Hello 2017!

I love beginnings. There's so much promise held in beginnings... the excitement of a budding relationship, the first day of a much anticipated vacation, a crisp clean sheet of paper that greets you in a new sketchbook, or the first line of a book that draws you in and begs you to read more. And the beginning of a new year is no different. It's a jumping off point to set our goals, map out a plan, and work towards achieving our dreams. Just like a sprinter coming out of the blocks, we all like a good start. 

But as much as I love beginnings, I hate late starts. Ten days into 2017, and I haven't even written my goals yet, much less mapped them out. I feel this sense of anxiety looming as each day passes and I haven't taken the time to even write down a goal. I have some vague ideas of smaller goals like sketching everyday, or blogging more, or writing a couple of new stories every week, but I've already balked at accomplishing these. If I were a sprinter, I would have been disqualified from this year's race. 

I don't know why it's so hard to recover and start again without that shiny new, first day of the year beginning, but it is. January 1st holds the promise of everything you hope to achieve as you set sail into the year, while January 11th feels like you missed the boat. But I have to remind myself that everyday I wake up is a new beginning. Every day holds promise to accomplish great things. So instead of staring forlornly at the January 1st boat quickly disappearing over the horizon, I'm going to bid it farewell.  I'm opting to step onto this January 11th boat. It may not seem as clean and fresh as that first day of the new year boat, but hey, it's right in front of me, and I can't wait to see where it takes me. In fact, we're already off to a good start:

-Write a New Years blog post.

-Make a sketch for this post

-Use tired analogies about boats and races in one post.

Okay, so maybe I just now added that last goal, but it feels so satisfying to mark things off a list, who wouldn't want to keep riding that gravy train?

I apologize.

Here's to making things happen. Happy January 11th, 2017!

xo

nessa dee

Mole on a Scooter

All he needs is a pair of glasses! I’ve been challenging myself to paint animals other than my usual list of jungle and woodland creatures. Mr. Mole popped up in one of my sketches, so he found his way onto a canvas via little red scooter.  And he doesn’t seem to mind that I dressed him in clashing patterns.

xo

nessa dee

Trapped

xo

nessa dee

Howdy Y'all!

xo

nessa dee

Austin SCBWI Header

As part of the prize package for winning the Austin Writer's and Illustrators Working Conference portfolio showcase, I was given the opportunity to redesign the Austin SCBWI website header! It was a wonderful opportunity, and I'm beyond excited to see the header up. This was the final design:

To see the design on the Austin SCBWI website, click here.

A big thank you to Austin SCBWI for giving me this opportunity, and to Sam Clark and Amy Farrier for all of your help! And thanks again to Candlewick Art Director Kristen Nobles, and illustrator Molly Idle for awarding me with the grand prize. I'm still giddy from the conference!

xo

nessa dee

Quilt

I love quilts. There's something so comforting and inviting about these hand-stitched blankets. It's not just their utilitarian purpose, to provide warmth, it's all of the love and care that goes into their creation. I have fond memories of watching my grandmother and great-grandmother putting hours and hours of labor into their quilts. My favorites were always the ones that were pieced out of the leftovers from previous quilts, or old shirts that found new life within the patched blanket. Those quilts often times had crazy color schemes which fantastically clashed, but that's what I loved about them. They were energetic and funky, and bright.  

Gangy (my grandmother) always kept a box full of scraps in her quilting studio for her grandkids. She taught her grandchildren how to thread a needle, piece the scraps, and hand stitch them together to create a quilt that I'm sure any tiny creature would have marveled at. I think about the patience she showed when teaching us each and every little step. I often think about those moments when I'm frustrated in teaching my own children tedious tasks. It takes a lot of patience to make a quilt. It takes a lot of patience to teach your children. And I'm not always the most patient person. Sometimes, like having to rip a seam and start over, I have to take pause, and start again with my children. But hopefully, with each little stitch sewn, each little patched seam, each little lesson taught, some crazy, beautiful, fantastically bright thing will emerge.

xo
nessa dee

Borrow

xo

nessa dee

Cloud 9

This past weekend I attended the Society of Children's Book Writer's and Illustrators working conference in Austin, and what an amazing two days. I've been attending this conference, as well as the SCBWI Houston conference every year since 2013. Each experience has been unique and an integral part of my illustration journey. I have gleaned so much from the numerous authors, illustrators, editors, art directors, and agents that share their knowledge at these conferences. I've also found a wonderful community of authors and illustrators who are a great source of encouragement and inspiration.

This year I left the conference on cloud nine. Not only did I come away with a head chock full of new ideas, but I also took home the grand prize in the portfolio showcase! I am beyond excited and want to say a huge thank you to the judges, Candlewick Art Director Kristen Nobles, and Caldecott winning author/illustrator Molly Idle, for awarding me with such an honor, especially in a region that is full of extremely talented illustrators. So thank you, thank you, thank you.

And now it's back to the drawing board to take everything I soaked up at the conference and let it imbue my art.

xo

nessa dee

Progression

A step-by-step picture progression of my process. The illustration is for my latest picture book dummy, and I'm trying to play around with the style for the book. There are a lot of tricky scenes to illustrate, so the style has to work within the context. Hopefully, I'll have it figured out soon, and can start the submission process!

xo

nessa dee

New Work

Here's a sample book cover I did for a project. Although it didn't get used, I still really like it, so it's going in my portfolio.

xo

nessa dee

Meet Nigel and Mr. Turtle

I met a couple of new characters yesterday. This is Nigel and Mr. Turtle. This wasn't our first meeting. Nigel popped up in my sketchbook last week, and Mr. Turtle joined him during church on Sunday. (I listen to the sermons better if my hand is busy...honest) They were so cute, I had to see what they would look like in color with their matching outfits. 

