revisions - 2/18/2010

2010-02-18T17:03:00.003-06:00

I have revised the line art for this image again after receiving some comments from the Picture Book Doodlers blog...

http://picturebookdoodlers.blogspot.com/

and from the scbwi web site.

You'll notice that I added letters to the two cats mouths and a wrapped dog bone at the feet of the dog.
I decided to keep the Bull Terrier. I like him because of the shape he makes.
I added the texture to the image, a gate - I kept it closed so that I didn't have to introduce any perspective into the image, and some additional greenery to create a bit of foreground.
The line art makes everything look like it's on the same plane right now.
I will be making sure that the background elements fall back in the painting process.
My next step will be to paint a wash of pink over the entire image.
I will probably use watercolor to do it.
I say probably because I saw a technique in a book today where the artist rubbed an even wash of color over her image using pastel and then went back in and removed the pastel in areas that needed to be lighter, then she sealed it with fixative and painted over the image with watercolor and acrylic to achieve the final art.
I might try the pastel.
I will be achieving the final art by painting with watercolor and gouache.

2/20/2010
Yesterday I worked on the under painting.
I decided to use watercolor for the underpainting because I already had the materials.
I would have had to go out to buy the right color(s) of pastel if I went with it.
As you can see I have an overall pink wash.
Then I went back in and added yellow to the sky, fencepost caps, and her scarf.

The next step will be to spray it with fixative and then start painting with more watercolor and then gouache for opaque detail.
I usually go back in at the end and do some color outlining.

Girl art

2010-02-10T10:27:00.000-06:00

This is the second pass on the girl art I'm working on.

Here's the first rough for comparison.

You'll notice that I changed it quite a bit.
For the girl I ditched her head band and added a knit hat and scarf that I found on the web. I think it makes her look cuter and more dressed up. It gives her a better head shape as well.
My intention is to make this a February/Valentines image.
The girl is holding a "love" letter that the Postal bird will be delivering for her.
Since I made the letter bigger in the second rough I also decided to make the bird bigger.
Instead of the little chickadee type of bird I'm going with a Blue Bird. He's already dressed in the right color for the job of Postman anyway.
I'll be repositioning the bird so he sits properly on her finger.
I searched the web for dog and cat pics so that I could make the animals more realistic. One of my goals for this year. Less cartoony.
I will be shrinking the cat so that she's smaller than the dog. The dog may get a little bigger.
I'll experiment with moving the cat more to the right to strengthen the pyramid composition.
If you see anything else to comment on let me know.

Fox with marshmallow

2010-02-08T11:34:00.001-06:00

For this image I took the rough sketch from my sketchbook...

and placed it into an Adobe Illustrator file on it's own layer.

I set the scan to multiply.

Then I made a new layer underneath so that I could draw the fox and still see the rough art over the top of what I was drawing.

This is the result.

My original intention was to take this Illustrator image into Photoshop and add texture to it.

I played with it a little bit but didn't like the way it was going so I stopped.

The image looks a bit unbalanced to me. I think it could use something down at the bottom left to strengthen the pyramid composition.

I am considering adding his bag of marshmallows on the ground or maybe a small critter who is sharing his disappointment. I'm not sure yet.

Opinions are welcome.

5 eyed monster

2010-02-03T11:13:00.001-06:00

Here's the latest inked piece of art.

This was originally drawn in my sketchbook for Illustration Friday.

My goal was to draw 3 monsters that read as one monster until you started to really look at the drawing.

I think this one would be better with some color.

The monsters are very white. I didn't want to get too heavy with the fur. I was concerned it would become hard to read.

I used a combination of tech pen and brush and ink on bristol board.

I have started sketching some ideas for new art....

My wife has said that I am making too many complicated/detailed drawings lately.

I should do some simpler art. "People ooh and aah over it."

I can see what she means, so I am sketching up some simpler ideas to work on.

Here are a few that I sketched out yesterday.

This one is to add more people to my samples.

The girl is outside giving a letter to the mail bird to deliver.

I think I'll do this one in Black & White and also in Color.

