Sneak Peek

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

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

Slurp

Just playing with some old sketches...

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

Character Designs

A friend and I just started creating a new comic/graphic novel. We're still in the beginning stages, and I've been working on some character designs. Below are some pre-vis sketches for the main character (the guy) and a secondary character (the chick), as well as some props and what not...

all images © Laura Terhune