Wheel - digital illustration

This week's Illustration Friday word is Wheel.  This is the real reason the groundhog said we'd have an early spring ;)

Celeste

Christmas Place Mats for Kids - digital, printable

For those of you with kids, and a lot of holiday dinner plans with friends and family, here's an idea... printable colouring place mats for the kiddos (or easily bored adults ;)  I have two kids, and I know how fast they eat, and then how quickly they lose interest in being at the dinner table.  Why not have printable place mats (like they do at restaurants!). Have a cup of wax crayons at the table for the kids to share. 

I have created a few options for you, an 11 x 17 option (that you can get printed at any print shop), or a 8.5 x 11 option (if you are stuck and need a quick print at home!).   
Links to the PDF files are below each image! Enjoy and happy holidays.  

 

 

11" x 17" Elf in colour
11" x 17" Elf line only
8.5" x 11" Elf in colour
8.5" x 11" Elf line only

 

11" x 17" Woodland in colour
11" x 17" Woodland line only
8.5" x 11" Woodland in colour
8.5" x 11" Woodland line only

Halloween Pumpkin icons - digital illustration

Happy Halloween everyone! Feel free to use these icons for your avatars if you want :) (Just click on the one you want and save to your computer!) Have a safe and fun Halloween! xo

(if you want to share the love please post where you got them! Always love to have new visitors to my page. Thanks! )

Celeste

 Ginger's Cupcakes & Desserts - logo and character design

Here it is! The wonderfully fun project I got to work on this past month. I was asked to create the character Ginger as well as a logo for a local bakery.  Anna, the very talented baker who runs the shop (I know this because I got to sample the cupcakes today!) didn't want to go with the traditional pinks and browns that seems to be the trend right now with baked goods and cupcakes and chose a really cool clean retro feel to her bakery. So Ginger had to also have a very cool retro feel! Here she is! I am very happy with how she turned out :D

 

It was so much fun to work on this project with Anna, if you live in the York region, or the Toronto area, you need to stop by. Her bakery is colourful and cozy and smell WONDERFUL! Here is a link to her Facebook page, and her website. She does custom cakes and cupcakes too, her entire bakery is peanut free, and she can meet other dietary needs as well, because, let's face it, everyone loves cupcakes! Her grand opening is September 14, 15 and 16 with samples, colouring pages for the kids, sweet deal, and did I mention samples?! ;) 

 Seriously? After seeing this photo, how can you resist?!!!

Happy Canada Day Eh! -digital illustration

Happy Canada Day to all my Canadian friends! Have a safe and fun long weekend!  If you use these (and feel free to do so, for icons or personal use only) please reference back to this site.  Thanks a bunch! and Enjoy!

 

Animation Job - digital illustration

Back in December I had the opportunity to work on something new. I was hired to design and illustrate characters and background by Untold Entertainment. They were doing a hunting game for Newfoundland and Labrador.  Now, you have to understand I don't agree with sport hunting... in fact, I do so much work for WWF Canada, and other environmental organizations that I almost didn't take this job. BUT the concept of the game was actually a little funny. The animals fight back (and when I tried it, always win, but then again, I am not the greatest gamer there is....).  It was also my first chance at doing any kind of animation work. So an experience I didn't want to pass up.  

The technical aspects of the job were interesting, making puppets out of my illustrations.  Working with Untold Entertainment was also a pleasure.  The characters were also fun, because as you can see, they are not my usual style.  It was nice to break out of what I always do and try something a little different. I am pretty proud of how these worked out, looking forward to seeing the game online!

Below are the rest of the characters I worked on.  All artwork belongs to Untold Entertainment. 

Fabric Patterns ~ Alice - digital illustration

These past two weeks have been incredibly busy work wise, which of course is not something I would dare complain about! But I've had to put my personal work aside for this week to try and finish a couple contract pieces.  This is one project that I was working on, but it didn't end up happening, SO I am going to go ahead and use these fabric patterns for myself.  This one was inspired by Alice from Alice in Wonderland, maybe I will make a series of fabrics to go with this one, some that get a little crazier once she goes down the rabbit hole. Below are fabrics that are meant to complement the one above (the actual theme was cherry tree).

When I do fabrics for a client, I like to show them the pattern as a block (not repeated) and then how it would look repeated on a large piece of fabric. I also invert the colours to let them see what might work best for their needs.  In this case the client had wanted the fabric to be red and white. 

And finally to accompany the jacket that this pattern would have been a lining for, there was a bag, which they wanted to be plaid. So I came up with a couple plaids that would go with these (colour wise). 

You can see how fun my job is :) I love coming up with fabric designs!

Celeste

Echo's Countdown to Bedtime Spread #6 - digital illustration

Echo is joined by 5 friendly squirrels!
Click to see previous countdown pages.

 

Payneful Feat map - digital illustration

Please click on illustration for a larger view!