This one was inspired by one of Aesop's Fables, The Fox and the Grapes.

I believe this one will also be in Black & White and also Color.

This one is the simplest of the 3.

He's just a dressed up fox holding something.

He was inspired by the art in the Fable book.

I believe I will "ink" this one in Adobe Illustrator. And then do a color version using Illustrator also and then take it into Photoshop to play around with texturing it.

2010-01-25T10:39:00.003-06:00

These art the last two inked images from the circus story.

I don't believe I'll ink the whole story. These were meant to show a single character drawn in several different images. Portfolio pieces for children's book publishers.

The first one is the boy swallowed up by a snake.

The second is a visit with the circus monkeys.

Both were drawn with a mix of pen, brush , and ink.

MeMonday1/25/10

2010-01-25T10:30:00.003-06:00

This is todays self portrait.

I drew this one in my sketchbook using pencil and brush & ink.

Time: 20 - 30 min.

I realized the other day that drawing these on Monday morning, or any other morning, doesn't show me "at my best. But I like the results so far.

For todays drawing I decided in advance that it would be drawn with brush and ink.

I'm working on my control of the brush.

3 birds inked

2010-01-22T14:05:00.001-06:00

I finished the inking on the 3 birds. This is the final art.

Let me know what you think.

New inks

2010-01-20T10:51:00.003-06:00

These are a couple of pieces that I started yesterday.

This one is a circus train being pulled by a clown car.

I'm wondering if it needs a background. Nothing fancy. Just a pattern or something.

If you have an opinion, let me know what you think.

This second one is still a w.i.p.

It's also a piece that was done in color previously.

I am changing it for inking.

As you can see by the hat on the top bird I am planning on adding texture and pattern to the piece. I stopped here to scan it so that I can save this stage so I can print it out on paper and do some experimenting before committing to the final image.

I need to decide how to treat the sky and grass and I'm not sure what I want to do yet.

Again if you have any comments, let them fly.

MeMonday1/20/10

2010-01-20T10:38:00.002-06:00

Here's this Monday's self portrait.

What's that you say? It's Wednesday.

I do believe you're right.

I spent most of Monday working on my resume, trying to make new contacts on "LinkedIn"and job hunting on the web.

You wouldn't have wanted to see how I looked on Monday. I know I didn't want to look in a mirror that day.

Tuesday I was called in to be a sub for a High school math class.

So I took art with me to ink while I was there.

I'll post it after this.

Subbing for High School is nice because the kids are usually well behaved enough that I just have to be there to hand out the work the teacher left for them to do or start the dvd player so they can watch a movie. Then I can sit down and draw while scanning the room every couple of minutes to make sure no one is using there Iphone or whatever.

Most of the time they don't even realize that I am drawing. Teens are very self absorbed.

When they do I usually end up with a group of kid looking through my sketchbook.

I kind of nice to see what they like or think is funny.

Today is Wednesday and I finally sat down to draw the self portrait.

This was a quick one. About 20 min. on paper with ebony pencil.

#2 self portrait series

2010-01-11T10:22:00.001-06:00

Here's the second self portrait for the year.

The plan is to do one every Monday Morning.

Pencil on paper. 16/20 min.

There's no measuring proportions or preplanning. It's just a quick observation.

Since It's winter here in the midwest and it's been snowing on and off for the past 4 or 5 days I am dressing in my winter gear.

Inking 102

2010-01-08T14:11:00.005-06:00

Here's another revisited piece of art for my Black on white portfolio.

It's a piece featuring Vincent Van Gogh and Toulouse Lautrec.

The main reason for revisiting this piece is that the original painted version was damaged by a colored liquid of some sort.

The secondary reason is to continue my inking development.

So this was the original line art for the painted version...

It was never intended to be final art.

In order to do an inked drawing from it I reduced the size to fit on an 8.5 by 11 piece of bristol paper. Then I reduced the opacity of the art to 10%...

and printed it out on the bristol paper.

The result is that I had a basic outline to start with that wouldn't get in my way if I wanted to alter anything. And I did change a couple of things here and there.

The first pass at inking came out looking like this...

