'An artist is only as big as his mind'. This stroke of genius came from the lips of Jack Shadbolt. Interestingly, though many perceive art as a non-cognitive process the quality of what I draw is permeated by my own understanding. The more I 'know' an object the better I can draw it, and ironically the more it becomes mine. Let's face it, I can't shut off my knowing any more than I can walk around with my eyes closed, and I've got some bruised shins to prove that I'm not very good at that. Short of lapsing into a prolonged slumber and never waking up again, the solution I have come to is draw draw draw! I wanted to share the following items that I read on the teeteringbulb blog. I am recording these for me to re-read again and again, but I thought you might find them useful too:
• You learn to draw by drawing.
• People that are better than you are just better than you because they’ve had more practice.
• Draw VERBS, not nouns. – Walt Stanchfield
• Turn everything you paint to greyscale (digitally). If it looks like a grey soup, you messed up.
• If you’re not sure what good values look like, look at screen stills from B/W movies, like Citizen Kane.
• You learn to draw by drawing.
• 50 bad illustrations might yield one good one. You learn to draw by drawing.
• Sometimes you gotta draw it 6 or 7 times.
• Use sharp edges for only important things, practice hierarchy and contrast. Have a focal point.
• If you’re going to give someone a jewel, don’t surround it with shiny things. – Paul Hudson
• Saturate your eyes and brain with work that is better than what you can do. Then put it all away and start working.
• Progress, not Perfection.
• Schedule time to utterly fail. – Iain McCaig
• Take reference, it’s easier that way. Don’t make stuff up if you don’t have to. If it doesn’t exist, figure out how to take a picture of it anyway. Use cardboard, clay, macaroni… doesn’t matter.
• Doubt can only be removed by ACTION. – Goethe
• Use the best materials you can possibly afford. You’re already fighting a battle. Don’t fight the materials. Find pencils/brushes/paper that feel good.
• Does it work in greyscale? Does it work at postage-stamp size? Does it work reversed? Upside down?
• Do what you love, other people will love it too.

While researching the impact of climate change on ocean life for a title I am writing for Marshall Cavendish Benchmark I have to admit that I was shocked. I thought I knew a lot about climate change but the magnitude of the effects on one of the biggest regulators of Earth's climate, the OCEAN, is something that everyone should be aware of. Along with sea level rises, which are occurring largely due to the thermal expansion properties of water (with help from land ice melt), one of the great threats is ocean acidification which has a harmful effect on the ability of shelled organisms to make their calcium shells. Sea horses, oysters, crabs, lobsters and a host of others are developing with thinner, more vulnerable shells.
The image to the left is a clip of an illustration I created for the first title in another series that I am writing and illustrating for ABDO Publishing on the same topic. The marine animals are all talking about climate change.

Did you know that 80% of the books in a children's library are non-fiction titles? Kids, especially boys, love non-fiction. And interestingly, a League of Conservation Voters study found that most people receive their information about the environment from materials that their children bring home from school. So, adults love non-fiction too. I'd like to point you to an excellent blog about Interesting Non-fiction for Kids (INK) run by a group of non-fiction writers some of whom are also illustrators. Loreen Leedy, one of the posting author/illustrators featured some of the coral reef illustrations from a previous post on my blog:
http://inkrethink.blogspot.com/search/label/2010%20titles
Scroll down the page to see Loreen's post,but it is ALL interesting at the INK blog.

I recently completed an assignment to paint some spring backyard birds for a Canadian children's magazine. The images were drawn and painted using Corel's Painter 11 and I thought that some folks might find the process interesting. I took screen shots as I was going from the pencil to final colour art.
The pencil drawing was completed using the 'real pencil' tool now found in Painter 11, and this one was set at 6B. The color work made use of the 'oils' media, using flat glazing brushes, fine detail camel hairs and a variety of blending brushes.
The final art is included here as well. Click on any of the images, which are posted in reverse order (so start with the pencil drawing at the bottom and work your way to the top to final art) to see a larger version.

You've gotta love these creature comfort guys discussing the nature of art. Click on this link for a good laugh.