BLOBS #70 RESULTS

It's RESULTS DAY!  Before even attempting designs - these shapes looked challenging! But once we began, characters started popping right off the page for us.  Check out the collection below which includes BABY TROLL, WHALE and THE WORLD'S LARGEST GUMBALL.  Enjoy.

LEFT (BABY TROLL), CENTER (HAT), AMY's ON RIGHT (MER-TODDLER LEARNING TO FLIP TOWARD SURFACE)

LEFT (BIG CAT), CENTER (WHALE), AMY's ON RIGHT (TIPPY TOE TESS)

LEFT (FLOWER GIRL), CENTER (DRESS), AMY's ON RIGHT (WORLD'S LARGEST GUMBALL)

LEFT (MONSTER), CENTER (CHEWY - OUR DOG), AMY's ON RIGHT (GIANT HEADED BLOB GOING FOR A WALK)

When it was time to decide which design to color up I looked for the one that had the most story possibilities.  I liked the MER-TODDLER because rarely do you hear about the offspring of mermaids - but - it fell in the same vein as a character I did a few weeks ago...AGENT MERMAID (BLOBS #55 RESULTS).  Since I'm a big believer in exploring different ideas, I passed on MER-TODDLER.

I decided to go with THE WORLD'S LARGEST GUMBALL!  I love gum!  And so do my kids. (Small side note: I have my very own secret stash of cubed gum in my studio, and often go through many pieces while working late).  The next puzzle piece to solve was..where does this giant gumball go?  First thoughts were ...a carnival?  Then a townsquare.  I tossed that one out quickly though since it felt a little odd for an entire city to be fascinated by a giant ball of gum.  I dug a little deeper and decided the candy should be housed in a BIG MUSEUM.  Maybe THE BIG MUSEUM - where all things small get scaled up 100 times (or more).  How fun would it be to see the detail of tiny things better and brighter?

Now that my sketchy museum doors were going to open, I fixed my shape.  My gumball needed to be closer to the ground for finer viewing, so the original scallops were moved down. I also referenced museums that showcased large pieces to get an idea for what works best.  My favorite was the Washington DC Air and Space Museum with the glass ceilings and large windows.  I placed things quickly while keeping other small-big objects in mind that could be scaled up ginormously in the background (recognize the paperclip?)...

...then started liking the idea of people in the museum wearing clothing similiar in color to gumballs...

but then didn't like it anymore. 

I kept my little girl figure who was aching to touch the big giant gumball (she loves gum too).  And her alone in her bright blue dress, seemed to do the trick.  Here's a detail view of the etched cast iron piece that is holding this chewy monstrosity...and the final color study.

I hope you enjoyed a look at the story process!  If you'd like to fill in the blanks, here are some questions for developing a story with kids at home/school:  Where did her family go?  What other objects are in THE BIG MUSEUM?  Does the little girl leave with a souvenir?  How do the small objects get BIG?  Does she wish she could turn a special small something...BIG?  Wishing you lots of fun in creating your own story!  Thanks for checking in.

BLOBS #70

It's our 70th round of BLOBS!  Download your batch here and experiment with some new characters!

BLOBS #69 RESULTS

Happy Friday and thanks for checking in!  We have some fun and curious characters ready to star in a story.  Below you will find SOMETHING IS UNDER THE BLANKET, THREE HEADED MERMAID and MOHAWK DUDE plus more.  Enjoy!

LEFT (NOT SO BABY DUCK COMING OUT OF SHELL), CENTER (UMBRELLA), AMY's ON RIGHT (SOMETHING IS UNDER THE BLANKET)

LEFT (OLD WALRUS), CENTER (SLEDDING BUNNY), AMY's ON RIGHT (SLEEPWALKING DACHSHUND)

LEFT (ELF WITH A HAT), CENTER (MOHAWK DUDE), AMY's ON RIGHT (STUNT SHARK)

LEFT (THREE HEADED MERMAID), CENTER (GIRAFFE), AMY's ON RIGHT (DINO LIKES TO SING)

The characters that stood out most (from my own designs) were SOMETHING IS UNDER THE BLANKET and SLEEPWALKING DACHSHUND.   I decided to illustrate my sleepwalking pup because of the background opportunities!  What would the scene look like if startled cats spotted my sleepy doggy?  There was more to figure out...but let's take a look at my first sketchy colored dachshund...

Boring.  I ended up changing my original shape to give her more of a neck, better paws and fun movement.  However now, colors were not cooperating. I googled dogs in pajamas which only led to...complete amusement and more googling of dogs in pajamas.  There were dinos, animal prints, pretty dots. Too many choices.  What style would my character prefer?  I decided it was one of luxury and focused on some fancy trim.  Finally, to tone it down and emphasize the nighttime scene, I went all blue. 

Up next: The cat condo.  After looking at totally modern structures, then typical models, I created my own tree-hut-like inspired design.  Shapes were not working initially and I even drifted into bird cage possibilities...maybe parrots were scared speechless by the paw-y passerby?

But I snapped out of that brief debacle, went back to my original idea...and made that work!  Once I added some dramatic shadows I had my sleepwalking dachshund.  Perhaps she was dreaming of doggy bon bons and headed off to the kitchen? 

Thanks for stopping by and see you Monday!

BLOBS #69

Shapes are ready!  What kind of characters do you see?  Download a batch of BLOBS here.

BLOBS #68 RESULTS

What a week!  Lots of picture book dummy revising going on plus I wrote an article for the SCBWI Michigan blog, The Mitten.  No color character this week but many fun designs.  Enjoy.