I like to scan the art in stages so I can see it on my screen and save the art. That way if I do something to it later that I don't like, I can print out the saved version and start again without completely starting over.

I looked it over and decided that I needed to do something about the lady on right. She was much to white, which made her the center of attention.

I also decided that the dog on the bottom left ,the flower pot, the two guys faces, and the background needed more work.

This is the result...

I scanned it and looked it over.

I felt that the background , some of the painting of the lady, and Van Gogh's hat needed to get darker.

This is the result...

I also thickened the border to hold it all in.

Overall I'd say it's a successful drawing.

Here's a close up...

I'll do more like this for the portfolio.

Materials...

Cheap bristol paper.

Faber Castell Pitt artist pens - XS and S.

I liked the way the ink from the pen soaked into the paper quickly and didn't smear or bleed.

If I had to cover large areas in solid black it would be a problem like when I used it with the brush. I would most likely fill in the big areas in photoshop to get a solid black and save ink.

Going back to the circus

2010-01-06T16:20:00.000-06:00

I previously stated that one of my goals for this year is to do more inked art.

My first project will be to re-illustrate, in black on white, the art I recently painted for an emergent reader.

Here's the original line art....

It was never intended to be "finished art."

Here's the newly inked image...

If you compare the two you'll notice that I changed some things.

To start with I made the boy's nose much smaller.

I also sent him to the dentist to have that gap in his teeth fixed.

The result is a more normal/appealing appearance.

Materials:

I used Speedball Super Black India Ink and Windsor & Newton #1 and#4 brushes to ink on some cheap bristol paper.

The brushes aren't the best for inking. The #1 brush wouldn't keep a nice point. The #4 worked alright.

The paper sucked up the ink and made it hard to get solid black coverage.

I manipulated the art in Adobe Photoshop after the art was done to get a solid uniform black.

As far as inking with a brush goes I like it. I have a lot of practicing to do to be able to get a nice smooth stroke though.

I like the way this turned out so I will do the rest of the pages with these materials.

At the same time I will be experimenting with ink pens/markers and other papers.

If anyone has any recommendations of materials that have worked well for them please let me know what they are and I will look into trying them out.

2010

2010-01-04T10:44:00.001-06:00

It's a new year!

It's fresh. It's clean. And ready to draw on.

So I've been considering what to do with 2010.

First off, I picked up this book...

I be reading it from cover to cover this month and then applying what I learn from it to my book art throughout the year.

I will review the book either as I go along chapter by chapter or as a whole. This is my first book review so I'll figure that out as I read it.

Secondly, I have decided to take a lesson from the "Old Masters" and do some self portraits.

The plan is to do one a week. Probably on Mondays.

This is the first one. Pencil drawing done in about 20 min.

They will be done however I feel like doing them that day. Pencil sketch, watercolor, whatever.

The plan is to help develop my observation skills.

Thirdly, I will be doing a lot of black and white inked art this year.

I have noticed lately, that when I go to the book store, I am attracted to the line art of the chapter books for boys/girls.

Forthly, I will be searching for a "focus" for my children's art.

I will be playing with creating a small group of characters to star in my art.

I have a few ideas, but I will be experimenting in my sketchbook for the next couple of months to see what comes up.

I have also decided to focus on the "Old Masters" in my own way.

Particularly, Vincent Van Gogh. He has been a favorite of mine for many years and I find myself thinking of him a lot lately. I believe I will be writing a story featuring Vincent. I don't know if it will be fact or fiction or a mix of both.

I have this idea of doing some cartoony fact sheets. Each would focus on an "Old Master."

That's all I have figured out so far.

We'll see how it goes.....

2009-12-30T12:26:00.000-06:00

Process Report -

Yesterday I finished the revision to the last assignment of my illustration class.

The revision was self imposed. I didn't like the digital collage version that I made so I decided to redo the art.

Here's the process I went through.

The original rough...

As I remember them the comments during the critique were as follows...

She looks very uncomfortable, both in body position and by having her straddle that very big branch.

There's too much going on with the multiple nests, squirell, the mouse, and the bug.

