BLOBS #75 RESULTS

Welcome back and what a week!  Some exciting news popped up with exciting work that goes along with it. THE LADYBUG RACE will be marching in the Huntington Woods Fourth of July Parade! In partnership with our wonderful local Indie bookstore, The Book Beat and Huntington Woods Library, we were invited to be a guest on July 4th.

Many ideas have been spinning around in my head the past few days about how to best represent our sweet ladybugs from the book but most importantly, be FUN for kids to be a part of. My overly ambitious side had broadway-esque visions while other thoughts tried to stay on simple turf. Experimentation commenced nonetheless and I now know what piano wire can and cannot do...

T-shirts will also be in the mix and I may just share my process via FB & TWITTER. 

Back to character designs!  We have a SHEEP PLAYING HIDE AND SEEK, LITTLE BUNNY ROO ROO IN HIS OVERALLS, HEDGEHOG and many more below.  Enjoy!

LEFT (LITTLE BUNNY ROO ROO IN HIS OVERALLS), CENTER (DUCK), AMY's ON RIGHT (BOXY BEE)

LEFT (CHEWY), CENTER (SNAIL), AMY's ON RIGHT (DOG)

LEFT (THE FOUNDER OF THE BLOBS BLOG), CENTER (CLOUD), AMY's ON RIGHT (SHEEP PLAYING HIDE AND SEEK)

LEFT (THE GIGANTIC BIRD WITH A DOG EAR), CENTER (HEDGEHOG), AMY's ON RIGHT (POMERANIAN)

I decided to color up my POMERANIAN because of her poofy hair.  No background, just a whole lot of fun with her character...

Thanks for checking in!  Until next week.

BLOBS #75

A new batch of Blobs are up!  What kind of character do you see?  Check back in Friday for our results.  Hope you stir up some stories!  Download your sheet here.

BLOBS #74 RESULTS

Thanks for checking in on Results Day!  We are back from a spirit-filled Memorial Day weekend and hope you had a fun break with family and friends as well.  This week was a little slow.   With many end-of-the-year-school activities going on, on top of our puppy needing extra love from our time away, character creating was pushed out a bit.   We managed to squeeze them in the other morning and are ready to share!

Below you will find a BALLGOWN, SPEECH BUBBLE and SHOWER THING along with many, many more.  At the very bottom, I share some thoughts about the character I selected to color up.  It was a challenge though!  I ended up stopping for the night since the illustration was not working.  Do you ever feel that way about your drawings?  Keep reading to find out how it finally came together... 

LEFT (BUNNY), CENTER (BILBO SWIMMING - OUR GUINEA PIG), AMY's ON RIGHT (KANGA WANTS TO ROLL)

LEFT (TURTLE), CENTER (UPSIDE DOWN BULL), AMY's ON RIGHT (WACKY HAIRDO AWARDS)

LEFT (A MAN FROM FRANCE), CENTER (A SPEECH BUBBLE), AMY's ON RIGHT (SHOWER THING AT A CREATURE SPLASHPARK)

LEFT (BALL GOWN), CENTER (WHALE SHARK), AMY's ON RIGHT (WACKY HAIRDO AWARDS)

On to coloring...the two characters that had the most story potential for me was SHOWER THING and KANGA WANTS TO ROLL.  I chose KANGA because I wanted to correct my initial sketch and get the kangaroo working better.

I pulled up pictures of kangaroos to study than did sketches of my reference to practice the anatomy + proportions...

I moved on to the illustration layout and liked the idea that KANGA wanted to go for a ROLL instead of a HOP one day.  The highest hill needed to be part of my scene!  The reader had to feel the same thrill my sweet kanga pair did.  I had my land set up but when it came down to adding color -  things were falling apart.  My mama kangaroo was not working.  I stopped for the night.  And went to bed.  

To get past my hangup the next morning, I started by isolating a kangaroo character.  It felt like I needed to get that working before adding details... I sketched one quickly than went back to my scene...

And...my reboot unstuck me.  Here is the final color sketch! 

My original shape definitely changed but my Blob did its job: to inspire. Thanks for stopping by!  Check back in on Monday for a new batch of shapes.

BLOBS #74

Download a batch of Blobs here!  Results will be posted Friday, June 3rd.  Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

BLOBS #73 RESULTS

We hope you had a good week!   It is Results Day and our designs birthed Opera Bird, Toucan and an Anteater - plus more below. 

