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.

Working on a quick design for my friend Morgan, who is selling t-shirts to raise money for her mission work in Honduras.

Coloring

blocking out a color sketch for an old illustration that I’m re-doing

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.

I'm working on a t-shirt design for a local Girl Scout troop. I hope these girls are having some awesome experiences. Most of what I remember from Girl Scouts relates to getting hot-glue burns during craft time.

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

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

From My Sketchbook...

I bought a new sketchbook the other day, so I decided to play around with some hand lettering. (The quote is from Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life.)

Foxy

Just sketching some foxes...

Nothing but a Hound Dog

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

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