I agreed with the comments so I searched the "net" for some images of kids sitting in trees, as well as, robins, and fall clothes.

Then I reworked the rough and came up with this...

The girls clothes stayed the same.

Her posture was improved and I changed the tree to have a curving horizontal trunk that I found on the "net."

I added another horizontal trunk so she would have a place to rest her foot.

I added another robin and positioned him so that the beaks of both birds pointed to her hand offering up the piece of sandwich. This helped improve the focal point of the image.

I removed one nest from the bottom of the image, the squirell, mouse, and bugs.

The mouse will be appearing in another illustration along with several more.

I took this rough and decided that I would do an inked version.

One of my areas to focus on this year is black and white line art.

I believe I need more for my portfolio. And I like doing it.

So, this is the first inked image. It's more of a coloring book,open feel.

The type would be printed in black in the upper left leaves.

It could be used as is, or flat color could be added using Illustrator for a screen printed feel.

I liked this one, but I wanted to do a "fully inked version."

So I inked it again...

This time I used "heavy blacks" to make sure the focus stayed on the girls hand.

I focussed on texture and giving the robins some "personality."

I really like this version. It will go onto my web site and to my agent.

I still had the urge to paint the image in color to get that "fall feeling" with the color.

So I went back to the rough and transfered it to a piece of watercolor board and made a tight pencil drawing. Then I did an under painting using watercolors.

It came out like this...

I removed the upper right nest.

I have to say that this is the first time I purposely started with an underpainting, and I was worried about how the final art was going to turn out. So I put it away for a few days because I wanted to start the next step of painting it with gouache when I was able to sit down and focus on it properly. The holidays were here and there was no time for an involved painting session.

Around the 27th my wife got tired of looking at me a day and told me I needed to get back to work. So I spent all day out in the studio and painted the final version.

I was still worried about how it was going to turn out, so I started with the robin on the left to build up some confidence.

He came out like this...

I liked the way he turned out. So with my confidence restored I continued on with the rest of the painting.

It turned out like this...

I like it. It's not the usual bright "Yellow, Red, Orange" fall pallet. It's more of a muted version.

Now I can say I am done with this image. I don't feel the need to do any other versions of it.

I am considering using the multiple images in some sort of self promotional way.

There were a few revelations that came from doing several versions of this image.

The first was that I have always liked doing black and white art.

So I will do more.

The second is that I like to do animals realistically with some personality.

So I will do more.

The third is that my work improves when I search for reference materials and use them to influence the final art instead of making everything up from my imagination/memory all of the time.

So I will do more.

The fourth is I like to paint. And I need to develop my color sense and modeling of the form.

So I will do more.

Lastly I have talent that people want and I need to let them know it with self promotion.

So I will do more.

So my recommendation to you for 2010 is "to do more."

Good luck in the new year!

Color revision time.

2009-11-20T19:19:00.001-06:00

At this weeks Illustration class we showed our work for the emergent reader.

The comments on my work were mixed.

The main one that I need to focus on to improve my art is that the backgrounds are interfering with the ability to see the characters.

It was recommended that I change the colors, remove some color and show "the white of the page", and or make the background colors flat/solid and not so washy.

With that in mind I have played around in Photoshop a bit to do some quick revisions...

This is the original painting...

This is with a solid lavender for the upper part and a solid brown for the bottom part without touching the middle red and white bit.

This one has a solid blue top part, solid red and white stripe, and a solid brown bottom part.
This one has a solid white upper part without touching anything else.

Let me know your opinion on the best way to proceed.

These are the "finished" pieces I showed in class...

Tighter Line art

2009-11-05T12:04:00.002-06:00

These are the the line drawings that I print out onto watercolor paper.
I will reduce the opacity to about 10 or 15% so that I can see the lines to do the watercolor painting .
After the painting is done I will go over it with either pen or a combination of pen and colored pencil.
After the paintings are finished I will scan them and add the type using Adobe Illustrator.

I should say that I don't usually revise my art this many times.
Usually the process is roughs, tight pencils, transfer to the painting surface, and then paint.

