Take a Break

One thing about illustrators is that they often spend way too much time indoors not moving around much. At least not much more than those busy hands that hold the brush or pen. I have thought about getting an oven timer and just setting it for an hour to remind me to get up and out with Henry. He needs the walking as much as I do...and even without the sun, it is always refreshing to take a break and come back to work renewed.

A little research

I needed do to some active research this morning for my current dummy. Because I want to represent leaves, ferns, berries and pond water I took a long walk with my camera and gathered a lot of good info. We have SUN today, so the time was just right in the early morning. Dew is still on the leaves, the grass is wet and the forest is fairly still.

To make the photos work for me I put them all into a separate folder within the current project file and make a little thumbnail photo like this one, so I can easily find what I am looking for.

My work is semi realistic in a painterly style, so these just serve as a reference. My paintings will be accurate, but not photo realistic. I am not sure how a PC handles this kind of file, but I like having the Mac that can show me at a glance where things are and which file I need for a reference as I draw or paint.