dog day, pictures of people, portfolio tips, and other news

Today is National Dog Day! This day is to help bring awareness to all the dogs that need rescuing. It seemed like a good day to do some dog sketches, so that's what I did. Here's a sample:

The Illustration Friday prompt this week is: people.

This is a great prompt for me as I've been working to add more people to my portfolio (right now I have a LOT of animals in my portfolio, and a few people too). I have a few new pieces that I'll be adding to my website soon. Until then, I'll give you a sneak peek here. I had two postcards printed for mailing and for the SCBWI LA conference. Both sides of both postcards had people on them! Here's the color postcard front:

And here's the back:

Roberta likes robots and ballet, but isn't as fond of taking baths! She also likes to draw. Here she is drawing on the front of the black and white postcard:

The back of the black and white postcard featured a different girl sharing her snacks with her puppy (which is perfect for national dog day):

I really like the pretzel stamp on this card! I like the robot on the other card too. Too bad the ones I mailed had to have the stamps covered up, but I don't think the post office would mail them with my stamps.

Working on a portfolio?
Here are a couple of posts I've written that might help:

* If you're having trouble figuring out what to draw, here's a post on ten tips to help you choose what to draw and ten ways to find inspiration.

* If you're just starting out, or are trying to get your work to the next level, here's a post I wrote for illustrators on five things that helped me (and will hopefully help you too) on my path to my first picture book.

* If you're an illustrator (or writer) and want to write a picture book, but aren't sure where to start, here's a post on how to write a picture book in twelve easy steps (the title is tongue in cheek, but the post is hopefully helpful)>

In other news:

* Mr. Schu and I talked about picture books, art, reading & EWE AND AYE.  It was fun to finish his sentences!

* Author / illustrator Eliza Wheeler put up an amazing post on moving forward in your art, having fun, and banishing feelings that your work sucks. A must read for artists (and writers) who are having doubts about their work or are trying to push through to the next level.

* Author / illustrator Dani Duck is hosting Smart Dummies in September. It's a month dedicated to helping illustrators create picture book dummies. There will be guest posts (including one from me) and prizes too! Sign up here.