Walt Disney Tribute

This is my tribute piece to Walt Disney and man that I really admired when I was a kid growing up. I'm sure every artist has had some influence by Mr. Disney. He was a shrewd business man and a real dreamer. The hardest thing to paint was Mickey, he's always been the hardest cartoon character for me to draw.

Coach Woody Hayes Final

I worked on this for a short while last week and then made changes and finished it Wednesday night. Just wanted to post something for the Holiday Weekend.

Very excited

Hi all! :) I have some happy news to share. I have been contacted to begin work on my first children's book to be published late next year. I am still waiting on a contract, but they have offered me the job as we work out the details. I am super excited. I don't want to share the specifics until it is totally official, but here's hoping I can do so soon. :) Here is one of the little characters that I submitted for consideration. The character will not be this little guy unfortunately. LOL My work would have halfway done, but they want an older character...which I will be happy to create. :)

Finally published in SCBWI Bulletin

Just wanted to share the good news that my illustration was published in the Nov/Dec Issue. I went with a Hawaiian theme. Please check it out when you get a chance. ~ Nicole Brekelbaum

PB artist interview

This moth's interview is with picture book artist Bonnie Adamson. Next month will feature Cyd Moore.

Visit my blog to read the interview and see samples of Bonnie's beautiful work.

skydiving

So whatcha think of this one, eh?

I don't know what I should be working on, so i did this...I think I might use it as a postcard, but maybe not...

Dummy Book Character

I decided to go more realistic on the character for the dummy book. My previous character was more quirky looking with a large head. What do you think of these two sketches? Thanks everyone.

Head coach Jim Tressel

I have been working in this one off and on for a while now. I am finally happy with the end product. Jim Tressel is The Ohio State University's head football coach for those of you not into college football. Here in Columbus Ohio, he's a really big deal.

Went to Illustrator's Day in Los Angeles last Saturday...

I was at Illustrator day this last Saturday in the Los Angeles area. It made me realize that one really should be attending the local schmoozes...so when you go to a bigger event like this, you're standing in a sea of people you don't know. I still did quite well, I talked to a bunch of talented local artists, as well as the two big speakers (the art rep for Shannon Associates and Chad Beckerman who's an art director at Abrams).

One thing I found out is that Chad doesn't like big mailers and considers them a waste of time, and that a postcard is just fine. I liked hearing that from an actual art director - that postcards actually work...I guess you just have to have the right thing on the postcard that they're looking for...

Oh - and during some of the talks that I wasn't as interested in I was sketching for a freelance project. Above is the original sketch which I showed to my client and he wanted an older, leather clad rocker...and not so much on stage as in a loft practicing.



He just wanted a color rough drawing to show with a pitch, so we'll see where it goes. He wanted it on spec at first, but i was able to negotiate a small fee. But what was nice is that I really enjoyed working on this drawing (I did another one where the guy drove into a swimming pool)...but it was nice to do something different and to push myself to draw humans...I've been focusing on square little animals for quite some time...



Anyway - Chad (the art director for Abrams) also said that you should be sending postcards to everyone on the list - I had asked who to target (the editor, assistant editor, publisher, etc)...and he said everyone. It seems like a no brainer, I guess - but when I was putting together my postcard lists I always wondered if it was necessary...Anyway - he said that it could be any of those people that hire you...

Also - we got a list - these people accept e-mail submissions (either dummies or illustration samples):

Albert Whitman
Stone Arch Books
jewish publisher - Kar-Ben Publishing
Handprint Books
August House
Barefoot Books

So there you go. Good hunting!

The Light (wip)

Okie, so I've done it, I made a small storyboard and came up with a non-concrete story, but enough to make images. This is currently what I'm working on. It's ready for the watercolor paper and to start painting. I'm very excited! I took all the comments, feedback, and words from the last piece and applied them to this one...but challenging my perspective and composition a bit more. Also another huge plus to this piece is my husband, Brian, helped me big time with the details. He's a graphic designer, so for him to look at it with fresh eyes...looking at shapes, eye movement, and design...it really made some great changes.

I feel so blessed to have so much support around my work!!!