And now I'm introducing them to you. :)

xo

nessa dee

Materials used: Acrylic paint, scrapbook paper, glue, and embroidery thread.

The String

Here are a couple of images for a new wordless picture book I'm working on...

I'm still exploring with the final style, but I like the limited color palette and textural element with using actual embroidery thread.

xo

nessa dee

Check This Out!

My art is featured on Other Cool Birds today! Thank you so much, Lafayette Wattle, for the lovely write up! You can read the post here.

xo
nessa dee

It's a Wrap!

Conference weekend is over, and now comes the fun part...processing everything I saw, heard, ate, and learned. There's always an overwhelming amount of information presented at these writer's and illustrators conferences, so much so that I feel like I just received an entire education crammed into two short days. My brain is fried, but thankfully, I took copious notes, so after a short detox, I'm going to dive into my notebook and bathe my brain.

One of the events in the conference was an illustrator's intensive where we were given an assignment to illustrate a specific sentence in the Pied Piper story. We were instructed to submit sketches to Kristine Brogno, the art director at Chronicle Books, to which she offered feedback. Then, based on her feedback, we created final art pieces which were presented at the conference.

This was my sketch:

The feedback included varying the ages of the children more, as well as the expressions on the adults. Overall, she liked the movement of the piece from left to right, and the environment.

Here's the final:

Overall, she said the piece was very nice. She liked the diverse characters and the movement in the piece, as well as details like the ballerina which she said kids could relate to. While I did change the expressions on the faces of the adults, I could have pushed their expressions and body language further, as well as the expression on the piper's face...she commented that his expression seemed a bit basic.

Other comments from illustrators were to change the red-headed boy's striped shirt because it was too similar to the piper's, reposition the little girl in front to de-emphasize her as the focal point, and to clarify the vignette of the man standing in the window above the piper.

After finishing the Pied Piper piece, I liked the colors and the feel of the piece so much that I wanted to do more. So in the week before the conference, I worked up another illustration from the story where rats are taking over the city because who wouldn't want to paint a plethora of rats?

This illustration still needs some finishing touches, like about a dozen more rats, but the deadline of the conference forced me to call it quits. Deadlines can be a good thing, otherwise, I might still be painting rats!

xo

nessa dee

Clever Fox

Just wanted to share this little fox painting I finished last week. It's going to be one of a series of woodland creatures. I hope to get the others painted soon, but right now I'm working on a couple of illustration projects in preparation for a Society of Children's Book Writer's and Illustrator's conference I'll be attending in a couple of weeks. I've been painting like mad, and I can't wait to show you the new illustrations, but for now, you'll have to settle for a fox...

Does anyone else feel like they need to restart the New Year. I feel like we've been rushing and running so much that I didn't get my year off to a good start. Here it is, the end of February already, and I haven't even made my list of resolutions. As a matter fact, when I uploaded this fox picture, I realized I still had pictures from Christmas on the camera. So I have some catching up to do with this here blog. And just for the grandparents...

I can't tell you how much joy this little cutie brings to our lives. He certainly keeps me on my toes, but he's quite charming even when he's full of mischief.

xo

nessa dee

The Angel Guardian

For those who follow my little blog, let's put your cerebral cortex to good use and think back to the year 2014. If you can recall back in the fall of last year, The Angel Guardian, a lovely book I had the wonderful opportunity to illustrate, was funded on Kickstarter. Since then, the authors, Chris and Michelle Miller have been hard at work getting the hardcover books printed. If you took part in the Kickstarter campaign, then you are already reading your very own copy of the book! For those who didn't get a chance to participate in the campaign, don't fret...hardcover copies of The Angel Guardian will be available this month, AND in April, the angel doll to accompany the book will also be available! To order your copies of the book and doll, visit www.theangelguardian.com for all of the details.

Thank you, again, to Chris and Michelle for letting me be a part of this project, and thanks to all of those who have supported The Angel Guardian!

xo

nessa dee

Ballerina

Just another digital doodle.

xo 

nessa dee

Doodles

It's hard to find time these days to allow myself to explore with art. The time I do have to create is usually dedicated to specific projects. But I relish the moments when I sit down and draw with no real purpose other than to play. This little digital doodle was just that. I'm still not very confident in Photoshop, but as with anything, it gets easier the more I do it.

Now if only I was able to explore without the constant interruptions of a very loud two year old.

xo

nessa dee

Narwhal

There's still time to get this guy before Christmas! He's for sale at Cherry Tree Creative in Taylor, TX, along with a whole collection of vintage and handmade items. They stay open late on the third Thursday of every month, which happens to be tomorrow!

Are you ready for Christmas?

I'm not...yet.

xo

nessa dee

Three Zombies and a Robot

I love this picture. I love it when my kids unknowingly settle themselves in order by height. They do this quite often, usually in age order. It's quite easy for them since there's 5+ years between each child. Their ages aren't relevant in this case, though, but somehow they've managed to stair step themselves into another perfectly posed position... a great opportunity for a photo, even if it is of mindlessly basking in the glow of a television.

And here's a little guy I've been working on. He's not quite finished, but I'm growing fond of him, so I had to share. I bought some old Bingo cards from my favorite store, Cherry Tree Creative, and I've been searching for an opportunity to use them in my paintings. He was one such opportunity.

I think I'll call him Bingo, Original, I know.

He'll be available for sale soon, so if you're interested in him, leave me a comment.

Have a great weekend!

xo

nessa dee