Since I am a pencil-sketch artist, I needed to find another way to create color graphics to illustrate my children’s books.
So, these images are created digitally, in part by transforming photographs into painted versions, using a computer program called Paint.NET.
I blend the parts I want to use in layers with bits of copyright-free images, as well as my own drawings, to create original artwork.
My ideal piece of digital art is when each part is so carefully layered and shaded, it creates a seamless illustration that feels hand-drawn.
Here are two of my favorite examples.
The first is from my children’s book titled ‘I WISH I WAS A MERMAID’.
The background is a photo of actual ocean water, converted to an oil painting style, as is the fish. The child’s face is a photo of my granddaughter, also converted to oils. The artwork was created in 3 layers, with several hours of shading to blend the face into the fish’s body.
The second is from my first children’s book titled, THERE’S A ZEBRA IN MY PAJAMAS.
In this scene, I used a couple of advertisements for the background wainscotting and flooring. I drew the tub, shower head and hippo, adding thin grey shading for shadows to ground the furniture. The rubber ducky was a fourth layer, and also a conversion of a photo of a toy.
But the fun part, was when I captured pieces of the skin on a photo of a live hippopotamus, placing and blending them on my drawing until I was happy with the shading. I love how he came out!
I enjoy bringing these characters to life, one carefully layered illustration at a time.