help me decide

I just made this image (the violet bus) for the home page of my website.

Last Friday I posted a call for help in deciding between these two illustrations. Thanks to all of you for your comments here and on facebook—what a gigantic help! Thanks to your input, I decided to go with the bus image, with a few modifications, and repositioned the little girl (also modified) so that she is well-represented in my portfolio. Change is a good thing, I guess.

Have a look: violetlemay.com.

:-)

~ v

process

I saved this grocery list doodle a few months ago, thinking it would make a sweet little illustration; today I finally got around to making the art. Thought I'd take the opportunity to show how my work progresses, from beginning to end.

Once I have scanned the sketch, I make adjustments in Photoshop, and then, I print the file. Using a light table, I trace over the print on a fresh sheet of paper with my ink brush. First, I create an actual ink drawing that will become the top layer of the file. Next, I trace around shapes which will become templates for applying color. Before scanning, using a charcoal stick, I add cheeks, and, in this case, a shadow.
After the inking is finished and scanned, I colorize in Photoshop. The final step is to add texture, to give the image a screen-printing kind of look.

Voila!

stupid cupid

My nine-year-old son (who thinks he is hilarious) was cracking up last night over the rhyme, "Stupid Cupid." Laughing along with him I realized, I have drawn the classic heart-pierced-by-cupid's-dart a thousand times, without giving much thought to the meaning behind the symbol. Love really is an arrow. Oh, how it hurts! And yet, how grateful I am for it.

Thank you, Freddy, for sixteen amazing years. Cupid, stupid? Not so much. I love you, dear.

~ v