Tight line art

2009-11-03T16:02:00.002-06:00

Here are the tightened up pencil drawings for "Can I Have Pet?"
I finished them up last night.

Now I just have to redraw them again to get the final line quality that I want.
I haven't decided if I'll be using pen or pencil for the final line art yet.
I beleive I'll go with pencil and scan that into my computer so that I can print it out onto watercolor paper for painting.

Illustration class roughs

2009-11-02T11:17:00.001-06:00

For this class we were to have our roughs for the emergent reader manuscript ready to go over.
These are the roughs I had to show. I decided on a circus theme, so I made the boy look like a ring master.
Can I have a pet?

Can I have a pet?

Can I have a monkey?

Can I have a snake?

Can I have a zebra?

Can I have a bear?

Can I have a lion?

Can I have a fish? Yes!

I'm working on revising/tightening the roughs now so that I can do the tight line art and experiment with how the final art will be done.
I'm thinking of doing a simple inked line drawing and watercolor with some colored pencil for color.

October Mailer

2009-10-30T17:21:00.003-05:00

I just created and sent out this newsletter to my list of contacts.
If you see it or know of anyone who might like to see it, please feel free to send them a link to this site, or copy the file to your desktop and send it to them.
I would greatly appreciate it.

Cinderellastien art finished!

2009-10-26T17:17:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend I was able to finish inking the 3 samples from the Cinderellastein story.
Here they are...
The Evil Step Mummy and the Evil Step Monsters let Cinderellastein know who's boss by presenting her with the list of chores she has to do.

The Evil Step Mummy makes sure Cinderellastein knows she won't be going to the Monster Mash.

The Fairey God Monster transforms Cinderellastien's clothes and mop so she can go to the Monster Mash. It's not a pleasant experience.

I drew the final art on Graphics 360 100% rag Translucent Marker Paper using Prismacolor Premier markers. Sizes 01, 03, and the brush tip.

The art was then scanned into Photshop and the Brightness/Contrast was adjusted to make the blacks solid.

Girly Bird!

2009-09-15T18:07:00.004-05:00

Let me introduce you to Girly Bird. She's a cute little bird with a little girls soul.

She was born from the sketches for my Color board book of birds.
She's a fun, frilly, feathered friend who will stick by you until the very end.
As you can see this is the cover art for her first book. "Let's Pretend"
Now all I have to do is write the story.

IF - Magnify

2009-09-01T13:06:00.003-05:00

Just a quick little sketch to play with the word magnify and change it to Magni-fly.
This is what it looks like when you sneak up on a fly in the bathroom.

Pencil in my sketchbook. Actual size 2 by 3 inches.

Bird Book roughs

2009-08-24T22:08:00.005-05:00

So far in my career as an Illustrator I've always had clients tell me what they needed from me as far as the art goes.
I'll continue to do that. I like to do that.
Lately I have been experiencing some "creative dissatisfaction" with the career.
I used to like to write a bit but never thought I was good at it. I'm not the type to let that stop me,
so I've decided to take some initiative and start creating projects for my illustrations.
I know my current limitations so the first one won't be the next Harry Potter. It will be a basic board book.

It's a color book featuring birds.
Each bird would have a 2 page spread.
The idea is to take the red bird and paint it in a monochromatic red scheme.
The green bird in a monochromatic green scheme, and so on, and so on.
So here's what I have for the first go round of roughs.

Red bird.

He'll be skipping down the sidewalk next to the street, probably with a picket fence in the far background.

Orange bird.

He'll be floating in the water. Maybe a fish will be jumping out of the water to make that upper right space more interesting.

Yellow bird.

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He'll be playing with a couple of yo-yos that will replace the O's in the word Yo-Yo. I don't know what his background will be yet.

Green bird.

This one's self explanatory.

Blue bird.

Option A

He's sitting on a stump in the Bayou singing his heart out.

Option B

Same thing, different bird.

Purple bird.

Option A

He's jamming on the piano. Think Jerry Lee Lewis.

Option B

He's painting a portrait, I know he's painting grapes right now, like Picasso.

Brown bird.

