Illustration Friday - "Soar"

This little boy's trying to soar out of bed and downstairs without anyone but a mouse noticing. Some Dads are quicker than that though!

This illustration is a rework of an illustration in which I had Santa sneaking upstairs (instead of Dad standing there). I like this Dad illustration much better.

Illustration Friday - "Backwards"

Penguins dancing forwards and backwards and all over!

This little lamb is learning that watching incredible performers right before you're supposed to perform is a big mistake. I learned that lesson in college when my dance team went to Nationals for Latin Dancing. We watched the team that ended up winning first place go right before us even though our dance coach told us not to watch. We were all jitters after seeing their perfect performance. We ended up winning fourth place -not bad considering the jitters.

Click the image to see it larger. I'm working on this piece for my portfolio - not quite done yet.

Illustration Friday - "Little Things"

Do little flakes of snow cause this much excitement in your house?

Click on the image to see it larger.

Illustration Friday - "Excess"

An excess of cupcakes!

I'm still working on this one to make it a nice piece for my portfolio.

Illustration Friday - "Zoo"

This is a large watercolor painting, roughly 2' x 3', that I created for my brother. I took the reference photos for it at the Columbus, Ohio zoo.

On the zoo theme, has anyone read Adam Rex's new picture book, "Pssst!"? It's hilarious and well worth the buy.

Illustration Friday - "Scale"

"Uh... I know you've been climbing for an hour and all but before you come any further...
may I ask...
are those tights you're wearing?
And what's with all the ruffles?
And are those pink ballet slippers?
And why didn't you bring your own rope and a grappling hook instead of using MY HAIR?"

Portfolio

I've decided to add my portfolio to childrensillustrators.com because I've heard some good things about this site. Here's my portfolio on that website: http://childrensillustrators.com/kristivaliant

Illustration Friday - "Hats"

This is a color study for my picture book dummy I'm currently creating. I'm still deciding the look I want for my characters. What do you think?

Illustration Friday - "Trick or Treat"

All the holiday characters dressed up as each other for Halloween and are on their way to trick-or-treat.

I think I'm going to dress as a black cat this year (simply because I already have the costume), but if I get the chance, I have another idea in mind for a costume. What are you dressing up as?

sneak peek

Here's a lil' sneak peek at what I'm working on. She's a small part of my current painting. I'll post the full painting when it's finished.

I'm also working on black & white line drawings for an educational publisher again and greeting card designs for Christian Collection. And of course, my sketch dummy for one of my picture book manuscripts that I want to have fairly ready to show to the Scholastic Art Director when I meet her in a week and a half at a conference! Wow, that's coming up quick. Back to work...