31 days of Halloween!

As Halloween soon approaches, I am going to do 31 drawings, released on each day of October... The problem is, I don't want to choose them... I want YOU to choose what I will draw!

You want a picture of your child in a halloween costume? Cool . Freddy Kruger? I can do that. Creature from the Black Lagoon? Awesome (I love the classics). Heck, even though I don't like cats, I would draw your cat as a zombie for you! Notice a Halloween theme here?

Here's how it works: you send me the suggestion, along with a picture reference if needed (I would like to also post the reference, if that's ok). Sorry, no repeats, and keep it simple.

All drawings done will be available for purchase in my store for a measly $20... However, people who have made the suggestions get first shot to purchase.

...All money will be used to purchase art supplies for my art classes!!

Then starting October 1st, I will post one picture everyday up til the last day. I will draw 1 person from everyone who entered to win the drawing I do on Halloween.

Any questions, just ask.

Send suggestions (with reference if needed) to joel@joelcookart.com

Include your name, and whatever other info you want to share.

I cannot wait. Send those suggestions in!

UPDATE 8/26:
I have had some great suggestions. So far:

Chris: Daughter/Dog as zombies
Rob: Werewolf has Nards (Monster Squad)
Rob: Creepy German Guy (Monster Squad)
Floss: Davy Jones (Pirates of the Caribbean)
Sarah: My Self-portrait (Joel) as a Vampire
Kate: Dog Lucie as an Alligator

...Keep the ideas coming! No one is obligated to buy the drawing (although it would be nice). I just really want some ideas! I will be starting the drawings in a few days:)

SCBWI-Houston Illustrator workshop

Today I attended a little workshop ran by SCBWI-Houston for illustrators, organized by illustrator Deandra Mae, where I learned quite a bit. Thanks Deandra! There was a ton of great info given out here, and if my camera hadn't died, I would have taken a lot more pictures. One thing I would absolutely LOVE would be for more of a community here in Houston between the illustrators in our group. Just being around other artists and talking shop makes me (little British girl accent) "ever so happy!"

Near the end of the meeting, we got to squeeze in a little of making a picture book dummy, which honestly was a lot more fun than I ever thought. Below are the beginnings of the layout of Harry the Dirty Dog....which I am sure I have read at some point in my life:

And sometimes, just being around creative people makes me really start "pump out the jams" .... This may be a really cool idea happening below. Just remember: You saw it here first. Obviously, can't talk too much about it, but it may be the book I prepare a dummy for the spring convention:

So my goals now are a little clearer:

1. Continue to work on pieces to boost portfolio, and streamline my work/style.
2. Create a dummy book
3. Design and get a promo card printed.
4. work on character design.

Tortoise vs. Hare

I have been promising myself I would do a tortoise/hare painting, so I just decided to go ahead and do one. This time, I stretched the watercolor paper, in order to try and circumvent the warping of paper, and pooling of water that occurs (although I like that stuff too, as it adds a level of surprise/frustration).

Brush/ink

Ok, so i had a rough idea of a different version of the Tortoise vs. Hare race. I wanted to show Tortoise winning the race, while Hare was in the background...so after a light sketch, I went over it with brush and ink. I am slowing warming up to the brush/ink combo. Maybe after so many years of doing comics with the precision of pen/ink, that I am glad to give up in a little bit of control in exchange for a little spontaneity with my lines...

Masking fluid added

After inking, and doing a little painting on the turtle/airplane, I wanted to try some new stuff out. I had bought masking fluid, which seems to me like a liquid latex (from my ventures in horror mask making as a kid) and after drying will protect the  paper from any watercolor. It can be erased away when dry. Just make sure the paper is dry. I prefer the yellow  (pigmented) version versus the colorless fluid, because I just like to see where it is. So I painted it above to mask any clouds, and I could apply a wash to the sky.

First round of colors

Okay, the first round of colors are done, and like usual with my watercolors, I feel like this needs a lot of work. I will update this when I am finished.

Illustration Friday: TEACHER

There is a cool site, called Illustration Friday, where a new subject is posted every week, and anyone can submit illustrations based on said subject. In order to push myself to keep doing art (esp. when I am feeling uninspired), I will be taking part in some of these as I can... so this week's subject was: Teacher.

"I don feel so good..."

Yeah, I know... trying to keep the brush/ink thing going, but it's funny how my days of teaching elementary school left me with memories of kids making accidents.

Artwork: Scarecrow

Inked art (L) and finished color art (R)

I thought I would try doing a piece for the Covered Blog, and redid a cover from Marvel Comics' Wonderful Wizard of Oz...  If you have a chance and can read any of them (I think they are on the 5th series), give them a shot. Great for all ages.

The Art:

I tried to keep the rough sketchy style of art that Skottie Young does in the books. I used solely a brush and ink on the drawing (above left)... using a mix of dry brush, some linework and spattering the ink. I used my fingerprints in the ink to help make the shadows... if you look close you can see my prints. I have seen other artists do this, particularly a great piece by Chuck Close... and thought I would give it a shot. It worked with moderate success, although I think next time I will use an ink pad.

The finished work is a mix of watercolor, gouache, colored pencil and ink.

You can really get some beautiful lines with the ink. I did this one pretty big, and I think in retrospect I would have liked to do it at half the size.