Picture This

Love the site for They Draw & Cook . I enjoy cooking and will be doing this in the near future. Great site.

Working on repeat patterns. Learning. Found some great youtube video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDiTE4Fe_24 The I uploaded my own works up to Spoonflower a great site for creating your own custom fabrics. I love browsing to see all the great designs.

Just in copies of "Rockabye Baby Jesus". YEAH!!

Sweet review of "Twelve Colorful Things" on the 21st Century Housewife.

For a free coloring sheet the release of "Rockabye Baby Jesus" by Heather Tietz art by Nancy Miller. Click the coloring sheet .

Celebrate picture book month!

This is a wonderful book that incorporates song and colors. Gotta love Pete!

Cute video and great song with kids!

I interviewed author Brenda Sturgis , whom I got to know while illustrating Sweet Dreams. She was kind enough to answer some questions about the business of children's book writing. Enjoy! 1. How did you come up with the idea for "10 Turkeys in the Road"? After watching the book trailer I couldn't help but giggle. Humor abounds in the writing and the illustrations. Thank you Nancy! The original idea presented itself one day when I was driving my daughter to school. There were about 10 turkeys blocking the road that we live on, (a country road in Shapleigh, Maine) strutting, creating a ruckus, and then they’d fly off into the trees. I woke up one night at 3:00 a.m. and the story was in my head, and I wrote the first draft fairly quickly. I sent it to my good friend, editor of Flashlight Press, Shari Dash Greenspan, and she liked it as well, and she added some funny illustration notes, the turkeys were doing all kinds of crazy things that she thought up. I reworked t...

 It's amazing how contrast and values work in this one.

This illustration of a camilia that I attempted for my grad illustration class on materials and techniques. Not my usual pastels. It's using CF Payne's technique. It was a bit washed out. Live and learn. This next one is a magnolia in Mark English's technique.

I had an amazing time at the Live Oak Southwest Branch this past week. The children's librarian, Alissa Boyd, is so welcoming and provides a lot of programs during the summer at the branch. It was great seeing all of the participation. 45 kids and 20 parents attended the reading of "Twelve Colorful Things" by Heather Tietz and illustrated by me! Reading, drawing demo, and I love throwing in an art project that goes with the book. The children in the story give a neighbor 11 pots decorated. We made pinch pots and each kid did an fantastic job of making theirs unique. I wished I'd taken photos of their work. The kids were so animated and we enjoyed our time together. I got a couple of hugs from kids and tons of questions and thank yous!

I thought of this illustration I did of my neighbor's dog that has to stay inside because of the weather.

I've had the pleasure of illustrating several books by Heather Tietz. She was kind enough to do a interview with me on her recent book Twelve Colorful Things . Here's a little bit about Heather. Heather Tietz spent most of her childhood on the east coast of the United States making mud pies, lemonade stands, snow forts, tree houses and poems. It was her fourth grade teacher that inspired her love for poetry. After receiving a teaching credential from Cal State Fullerton she taught in Los Angeles city schools for several years. In her free time she pursued freelance writing jobs for magazines. 1. How did you come up with the idea for "Twelve Colorful Things"? It's a wonderful idea to bring months, colors, and number together. "Twelve Colorful Things" has born back in my teaching days. Every year or so I scooped it up, toyed with the words and laid it back down to rest. The concept of 12 months, 12 colors and 12 numbers has stayed the same,...

Great article on kid's book apps. Planet App: Kids' book apps are everywhere. But are they any good?

Decided to try the collage style with some seahorses. Really enjoyed apply and figuring out the best textures.

After struggling so much with Corel Painter I decided that I needed to try and work with a sample Photoshop illustration. It's one of those things I do love all the traditional options in Corel Painter, but I find that I'm so much more used to Photoshop. It can be overwhelming looking at all of the palettes and options in Painter. I even spent time taking some Lynda.com courses on it. I decided to try scanning in my work and trying to give a collage texture feel to this sample piece. It went so much smoother. I scan in textures that I've created traditionally so I enjoy that a lot. Photoshop is what I'm going with.