I am  posting this instead of the regular Sketchbook Friday illustration. I've been working on it in my free time this week, and wanted to share it with you all. 

This July myself and 3 fantastic ladies are doing the Oxfam Trailwalker's 100 km hike, sound easy enough? We have to do this hike in under 48 hours! We've been training for the past 2 months, and are hiking a minimum of 30 km an outing now. This is an illustration of last weekend's hike. As you can see we have a lot of fun, and are getting quite the workout. Our support person is in charge of keeping track of our time, since we need to stay on target, but we are easily distracted. Perfect set up for a Family Circus style map non?! 

If you are interested in sponsoring us, or checking out our Facebook Payneful Feat page here are the links!  Thank you all! 

*The Family Circus logo is not mine, I am using it for parody purposes only on my personal site.

 

Echo's Countdown to Bedtime Spread #5- digital illustration

4 beetles join the scene. 

To see the previous pages click here!

 

Echo's Countdown to Bedtime Spread #4 - digital illustration

1- cat in a beanstalk

2- peas in a pod

3- chickadees

For you long time Echo fans, you might recognize these little chickadees, Echo helped them out once when it was very cold outside ;) 

To see the previous book page spread click here! 

Celeste

 

Echo's Countdown to Bedtime Spread #3 - digital illustration

It's funny, as I am working on these, I find myself wanting to change things up a little. The nice thing is sharing this process with you.  I start with something like this doodle...

 

...And then do some minor changes, and add colour. Even now, I like the original position of Echo in the rough, and will probably go and fix that. Also the way I am applying the colour, I can see it being more playfully done if I change the style I am using in the background and secondary characters. I am not a fan of the airbrushed softness of the peas right now... why post it like this then, you ask? Because sometimes good things come from mistakes too, and I am not afraid to show those!

You will probably be seeing changes between these posts and the final files!  Once all the spreads are completed I will re-post it as an entire book, with corrections made from these pages.

This is a great way to show the progression of my work, it's NEVER perfect the first time round, or even the second ;) But that's part of the fun right?! 

Celeste xo

To see previous Echo's counting book posts click here!

 

Echo April Calendar page - digital illustration

Here is April's free downloadable calendar page. Fit's a 5 x 7" frame.  Want to see the previous months? The little doodle at the bottom will tell a story when the year is up! And a desktop wallpaper below! Just click the image for a larger version.

 

Echo's Counting Book Spread #2 - digital illustration

1 cat in the beanstalk!
To see previous spreads click this link!

Celeste

 

Echo's Counting Book Spread #1 - digital illustration

Here is Echo's first spread of the book, where she discovers the beanstalk. 

 

Echo's Earth Hour activity ~ Beeswax candles! - digital illustration

Hello everyone! As I am sure you know I am big into the environmental stuff, so of course in our home we participate in Earth Hour every year, and try to do our part the rest of the year as well. We treat Earth Hour as a sort of fun family time. Playing cards, or board games by candle light, telling each other silly stories etc.  This year the kids and I are making beeswax candles (an environmentally friendly candle!) to use during our hour without electricity.

Here is a fun instruction sheet on how to make beeswax candles starring Echo, Poe and Mousie, it's the perfect activity for kids!

Enjoy!
click this link for printable version. 

 

Echo's Counting book - digital illustration

Here is something I am trying out.  I have a bunch of rough Echo books made out, but can't seem to make the time to do clean copies of them to send out to publishers. So I am going to use my blog to keep me on track.  Every Wednesday I am going to post a page of my book(s) to share with you guys.  

I know a lot of successful illustrators with web comics that do something similar, only for me it's more of a picture book.  By the end of each book I will have a (somewhat) finished product to send out to publishers.  Funny enough, it's a publishing house that suggested the idea to me. So here we go! My first Wednesday page... the cover! 

(Feedback is always welcome! Thanks!) 

Character and story belong to Céleste Gagnon Illustrations. All rights reserved. © Copyright 2012 Céleste Gagnon

 

Echo March Earth Hour wallpaper - digital illustration

Here is a new Echo desktop wallpaper. In March WWF around the world does Earth Hour. I am sure you've heard of it, it's been going on for a few years now. We always have great fun at our house during this time.  We light candles and play cards or a board game.  What do you do? Enjoy this wallpaper and help spread the word! For more info about Earth Hour check out the website www.wwf.ca/earthhour .  And here is a free Echo Earth Hour icon, if you want to use it go for it! Another fun way to spread the word! 

Celeste

P.S. Echo asked the help of an adult to light all the candles. No cat furs were singed in the making of this wallpaper.

 

March Echo Calendar page - digital illustration

Here is the March Echo page. A nice cozy one for the last months of winter.  Enjoy! 

(Click image to download larger version, it fits a 5" x 7" frame)

 

Happy Valentine's Day! - digital

Enjoy this free Echo desktop wallpaper this Valentine's day. I wish you all a happy day surrounded by people you love! (click image to enlarge and save to your computer)

Celeste xo