This one will be a bakers kitchen scene.

Black bird.

He's catching the baseball out onn the field.

White bird.

I know this one is repetition. I need to think of something else for him to do that starts with a W.

The final art will be painted in a combination of watercolor, gouache, and possibly colored pencil.

That's what I have so far.
Your feed back/comments are welcome.

A few questions...

1. Are the birds interesting enough.
2. Are the pages too crowded. Laid out well?
3. Is one character enough per page?

Camping Fishing Guy

2009-08-04T11:21:00.000-05:00

I spent a couple of days painting and finishing off this guy.
He's painted on watercolor board using a mix of watercolor, gouache, and colored pencil.

I intend to mock up a booklet cover using him.
Once that's figured out I'll scan a real map to fill in the blank area of his map and the map of the hampster on his back pack.
I have to say that this is the way I want to work for book/magazine jobs.

My Flat Stanley

2009-08-04T11:18:00.001-05:00

This weeks IF word is unfold.
I submitted the art from the previous post, the map guy, because he was unfolding his map to see where he was going.
I was able to post it early in the week so I still had time to think about the word of the week.
I was in the book store a few days back and I saw that the character "Flat Stanley" was in some new books.
He had a new look, so I started thinking that I could do my take on the character for the word unfold.
I figured he could fold up and mail himself to different places and unfold when the letter was opened.

The line art...

and the color...

It was painted with watercolors on illustration board, and then colored pencil was added for shading.
Below is a close up to show the use of the colored pencil better.

IF - Modify - The Dragon's Treat

2009-08-04T11:15:00.001-05:00

This weeks IF word is MODIFY.

What you are looking at is the use of a treat to Modify the Dragons attitude so that he will be helpful.

It's painted with gouache and watercolor on illustration board.
I've decided that I like watercolor board better.
The illustration board surface gets rough when a lot of water is used.

July 24 2009- I received some more comments from the SCBWI forum and made changes to the image and went to tight line art.

Next is to start to figure out the color.
I plan on doing a color wash over the whole image with watercolor and then going in with gouache to do the rest of the color.
After that I'll probably go back over the line work and give it more variation.

July 23 2009- Ok, I have reworked the rough after receiving comments from the SCBWI forum boards.
Here it is.

I made the image space larger to give the dragon some breathing space and show more of the balloon.
I also added in the tail.

July 22 2009- This is my rough for another possible portfolio piece.
It's a boy and his grandma feeding a dragon his favorite treat...Oreo cookies.
Grandma's got a purse full of them. I think I'll have some sugar packets and stuff falling out of the purse as well.
I'm still trying to decide if the dragon will be a boy or girl.

I know it's really rough, but if you see anything that stands out as "wrong" or have an idea that will enhance the work, let me know.

Depending on how this turns out, I just might use the grandma and boy as the focus of the next batch of drawings.
I think I'll add a little dog as well.

PatriRATic

2009-08-04T11:14:00.001-05:00

This is the final art for the previously posted line art.
It's painted with water color and guoache.
I added the story element using Illustrator and Photoshop.

If I were a story writer I'd be able to flesh this idea out into a story.

At the bus stop

2009-08-04T11:12:00.000-05:00

This is one of the results of working on new images for my portfolio.
It's painted with a combination of water color and gouache.
It's posted here for "IF" because the bat creature's name is Tango.

My intention here was to show a simple/common scene of a bus stop with some fantasy elements.

Up Up And Away

2009-08-04T11:10:00.000-05:00

Previously, I posted a sketchbook page of a boy and his dog in a balloon dragging the clouds out of the sky.
I liked the image, so I reworked it. Mainly because the balloon was in the shape of a butt ( old school joke with my friends).
I changed the format to horizontal and made the balloon a normal shape and zoomed in so that the viewer is closer to the boy and his dog.
I added a couple of birds for interest and depth. I also opened up the clouds and added the earth below. It will be farmland. Simple rectangular shapes of color. I added a barn and the horizon line for scale/depth.
I wanted to add more "story" to the image so that it works as a children's book image.

Here's the tight line art.

