OMG it's a new post with pictures!

Your eyes do not deceive you... I really am making a new post! I try not to use what I call netspeak in posts, but O-M-G just describes the craziness and maybe even the shallowness that has kept me from posting. First off, my scanner has officially died... I think. The program opens up just fine, but it doesn't seem to want to scan anything. I've tried new drivers, jiggling the cord and banging on it a bit. Nothing seems to work. I am going to try a sledgehammer later. In any case all my photos will be photos of a questionable quality from my phone.

The other major thing that's been keeping me from posting is this terrible terrible cold I've had. Actually, I think it's two or more terrible colds that have been back to back. It's been over a month now, and I hope this is the last week. I can't really take anything for it for my babies sake. Oh how I miss medication!

In any case I do have some new photos of a painting I've been working on. It is similar to the last painting I've posted. The large one was a bit skewed and I tried to compensate for it, but I'm not sure if it's quite right. The other two should be the right size, though they are a bit darker. I'm hoping to get both these paintings done in time for Christmas!

Unfortunately I haven't been blogging as of late. My scanner died on me a few weeks back, so I haven't been able to scan anything into the computer. I've also been sick with a cold for three weeks now and haven't been able to make anything to post. I'm not sure if the cold was brought on by the scanner's disrepair or both events were the act of some vengeful god. One thing is for certain:

Look at the Baby!

I know, I know... it's been a while since I've posted. I've not been slacking (at least not to the limits of my ability). I've done a lot of work that couldn't be posted easily because I was working on a canvas too large for my scanner and my phone wouldn't pick up a decent image. 

I know I should have posted that I have awesome stuff I'm working on, but no one can see. I could have described the process in detail and done a neat little picture for you in text. Instead I decided to post this much too late taken with the mediocre digital camera on my cell. I command you to ignore the time periods and the quality of the picture and enjoy what I am now able to post. It's not finished yet, but it will be soon.

Easy way to get by all this is to look at the baby. Look. Are you looking yet? Good. The baby wants you to bring me a coffee. No? I'll get it myself.  Some people...

New Works in Progress

I've been very busy lately and haven't taken the time to post. Every day is busy for me with having a baby, but the last few days have been particularly busy. 

Saturday I went to Surrey Public Library's grand opening Ceremony. It was nice but very crowded. Not the time to check out books but I did manage to check out a couple of good books. 

Sunday I went to Word on the Street, a book and magazine festival, in Downtown Vancouver. It was a horrid windy/rainy day. It was cold, and I'm afraid some of the books and magazine's didn't make it. Luckily I saved a stray picture book from a fate worse than book death (no, I don't know what that means, but it sounded good). There is a lot of fun things to buy there. My favorite part is buying the book bag for $20 and filling it as much as I can stand to carry-- something that's almost impossible to do in the pouring rain. I have a ton of magazine samples now, many of which I can use to send submissions to later! I was lucky that my son slept through most of the event in his stroller. My husband also had an especially good time because he met up with three friends he hasn't spoke to in a long time.

I've not been idle during my non-posting days. I've done sketches for a couple of paintings I'll be finishing in the near future. I'm sorry about the poor quality of the scans. I promise better quality in the finished pieces! 

Edit: Just wanted to add a quick note about the quality of these drawings. These drawings were done very lightly because they will be painted later. Being so light in colour it was hard for even my photo editing software to give a decent contrast to these drawings. It also doesn't help that I have a cheap scanner. 

Portrait of David

I've been working on this drawing of my son the past couple of days. I keep wanting to go back and add change things. It will never be done if I don't stop now.

I'm now off to start another portrait!

Artist ADD

Maybe I just have Artist ADD, but today I have a strong urge to push aside the illustration work and do portraits. Baby portraits in particular. My son is getting so big and I want to make sure I have a few pictures of him. Photos are nice, but a painting or drawing looks so much better and lasts longer. I'm working on a drawing of David now so hopefully I'll have a drawing to show within the next couple of days.

Web Page

I haven't been posting as of late. I've had internet access issues for the past couple of weeks, and recently I've been working on my website. I'm still working on the layout of the site, and have mostly just thumbnails of my drawings here. I have to work on this sometime, so I thought I might as well get it started ASAP and update with new drawings in the future. Right now it's just a basic website, but it gets the job done. I might try a fancier layout when I have time to design, but for now this will have to do:

Fairy Finished

I had a friend who wanted me to draw a fairy for her. So I decided what better time to experiment with new techniques than on a drawing for a friend. In the past I've used ink and sometimes acrylics to outline my drawings, but this time I chose to work with coloured pencils for an outline. It changed the drawing in ways I didn't expect and caused as many complications as problems it solved. All in all it made for a nice experiment. Let me know what you think.

