Behind the scenes, I’ve been filling up pages of owl sketches for a character I’m working on, inspired by a great horned owl hanging out in my backyard recently.
This is part of a new series of five stories I’m writing and illustrating, inspired by the animals in my backyard.
I have the character names and storyboards done; now I’m working on the character sketches and dummy books.
I love simplifying these sketches with just two colored pencils. Next up, I’m finishing sketching the storyboard panels and then the text and the dummy book!
I strive to make more time to draw everything in my sketchbook, everything in the course of a day that brings me joy or inspires me.
I love to draw these collages of things that captured my attention, like the crow that keeps visiting our birdbath to dunk his bread, or the crab apple blossoms on the trees blooming all over town this time of year, or the lady walking her cute dog who kept looking back for the next treat, or the adorable little groundhog foraging through the meadow behind my office.
In this recent sketchbook spread, I wanted to remember the red-winged blackbirds singing in that same meadow, the goldfinches who are very busy in spring, the sandhill cranes who have returned from their migration trips, the daffodils blooming throughout my gardens, the forsythia’s mix of yellow blooms alongside early green leaf buds, and the many red admiral butterflies I see on my walks.
I’m also working on character sketches for several new stories so I cherish being able to sneak in drawings like these for the practice, the memories, and the simple chance to lose myself in a moment from the day.
I love to draw animals! I’m so excited to finish this illustration project, which has become one of my favorite pieces!
This is an A to Z animal zine, inspired by Sarah Dyer’s Patreon drawing session. I tore a piece of paper out of my Moleskin A3 sketchbook (16.5″ x 12″) and folded and cut it into a snake book so it would have 26 panels. Sarah provided a selection of reference photos for each letter. I couldn’t attend her live session so I worked on mine in my spare time over the course of a week. The folds end up with a few hidden panels so I added a little nature scene on those end pieces where the book turns.
I painted the back side of the paper with a blue and green wash and used colored pencils to draw a faux topographic map pattern.
I adore this project because it got me to draw a great variety of animals.
I love making zines, a mini “magazine” from one simple piece of paper, so I’m excited to make more like this.
I often hear the advice to make the kind of artwork you would like to get hired for so I’m going to make more art like these zines!
I’ve been having fun experimenting with textures, patterns and scenes in my sketchbook lately.
Some of my scraps were fun to turn into a sunrise, sunset, clouds floating through the sky or a winter scene.
Water is one of my favorite things so I loved painting water scenes like this bookmark and postcard.
Sometimes I just like to spread around lots of paint and turn the page into something cool with a few marks using white gouache.
I really enjoy this process of making art where there’s no pressure and no destination, just meditatively dipping my brush into water and then paint and swirling into onto the page. It’s also fun to have a few pieces going at the same time so I can keep going while waiting for one to dry.
I had fun brainstorming and painting these sketchbook pages in February, which make great postcards, or might be cool for illustrations for a picture book or kidlit book covers.
These three paintings are sunrise, sunset and twilight at the creek.
I also painted this winter scene called Deer at the Cabin in February, inspired by the little bit of winter we had.
I painted all of them in a Hahnemuhle A5 Watercolor sketchbook with Winsor Newton watercolor set, and printed them on cardstock for to test as postcards.
I love making art in a series like this, enchanting nature scenes with a few animals, so I look forward to dreaming up more.
I finally finished painting my mini story panels for my story for Folktale Week 2023. It’s about a polar bear who gets lost and the mythical fire fox helps him find his way. I don’t know a lot of folktales but knew I really wanted to illustrate a polar bear and the Northern Lights so my inspiration came from a Finnish folktale.
The first panel is the cover the the remaining panels reflect the prompts Lost, Ink, Sea, Sleep, Underground, Illusion and Found.
I used my Winsor Newton watercolor paint palette, indigo for the night sky, ultramarine for the icy water, a mix of Winsor green and indigo for the sparse trees, cerulean blue and Winsor violet for some highlights and colored pencils.
I did a few color tests ahead of time with colored pencils on printer paper to figure out what colors matched the images in my imagination.
I started out with thumbnail sketches in my sketchbook which I inked and transferred to cold press watercolor paper.
Each panel measures 4 inches wide by 3 inches high, which is a great size so it doesn’t take me too long to finish in a reasonable timeframe.
I’m finished writing the text this weekend so now this mini story is ready to go!
I made a lot of fun art in January. I illustrated a doodle a day again in a grid full of winter images.
I experimented with a few wintery landscapes with a mix of watercolor, gouache and colored pencils.
I have also continued practicing drawing a series of animals that I have stories brewing.
I painted a series of illustrations from Max Romey’s 99 days of watercolor, which was great practice and pushed me to be bolder with my colors and darks.
I love doing challenges like this but I especially love dreaming up my own illustrations for my own stories. So many ideas to illustrate, never enough time!
I went through my photo library from 2023 and found the good moments that I want to capture here.
I filled up a lot of sketchbook pages and made a lot of art. Looking back through my sketchbook art, I always wish I made more art but I am excited to finally be drawing people! Here are few of my favorites:
More personal favorite painting projects:
I am so grateful I got to travel to Naples, Florida earlier this year for some rest and relaxation and one of my favorite things – beach time. I also got to spend time at the lake house on Lake Michigan in Door County and go on a few adventures close to home. Here are a few fun photos to remember those travels:
I had some anxiety and depression issues in summer so I’m grateful to my life coach for helping me get through that and learn how to navigate through life.
I went on a lot of micro adventures which brought me great joy!
My word for 2024 is Joy, to live life to the fullest, and to not let anyone or anything take away my joy for life.
Terri's Notebook 