Back to work on book 3

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Added Dylan Dolphin’s soccer ball

With time running short now that I’m back to work, I’ve got small block of time to work on my children’s picture book. I’ve been using my scarce minutes to revise pages to paint in objects I left out and clothes that changed color.

Reviewing the pages from beginning to the present, I see that my original line art style has evolved into blurry line sand more impressionistic painting. Changing horses midstream isn’t ideal, but sometimes you have to change in order to get to the other side of the river.

Bernie the Flying Buddhist Dachshund Makes His Cameo Appearance

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Bernie the Flying Buddhist Dachshund is the final figure for my children’s picture book cover image, not counting the foliage and clouds that I still have to paint behind these characters. It may strike you as odd that Bernie is flying. It’s not odd at all. In fact, it’s common knowledge around here — in Southern Oregon, which is just crawling with Buddhists — that all Buddhists can fly, including Buddhist Dachshunds, weasels, cougars, and humans. With that indisputable fact in mind, only an unreasonable person would be surprised that Bernie the Buddhist Dachshund can levitate so well without having wings.

Perhaps it’s the constant meditation that gives Buddhists those wings. Or, just maybe it’s their deep compassion for all living beings that lifts them above the world. Whatever it is, all I know is that flying suits Bernie well, especially with those aerodynamic ears.

bernie_flying_buddhist_blog.png Dachshung, Buddhist Dachshund, Flying Dachshund, Flying Buddhist, Procreate


Picture #26, Introducing Bernie the Buddhist Dachsund

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Bernie the Buddhist Dachsund owns the house with the deadly chimney. In this picture, he’s startled when Jimmy and Buddy start yelling for help inside the old stove. I spent lots of time on Bernie’s ears, but I’m not happy with them. He looks like a rabbit. Tomorrow I’ll make it obvious he’s a dog. I’ll redo the ears, work on the mouth, and shift his head to a 3/4 view. I’ll give him some canine teeth, too. I think I’ll decorate Bernie’s house a little, perhaps with a nice Persian carpet and some bookshelves to hold his many books.

Bernie the Buddhist Dachsund is my favorite Deadbeat Club character. I thought it would be fun to bring him into the world of the Steller’s Jays, perhaps as a regular character in future stories.

Bernie is getting a makeover tomorrow!

Jimmy Jay and Topaz make eye contact

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11/365

I spent my painting time putting together the sketch and color layers I created yesterday. I thought it would take about an hour, but it took much longer. I spent more time on the digital compositing than on the actual drawing and painting. Photoshop is an awesome and seductive time sink. Still, I like what I can do with PS. I’m happy working in a hybrid way, using traditional media to create and digital to get it ready for publication.

The final image of two day’s labor… One of the problems with animal characters is what to do with their tails. Notice that Jimmy doesn’t have a tail, but Topaz does.

Hmmm. It looks like I’ve mislaid Topaz’ eyepatch.