One more attempt at circus tents. It won’t be the last. I want to create a majestic landscape, with towering tents and roller coaster rides, with a magnificent mountain range in the background. I do know that Acapulco is surrounded by jungle, but this is my Acapulco.
The big news is that I sold another book today. That makes 5 books this year. My career seems to be on an upward path.
It’s a wacky world when the Hollywood sign is on the Road to Acapulco!
Today I finished adding text bubbles to all 41+ images. I’ve changed all of the text to the Komika Slick font, and I’ve got Betty’s hair close to the same color in all of the pictures. However, I still have to correct the color of her pants in several pictures, and I have to add my mouse twins to several pictures, not to mention create a cover image, put everything into InDesign, and tweak away endlessly. I’m going to miss my August 31 publication date, but I feel okay. I’ll be a week or two late, but light at the end of the tunnel is blindingly bright.
Carlos Crocodile is trying to convince the kids that he’s the best ferryman in the jungle. Though crocodiles may have a reputation for eating their passengers, he seems like a real sweetheart. I think he needs some tattoos. I certainly hope that he behaves himself!
I worked for hours to get his right hand looking like he’s welcoming his passengers into this little boat parked in the reeds. In the distance, the Monarch Butterfly sanctuary is golden with butterflies.
A little known fact, to me, at least: crocodiles have 68 very sharp serrated teeth that are perfect for chomping up their passengers.
My second attempt at drawing this scene
I’m working on a picture of the kids, Buddy Butterfly, Jimmy Jay, and Betty Burro, resting after a tiring climb to the top of an Aztec temple in the Mexican jungle. They’re trying to find a way to Buddy Butterfly’s family home in the mountains. The view from the top of a temple is ideal for finding your way. Unknown the the kids, a jaguar, is tracking them.
The picture below is my first attempt at this scene.
My original attempt
Palenque, a Mayan Temple (800 CE)
Today’s art club challenge was directed at my weakness — drawing landscapes. In the past I didn’t spend time on them, but now that my new book takes place in the the jungles and mountains of Mexico, I want to have convincing landscapes to help keep the story visually exciting. I’ve avoided landscapes for too long, and now I have to confront them head on.
While looking for landscape tutorials, I found a really great one on the Clip Studio Paint Tips web site. The artist explains every step of the drawing process and describes his thinking for every move. Impressive! The article is available here: Professional illustration process: Seiji YOSHIDA.
Today’s Al Fresco Art Club Challenge was to experiment with an unfamiliar medium. I chose colored pencils.
While I was drawing and coloring, I felt like I had traveled back in time to the second grade, when simply going to school was an adventure in getting along with people. I decided to show Buddy Butterfly getting the idea that he should keep flying south to Mexico, where Monarch butterflies from all over North America congregate every Fall in the jungle mountains. In this picture he’s describing his crazy thought that he should fly down to Mexico to find his real family. Sounds like a good idea to me!
