TRUNK OR TREAT

My church held a carnival and a trunk or treat for all the little kids who live in the neighborhoods that surround it. I was asked to come up with a game for the carnival part of the evening. I decided to do a revision of the famous game, "Pin The Tale On The Donkey". I didn't come up with a catchy name for it but, basically, the participant is to put the candy in the monster's bag.

I started with designing my monster. I drew it quite small (on a piece of 8.5"x11" paper). Once I was satisfied with it, I brought a digital file to Kinko's and had them blow it up to a little over 5 feet tall. It took me a day to paint it. I used basic tempura paints. When I was finished, I cut it out and brought it to a local copy shop to get laminated. I think it turned out pretty well. The kids had a great time! I gave each child a piece of candy (from suckers to bubble gum) with double sided tape applied to one side of each piece. The older kids were blindfolded and spun around. The littler ones just had fun putting the candy inside the bag. I thought it was a great success! I still need to come up with a catchy name. "Put The Candy In The Monster's Bag", just doesn't do it for me.

JUNGLE BOY

I'm so excited to paint this kid! He was such an amazing model! Great job Niko!

As you can guess, my next painting will be my version of Mowgli from the Jungle Book. Thumbnails have been done. Finally photos have been taken. I'm in the final drawing stages. So excited for this one!

PHOTO REPAIR

A friend of mine came to me and asked me if I could fix an old photo she had of her and her sister when they were just little girls. She didn't have the negative and this was the only photo she had of both of them together. Her sister passed away last year from cancer so this project was very important to her. Not only did she want a copy for herself but she wanted to give one to her dad for Fathers' Day as well. I was pleased that I was able to help her out.


BEFORE:

AFTER:

3x3 MAGAZINE PICTURE BOOK SHOW

I have been honored by 3x3, The Magazine Of Contemporary Illustration once again! I have been accepted into their picture book show no. 11 which will be available this winter. I had TWO pieces accepted this time. I am so grateful for the great art direction I received by two wonderful men. Perry Stewart and Don Seegmiller have been friends, mentors and so much more to me, over the past few years. My love for them is more than I can express. I appreciate their critiques, suggestions and comments. This honor goes out to them.

Here are the two pieces I had accepted:

ADDING A POEM

Look at this cute poem my daughter-in-law wrote for one of my illustrations! She did such a great job! Wouldn't this make the cutest wall decoration for a little boys room? Well you can own one if you'd like! I've opened two new stores on etsy.com and soon will have my store open on my website. Check out this print along with several others in my store, Chickadoodle Art 4 Kids:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/chickadoodleArt4Kids?ref=search_shop_redirect

And you can check out prints of the children I paint in my other store, Innocence By C Waldron:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/InnocenceByCWaldron?ref=search_shop_redirect

And while your at it, you might as well check out my new website (no store yet, but it's still cool!):

www.cyndiwaldron.com

MY ILLUSTRATION PROCESS

I thought I'd show you the steps I took for my newest illustration.

Step 1: Coming up with an idea. First, I try to think of a story. My stories are influenced very much by what's going on around me. What season is it? What are kids doing during this time of year? The subject matter I chose for this painting is swimming. Once I think of a subject matter, I imagine different ages of children and the feelings and thoughts that may surround the subject matter pertaining to that certain age. I then, decide which age, feelings and thoughts I want to focus on. For this painting, Swimming Lessons, I chose a young girl, age of three. My thinking was that a child this age may be afraid of water (which was NOT true for my model. :) I don't think she had even an ounce!).  Of course, the story ends with her taking swimming lessons, learning to love the water and concludes with a joyful pool party with all her friends.

Step 2: I draw some thumbnail sketches. Thumbnail sketches are just that- sketches the size of a thumb. I draw them about 2.5" tall and I draw several. I drew her in different aspects of the story until I decided which part of the story I wanted to focus on. Here's some of my thumbs.

Step 3: After I've decided on which direction to go, I find my model and take TONS of pictures. Here's a couple I used for reference in my painting. I used a facial expression from one, the body pose from another, and the snorkel from another.

