Green Illustrated - pen, ink, digital illustration

This is a little preview of the newest weekly update that I plan on doing on my blog. Every Monday I will post an illustrated green tip.  This is my way of marrying my love for the environment and my love of illustration!

So stay tuned! This Monday will be the first one!

Celeste

 

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.

 

 

Sketchbook Friday - Jasper and his spring - pencil sketch

This week's sketchbook doodle is one I did a while back, it's a little series about my sister's cat Jasper and his spring.  He loves his springs, and his cat tunnel, so do my kids when they go visit! 

Echo's Counting Book Spread #2 - digital illustration

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

Celeste

 

Sketchbook Friday Elliott and the Octopus - pencil sketch

So part of my new plan, is to do more blog posts. I have plan to post 3 days a week and Friday's are going to be called Sketchbook Fridays (catchy non?). 

The idea here is that I share with you something unfinished, from my sketchbook. Sometimes they are roughs or doodles that will one day be finished art, and sometimes they are just little drawings I do to amuse myself (like this one).  Ask any artist/illustrator and they will tell you, for every 1 drawing that sees the light of day, there are probably 20 that don't. 

I hope you enjoy these, most of them are just me reminding myself why I love to draw. No rules or restrictions, no deadlines, doodling while waiting in line for something or appointments, or just while watching tv.

Céleste

 

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

Happy Spring! - digital and photo

Happy Spring everyone!

Celeste

 

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

 

Echo Fabric multipurpose pouch - made by cottonlicious

Here is another Etsy treasure! This cute multipurpose pouch was made by Cottonlicious a talented lady in Athens Greece! Echo is becoming quite the little globe trotter! She purchased this fabric from my Spoonflower store.  Check out her Etsy store for more details, or to purchase this cute Echo item!

*For anyone else interested in using Echo fabric to sell, please let me know before hand, all I ask is for a credit line and link, AND I love seeing what you talented sewers are up to!

 

Echo Catnip toy! - made by Dorothy Aldridge 

Check out this awesomeness!

This wonderful talented lady Dorothy Aldridge has created these wonderful catnip filled cat toys using Echo fabric from my Spoonflower store.  Not only are you getting a hand made toy, BUT she also donates a portion of each purchase to various local animal charities.

Please check out her store on Etsy!
Thank you so much Dorothy, this made my week!

Celeste xo

*For anyone else interested in using Echo fabric to sell, please let me know before hand, like this wonderful lady did.

 

National Sweater Day - digital

February 9th is National Sweater day, a day where you wear a sweater and turn down our thermostats. This is to show you are aware of and taking action against climate change.  Have fun with it, see who has the ugliest (or fluffiest) sweater at your office! Make a game of it! And for you fellow Canadians, this shouldn't be a hard task, we all have those woolly sweaters that we've not really had much chance to wear this winter due to the warm temperatures! 

Feel free to download this and use it as your icon for facebook, twitter whatever social network you'd like! 

Check out WWF's site about nation sweater day for more info! http://www.sweaterday.ca/

Celeste xo

 

February 2012 Echo page (and Desktop wallpaper)  - digital/pencil

Here is February's Echo calendar page.  Just click on image above for a larger version and download to your computer. 

New to these pages? Here is January's page, if you follow the little sketchbook doodle at the bottom on the pages by December a little story will unfold!

 

Amélie reading - digital

Amélie has been reading a lot lately, she is 5 years old and is learning quickly. It's so much fun to watch her, and listen to her read. She LOVES books, always has and now she is experiencing the wonder of reading for herself.  I watched the movie The Neverending Story with her yesterday. She loved it so much. I told her that the book was 100 times better. Of course she ran up to my room to get the book out of my library and tried to read it. It's a big novel, not really in her range just yet. But I am now reading it to her.  The idea of children reading, and becoming part of the story is magical, it's what I love about books, and it's what I hope my little ones will also love. So here's to reading! (and to my favorite YA book of all time The Neverending story by Michael Ende if you haven't read it before, here you go, buy it, you won't regret it!)  Click image for a larger view!

 

Little Raven Nevermore - digital

There is another new little bird in my Etsy store and for fun I've made this one into a wallpaper for you to use for free.  I hope you enjoy it, and if you want to see more check out the store! Click image above to enlarge and save to your desktop!

Celeste xo