Balloon Lift Off

Happy Friday! Inspiration struck early this week for this week's colour_collective with the prompt color Portland Orange. Balloons! High in the sky with a kid holding on and being lifted into the blue.  This is about how it unfolded for me as I painted this in Procreate. I started with a dark blue background, then with a big, blocky brush I splotted on orange, red balloons in a new layer. Some green below, some lighter blue, a swath of sidewalk, a girl holding onto the balloons, then, of course 'cause there's always gotta be a dog, her pup standing beside her all concerned. Mostly I painted this with my finger, but the Apple Pencil came in handy with adding the final details, which is what was missing in my paint play before on the old iPad with no pencil.

I had a ton of fun painting this. I hope it brings you some joy viewing it. Have a great weekend filled with balloons and good times!

©2017 Traci Van Wagoner, all rights reserved

Summer Nights and Ice Cream

I had a ton of fun this week painting this piece with inspiration from colour_collective, Pantone 292 C. For my b-day I got a new iPad (just in time too since my old iPad 2 went kaflooey), so this week my paint play has been more involved and I got a bit more detailed as I played with the Apple Pencil vs. finger painting. I still used my finger to paint a lot of this, but with the pencil I was able to get more detailed and target my brush strokes more accurately, not to mention the pressure sensitivity. Some of the brushes and for certain parts of the painting, I still much preferred the direct approach of painting with my finger. It's been a fun experimenting. Much more experimentation to come. I hope you enjoy my process.

© 2017 Traci Van Wagoner

The Treehut is Occupied. Oh my!

I forgot to post my illustration, Treehut Occupied, yesterday with the #colour_collective fun. It's never too late to share though, right?

This was another fun experiment with the color of the week khaki in a full-on monochromatic illustration. I started with a sketch from #inktober2016 dragons and played around with values in Procreate on my old iPad (new one has been ordered -- wahoo!), and then brought it into Photoshop to add final details. I love the idea of illustrating middle grade books, so you'll probably see more work like this coming up.

To be completely honest, I'm not sure I'm 100% happy with this one yet. But I did have fun, and ... dragon! I'd love to hear your thoughts. Successful or not? Suggestions? Critiques?

©2017 Traci Van Wagoner

Love

This week's Illustration Friday prompt is LOVE. We could all use more love right now. The power of love can save the world. So, go out and love everyone.

©2017 Traci Van Wagoner, LOVE

Sprout

The prompt for Illustration Friday this week is Sprout which fits perfectly with one of my picture book projects I'm writing and illustrating. This is one of the scenes I'm playing with using Procreate. I approached this project very different from other projects. Instead of starting with a fully written story and then pencil sketches, this picture book started while paint playing with my old iPad, my finger, Procreate, and an idea. I created a variety of color scenes of a girl planting a seed while it's still snowing, then waiting, waiting, until...

©2017 Traci Van Wagoner, all rights reserved

Mermaid Glade

Happy Friday! I had some fun this week in between a hectic and fairly dramatic week dealing with getting more work, tax problems, and family issues to paint one of my MerMay sketches, Mermaid Glade, for colour_collective. The color was iris blue. I'm enjoying expanding my abilities to paint backgrounds and settings as well as dramatic light and balancing textures and all that good stuff. I think I just might have pulled this one off.

If there's enough interest, I'll create a poster and other goodies in my Zazzle and RedBubble stores with this art. What do you think?

© 2017 Traci Van Wagoner, Mermaid Glade

On Twitter Pitch Parties and Perfect Phobia

 My thoughts on twitter pitch parties:

Love them. They're a great kick in the seat of the pants to get me to finish things. I suffer from what I shall call, Perfect Phobia, and these online contest, pitch parties, word wars, etc. are a good remedy. I have a debilitating fear (if I let it) of everything having to be perfect. When I was in high school, a teacher once told me to stop worrying about my report being perfect and just get it done. I could always revise it. These contests help jar me out of the fear of perfection. I know manuscripts are supposed to be completely polished and ready to send, but then I'd never send anything. I have to let go at some point. Call it done.

My writing and manuscripts have improved in direct result of having subbed to online and twitter contests. And to be honest, I have to admit to submitting things that were not polished. While I thought they were finished to a high level, I do feel guilty for going against the rules when I had inklings some of my manuscripts were not as polished as they could be. However, my manuscripts wouldn't be in the better condition they are now without having done this, without the push of a deadline to complete to a solid level finish, and without the critiques and comments from generous authors also participating who nudged me in the right directions, helping me to recognize those inklings, the ticklings in the subconscious that I didn't look at directly -- like monster's eyes on the dark, don't look and they're not there. Well, they are and BOO! Gotta face 'em sooner or later.

I have received some likes (hearts) here and there. I haven't subbed to all of those since I'm searching for an agent for both my picture books (writing /illustrating) and my MG / YA. Many only rep older. But I'm not necessarily in these contests to find my agent. I am querying specific agents for that. I know there are success stories with these contests, but I also know how numb I get going through the feed of so many offerings. I don't know how agents and editors do it without it all becoming a jumble in their heads. So I don't pin my hopes on being discovered within the feed, but I do appreciate the kick in the seat of the pants and the feeling of community while constantly updating the hashtag feed.


I'd love to hear about your experiences and thoughts on twitter pitch parties. Do you love them? Hate them? Participate or not? Any success stories you want to share?

Here's a few I know of and have participated in. Please add any more on the comments.

#PBPitch
#PitMad
#KidPit 
#Pit2Pub

Ugga Mugga Love

The world needs love, lots of Ugga Mugga love. I painted this on Mother's Day thinking of my Mom who is so far away. This also works for Illustration Friday's theme this week, Mother. Go give your mother a kiss today! Aren't ugga mugga kisses the best?

Ugga Mugga by Traci Van Wagoner ©2017

Girl in Pink

Sorry I haven't posted here in a while. I've been busy finishing the illustrations for Rest in Peace RaShawn, which is now available (see Books), as well as finishing some new dog toy designs, and game designs and illustrations. It's good to be busy doing creative work.

On top of client work, I've been having fun paint playing both in Photoshop and on my old iPad with Procreate (which I LOVE).  Lately, I've dived into the @colour_collective challenges each week. I love playing with color and this gives me a jumping off point each week and encourages me to expand my color palette. I have to admit that many of the colors I would not have picked, so it has expanded my art world. This cautious girl and her cat were in my to-do-someday sketch file from past projects, both personal and work related, which spoke to me when I saw the color for this week, Mountbatten Pink. I painted this in Photoshop using my wonderful Cintiq. Enjoy!

Girl in Pink © 2017 Van Wagoner

Spring Dreams

One night while vegging out to some TV,  I was paint playing on my old iPad with Procreate and my fancy-pants paint brush finger, and with one magical swipe, I discovered a whole bunch more fun and different brushes. Yay! So I set about playing with them, experimenting, doodling, dreaming, and this is what came about, Spring Dreams. My flowery painting also has a snail among other fun bugs, so it fits with Illustration Friday's prompt this week, Snail.

Happy Spring!

©2017 Traci Van Wagoner, Spring Dreams