I had meant to post an update half-way through the drawing process. I am having a terrible time with my internet right now and I haven't been able to do much on the internet because of this. This problem should be resolved this week or next. I hope it's sooner rather than later because I'm suffering from internet withdraw!

Fairy for a Friend

As you have probably noticed I didn't do a book of the week. I have decided to discontinue this feature for the time being, mostly because I'm not posting other things enough and the non-fiction books are taking over. I'm not kidding... they started asking for equal rights and were picketing on my bookshelf. I decided enough is enough, so until they learn I'm not going to do another non-fiction book of the week.

I do have a sketch for you today. It's not a finished sketch by any means. I'm working on this for a friend and will have to do a lot of changes in the next few days. I'm hoping to finish it before the end of the month. I wont be able to if I have more non-fiction book issues, so let's hope that doesn't happen.

It's Not My Fault

It's not my fault... really it's not. I mean the fact that I haven't been working on my portfolio. So much has been going on, and I haven't been able to get anything done. The following is a list of factual reasons why I haven't done more work on my portfolio:

1. My cat hid every pencil sharpener I own.

2. My husband forced me to watch bad TV.

3. I was outside too long and was blinded by the sun.

4. I forgot to save my art supplies and I lost them all when my house reset.

5. It wasn't my turn to do the portfolio.

6. The baby ate my artwork.

7. There wasn't anything to draw.

8. I stopped believing in the existence of portfolios long ago.

9. I actually finished my portfolio, but left it in my
pants pocket so it went through the wash.

10. I cleaned and therefore can't find any of my art supplies.

Breezy Girl

It's been a while since I've been able to do some serious work on my portfolio. Rest assured the problem is being dealt with as we speak (or at least our imaginary  conversation that's going through my mind right now). The following post will explain everything. For now here is a drawing that I've been working on lately, enjoy!

More About Colour

Color Harmony, much like Living Colors, is a book for helping artists to determine color palettes for their projects. Color Harmony is much more compact than Living Colors. To replace the paintings are photographs depicting different color schemes and the mood each one creates.

For each mood there are several different 2-3 color schemes to help artist choose their palette. These schemes are divided into categories of Monochromatic, Tertiary, Complementary, Split Complementary, Analogous, Split, Clash and Neutral.

There is a color chart for every color within this book. Also included on the cover are gray and black color masks. I haven't used these, because I hate the idea of cutting up any book! Rounding the book out is a color wheel, glossary of terms, and information about the different color moods and trends.

Color Harmony 2: A Guide to Creative Color Combinations

Rocking Horse

     I haven't decided if this is actually going to be a picture of a girl on a rocking horse or a real horse (or both). I'm still playing with the design idea, so the horse could be jumping fences or cars depending on my mood. 

Living Colors

Colour (and arguably the lack thereof) is one of the most important elements in creating a strong picture. There are so many colour combinations that sometimes it's difficult to decide which combination is best for a particular project. The book "Living Colors: The Definitive Guide to Color Palettes Through the Ages" by Margaret Walch + Augustine Hope removes a lot of the guess work of colour selection for artwork and can save artists a lot of time.

This spiral bound book has two sections to it. The left side has Artwork, and the corresponding right side shows the colour palettes of each work of art. This is very useful if one isn't sure how certain colours will look and blend together in a picture. If a picture book requires a certain mood throughout, just a quick look through this book will allow an artist to choose a palette to complement their ideas.

Beyond the colour these pages contain a rich history of fine artwork, fashion/textile, and architecture. Sometimes a bit of technique can be found, but this mostly relates to colour. The book starts out with a glossary which contains colours and art technique terms.

The only thing really missing from this is an actual list of colours used in the palette. The text has some indication of the colours being used, and it's true that artists can colour match, but it would be very useful to have a list of all the base colours used (The colours before mixing). This would be particularly useful because many of the colours given aren't pure colours. These mixed colours are also disgusted even further at times with white or black. Even though it may be a bit of a challenge to identify the base colours, I still think this book is well worth having in any book collection.

