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Anna wants to play!
Even though Anna has a very minute role in my picture book, she’s becoming my favourite character!
A witch, by an old footbridge!
Been working on the nature (grass, trees etc.) on this illustration and it’s coming along nicely.
boy meets witch
My inspiration has returned !
I’m pleased to say that I’ve finished my little side project and the break has worked wonders. My inspiration has returned and I can’t wait to apply all the new things that I’ve learnt about blender to my new illustrations.
I now understand a lot more about Blender Cycles which I will be using in the future. I’ve also learnt some very handy techniques in texturing which I hope will improve my work too. It certainly pays off to take a few weeks out to recharge the old ‘inspirational’ batteries.
Here’s my (almost) finished illustration.
Rosario, Uruguay
And here’s a little video, showing the modelling stages of the 3d model.
Leaving the blood and gore behind…
I am now finalising the Amelia Dyer illustrations on a weekly basis, which means that I’m rapidly getting to the end of a journey that I started well over a year ago.
Coming to the end of my picture book is such an emotional trip. I feel upset, relived, exhausted, and ecstatic; all at the same time.
Upset because I get emotionally attached to the work. The thought of saying goodbye to the characters and the story that I spent so much time creating, is upsetting.
Relived because the ridiculous amount of work that I had created for myself is nearing the end. I’m also relived that I don’t have to spend mornings, or nights or weekends struggling over an impossible sentence that I can’t accurately compose. Furthermore, that terrible illustration that I just can’t get right, no matter how much time I spend on it.
Exhausted because writing and illustrating a book takes a lot of commitment and hard work.
Ecstatic since there is no better feeling in the world than seeing the results of a completed product. Holding your freshly printed book is an amazing feeling.
It also means that I have now started to think about my next picture book. I’ve already written the text and it’s more or less finished. It needs editing and rewriting for sure, but the plot and the first draft are complete. The work ahead from now is focused on illustrations and character designs, which will be my future project once Amelia is ready to send to the printers.
I’m happy to say that I’ll soon be leaving the blood and gore behind and I’ll be back writing children’s stories again. I’ll reveal more in the coming weeks. Thanks for all the support you’ve given me here, either by liking or commenting on my posts, following or messaging me directly with your feedback and comments.
The children chased Amelia out into the garden. She begged them for mercy, she begged them for pardon. But the dead don’t listen, for they can’t speak or hear. Amelia was pale as a ghost and trembling with fear…
Agosto, a frightened little acorn – my first e-book!
My picture book about a frightened little acorn is now available as an e-book (it’s been a long time coming).
Revisiting the story of Agosto has been a lovely experience. I haven’t picked the book up once, since I published it last year, so the story felt kind of new and fresh. Designing the e-book gave me an opportunity to play a bit with the layout. The e-book design differs slightly from the paperback version. Below are some screen shots from the e-book.
And if you fancy, here’s the link to the download page.
The children were back from the dead…
… revengeful and lusting for blood.
From their graves they crawled up like zombies, covered in mud
Apparition of a ghost child
And this ghost ain’t friendly…
Whilst packing her bags amongst the putrid smell of decomposition,
Amelia heard a ghoulish moan at the door where she saw a child’s apparition.
Testing out different colour styles for my Amelia story. The filters I’ve applied to the picture above is faux film (adds grain and brightness to create a vintage film look) and a filter called Helga. I probably won’t decide on the style until I have finished illustrating all the pics for my book, but I’m enjoying experimenting and messing about with different photo styles at the moment.
Illustrating my picture book using Blender 3D
I have compressed about 25 hours of work into a very short film (just over one minute) showing the different stages of how I create my illustrations using Blender. It does not include all stages to completion as I sometimes also use Photoshop and different iPad apps to manipulate the image (see image below). But the video will give you a rough idea of how I create my illustrations.
Meet the Characters
I’m working on Gif animated portraits of the main characters in my Amelia story, to put on my Amelia website. This is Sarah Hobley née Weymouth, Amelia’s mother.
Mrs Dyer – Amelia’s mother
G. Olivo 