Thought because it's Mother's Day I'll load this picture - Happy Mother's Day to all you illustrating mothers! (see rough drawing of this one below)

an Illustration for the duck book I've just finished - here are before and after pictures - double spread & close up.

In Gordon's Bay the sun is shining - we had some rain last night so it is a cool day - wonderful for my crayons - if it is too warm my crayons get too soft! - Here is how I do my skin colour for the little girl in the book I'm working on... I put down a wash of cinnamon colour then darken shadow areas with the cinnamon pastal on top of the wash - then smooth the whole area with the salmon colour pastel - then work on top with white pastel -blending and lightening the areas nearest to my light source - if I want to darken areas more I use the cinnamon again or add some periwinkle blue and blend it in with the cinnamon or salmon pastels - For my line I use my line Indigo blue oil pastel - not black - I find black too hard and if I want an even softer out line I use the cinnamon pastel - sharpened to a sharp point.

Still busy drawing ducks!

Sketch done for Showcase website of SCBWI South Africa - see links. They flying a kite & standing on a world!

My first attempt at animation!! Click on the frog to see it jump.

Thought I share with you two test illustrations I made for a book I've written (Work in progress - dummy completed - still have to submit to publishers.)

Goodnight, Grandpa is based on a true story. My son Markus was 3 years old when my father died in hospital. That night we had not yet told him that his Grandpa had died. After midnight Markus came into our bedroom and told us that Grandpa had just visited him in his room. Wide awake and in a clear voice he said, “Grandpa came to say goodbye and then he flew away”. For the little boy the encounter was absolutely real. The story stayed with me and eventually became a picture book.

Work on final artwork for the duck book continues! I think I have now drawn 1,000,699 blades of grass - Have a good week-end - I'm working!!

I call this sketch - reading in Africa. I enjoyed drawing her hair too.

I love drawing hair - they say so much of the character - here are a few close-ups of hair.

a quote... Maurice Sendak says: "To me, illustrating means having a passionate affair with the words." (Page 109 from The Art of Maurice Sendak by Selma G. Lanes - 1980) a book I found very helpfull when I first started illustrating Children's Books.
Here is another pic from the Monster book (see below April 8th).

Working hard and long hours on the finish art illustrations for "Nina and Little Duck" - here is one of the finished artwork - Really enjoyed doing Mrs Rajah's hair - Have a good drawing day.

I love trees - Trees have a powerful presents and and I use them in my illustrations to create atmosphere. Here are some of my illustrations with trees in them.

While living (1999 - 2003) amongst the pine trees in the mountians north of Athens, Greece, I became very concious of the play of light and its source - something that has stayed with me ever since and has become an important part of my illustrations - I drew this picture then and this was the scene through my Greek studio window that inspired me. These were the pine forest arround our Greek house in winter - isn't the play of light amazing!

Hope you found a lot of chocolate eggs this weekend - I work most of the time and finished all the rough illustrations for "Nina & Little Duck" and felt like the girl in the illustration.
(From a book (in Greek) I illustrated for Patakis Publisher in Greece - the sneezing dragons also came from this book)

All you illustrators out there - Have a good drawing week!