Kid's Stuff

I've always been fascinated with children's books, and when I went to the libary to pick out books to read to my children when they were young, or to the bookstore to buy books for them, I weighed the illustrations as much as the text, as in what would fascinate a child when reading it, or being read to. Sometimes it is the pictures more than the text, sometimes vice versa. So, below are a few illustrations I've painted along that line, perhaps pictures to place in a book that a child would like to look at.

A while back, I illustrated a children's story that my sister wrote, drew a dozen or so illustrations with color pencils. I chose to do that for a final assignment at a class I took at ARCC. I love her story, one I think a child would really enjoy, and I think my illustrations worked well with her story, although when I sent them off to a children's editor, for a critique, the editor found them very lacking. I agree that they are lacking, as far as print-ready artwork, but as far as portraying the subject matter of the story, I think they worked fine. I don't know if I still have those illustrations. If I find them at a later date, I'll add them to this page, along with my sister's story.

This painting stemmed from a beginning watercolor class I took at ARCC. For a final assignment, the teacher asked each student to draw a slip of paper from a box, each with a saying printed on it. Whatever saying we each picked out, we had to illustrate, in any form we chose. The saying I picked out is on the bottom of this painting, and the painting is what I conjured up in my head from this saying. Can you figure out why the parent mice are so frightened?
MEDIA: Watercolor and ink

It's easy to find children's books about dogs and cats, but what about rats? I thought it would be fun to write and illustrate a picture book about rats as pets, so I painted a few pictures of my pet rat Sammie, and started a simple storyline about how rats can make very fun and affectionate pets. I can see now that all these pictures are too much from the same perspective visually, to keep a child interested, so something I'd have to vary more if I were to pursue this project further.
MEDIA: Acrylic on 4x6 canvas boards.

I'm not sure where I got the idea for this painting, except that I was probably thinking of something that would look cute in a children's storybook, and how I would write a storyline around a pig waking up from a nap and finding a turtle sitting on his nap-plank, something like:
"Well, now, who is this I see in front of me, sitting on my napping plank on this fine Sunday morning?"
"Well, it is me, can't you see? None other than the finest turtle this side of the finest turtle swamp beyond your finest pig barnyard, and staring at the finest pig."
"Yes, I agree, I am the finest pig in the finest barnyard, but how do you know that? And, how do I know you are the finest turtle in the finest turtle swamp? I know nothing much of turtles nor turtle swamps."
"Follow me. I will show you, and we'll have a very fine day together."
MEDIA: watercolor

This is supposed to illustrate two kids fast asleep, dreaming of what? Well, alien creatures, of course. But are they really part of their dreams, or are they really there? I'll let you decide.
MEDIA: Watercolor and ink

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