The Evolution of a Little Dragon...The End?

 I was now on a mission, I could do this!! It would be just like teaching myself about every other medium I ever used. I  began to play more with digital as a paint tool.  The more I played, the more I loved it, especially the flexibility of revision! The fact that I could easily undo something if it wasn't appealing, pretty much sealed the deal for me and seemed to remove my creative inhibitions!  I definitely wanted to paint this story digitally, even if it was just for a dummy to start, but in order to do a whole book, I felt l needed to learn how to use the digital tools more confidently. 

I worked hard to develop this new style, in between jobs, after work and any spare time I had. As a result of weeks and weeks of 10-15 hour workdays, my eyes started to develop some pretty serious vision problems. I was instructed by the doctor to cut waaaaaayy back on my illustration time. Unfortunately, It slowed down my progress A LOT, but after a few months of practice and discovery (and my eyes had a chance to heal...a bit), I was ready to revise the dragon and paint it digitally. Let the sketching begin...

Revised LD Sketch/Front - Pencil

Revised LD Sketch/Side - Pencil

When I had  a couple that I was happy with, I started to paint. They looked better than all the other versions, but my eyes were not completely healed, so my vision was not at it's peak. I felt like something was off a little in the color studies, but I couldn't put my finger on it (or see it clearly). Frustration set in!

Revised LD Sketch/Angry! - Digitally Colored Sketch

It had been a while since I was in contact with the editor, so I decided that I at least wanted to touch base with her and let her know that I didn't fall off the face of the planet. I emailed her my progress along with the original storyboard.
 

Revised LD Character Study - Digitally Colored

 The abridged version...There was a bit of "radio silence" (insert  extreme anxiousness here),  but she did eventually get back to me ...and told me she was taking it all to acquisitions, as is, YIKES! I thought I was going to just say "Hey, here's my progress.", then get a second go at the rendering, but she took it and ran with the "as is" version. And I'm glad she did!

 I am so incredibly excited to announce, that despite some hiccups along the way, by the end of last year, Little Dragon, my first book as author and illustrator (and my little friend that kept me company all these years), had finally found a home at Sky Pony Press!  (And I'm even getting my opportunity to work a bit more on the rendering too!).  

Revised LD (latest revision) - Digitally Colored Sketch

What a ride it's been, but it's not the end of the journey, it's just the beginning of the next part!! The book is set to be released in Spring 2017, So...I hope you'll stop back to my blog, say hi in the comment section ( It gets lonely here in cyber-space!) and continue to join me as I share my journey forward with Little Dragon, as well as my other art-ventures!  


Now, about that duck...  ;o)

Original Dragon-Duck Character - Marker/Colored Pencil