IF Visitors

I don't have anything new for IF this week, so I'm recycling:-) I did this illustration for Picture Bookies Showcase theme Time Out a couple of weeks ago. Being a nanny, I've always understood how much parents need their 'time outs' as well. It's funny how the same expression can have such a different meaning to an adult as it does to a child!

Gossip and Tea

Here is a painting I just finished. I always thought it would be fun to do something with the Red Hat Society. Who wouldn't want to try and draw some of those red hats and purple dresses. So this is what I came up with, three ladies enjoying tea and especially gossip!

IF Moon

Here is my contribution to IF this week. Unfortunately, this painting doesn't have a lot to do with the moon, its more just an afterthought. But I wanted to post something on IF since its been so long and I'm afraid I don't have the time to finish an entire new painting. So this will have to work for now, maybe I will think of something more original next week:-)

My First Book!

Wow, I think this is the longest I've gone without posting! I've been caught up in lots of family activities lately, but hopefully now I can start posting on a regular basis again. But the good news is, I've been asked to do my first book! I'm so excited, it seems like I've been waiting for a very long time for this:-) I think it's not scheduled to be finished until the end of the year or next year sometime, so it will be awhile before I can show any of it. But as soon as I can, I will definitely have it up here! I don't have too much to show as far as new artwork unfortunately, but I am putting together a new sample booklet to send out and this is the cover of it. Sophia will be on the cover and the dog will be on the back. And inside the back cover will be the illustration of just the dog. Hopefully the publishers will see everything and read the story in it. I still haven't thought of a good name for the dog, if anyone has any suggestions let me know. Maybe I'll just call him Dog:-)

IF Suit

Here is my new submission for Illustration Friday. When I saw the word this week was suit, I had to do a penguin suit:-) I thought it would also be a good time to do some black/white work since I've been getting a few requests for it lately.

Finished Painting

Here is my finished version of the last value rough I showed. I had fun doing this painting. I've never done anything the least bit spooky, so it was a nice change for me. I had someone ask what the story is behind it when I posted the value rough. Its not a story I made up, it was from a novel I had read awhile ago. There was a scene in the book when these three boys are camping out in their backyard and decide to sneak out and go searching in the woods for the family ghost that has haunted the house for generations. What illustrator wouldn't want to draw that! The ghost in the book was blond and always wore a white dressing gown. I stuck true to that, but used my imagination for the three boys. Anyway, as I said, it was fun for me to do and I hope you like it!

Long time

It's been so long since my last blog! My time got a little taken up with other things, some art related, some not:-), so I am still working on the last piece I posted. Its getting close, but not finished enough to actually show anyone. But in the meantime, here is a piece I just finished for a girls magazine. They needed a new illustration for their advice column, and here it is!

New Painting

Here is the new drawing I'm working on. I finished this value rough last week, but haven't had the time to paint it. I'm planning on doing that tomorrow, so hopefully I can show it finished soon. As for now, let me know what you think!

Finished Dinosaurs

Here are the finished paintings of the dinosaurs. They were done awhile ago, I just hadn't put them up yet. It was fun to get to do something completely different from what I usually do. I wanted to try to keep my style in it even though the subject was different, and I think I really accomplished that on the first one.

Here is my new Sophia painting as well. Piya, the dragon is coming next!

IF Fortune

Here is my late, as usual, submission to Illustration Friday. I wanted to do something that would work for IF as well as my other blog, Picture-Bookies Showcase. The phrase for PBS was 'change of plans'. When I read this, it made me think of a cancelled baseball game on account of rain for some reason. So here is my version for both, an Un'fortune'ate Change of Plans:-)

Dinosaurs

I got a commission to do two dinosaur paintings for a boys room. Since I really know next to nothing about dinosaurs, I had to do a lot of research. You learn a lot of strange things being an illustrator, an extra bonus I guess:-) Here are the value roughs so far, I should have the paintings done in a couple of days. They're a little more realistic than I normally like to do, but its always fun to try something new. And the great thing about dinosaurs is I get to make them any color I want:-)

IF Green

Illustration Friday's topic this week was green, so here's another Sophia:-) I finally finished my website, YAY!! There's a few things I want to change on it still, but I like it overall. If anyone gets a chance, please check it out and tell me what you think. I'd really appreciate it! My address is www.jonistringfield.com.

Been awhile

Wow, I can't believe its been that long since my last post! I'm afraid I don't have too much to show for it either. I've been putting together sample booklets to send out to publishers and design companies. I'm also in the process of redoing my website. Yuch, probably my least favorite thing to do. But I guess its a necessary evil. It really needs to be updated and I wanted to add a couple more pages. So I figured since I'm doing that, I might as well just do it all over and give it a little face lift. I did do a quick painting of my logo/mascot, Sophia. If you've been to my website, you've seen her on there. She started out as just a logo and design element, but when I sent my work out, she seemed to be what the publishers liked best! So I decided to develop her into more of a character and give her some personality:-) Here is the new one which is also on the cover of the sample booklets I'm making.

And here are a couple of old ones of her.


Hopefully I will have my website up and running in a couple of weeks, with a whole new section dedicated just to her. (With the finished painting of her riding the dragon created by Piya Wannachaiwong for me. I'm sorry, Piya, that its not done yet. It will be, I promise!)

I finally finished my City Girl/Country Girl painting. This took so long for some reason! But I think it turned out well. People are having a hard time reading it though. I'm thinking about just separating it and making it into two different pictures so it makes more sense.

IF Crash

I had a pretty busy week and weekend, so unfortunately I didn't make the IllustrationFriday deadline. But at least I did finish the painting. Better late than never, right? When I saw the word crash, I immediately thought of a little boy. At first I was going to do a big crash scene, but than I thought of this idea and I decided to go with it. A little boy crashed out after a busy day of playing:-)

Sprout

Here is my first illustration for IllustrationFriday. The word this week was sprout. I seem to be surrounded by people who are having babies lately, so when I heard sprout, a pregnant woman was the first thing to pop into my head:-) I still want to do some clean up work on it, but overall I like how it came out, I had a lot of fun doing it. If you haven't heard of IllustrationFriday, you should check it out. Its such a great website for illustrators. Its also a great way to challenge myself, since it usually takes me a couple of weeks to finish a painting. Hope you like it!

I finished the color rough for my City Girl, Country Girl illustration. I decided to go with the night scene. Some of the colors are a little more muddy than what I want the final to have, but that's why its a rough;-) Overall though, I like it and I'm excited to start the final!

In The Beginning...

Here is the start of my blogging career:-) I'm hoping to use this mostly to share my artwork with others and to also see what other artists have been up to. So I decided to take a break from my usual style of illustration and do a completely realistic and rendered portrait of the girl I used to nanny for, Sasha. I felt like I needed a break from what I was doing and also it would be good practice for me. I finally finished it today and I like how it came out. Its amazing how much you can forget when you haven't done something for awhile. I used to be able to finish portraits pretty quickly, but I struggled with this one at first, which is definitely a sign I did need the practice. Now that thats finished, I'm back to my illustrations and going to start painting a drawing I did a little while ago. I did it at first to submit to a girls magazine as a front and back cover. The theme was City Girl, Country Girl. Since that kind of describes me, I thought it would be fun to do. Unfortunately for me they chose someone else, but I still think it will be a good portfolio piece. Now I just need to decide which value rough to use!

I'm leaning towards the night scene just because I really don't have that in my portfolio and it will be a good addition.