LEFT (TWO PEAS IN A POD), CENTER (TELETUBIE), AMY's ON RIGHT (BIRD)

LEFT (PENGUIN WHO JUST JUMPED OFF A CLIFF), CENTER (PENGUIN DOES A BELLY FLOP), AMY's ON RIGHT (PIG SPOTS LUKE SKYWALKER)

LEFT (FLYING TOOTH), CENTER (TROLL), AMY's ON RIGHT (SUPER HERO: PEACOCK GIRL?)

LEFT (MOUTH WATERING WHALE), CENTER (WHALE DOING LIMBO), AMY's ON RIGHT (GUARD DOG)

BLOBS #68

Need some character inspiration?  Download a new batch of blobs here!

BLOBS #67 RESULTS

Happy Results Day!  Thanks to everyone who stopped by and ordered from the shop during my Birthday promotion.  There are only a few Halloween Blob cards left in stock so drop me a line if you'd like them for yourself!

This week's character designs include a couple elephants, a couple of birds and some wondering about what sharks might like to do if they could lounge on land.  Eek! Tacked to the very end is a bit of research for my quick color study. Enjoy!

LEFT (FUTURE SUB SANDWITCHES), CENTER (CHEWY OUR DOG), AMY's ON RIGHT (JELLYFISH)

LEFT (GEOMETRICAL FACE), CENTER (A GUY WITH BEARD GEL), AMY's ON RIGHT (IF SHARKS COULD LOUNGE ON LAND...THEY MIGHT BE CHATTY SHARKS!)

LEFT (ODD TEACHER), CENTER (BIRD), AMY's ON RIGHT (GIANT BIRD PECKING FOR FOOD)

LEFT (ELEPHANT), CENTER (ELEPHANT), AMY's ON RIGHT (PART ANTEATER PART SOMETHING ELSE)

The character that stood out the most to me was my part anteater/part something else animal.  His breed was completely unfamiliar and begged for more explanation.  Since I really liked the "fur" aspect of my guy, I wanted to play it up!  I strayed from my anteater concept and leaned a little more towards the bird family, specifically -  furry birds.  Did any even exist?  I discovered the North Island Brown Kiwi from New Zealand.

Having never heard of this bird nor ventured to New Zealand, I was instantly on a nice departure from my usual cast of characters.

After some research and understanding the basic behavior and needs of this unusual bird, I drew some inspiration.   My creature is not 100% kiwi, mostly because of the huge bill he has, the unfurry head and his giant ears.  But, he is nocturnal, like the kiwi.  This detail set my time of day up.   He has another half with him (kiwi's live in pairs and form everlasting bonds).  He lives in a grassland area and he has a nostril on his beak, unlike any other bird in the world (except the actual kiwi ofcourse!).

Meet furry bird and friend! 

I hope you enjoyed my little escape to New Zealand and found some awe in the Kiwi as well. 

BONUS: Did you know animals can get bored too? Check out this fun article about how to keep our pet dogs active and healthy with mental exercises inspired by zoos.

BLOBS #67

Stumped by a story?  Take a break and create new characters here!  Download a sheet for some inspiration.

BLOBS #66 RESULTS

Happy New Year!  Hope everyone is recharged and ready to go! We have some extraordinary characters below plus some snips of design process.  Keep scrolling to meet Old Grandmother, Crocodile, Puddle Urchin and more.  Enjoy!

LEFT (OLD GRANDMOTHER), CENTER (DUDE), AMY's ON RIGHT (COFFEE FAIRY)

LEFT (CAT), CENTER (FISH), AMY's ON RIGHT (GRUMPY DRAGON WAITRESS)

LEFT (WHALE), CENTER (YAWNING SNAIL), AMY's ON RIGHT (PUDDLE URCHIN)

LEFT (CARTOON GIRL WITH LONG HAIR), CENTER (CROCODILE), AMY's ON RIGHT (SCORPION)

When it came time to color, I had a hard time picking between two characters.  One seemed just plain amusing, while the other was intriguing.  I was hung up on Coffee Fairy and Puddle Urchin.  A little about Puddle Urchin.  His name alone beckoned answers.  Was he a type of sea creature that formed when it rained?  I liked the idea of him growing out of a puddle and feeding off of raindrops so my first names looked like this...  

We just happened to read an article about Manatees the other morning and this shape reminded me of one!  I was playing with the words RAIN and PUDDLE and blended them with different animal endings but it didn't sound quite right.  It wasn't until I did a search for sea creature names, when URCHIN popped for me.  Even though my Puddle Urchin is not spiny, it still is lodged in water - just like a sea urchin lodges itself in sand, mud or holes.  

But, I wanted something funny to color.  And at this hour, Coffee Fairy suggested good facial expressions which would keep me up and engaged. 

Decision made.

Unlike other fairies, this one catered a little more to adults.  Here's my peppy, perky, ready to refill Coffee Fairy along with a wing design cleanup...

When I went about the wings I first wanted the trim to resemble coffee pot material, maybe fancy shiny chrome.  I used some butterfly reference to start my pattern, but didn't like the direction it was going.   I decided to keep with the coffee theme and play around with drippy patterns.  I love cream in my coffee so ran with that detail.  My design changed to a white, milky wing color with a drip-type pattern but once I added the cup,  there was too much white.  I played around with the lighting of my wings and finally got a shimmer I liked...which reminded me of a glow-y sunrise.  I changed her teeny center backwings to look a little like stirring spoons -  ready whenever a whirl was needed.  To top everything off, I gave her a beanish looking hat and some Starbucks-y green eyes.

And the final color sketch...

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you had fun with your own designs!

BLOBS #66

Happy New Year!  Get your first round of 2016 blobs here!