I'll be painting it with watercolors and possibly colored pencil and gouache.

I have also worked up two other images for possible inclusion to my portfolio.
The first is a bit of a fantasy piece.

As you can see, it's not over the top Fantasy. Ogres and Knights and stuff.
I wanted a normal scene with fantastic elements.
I usually make everything up from my head/memory, but this time I went to google and found images of what I wanted to draw and used them to help me be a bit more realistic/accurate.
Here are some of the images I used for reference.

This will be painted in watercolors also.

The second image was drawn because I went through a short jag of drawing rats in my sketchbook.

In this page of my sketchbook you can see that the rats started out as simple shapes where I was exploring how to draw them in as many poses as possible.

In this page you see that I started to make them more complicated.

If you take a look at the top right corner you'll see where the rat for the following image came from.

I was drawing this page of rats while watching a show about the bombing of Pearl Harbor, which explains the wings on his back.
This one will also be painted with watercolors and possibly colored pencil.
I'm thinking the background stripes will be red and white and the rat will be done in blue/grey.

Mamma Mia's Pizzeria

2009-04-08T14:55:00.001-05:00

Mamma Mia's Pizzeria!

February Mailing campaign

2009-02-04T12:50:00.001-06:00

I sent out the first "News Letter" for February today.
You can see it here if you wish...
News Letter 1 for February.

I also found my newest board book for Ideals publishing on amazon.
You can see it here...
The Itsy Bitsy Spider on Amazon.com

Itsy Bitsy Catalog

2009-01-14T10:28:00.006-06:00

Last week I received my copy of the Ideals Publications Books Spring 2009 catalog.
See below.

The thing that excited me was that I opened the cover above and on the first page was this...

That's the cover of the book I illustrated for them!
So my post for "Contain" this week is the above, because I just can't contain my excitement.

I didn't get my submission for last weeks "Resolve" done until Sunday.
So here it is...

Mr. Holmes and the Dr. are trying to resolve a mystery.

An Itsy Bitsy Bit more

2008-09-05T07:31:00.002-05:00

These are 2 more interior images from "The Itsy Bitsy Spider."
It will be published by Ideals Books. I'm not sure of the release date yet.

Illustrated by Robert Snyder www.robertsnyderillustrates.com

LGLP2

2008-08-18T16:48:00.004-05:00

Letterhead ideas -
If you click on the image below it will change to a bigger image.

Banner ideas -
If you click on the image below it will change to a bigger image.

Logo

2008-08-16T11:20:00.002-05:00

IF - POOF

2008-08-08T08:33:00.004-05:00

It's almost impossible not to think of magic when you see or hear the word Poof.
So I started thinking about ways to do it without a rabbit and a hat.
For some unexplainable reason the Immaculate Conception came to mind.
Magically making a woman pregnant is a pretty good poof moment, I think.
My experience in coming up with titles for giftware figurines has led me to the practice of substituting one word for another that kind of sounds the same.
So I swapped out Conception with Confection and all of a sudden I had a woman who's belly had to turn into food.
I had to look up what a confection was in a cook book, because I wasn't sure what one was exactly. I knew it was some kind of dessert, but what kind?
The book had a recipe for some fancy strawberries. My mind automatically saw the stem as an "outie" so I had my idea and the drawing below is the result....

My new book job

2008-08-05T11:48:00.002-05:00

The Itsy Bitsy Spider opening spread.

I have been contracted to illustrate a children's musical board book for Ideals Publishing.
This is my second book for them. We are putting our spin on the "story" of the song.

I have had an idea for a picture book of the "real life" of the Itsy Bitsy Spider for several years.
I got the chance to work a couple of ideas intto this book.
If I can find the time and talent to write the story the way I want, I'll someday illustrate the story the way I want to.
Until then getting to illustrate him for Ideals is a good scratch to the itch.

I even managed to get one of my Friends/clients into the art as the Father spider you see above.

IF - Canned

2008-07-29T09:20:00.002-05:00

I did my usual, word association exercise to come up with an idea for this weeks word, but I still ended up with a can.
It was hard to avoid on this one. So instead of something in a can, I decided to do the can as a character.
Of course, there's still something in the can. Pre recorded radio.

