2010 Projects and The Pedestrian

2010 is already shaping up to be a busy year and it just started a few hours ago. I am currently working on a few projects that I am very excited to be involved with. First, I am currently writing and drawing the next installment in the Karate Dottie series which is titled Karate Dottie and the Alien Menace and is scheduled for release in Spring of 2010 from Metal Lunchbox Publishing. Also on my plate are a couple of book covers, the first of which is a young adult science fiction book titled The Pinesport Divide by Charles Matthews also from Metal Lunchbox Publishing and slated for release in Spring of 2010.

As I was cleaning out my studio the other day, I came across some thumbnails

that I did for the cover of The Pedestrian several years ago. This cover is the most popular image in my deviantART gallery. The image was completed in Photoshop 7 but I did several different designs in pencil prior to beginning the painting.

Thumbnails are small quick drawings that an illustrator does to work out the design elem

ents of the artwork prior to beginning a project. When working with a client, this is an approval point with the client choosing the basic design they like the best. On this project, I was the art director so some of the thumbnails were not as well developed as they would be if they were to be presented to a client. I tend to just take a regular piece of 8

.5" X 11"of copy paper and grid it out to give me 4 options per page.

The Pedestrian is about a young lady named Presley who experienced a terrible tragedy in her childhood resulting in the untimely death of her parents and little brother. She has the psychic ability to see the past and can even project

those images onto film. She considers it to be a curse instead of a gift. As an adult, Presley is approached by a lady whose younger sister has mysteriously disappeared and who is desperate for her help. Reluctantly, she offers her assistance and becomes entangled in a web of terror that links her back to her childhood home and that fateful night when her life was changed forever.

These are just a few of the thumbnails I did for this project. Once I got the design that I liked the best, I continued to play around with it. I did the image on the far left first and then made it larger and added detail in the larger image on the right hand side. At this time there were several elements that would not make it to the final image. The lantern on the left hand side would not make the cut nor would the polaroid camera on the right.

So here is the side by side comparison with the thumbnail. Some other changes was the ghost of the little brother who became more ethereal than the previous version. I also changed the eyes to make them little red eyes which for me is much scarier than the previous version. It just reminds me of the scene in the Amityville Horror with the rocking chair.

I will post my progress on the cover for The Pinesport Divide on this blog as I complete it for those who may be interested.