My Muse: Penny the Dachshund

Three summers ago, we rescued a 7 year old dachshund named Penny. Though I have grown up with dachshunds, as an adult I've always had cats - and love cats.

When Penny came into our lives, everything changed. We bonded immediately. She has us wrapped around her powerful little paws. Now she is our spoiled and indulged little friend, who charms everyone in her wake.

Being a hilarious little dog, she has inspired a new book project, starring herself!

Here, she is doing what she does best - going to bed after a long day of playing, sleeping, walking, romping, eating, sleeping more and getting petted. This might be the dust cover jacket.

 Originally, her co-star was going to be another dachshund - a puppy, but that has since changed.

Here are some sketches of Penny, the main character for the book project:

I'm working on capturing Penny from different views. She just turned 11 and moves a little slower now, so she keeps a pose long enough to draw her from life.

The paintings are drawn traditionally with graphite. I like the energy of the original drawn line  to show up under transparent washes of paint.  Over the next year, I hope to complete sketches (called a "dummy") for a 32 page picture book that features Penny as its star character.

Just published: Penny the Rude Penguin

It's always super exciting to have something published. I worked on this project, "Penny the Rude Penguin" this spring for Learning A-Z and now it's out. This was my second project for them - and there were no revisions which is always a miracle. They said they loved it, which makes me happy.
Here is the site where you can find a black and white and a color version:

http://www.readinga-z.com/book.php?id=1634.

Here is the synopsis:

Penny thinks it’s funny when other penguins fall down. Sometimes, she even knocks them over on purpose just to see them fall. She says she is sorry afterward, but she doesn’t really mean it. One day, Penny herself gets bumped and falls down—way down. Suddenly, it’s not so funny anymore!

It's about bullies and friendship - a theme that resonated with me since I was a bullied kid when I was little; I was small for my age, painfully shy and awkward. The audience is for first graders - it's a leveled reader.

Here are some sketches for the project:

   Here are some of the pages. After approval of final rough sketches (done in pencil) I used Pitt pens and Microns, then painted the project in "Digital Water" (Thank you, Prof. Cliff Cramp) then layering in textures with lots of transparency in Photoshop. Some painting was done in Corel Painter and some was done in Photoshop. I love to blend traditional media with digital media. Set in Antarctica, I favored a cooler palette, favoring complimentary colors in blues and oranges.

   The biggest challenge for me in this project, was to keep the characters consistent. Penny, the rude little snot of a penguin is identified by her little flippy red ribbon, her snarky smirk and her chubbiness. She still has her baby-penguin fat. Peter, her long-suffering friend is taller and leaner. He is identified by his wide eyes and long spikey top hairs (he uses hair gel). The characters always seem to come alive for me while working on a project.

  From start to finish, I like to show subtle changes in the time of day. You will see the color palette turning warmer as she finally "gets it" after being such a pain to her friend Peter, and his family.  The last panel shows the colors of sunset as she realizes her friend Peter could see behind her general rudeness. It was a cute project.

Look for more, coming soon. Next, I'll share the first project we did together that stars a moose! Love illustrating with animal characters!