IF-Garden Inked

2008-03-13T14:54:00.008-05:00

This is an example of how I work when I do traditional art.
This image was done for The IF site where the word of the week was "Garden."

The rough.

The tight line art.

The inked art.

The marker study.

The final painted art. Watercolor with ink outlines on watercolor paper

Wonder for Picture Bookies site.

2008-03-06T23:55:00.004-06:00

The "Picture Bookies" site is the same as the IF site.
They give you a word. You draw a picture.
The word this week is "Wonder."
This is a marker study.

IF - Leap

2008-03-05T14:28:00.002-06:00

Well, it's been a while since I was able to do anything for IF, but I felt the need to take a leap and restart my submissions.
I went through several ideas for this one, from the obvious frog leaping to a group of animals sitting around a tree stump looking at what's left of a squirrell who forgot to look before he leaped. I still might get back to that one and change the squirrell to an object that is fascinating them.
This image came from one of those moments when you stop thinking and an idea just pops into your head.
What animal is least likely to leap? An elephant. Why would he leap? Mouse. Why would the mouse want him to leap? Well, so he can have some shade of course and still get a breeze once in a while.

Pie art

2007-09-10T10:24:00.001-05:00

IF-Captain

2007-08-19T17:50:00.000-05:00

This is Crunchy, the pickeled Pirate captain. He has just found the long lost treasure of Pickeled Pete the scourge of the Kosher Seas.

If you color him up and send a pic / jpeg, tiff,png / of him to me, I'll reward you with a pic of a new pickled pirate.

My e-mail is what2wnt@jorsm.com

If you do a really good job I'll mail you the original drawing of your new pirate.

My first real book

2007-08-10T11:17:00.000-05:00

This is the first book that I've illustrated that gives me credit on the front cover!
It comes out soon for Christmas '07.

IF-Moon

2007-08-01T09:20:00.000-05:00

This was a quick experiment with illustrating with sculpey.
The background is painted (acrylic) illustration board.
The scarecrow and moon are white sculpey that was painted with acrylics also.

IF - Poem

2007-07-26T10:29:00.000-05:00

This idea for a poem that has been rattling around in my head for awhile.
I liked the word play of kneaded and needed.
So being an artist old enough to know the joy of stretching those erasers I naturally used it as my subject.
I do still have a few sitting in a drawer waiting to be used.

If you can't read the poem when you click on the image and open it up bigger you can read it here.

The UnKneaded Eraser
A poem for artists who remember

The kneaded eraser sits alone on my shelf,
off to the side, alone, by itself.

wrapped in clear plastic, stamped with green ink,
it sits there unkneaded in it's rectangular shape.

Collecting dust and waiting for use.
the kind it would get from artistic abuse.

Pulled, and stretched, and shaped into forms,
people and animals and shapes I can't mention.

In the past I used them quite a lot, it's true
But, today I have a Mac in my lap, and a desktop too.

So the kneaded eraser sits alone on my shelf,
unkneaded, unused, and unsealed.

But today I have a yearning, a wanting, a burning desire
to make some thing with shape, and volume, and form.

So I take the unkneaded eraser down from it's place,
and spend hours and hours with a smile on my face.

Making monkeys, and lions, and something I still can't mention
Out of this wonderful eraser that's unkneaded no more.

Hide

2007-03-08T16:19:00.000-06:00

This topic came up just at the right time for me.
I just finished illustrating my first "Illustrated By" book.
I've illustrated others, just didn't get credit for it.
I did 12 double page spreads and the cover in less than 2 months.
I'm guessing it will be out this Christmas season '07.
They didn't tell me the publishing date.
It will be published by Ideals or Candy Cane Press.
It will be one of those books that play music when you open it.

It fits this weeks topic because there is a little mouse hiding in each spread.
Now this book is for kids between 3 and 9 years old so don't be too proud if you find him real easily.

IF-Red

2007-01-31T10:01:00.000-06:00

Here he is "The Red Eye"
And another idea...

A devil may care match.