Here's Teddy!

In college I wrote and illustrated a book called "Teddy the Turtle." I didn't move forward with it because the story line didn't seem quite right. I discovered my Teddy sketches the other day, and thought they were still cute, but needed to be updated... so here we are.

Making some pizza theme art!  Pizzas making pizzas…I guess that makes them cannibals?

Happy Mother's Day

Some images from the baby books I've been working on...

Sneak Peek

Here's a peek at one of my favorites from the books I’m illustrating. 

Monkey Mayhem

a sneak peak at some stuff I'm working on:

Monkeys are creepy in real life, but they're fun to draw!

Toned

Love using toned paper. There's something about it that makes my ideas flow better. 

Progressing on my project... I dreamt about a musk ox last night. I read somewhere that the musk ox represents endurance, strength, determination and service. I've decided to take that as a subconscious pep-talk, as well as a reminder to stay humble.

Rough It Up

   In addition to my freelance pursuits, I also work at a toy company called Peachtree Playthings*. When I started there I only knew the bare essentials of Adobe Illustrator that I needed to do my job (which at that time was basically b&w linework.) Now, two years later. I'm probably more confident in AI than any other program. Here are some characters I've been working on recently for some PTP craft kit packaging.

  

  I find that the images I make on Illustrator look more interesting when I rough them up a bit. For example I almost always start with a hand drawn image. I try to find ways to use texture, warp the color, or use intentionally non-symmetrical shapes. In this one I tried something new and used a gradient to fill some of my linework. I was going for a lost and found line effect similar to watercolor. I think including these organic-inspired elements helps the illustrations to look less cold and clip-art-ish. 

*If you're interested, the product I work on most of the time at Peachtree Playthings is called "Fashions You Color." They are adorable, colorable purses (and other accessories.) They come with pre-printed designs (by yours truly) and markers, to color it in and make it yours! They are available at several major distributers, but are probably easiest to find at Wal-mart, Toys R Us, or Hobby Lobby.

xLaura Dollie

Bounce

Inspired by Illustration Friday's theme, "Bounce"

Work in progress...

Slurp

Just playing with some old sketches...

Holly's Garden

an illustration based on a sketch for the painting I made for my niece's nursery room.

Here's a little peek of an illustration I'm working on...

I've been working on my vector skillz...

This was me...

I've been keeping busy with my new job, and haven't posted in a while. Here's a new illustration though, inspired directly from my childhood...

image © Laura Terhune

Foxy

Just sketching some foxes...

"Duet"

This was for last week's Illustration Friday topic, "duet."

One of the first things I thought of when I saw the topic was symbiotic animal relationships, like those little birds who pick the little bits of meat out of crocodile's teeth... Then I remembered the Honeyguide Bird, and the Honey Badger. The bird is really good at finding beehives, but not capable of cracking them open. The badger is strong enough to break open hives, but not good at finding them. So they work together, making up for each other's weaknesses and reaping the rewards. A beautiful "duet."

image © Laura Terhune

Illustration Friday: "Toy"

 

 image © Laura Terhune

This is my entry for this week's Illustration Friday topic "toy."

Drawing the Line

Recently I've been re-teaching myself Adobe Illustrator. Also, I am in need of some B&W line work. These are some characters I drew for an animation class a long time ago. The assignment was to make "vomitously" cute critters. I thought they would be good to practice on.

all images © Laura Terhune

Nothing but a Hound Dog

Drawing some sad, wrinkly dogs for an upcoming illustration....