Christy Stallop » Uncategorized

Wheels Book Dummy Complete!

Christy — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 21:23:18 +0000

It feels great to finish a book dummy. Suddenly you find that you can think about other things, play with your kids… shower! All this extra time!!! I sent my agent a digital dummy, (Indesign makes it so easy) but I need a hands on dummy for myself. I need to hold it in my hand, leaf through the pages, carry it in my purse and just adore it for a bit. Lot’s of work went into that little booklet.

quick sketch

Christy — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 17:20:58 +0000

I didn’t get to sketch till this morning. Along with the other wheels I’ve done, I needed to sketch out one of the double page spread ideas. Hopefully this will be enough for Rosemary to move forward. I love this simple book more and more.

Cartwheel

Christy — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:11:34 +0000

This will be the only person/child in this series. Because it’s about wheels and locomotion, I decided to have the child face away from the viewer. This will keep the focus on the movement and not the individual.

I’ve sketched out the little girl after setting up the background.

I’ve applied a crackle glaze that I’m using for this series and filled in the cracks with Burnt Sienna.

Blocking in color. Trying to stay true to my chosen pallet.

Mostly finished.

Star Wheel

Christy — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 18:57:10 +0000

This was the most fun wheel yet. I’ve looked up at the stars so many times in my life and I can even point out a few Constellations but to me the sky was too full of stars to make any real sense of it. I started drawing this star chart, plotting out the dots that would be stars and then connected them. After a full day of working I went out for a late night swim. The sky was clear and many stars could be seen. This time when I looked up, everything was familiar. I recognized everything. It was amazing! That’s what I love about drawing and painting, it forces you to be observant. Drawing/Painting allows you to make it your own.

I used a light crackle glaze for the space around the star wheel and added the star points.

Close up of the stars. There are so many dots! This forced me to find the constellations in a pattern of stars.

It was just like a puzzle.

and the finished piece.

Chris Barton’s “The Day-Glo Brothers”

Christy — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 18:40:35 +0000

I had the pleasure of attending Chris Barton’s book signing at Book People this past Saturday.

Chris was promoting his first published picture book “The Day-Glo Brothers” .

It was so nice to see all the Local SCBWI peeps showing their support for this very talented author. Not only was there a lot’s of writing and illustrator folks, but many parents and children. It was a nice crowd.

Chris had set up tables of crafts all in day glow colors for the kids as well as day glow cookies and bright orange juice. He talked about how his story came to be, how long it took, how many rejections it went through, how long the story was originally, and finally, how it came to be published. It’s a interesting and fun biography full of whimsical illustrations…. and, it glows!

Here Chris is signing my book.

Wheels, Wheels and more Wheels!

Christy — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:18:41 +0000

I never would have thought of doing a book on wheels. It something insignificant to me, yet what would we do without them? My friend Dianna thought up the concept. She sees things I don’t see, She thinks about things I don’t have time to think about. She finds the importance of small things most of us overlook. When she and I were first friends, we would go on long walks for what I thought was exercise. That wasn’t why Dianna walked. She walked to find things. She would find feathers, coins, buttons, seeds, plastic toys….to me, crap, to Dianna, little gifts. I still don’t think like her but she has helped me find wonder is small things.

This wheel is Training Wheel. I found a crackle agent I liked and used it for the background. In most of the pictures, there is some added texture for the backdrop of the image. None of the wheels have been properly scanned. I just took a digital picture. They aren’t sharp on here but I didn’t want to mess with it.

Wheels Continued

Christy — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:32:13 +0000

I used to play with these. They were hypnotic with their movement. Such a simple idea. This illustration is the third in a series of wheels.

Wheel Redo

Christy — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:28:23 +0000

I’m not in a very cheerful mood….and it’s showing in my work. I redid the wheel illustration and I’m still not sure it conveys the happy, cheerfulness of going to an amusement park and riding the ferris wheel. I personally never liked the ferris wheel. To me it was boring and slow but to a good friend of mine it is magical. I’m trying to find the magic but all I keep thinking about is carnies, and “Something Wicked This Way Comes”. I prefer Ray Bradbury’s depiction of a carnival, mysterious and creepy!

I decided to have the ferris wheel break the border. I really like when contained things leave the space.

Now on to a third panel. What wheel shall I paint now?

P.S. Erik, if you are reading this post.. I went back and made sure I only hand one space after a period. It doesn’t come natural but I will get it one day.

Another Wheel

Christy — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:38:43 +0000

Finally finished this wheel after many repaints. Still not completely satisfied with it. I’m going to put it away for a spell. Hopefully time will give me fresh eyes.

BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD

Christy — Tue, 19 May 2009 03:08:38 +0000

I’m working on a new book. It’s a simple book, which makes it complicated for me. The pains of editing effect illustrators as much as writers. The theme is pretty basic ..yet extraordinary, so how do I portray these things in a way that also celebrates them? To simple, and they seem unimportant…to complex and the subject is lost. I’ve been thinking about this for a few weeks now. While on the bike, I thought I came up with something perfect. Adding a textured/crackled background would give it a very different look while keeping the subject from being overwhelmed. I usually use this really cool crackle stuff but of course, I was out. I couldn’t find the same product and decided to try a different one. The effect wasn’t the same. Instead of looking antiqued and aged, it looked run down and dumpy. I’m going to paint it again after I find the correct crackling agent. It’s so frustrating but I will get it right!!!