Rosie and Ned and the Creepy Cave
deadline met and feelin' fine
I now have a freshly cleaned drawing board (*happy sigh* . . . a clean workspace feels so full of potential), after sending off final artwork for Rosie and Ned and the Creepy Cave, the third in a series by award-winning author Meredith Costain, to be published by Puffin in July this year. (I also blogged about this project here.)
This adventure allowed me to draw a spooky old cottage with a witchy inhabitant, a creepy cave and satisfyingly suspenseful situations — all those kinds of things I LOVED in books (and tv :) when I was young. It's so fun to get to illustrate the type of book I loved to read.
Here's a teeny sneak peek . . .
images © 2010 Tina Burke
from "Rosie and Ned and the Creepy Cave" written by Meredith Costain
Published by Penguin Books 2010
I'm a little teapot
I'm a little teapot, short and stout
Another little sketch done as I watched the Olympics. Now it's all over I'll have to find another show that has a lot of breaks or boring bits.
I've been enjoying my time on the couch with my sketchbook. It's not something I often do — just doodle and see what comes out the end of the pencil. Usually I have a specific project I'm working on, which guides me with characters and subject matter, mood and action. But doodling is a great exercise, it gets the brain ticking and takes me back to where it all started — drawing for no particular reason, just simply for the fun of it.
This sketch started with a pose; a girl, with her weight shifted to one hip, a hand resting on her tilted waist. And of course no-one wants to sing "I'm a little teapot" on their own, so the situation called for a little sister, her weight balanced equally on both feet as she eagerly attempts to imitate the actions. To me, her straight-up-and-down stance feels more enthusiastic and energised, while the shifted pose of the older girl feels more relaxed — perhaps she's done this little song and dance routine a hundred times already.