After leaving last week's outdoor theme, I wanted to pull some inspiration from another outdoor form...unusual flowers! Can you see any similarities?  Blob 1 and 3 were inspired by the Youtan Poluo flower,  Blob 2 was inspired by the Yellow and Purple Lady Slippers and Blob 4 was inspired by the Parrot's Beak (Lotus Vine) flower. Enjoy our designs!

LEFT (THE HORRIFIC HELMET), CENTER (BILBO - OUR GUINEA PIG), AMY's ON RIGHT (GIRL READY TO BOW)

LEFT (A TOUCAN), CENTER (CARDINAL), AMY's ON RIGHT (OPERA BIRD)

LEFT (A RAT GOING INTO A MOUSE DOOR), CENTER (ANTEATER), AMY's ON RIGHT (THE TURBO TAILED MOUSE)

LEFT (BILBO - OUR GUINEA PIG - WITH A TAIL), CENTER (THE LOCHNESS MONSTER), AMY's ON RIGHT (DYNAMIC DUCK LOOKS FOR A SAFE LANDING)

Torn between OPERA BIRD and GIRL READY TO BOW, I decided to illustrate my girl.  The scene came together a little quicker.  My main character, a young 6-8 year old, turned quickly into a ballerina who just finished a solo.  To give it a more playful feel,  I wanted to add a detail that came from a notecard pattern I recently created using Blob #6.  My product samples arrived today and I loved the colors and print!  Super eager to use it on the curtain in my illustration, I jumped into color.

The inspiration for my notecard pattern...

A preview to the first of 3 prints for my summer collection.  Details coming soon!

I dropped my pattern in and thought I could keep with the yellow-y, vibrant tones...

but when I stepped away from my computer and came back, it felt a little too strong?  Was it just me?  Let me know what YOU think!  I dulled it down a bit to put more focus on my dancer, then moved on.

Onto the pose.  My character was getting a little static.  I tilted her head to stay away from being too symmetrical but it was still reading - blah.  I decided to toy with her arm length -  and that did it!

There was a little more energy with her arms shortened and lifted.

And here is the final sketchy illustration...the silhouette changed a bit from my original shape, but I think it worked over all!  Thanks for stopping by and check back in on Monday for more shapes!

BLOBS #73

A new set of shapes are up!  What kind of characters do you see?  Download an activity sheet here.

BLOBS #72 RESULTS

Thanks for stopping by on Results Day!  It is nice to be back to Character Creating- the Blob way.  The value these little exercises hold aren't quite clear until you actually try them, though. I was reminded of that this week. After being away from the posting routine, it felt great to be surrounded by inspiration again.

Another highlight to doing Blobs is seeing what my kids can come up with - in only minutes!  I am always fascinated.  And I think they like me being fascinated.  Knowing they created the answer and that it's absolutely not correctable - is gold to them.

The next moment of glory?  Sharing.  Each child gets the spotlight and they talk about what they came up with, it's name and how the idea blossomed.  I just love ooouing and awwwing and their free thinking opens ME up too.

If you follow me on Twitter/FB or subscribe to my newsletter, I mentioned that these shapes came from a specific place we visited recently on vacation.  Did you guess?  Maybe it's a familiar location, but if not - here's a virtual getaway to Moab, Utah for you...

                                                                       We went off-roading!

                              Our favorite place?  Arches National Park.  This is Balanced Rock.

                                                    Long hike to Delicate Arch but absolutely worth it!

                   And Landscape Arch.  Grateful we got to experience its presence here on Earth.  It has had some trying times.   

On to characters!

LEFT (STUN AND STUB), CENTER (BILBO - OUR GUINEA PIG), AMY's ON RIGHT (PET NET)

LEFT (THE REMARKABLY LONG HAIRED BABY), CENTER (CHEWY - OUR DOG), AMY's ON RIGHT (BOWLING PIN IS TIRED OF GETTING KNOCKED DOWN)

LEFT (A DOG'S HEAD), CENTER (CHEWY YAWNING), AMY's ON RIGHT (SLEEPY CAT)

LEFT (MONSTER COACH YELLING), CENTER (LONG HAIRED MUSTACHE), AMY's ON RIGHT (CLIFF THE BLOB)

The character that had the most backstory potential was Bowling Pin (Balanced Rock).  His frustration seemed pretty straight forward.  I decided on a black and white cartoon because he was birthed with a punchline.  The dramatic cross hatching added to the sketchy darkness looming behind the other pins.  

