Monday, February 24, 2014

Faces!


The BB kids from Discover magazine

now have...

faces!!!


This was Issue 17, and I'm already working on Issue 18,
so there's more to come :)



Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Feeling woodsy...



Meanwhile,
coming soon....

more pics for the book about Haneen

sample pics for a project in British Sign Language

an editorial illustration for Azizah

and of course, my monthly submission for Discover.

Whew :)



Monday, December 23, 2013

Haneen...taking shape.



In a previous post I mentioned Haneen,
a character I'm developing for a new book.

This is the look so far:




I'm really enjoying the process - this picture was entirely digital;
I did not begin with a paper sketch since it was a pretty simple image.
But the 'painting' part was so much fun!

Other pictures will likely have to be sketched on paper first.

If the author does not like it I still have a cute pic for my portfolio.


Sunday, December 22, 2013

Crystal Forest



These pics don't capture it at all, but it was magical today.
All the trees were draped in crystals, 
and the sun came out for a bit set them all ablaze.

I only had my iPod, and it died in about a minute,
plus I was in a parking lot, not out in the woods
(which I could see at a distance and they were GLORIOUS)
but it was still very pretty!

The first one is a puddle :)



















Monday, December 16, 2013

More flowers, and a new character


More flowers!!!

I'm liking the grungy brush effects I got.

This is the great thing about using programs 
like PhotoShop and Illustrator.

Although I have only the ancient versions (CS3)
there's still so much to discover and play with!



On the work front, I'm developing
a character for a new book.

Meet Haneen!




The book is by Ghada Alo.  
Some months ago I illustrated a story for her,
called I Love My Dad.

Now we're doing
I Love My Teacher!

Haneen is about 9, and she is the one taking
us through her day with her teacher.



We're still working on the look -
 this is just the 'first draft'.


Saturday, December 14, 2013

No Ordinary Day



The outside is draped in snow - everything is white.
This drawing gave me something colorful to do :)

And another version:




Sunday, November 17, 2013

City cousin, country cousin, and what happens when they visit each other


Discover issue 15


I visited the UK several years ago,
and although I saw London`s landmark buildings
I have no pictures of them. Not one.

So it was cool to draw them.

I think this is the first time I drew 
so much architecture for an illustration.

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Midnight snow


Midnight snow.
We're not there yet,
but it's comingggg!!!




Also, I'm excited about being featured in Azizah again!

This time they will be publishing my painting,
Blue Drops:



as well as an illustration I made for them:




Can't wait to see it in print!


Tuesday, October 8, 2013

M&M's latest escapade


Asma Zaman, a lovely author from the U.K., 
wrote a book last year about
twin brothers Muhammed and Musa.

I illustrated it for her.




Now I'm working with her on the second book
featuring the twins, and I'm using a very different technique.
It's taking much longer, but I really like the look,
and I think the books will still flow together seamlessly.

A sneak into the colored pics:






I still need to fix the colors a bit
so that they're all the same,
but you get the idea.

More coming soon!