Illustration Friday: "Satellite"

Here is my entry for this week. The topic is "satellite," which I had a little trouble figuring out what to do with. I just whipped up this quick picture in Photoshop. The moon is a natural satellite, so I hope this counts. This little guy is just enjoying the ride around Earth. It's so relaxing he fell asleep. : ) There is an old legend about a rabbit that lives on the moon, so that's why I chose a rabbit.

That's all for now. See you all next week!

Illustration Friday: "Paisley"

I did something a little different this week from my usual cartoonish style. Since the topic for IF this week was "paisley," I did something a bit more design-oriented and did a butterfly in Adobe Illustrator with paisley designs in its wings. I wanted to make it a bit tattoo-like. I also got a little inspiration from this tutorial I happened to find when looking up paisley design references. It also helped me brush up a bit on my Illustrator skills.

I honestly had no idea what a "paisley" was until I looked it up. Well, you learn something new every day. : )

See you all next week!

Illustration Friday: "Ripple"

Here is my submission for this week's Illustration Friday. The topic is "ripple" and is has to do with one of the many bird species affected by the Gulf Oil Spill. The bird is the Snowy Plover, which is a very adorable bird that nests on the ground and eats various invertebrates found on the beach. They are at risk because the oil could wash ashore onto the beaches where they breed and forage, and contaminate their food supply.

I am submitting this illustration (done in Photoshop) to Kelly Light's Ripple blog, which will be made available as a small, signed 3.5" x 2.5" print for a donation of $10. The donation goes to help these poor animals in the Gulf and is given to The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies and The International Bird Rescue Research Center. You can check out Kelly's Ripple blog at: http://ripplesketches.blogspot.com/.

Thank you for looking. See you all next week! : )

Illustration Friday: "Trail"

Here is my entry for this week's Illustration Friday. The topic is "trail" this week. This little boy has provided a trail of birdseed for this cute little bird, hoping he'll follow him home. The little bird, of course, is quite happy about the handout.

I apologize for the lack of updates these past couple of weeks. I've been on vacation and it's been hard to keep up with everything while out of town. I will definitely update more often from now on, though. : ) Thank you to everyone who watches my blog!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Illustration Friday: "Equipment"

Ever been to a zoo or other tourist attraction and seen someone with a ton of cameras around their neck taking pictures? I see this sometimes and always marvel at how they can carry all that photography equipment. So, I based my Illustration Friday entry on those types of people. I admit to being slightly jealous of all those fancy camera lenses. I could never afford all that stuff, though. Maybe someday. : )

Done in Photoshop. See you all next week!

Illustration Friday: "Fearless"

Here's my quick entry for this week's Illustration Friday, done in Photoshop. Lions are pretty fearless, even when they're cubs, so I went with that. Yes, I was a bit inspired by The Lion King. I suppose rummaging through my old Lion King memorabilia this week while cleaning my closet influenced me a bit. I love that movie. : )

I really wanted to get an entry done for last week, but I've been sick and busy with various things. This is my sixth cold this year and it's been quite frustrating. Well, hopefully this will be my last cold this year (or at least for a good long while). One can hope.

See you all next week!

Illustration Friday: "Ahead"

Well, it's been a pretty tough month for me. My family and I had to make a very difficult decision regarding our cat, Mr. Kitty. He was sick with diabetes (and some other issue which the vet could never figure out). We had been managing his diabetes for over a year with daily shots of insulin twice a day. He was doing very well for over a year, but then got very sick starting a couple months ago. Long story short, he was suffering a lot and there was very little we could do for him anymore. On April 9th, we put him to sleep. It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.

So, I did an illustration of him to commemorate his memory, since he has gone "ahead." I miss him so much and will never, ever forget him.

Done in colored pencil and edited a little in Photoshop. I hope this counts for the topic this week. Hope everyone has a nice weekend. If you have any pets, give them a hug for me. : )