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!

 Echo Book Journal pages - digital

Hi Everyone!
It's been a very busy couple of months, I've haven't been able to work on any of my personal projects. I like being busy and work is really picking up. I am also trying to figure out a plan for my summer with both kids at home! With this in mind, I created some book journal pages for Amelie, to continue her reading and writing.  I am sharing these pages with you guys! Obviously they are geared to younger readers. I hope you guys can use them, or share them with people who can. Click this link to download the four page PDF.

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.

 

Sketchbook Friday!

Elliott and Amélie in Wonderland - pencil sketch

This week the kids were watching Alice in Wonderland, they like the real life Tim Burton version, so I was doodling while they watched the movie.  It's one of my favorites too, both the Disney Cartoon version and the Tim Burton one, just so much imagination in the world they create! I think this doodle might have to become clean art at some point, I quite like it! Feel free to click the above image for a larger view!

To see previous sketchbook Friday's click here!

 

 

Echo Visits her Nation's Capital, Ottawa! - photo, digital illustration

Echo visited Ottawa last week. She had a great time. For more details on her trip visit her album on her Facebook Page :) 

 

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!

 

Sketchbook Friday, Eddie and Violet - coloured pencil sketch

Here is another Sketchbook Friday drawing. These two are characters I made for the kids of their aquatic pets. For Valentine's day we got them a little jar with each a Marimo ball in it. For those of you who don't know what a Marimo ball is, it's a kind of algae that grows in lakes into a velvety ball. The kids want a fish aquarium so badly, but they are still little, and I know the work would fall to me, and I just don't have the time right now. So this is the substitute for the time being and the kids LOVE them! You would be surprised to see the amount of stories my 5 year old has written about these little guy's adventures. Who knew two little green balls of algae could be so much fun!


If you want to check out the Marimo balls, there is a good Etsy store called eGardenStudio, where I purchased mine, check them out, they have lovely ideas for unique gifts!


Celeste xo

 

To see more Sketchbook Friday's click here! 

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