I liked that Bowling Pin had attitude, broke from the mold and embraced change!  This was a fun one to do.  I hope you enjoyed the relaunch this week and please check in for a new set of shapes Monday!  

BLOBS #72

We are back!  After spending a couple of months pulling picture book ideas together (plus doing some school visits!), BLOBS are ready to resume a weekly schedule.  Thank you for your patience!

To kick things off, the shapes below were inspired by a recent trip.  Any idea where?  Here's a hint: the great state of ?.  More details to follow on Friday along with our character designs.  Until then, enjoy your very own batch of BLOBS!

BLOBS #71 RESULTS

Welcome back to RESULTS Day!  This week you will find A SLICE OF PIZZA WITH EXTRA CRUST, an ELEPHANT, BABY LOCHNESS plus a slew of other characters.  Even structures are in the mix!  Keep scrolling to find out what special "park" came to life.  Enjoy.

LEFT (STINKY CHEESE), CENTER (ELEPHANT), AMY's ON RIGHT (CHICK)

LEFT (SLICE OF PIZZA WITH EXTRA CRUST), CENTER (ELEPHANT), AMY's ON RIGHT (WINGLESS WIZARD FAIRY)

LEFT (HOUSE), CENTER (HOUSE), AMY's ON RIGHT (A "D" PLAY STRUCTURE IN A CONCEPTUAL "ALPHABET PARK")

LEFT (GIRAFFE LEANING ON A ROCK), CENTER (CHEWY - OUR DOG - YAWNING), AMY's ON RIGHT (BABY LOCHNESS)

I had so much fun with these shapes and one design in particular shouted DEVELOP ME from the get go.  I picked the ALPHABET PARK sketch.

Obviously this is a structure, not a character. But I liked the idea of it breeding characters.  Even a fantastic Alphabet book kind of story came to mind!

How did it all begin?  My first design was actually the head of a rabbit (I erased it away eventually), with his ears blowing back.  Not quite sold on my character, I decided to take another look.  Away from my studio and without my BLOB sheet, I recalled the outline and ended up sketching on the back of a receipt...

The original shape ended up rotating, and getting a hole popped into it...

making it look like a D.  But what on earth could I do with a D?   Turn it into a play structure - ofcourse!  How fun would it be if my "D" was part of an ALPHABET PARK?  I googled to find out if one even existed but, nothing!  I did come up with a list of the 50 Best Playgrounds and got sucked in even further...I found a park in France that featured a giant wooden like whale structure.  There's also a Japanese-inspired woven willow sandpit at Vienna's Museum Quarter.

Back to my design.  I erased my Bunny Head and did a play structure concept sketch...

On to fine tuning.  If I was going to have a "D" theme I wanted to make the materials/details also start with a "D".  This,  could have gone on forever.  All the possibilities kept spawning more.  I ended up changing quite a few details to keep my D features consistent.

My ladder on the left...couldn't be a ladder anymore.  It evolved into a Dino tail, but didn't seem to fit with the daisy embellishments on the front.  Dandelions came to mind next...what if there was some type of ramp covered in a mini field of dandelions kids could run to the top on?  My design soon turned into a soft meshy kind of blanketed vinyl material that could be pulled and climbed.  I wanted it to look like a carpet of grass with dandelions sprouting off of it.  Here's the design progression...

Almost finished.  All of my girls were placed, but the one sitting in the center, reading, caught my daughter's eye.  Why not make her Draw in the D?  I loved the idea, so - she changed!

Here's a list of all the D details...

The last piece of illustration was the framing, so I planted a beautiful dove tree (also known as the Handkerchief tree) in the foreground.

Thanks for checking in!  The Blob Blog will be taking a break for a few weeks due to heavy duty picture book making.  Please follow me on Twitter or Facebook to find out when they will kick back off.  Story progress will be posted there as well.  Until then...keep creating!

BLOBS #71

Where could these BLOBS lead you?  A story?  Or maybe just an unforgettable character.  Give them a try here!