Step 4: Once I have my reference, I start on my final drawing. I work out values during this process.

Step 5: After I feel comfortable with my drawing, I paint a small color study. This color study is roughly 10 inches tall. I then, scan it into my computer and mess around with it a bit. I may experiment with different versions in Photoshop.

The first is the original color study. The other two are manipulations in Photoshop.

Step 6: Finally, I get to start the actual painting! Most of the brain work is now done! This is the part of the process I like best. The final painting, Swimming Lessons, is 18"x24" painted on an ABS panel. I adopted William Whitaker's painting substrate. He loves this kind of board. I don't think he paints on anything else, anymore.

Here's the final:

3x3 ILLUSTRATION ANNUAL

I finally received my 3x3 Illustration Annual the other day, and LOOK! I'm on page 407! It seems publication takes FOREVER! I submitted this illustration to them a year ago! Just recently, I entered some of my new illustrations into a couple different competition categories for next years publication. Wish me luck!

SCBWI CONFERENCE

I attended another wonderful SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) Conference this past February. I was able to listen to the wonderful Nathan Hale talk about his illustration career and even got him to sign his Frankenstein book for me. I didn't know he had used a pseudonym for this book. I guess I should have realized that Ludworst Bemonster was just to perfect of a name for a book titled FRANKENSTEIN!

There was an illustration challenge for the conference. If an illustrator wanted to participate, he or she was to pick a scene from the Tortoise and the Hare or a scene from the first two chapters of Treasure Island and illustrate it any way he/she wanted. I chose the Tortoise and the Hare to illustrate. This is what I came up with:

Kristyn Crow joined us for the day. She taught us about writing children's books and shared her new book, Zombelina, with us. She is such a talented writer! This story is dang cute! It was a pleasure to have her there and I sure appreciate her giving up a day in her busy life to spend it with us. Thanks, Kristyn!

I went home feeling inspired and ready to face the world again! Thanks to everyone who put it all together!

INNOCENCE

It's been over a year since the horrible tragedy of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. I remember watching the news about this event and feeling shocked, appalled, and tremendously sick to my stomach. Tears rolled down my face. "How could a person do such a horrendous act?", I asked myself. Over the next several weeks, while reflecting on this abominable event, it came clear to me that childhood innocence is under attack. Such sorrow filled my heart and still weighs heavy on my soul. My childhood had its bumps and I received many bruises but nothing like what children face today. Terrorism, abuse, neglect, sickness, violence, poverty, and war are real and shatter the innocence that should be cherished and protected as far as is humanly possible.

Just a few months later, the bombing at the Boston Marathon rang throughout the world. This marathon was to be a healing event for the families of Sandy Hook Elementary. It was dedicated to these children and adults who had lost their lives during that awful occurrence. Family members of Sandy Hook were invited to attend. Special seating was given to these honored individuals. But instead of it being a moment for therapeutic relief it became a weapon for devastating pain and heartbreak which re-opened and aggravated their tender wounds. I cried again while watching this news.

I had already painted a few children before these ghastly incidents had occurred, but not really with a specific purpose or meaning. I have always enjoyed children's love and passion for life and I like seeing the light that shines from their inner spirit. I wanted to capture that light, so I painted some children. It was right before the bombing that I decided that I wanted to paint more children and this time for the specific purpose of capturing their innocence on canvas. I decided to support my paintings with a story. I would immerse myself within a childlike quality, such as determination, resilience, imagination, and curiosity, and then write a story that would support that trait. My painting would then emerge from a scene based off of that story.

 I have now completed nine paintings. I have four more in the works and plan on continuing to paint even more as stories continue to fill my mind. These paintings are dedicated to childhood innocence and honor those children who have lost their innocence through no fault of their own. My heart goes out to them, their families, and to the communities that are affected by such appalling acts.

Below you can view four of my recent works.

A NEW BLOG DESIGN

Well, I've revamped my blog layout. For those of you who remember my old layout, you'll have to let me know if you like this one better. I don't know if I'm sold on it yet but I felt I needed to get away from all the black that I had on my previous one. What do you think? A little more friendly?