Digital

Fire

| stepheningram

Exploring some character design with lighting. Color is still not my strongest skillset. I love linework too much and wonder if I will ever truly escape it. Regardless, I love the colors of the fire and smoke, and the look of the character as her reaches for the flame. Doubtless, he will be surprised shortly. Start to finish in Corel Painter. I scraped a earlier version because it was too boring.

#imgonnaburnmyhand #fire #prehistoric #caveman #kidlitart #childrensbookillustration #childrensillustration #illustration #illustrator #illustragram #illustratorsoninstagram #kidsillustrations #childrenillustration #childrenbookillustration #picturebooks #childrensbooks #picturebooksillustration #childrenbookart #art #digital #digitalart #wacom #corelpainter #stepheningram

 

Space Boy

| stepheningram

Decided to do a simple character doodle and experiment with environments. Not sure if there is much of a story to this picture, but I do like the exaggeration of the figure, though I don’t know how it would work in profile. The mech is cute as well, though not tremendously innovative. Still, I do like it, and had fun doodling.

Dragon digital

| stepheningram

Working on some projects which are not ready for prime-time, so I did a quick dragon sketch. This is my go to doodle when I want to create something. Don’t know why I have such a fascination with dragons. I think because they are just hot dinosaurs, or flaming chickens really.

Entirely in Procreate.

Please enjoy.

#kidlit #kidlitart #kidlitillustration #illustration #picturebooks #corelpainter #procreate #stepheningram

Tech-Support Godzilla

| stepheningram

Another Zoom meeting coming up in a few days and felt that I needed to keep switching up my avatar.

Took a Godzilla toy from my son and used it to sketch in Procreate from start to finish.

Hope you enjoy.

#illustration  #art #digital #digitalart  #procreate #stepheningram

tech-support-chthlhu

| stepheningram

Still working on a few projects, but no finished work to show. I have been doing a lot of zoom meetings, and have been using the same own avatar. I felt it was time to add a little bit of Lovecraftian horror, so I present “tech-support-chthlhu”.

I did a quick sketch in procreate will relaxing and imported it to Corel Painter, where I just used a bristle brush to do the outlines, and spent a few minutes coloring. I am actually quite happy with it. Please enjoy.

Star Kisses

| stepheningram

For this piece I put in some simple line work, using a non-varied pen. I wanted to keep the linework clean, without too much weight. I chose a small color palette, forgoing a background to make the piece stand on its own. I think the colors work, and color is something I am still trying to work upon.

#kidlit #kidlitart #kidlitillustration #illustration #picturebooks #corelpainter #art #digital #digitalart #wacom #stepheningram

Mammoth walking

| stepheningram

It’s time to draw a mammoth again.

I spent some time playing with the design. The first sketches are too realistic for my goal of a kid’s book illustration, but it is important to learn the foundations of anything before you move on.

My second sketches are more about shapes, and I’ve strived to simplify the look and feel of the mammoth. I find something I likeit my designs and I can now move on to a more refined piece of work.

Originally, I had the boy surfing on top, but I like his crouched look and smile. I chose to do simple linework on this design and that seems to work well for the story that I am conveying in this picture.

Thanks for looking and just keep drawing.

#kidlit #kidlitart #kidlitillustration #illustration #picturebooks #corelpainter #mammoth #caveman #stepheningram

 

Drawing by the river

| stepheningram

Part of a larger picture, this was an experiment with line weight and texture as well as a little pencil shading. All of this was digital and, as usual, I bounced between Corel Painter and Procreate. Linework was done in Painter and coloring in Procreate.

Just keep drawing

#kidlit #kidlitart #kidlitillustration #illustration #picturebooks #corelpainter #stepheningram #justkeepdrawing

Whale on the beach

| stepheningram

As part of the SCBWI Hawaii Illustrators Intensive webinar with critiques by Illustrator Will Terry @willterryart  and Art Director Maria T. Middleton @mariatmiddleton.

I stretched and pulled this piece from a single page to an almost spread to a spread, changing, flipping and redrawing along the way. I used Corel Painter for the majority of the work with a little Photoshop as well.

Like all work, I can probably tweak this till the end of time. I think it is a complete piece though, telling a story and leaving a little bit of mystery, along with humor as well.

Enjoy the journey below

#kidlit #kidlitart #kidlitillustration #illustration #picturebooks #corelpainter #stepheningram #whale #ocean #beach #scbwi #scbwihawaii

Finished piece
Second attempt
First attempt