A tiny sample of my book in the making

Showcasing one of the pages I made for my Children's book.

My top 10 Children's Illustration Inspirations

Sleeping Beauty

The three pigs

The frog princess

Rip Van Winkle

Cover Design for my proposed Story series

Kids Story Animation (Montage)

These are some of my Illustrations I turned into animation and a demo of some typical kind of animation I create for Kids Television. ENJOY!


                                

The day I changed my child-gifting conventions

I enjoy giving gifts to kids as much as I did receiving them when I was a kid.

The only difference I see in the modern day kids is that the varieties in kids toys and the gift-getting is plenty and too fast for the child to keep track and enjoy each toy to the maximum, so much so that even before they actually explore the potential of it, the toy is broken because it is fragile and sometimes even dangerous for a child to handle. My nephew's habit was to explore a gift like a "train on a railway track"...break it into pieces and it becomes like some extra-filling to his baby bicycle in 10 mins. defeating the purpose of teaching him much more about the train or the railway station while playing :o)
I too felt I never had the opportunity to take part in the joy of the child I gift the toy to.

So a few years ago, I shifted the type of toys I gave my nephew and niece. I started getting educational toys or raw-material to make great gifts and in the process make it a learning experience for the child as well as myself to enjoy and bring out the child in myself when I sit with them on the craft project.

So I started getting the kids in my family, eco-friendly toys which were non-toxic as well as catered to the explorative nature of the child.

 I started getting them toys like the following: Paper Toys like the one you see below which my nephew was assembling. I enjoyed the experience so much and got involved in the process that I missed my flight that day. :o) I am really not making this up! I just could not let the joy of this pass.

This is a model of a ship made of paper mache....my 12 year old nephew enjoyed building up. And I loved taking part in it because I too along with him brushed up the different parts that go into making of the ship.

                                 

Do gift your little friends and kids with picture books, printables, educational toys which not only adds to their development intellectually but are also completely non-toxic and eco-friendly.
I will be back with more snippets on my wonderful world of papertoys...
Stay tuned!

Storybook Cover Illustration - Concept to Completion

You may want to take a look at the making of one of my Children's Book Cover Illustrations.

where I had to take the job

... From this..

To this...

The following were the different stages of the creation.

1.

2.

3.

4.

These are the close-up of my final characters...

I must say that they turned out to be so friendly, colorful and good humored ;o)

This job was executed using software such as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator, using the Wacom mouse as my only drawing aid. Wierd to think that I never use my lightpen to sketch at all. I have only used it to teach how to use the tool to my students but never use it myself for any work... In fact I am faster using my mouse. This habit of mine must be because I started drawing on the computer much before lightpens were invented and shipped to India in the early 90s. So I guess I am still old school that way.

I hope all of you enjoyed making a note of the details that went into this illustration as much as I did creating it.

Thanks to this job, I was inspired to make this water color painting. I remember that day, there was a power-cut at home when it was just dusk and dark but yet I never allowed my spirits to die. Perhaps it was these characters which made my day. I just lit the candle and painted away. So, here I am sitting enjoying a day at the beach with my imaginary friends. Oh how i wish they were real !

I will be pleased to answer any of your queries regarding this project or the like.

You have a pleasant day!

I invite you to read my detailed instructions regarding the above job on my article here:

Kids Animation Tools Update

Toon Boom Studio is a 2D animation software which assists learning and creating animation better. Ideal for artists, students and hobbyists looking for an easy-to-use animation program, targeting for teachers and educational institutions. They claim to makes all animation techniques accessible to users, offering a most creative and rewarding experience. * It allows to create content in multiple ways: draw digitally, scan-in paper drawings, capture live images or import existing artwork * Apply colours * Allows to set camera moves * Animates using bones, pegs and animated elements * Allows for audio tracks and lip-syncing * Ability to publish animation projects for print, TV, HDTV, the Web, Facebook, YouTube and iPod/iPod touch/iPhone/iPad

Looks like a great tool to get back to from time to time. I am going to dig into my software archives and buy its update to check out the latest!

Some art I really enjoyed creating

1. 50 ecards in 50 days !!

An assortment of basic Ecards created a few years ago for a kids television channel !

This is in tribute to my dear friend - the programs executive who is under the weather for a while. I wish her a speedy recovery.

Although this site needs some serious resurrection....

... my ecards still seem to be in place :o). Software used Flash and Adobe Illustrator
Please click on a thumbnail to view my cards


2. Does this kid need a hair-do from a bunny? Cool !!

3. Pieces broadcast or published on popular television in Dubai.

4. A vector version of my greeting card, originally created on paper as seen at the header of this page.

From my Picture Story Book editions

It is a pleasure to make my first post with this reference drawn from a two-inch seahorse ornament I have. It has always inspired these beautiful fairy-tale images in me. How better to compliment a proud and pretty seahorse than with a beautiful Mermaid taking a ride on him.

This is a quick-sketch I made of them in their underwater world with some colored pencils I could get hold of before my mood to sketch passed by.

Today, I have a seahorse that has traveled from my shelves into a fantasy world. I know he will surely be enjoying the ride. I just might one day think of having a picture storybook with the Mermaid and my Seahorse.