I am proud to announce that my illustration from the cover of “Christmas Berry” by Lisa Young was selected for inclusion on the cover of CBIG-nyc 2018 Color Directory of member’s work.
This Directory will go out to Editors, Art Buyers and prominent publishing industry contacts.
Lorraine Dey
One of the books currently on the illustration schedule…
Here is the current book illustration project I am working on. “Gypsy” – Written by India Blake. It is a story about a shelter dog’s trials and tribulations, and it takes place in the Florida Keys.
This book should be complete by mid-April this year. Keep watching my blog for the next two book illustration projects scheduled for April-May.
Thanks for visiting!
Lorraine Dey
Here is the book illustration project I am currently working on…
Here is an illustration from “The Christmas Berry” written by Canadian Author Lisa Young and illustrated by Lorraine Dey
On to the next book. Keep watching for images I will post from the “Acres Verdes” collection.
Lorraine Dey
Here is a sneak peek at another book project that is currently in the works with Canadian Author Lisa Young. Scheduled to be published this November.
“The Christmas Berry” written by Lisa Young and illustrated by Lorraine Dey
I am taking on another book project. I am currently sketching out the page illustrations for a book I am working on. It features “Jodie”, a little tiger cat that has no stripes!?! This sketch from the preliminary pages is perfect for this week’s IF image. The topic is “Separated”. Look for more on Jodie coming very soon. 🙂
Look for more on “Jodie” and the new book…”My Cat Wears Blue” by Lorraine Dey.
Happy Holidays! Thanks for stopping in. 🙂
Lorraine
One of the most important “must-have’s” for an illustrator is a professional-looking portfolio. Wether you are a student with no experience or a seasoned professional, your portfolio needs to show your best foot forward. It is the first impression given of you and your work, talent and style, and you only get one chance to make that first impression!
I’ve compiled a few links to articles discussing the basics of setting up your best portfolio impression, and I will add some of my own tid-bits based on my experience over the years in past positions as an Art Director, designer and freelance illustrator.
Here is some valuable reading on art portfolios from Computerarts.
Portfolio “How-To’s”.
Portfolio tips from children’s book editor Cheryl Klein.
Preparing a Student College Portfolio.
You will definitely want to be specific in directing your portfolio to the specific area you would like to focus on.
As a children’s book illustrator and a graphic designer/technical illustrator, I have several different portfolios. If I am showing my work to an art rep who promotes to children’s publishing, I will obviously show the specific portfolio for my children’s illustration. Trust me, they do not want to see highly technical renderings of machine parts, or the latest and greatest ad you just completed for that fortune 500 company. I have seen artists lump everything together into one portfolio and show that one portfolio to everyone. All it does is dilute your work and the viewer will have a difficult time sorting out and remembering exactly what it is you do that can be of use to them.
Start out with a great looking case, even if it doesn’t cost a bundle of money make sure it is in good, clean condition.
With a “screwpost” portfolio you can control the amount of page inserts in the book. For illustrators, try to keep it at 10 to 12 of your absolute best work.
Try to get a professional’s, (or 2) opinion on what your “best” work is. Sometimes we have a hard time choosing for ourselves. I was lucky enough to sit down for a portfolio review with award winning children’s illustrator E.B. Lewis.
His feedback and pointers were very helpful and the images that he was choosing as my strong pieces were different than the one’s I had thought were. He also suggested that I follow a “post and Rail” theme to the book, meaning that you intermingle strong “Post” pieces with the weaker “Rail” pieces. That’s not to say that the “rail” pieces shouldn’t be just as high quality.
I hope this information has helped you in setting up your illustration portfolio. Feel free to add a comment. Thanks for visiting!
Lorraine Dey
click on image above to get a PDF file.
Quality Presentation Cases for illustrators and Photographers.
This month I thought I’d talk a little about the differences of digital vector art and digital raster art and why I choose one style over the other when illustrating a project. Most of my children’s book art is done in Adobe Photoshop as raster digital files. I choose this style for a more painted look to the finished art. Using a Wacom tablet and stylus pen, I literally paint the image in a style of brush strokes similar to my traditional painting style in hopes of not looking too digitally produced.
Pages 6 and 7 from a picture book, “The Rain Forest Party” written and illustrated by Lorraine Dey and available in the Fall of 2011 from Raven Tree Press.
I almost always create a pencil sketch first. Then I scan the sketch to a digital JPG file on the computer and use the sketch as a basis for painting in the color and details in layers over the sketch. Most of the work I create for istockphoto as royalty-free licensed art is done as a vector digital file. I create a large amount of work in vector style with Adobe Illustrator CS for freelance clients as well. Here is a vector chef that was commissioned by T.Marzetti Company for use on their website as well as large display signs. A vector file is scalable to any size without losing clarity therefore it was a perfect choice for this project. The style was requested by the client.
Both styles will begin as a sketch that is scanned into the computer before beginning final work on the illustration. Vector art is perfect for technical and educational work such as instructional illustrations and charts. The clean, sharp edges and ability to scale to any size make it ideal for everything from web icons to full size bill boards or vehicle graphics.
Here is a tutorial on using the Pen Tool in Adobe Illustrator… The basics of vector illustration.
Here is a quick and simple vector tutorial video…Light Ribs.
Here is a high-speed video of a raster digital painting being produced… Spider Man.
For more instruction on creating digital illustration images in various programs try a visit to Lynda.com Enjoy!
Lorraine Dey
click on image above to get a PDF file.
A resource for illustrators.
Artist and Illustrator 