a little of this, a little of that...

"Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in."
—Mark Twain 

The adventures of illustrating mainly begin with muses that are in my life. Can you guess what some of my muses are? My portfolio pieces all have a piece of me with them. Andy is a story that I shared with my boys as the grew up. I created illustrations for that little story and my boys still look at the photo album book that I made. I took my basic pen and crayon drawing and expanded my artistic ventures into the realms of watercolor, pastel, color pencil, and some digital art. As I began to emerge myself into my art, I began outsourcing tools to make my work stronger. Conferences and portfolio reviews accelerated that process of understanding illustrating and creation concepts in the children's book genre.

 Andy soon developed into a more complex character, requiring more complex style art. Andy became my catalyst. He was the driving force for me to hold on to my dream of illustrating and progress forward. After attending my first portfolio review, I received some advice and a specific critique about my work. conference.

 That critiqued inspired me to push myself harder. I then created this piece.It still required more complexity. It needed...larger paper! The piece to the right was the result of critique and work. The story was more pronounced in this page.

 I truly love utilizing bright, primary colors in my work. When meeting with artistic directors, they have not been so keen on my color choices, but commend my ability to make them work together. Color calms my spirit and continues to spark interest in my little audience. In the above pics, you can see my choice of color and how I us it to bring a jovial feel to my work.

My boys are so supportive of my artistic abilities. They are the super brothers. I have been in the works of creating a Super Brothers Adventure story As you can see, no stronger friendship will ever be more than what they have at home. I am a lucky mom.

I have also illustrated a design for a shirt that is quite popular among the dog community in Toledo. It was such an honor to create this shirt and see so many wearing it. I have also created another design for a special pet fund that helps rehabilitate and provide medical care to puppies who are special needs. The foundation is called Jovie Strong. I am very proud of the work I have provided and look forward to continuing work with them on this project as their illustrator. Their mission is a good one. If you are interested in learning more about it, please visit the website www.lucascountypitcrew.org