If you are interested in purchasing this book it can be found here: Living Colors: The Definitive Guide to Color Palettes Through the Ages

Background Work

I decided to make my diva elephant take a walk on the red carpet. I'm still in the rough draft stages of this drawing as you might be able to tell from the decapitated giraffe and  zebra. If anyone is reading this blog and has little kids looking over their shoulders please read this little letter to them:





Dear Kiddies,




I'm sorry about the animals with no bodies. 
Mr. Lion didn't kill them (yet). Their bodies
and feet are still inside my mind and my pencil.
Someday soon they will be able to walk, play
and then be eaten by Mr. Lion.


Sincerely,


Dani Duck*














*Any parents who have issues with the content of this blog are welcomed to send hate mail to my Mom & Dad.

The Flapper Elephant

Elephants, I think, are the most ridiculous thing man has ever thought to put in a dress. Imagine having two sharp bones protruding out of either side of your nose. Now imagine putting your shoes on your hands and using them to put on your clothes. And even if you did manage to get your dress on without tearing anything, zipping it up would be a challenge even with a trunk.

I don't think it's ever been considered that an elephant's skin is so thick that it wouldn't be able to tell when it snagged it's dress on something. They could have a huge hole in their skirt and never notice a thing. Actually, maybe that's why most elephants walk around au naturale.

I, for one, love silly things and that is why I dressed an elephant in a 1920's flapper-esque type outfit. I haven't yet decided on a backdrop for this gal, but it will likely be a stage or the red carpet. It's still on tracing paper, but I hope soon to have it in full colour.

Drawing the Head and Figure

Whenever someone says they can't draw I don't believe them. Everyone has the ability to learn to draw. True, there are people who are born with the natural ability to draw, but that doesn't mean that everyone can't learn to draw. It takes effort (oh, yes effort) to learn to draw well, but almost anyone can do it well with practice. Whenever asked about the subject I always come back with the same response, "Get yourself a copy of 'Drawing the Head and Figure' by Jack Hamm."

This book won't teach you to draw everything, but it is an excellent resource for those who want to learn figure drawing. In fact - this is a book that every single artist must have in their library. It has everything in it that a person would need to know to draw the figure well.

This book is fully illustrated and there are several examples for every description. The skeletal and muscular system are completely explained. I love how Jack Hamm give the explanation of how the muscles work and how the proportions of the body change as it moves.

The details that he gives for every example are simply amazing. The planes of the male face are explained as is aging and youth. He devotes whole pages to lips, noses, hair ears, hands, and feet. He also goes beyond the human body to explain clothing and drapery. The one thing I would like to be added to this book is more about drawing children. Even then I would give this book my highest recommendation.

If you are interested in buying this book you can go to your local bookstore or buy it here: Drawing the Head and Figure (Perigee)

Non-Fiction Book of the Week: An Introduction

I love fiction, I really do, but I've made it a habit to keep a large amount of non-fiction in the house. That's actually an understatement. I have a bookshelf (a shrine really) that is dedicated only to Non-Fiction books. Most of these books have to do with drawing, writing and a few of them are for the creation of Children's Books.

Since I have such a large collection of these books I've decided to share them here. Every week I will reviewing a book related to the creation of art on this blog. There will be a link at the bottom for anyone who would like to purchase said books through Amazon.

Out With the Old and New Directions

Before I get caught up in this blog thing I'd like to introduce my readers (as fictional as they may be at this time) to illustrations I've done in the past. The first four were done in Photoshop, while the last 5 are in more traditional media. I believe water colours were used in all of these. Other media include acrylics, pastels, pure pigment, various water-based mediums (or is it media?) and ink.

Though many of these images work on their own, I would prefer to have a more cohesive body of work. Most of the work I will be doing here will not be digital because I have little access to decent photo/painting software. I hope you enjoy the following illustrations:

A New Beginning

An eternity will have gone by and I will have done nothing.


That's what will happen if I just keep thinking about this blog.


Dani Duck's Children's Illustration/Writing Blog (or some such).


Days, months, maybe even a year has gone by with me just thinking about how I'm going to make this blog work. That's the kind of person I am. I'm a thinker. I usually do fairly well when I go right out and do something, but I usually don't. Like I said: I'm a thinker.


This will not be a sketch blog. I planned that for 365 days - did it for 189 days and stopped. I had a baby, and other things happened. Life happened. Now here I am starting over.


I will be sharing my art and the development of my portfolio. I'm also going to share my experiences on the road to being published. There will be a certain level of insanity involved, and many things will be thrown out the window. All explosions will be imaginary, but I promise this blog will remain loosely based in reality. 


I hope you will join me along for the ride.

(the real) Dani Duck