Here is my Midsummer Night Dream. I always think of falling asleep and fairy dust.

Free desktop wallpaper to promote Twelve Colorful Things.

I decided to create a book trailer for Twelve Colorful Things that was released recently. I used iMovie.

Here's an illustration I did for an editorial piece about a child making his own homemade aircraft.

Simply sketches. Ideas for possible illustrations.

Took a sketchbook and tried some gesture drawing on the beach. Beautiful weather.

Probono Job for kids gardening club in public schools. Done in Corel Painter.

Since I last posted. I've finished my book illustrations and started a pro bono job for a friend. The pro bono job is for a program that goes into public schools and helps them start their own organic garden. I'm doing an illustration for their website. It's nice to be back to a manageable pace. I'm looking forward to getting back to working on the computer illustration style. Rock-a-bye Baby Jesus will be out Fall 2011.

I'm taking some time away from my marketing efforts to finish a picture book project 2 months early. I keep thinking like the Little Engine that Could...I think I can I think I can...

New book title that I've illustrated will be out May 2011. Click to preorder on Amazon .

The more I  use painter I feel more at ease. Here's a screen shot of a thank you card I'm working on for clients. A bit of a self portrait. Liked using the real bristle brushes for the hair. Mainly I like working with the pastels.

I'm a day early. Decided with the holiday to take advantage of some spare time. I'm over 50 on my mailing list. I'm half way to 100. Yeah! I've been viewing other illustrator sites/blogs to find publishers. I'm still on a tight budget. But I think you get a bit more creative when you are on a tight budget. I'm hoping to eventually get time to make a presentation of my work on Prezi . This is a nice way to make a presentation that isn't so slide based. It take some getting used to working on the canvas. I wanted to repeatedly use my quick key commands. It's browser based. So you don't have to worry about mac/pc or if they have the software. I think it has promise.

I've been researching online for various publishers. I tried googling for "Illustration Submissions". That had mixed results there's a lot of things you have to weed through if you are looking children's book publishers. After about 5 pages of this I decided to see how current my info was in my 2008 Children's Market Book. I'm working on a budget. It helps to google the publisher to double check them on JacketFlap . That helps. Now I'm up to 30 for my mailing. I try not to get discouraged at my slow progress. I'm still working on illustrating a fourth book title the talented author Heather Tietz . This is my 3rd illustration job with the same author. It's been a wonderful experience. I love her work.

I started my Marketing Tues. on Jan. 4th. I decided to spend time adding names to my mailing list for my future promo card mailer. I found some listings off of the Children's Book Council site. If you click on the "For Members" section you can access CBC member list. They have a link to each members site and lists if they accept unsolicited submissions. Then I doubled back and check on the website to see their backlist and submission guidelines. When I have some freelance money coming in I'll opt to buy the Market books. I noticed the 2011 Artists and Graphic Designer's book is now available online. I think that's better than having the hardcopy. They get outdated so quickly.

Here's the link to Holli Conger's Site. Enjoy! #31 – Now go and do!

I enjoy visiting thi site called Design Sponge . I think it helps to get ideas for interior spaces for illustrations. Sometimes you need something that looks more contemporary. Check it out. If not for your illustrations you get ideas for your own home space! I like how the organized the books in this picture by color. I wish I where that organized.

After a couple of years, I finally got motivated enough to create a new promo card to send out to ADs. I got really excited after following Holli Conger's website for Dec. Now I just need to wait for pay day and I can get them printed and mailed out. My marketing days I will have on Tues. Should be fun.

I watched the movie "The Color of Magic" based on the novel by Terry Pratchett . It was a good fantasy movie. Complete with everything you would want to see in a magical world.

Here's a sketch for this week's theme resolution. Save more money! That's a personal resolution for this year.