Happy Year of the Dragon!

Overdue Update!

Wow! No posts since October! That's pretty bad. Ever since getting a facebook page for my illustration side of life, I admit that I have neglected this poor blog!

Here are a few things that have happened since last fall:

Bonnie Branson Illustration gets a facebook page!

Updated very regularly! Not only updates on my art but also interesting links and things in the illustration and art wold.
  Be sure to head over there and click "like" (please? :-P  )

Also, due to a class I am taking, I had to get a twitter account. Boy, have I fought that. "I will NEVER tweet!" said I. But sure enough now I am on twitter I can't stop checking it out everyday. I have made a lot of great connections with other artists and illustrators. I can see why it is so popular

You can visit me on twitter HERE



I am going to ICON 7 this year (website HERE) It's a great Illustration conference and this year it's in Providence so not too far away!




Above are posters for the conference, Illustration by Chris Buzeli, lettering by Jessica Hische





In preperation for the conference I noted that I needed to revamp my portfolio so I am challenging myself to complete one illustration a week.

Last week I picked up a sketch, called "Butterflies," I made 10 years ago (whew) but thought it should be completed.

Here is the original sketch:

Final:

This weeks Illustration has Chinese New Year in mind. Currently I am working out the rough color stage and into a final peice. I hope to have this done my mid week:


YEAR OF THE DRAGON (color sketches)

Last month I created a postcard for a co-workers babyshower
(her baby's room is a jungle theme)

What about the story of Miss Strauss and her moving house?
I am continuing to develop the story and book layout.

To help out, I decided to join the "Second Annual Kidlitart #PBDummy Challenge"

What is it?
A 25-week-long online group challenge to create and submit a picture book dummy.

Start date: January 9, 2012

End date: July 1, 2012

More info HERE

I will be submitting my Molly Strauss story. Right now the schedule is on developing the transcript and polishing the story. Next will be Character design.

So far I have two main characters:
Molly (early sketch)
 

And, of course, Molly's fabulous house:

Ok that's good for now! I hope to keep better updated now that YEAR OF THE DRAGON is upon us. SOUNDS LIKE A YEAR FOR THINGS TO BE DONE :)

Colors: Nope not yet

Thinking about the color. What is the color theme of the house? What type of mood?
The house has a Ocean and Sea Shell theme going on, so I am thinking about that, but too much blues pull the house down and make it heavy and not fun. The house should be colorful but not an eye soar
























Thinking about the different functions of the rooms from the exterior and how that might
influence different parts of the houses color.

Must Keep Going.

Channeling the Architect

This week I sat down and started roughing out what the house should look like. I started by compiling reference folders on my computer of different styles of houses. I also took a trip to the local library and dragged home a pile of books on Victorian houses, house moving, and books that focus on color schemes for "Painted Ladies."

As I worked I began thinking about the house I live in. I live in a Victorian that was designed in the late 1800's. There is a plague outside that states when it was built, and by whom.  THEN I REMEMBERED SOMETHING, a conversation I had with the landlord: "Who was Henry Ross Builder?"  I once asked her.  "He was an architect. He designed and lived in this house. He made many of the Victorians in this area of Newton," she told me.

Yeah! Cooool!  I'm designing a Victorian house, while living in a house that was designed and lived in by a Victorian era architect.  I thought about asking Ol' Henry for some guidance, if his spirit is still around hehe. (My roommate suspects that someone is still with us, for her cat, Laney, has a tendency to jump on top of things, stare at the ceiling and cry for a bit. I think it's just birds in the eves that she is hearing and reacting to, but this being New England, we all love a good ghost story.)

Instead of posting a sketch of the house, I made a movie!

note: song used in clip is called Dokkoise House (With Face Covered) by the band "Anathallo" all rights belong to them

Larger version: http://youtu.be/R_oo2-LNp_E 


NEXT WEEK: I will start refining the sketch on the computer (and making it STRAIGHT!)
and start thinking about color.

Productive Day

Today I printed out my computer sketch and started refining things
freehand on my light table. I couldn't find my ruler at first (I'm always losing it. WHY??) so I was just eyeballing it. Later on, of course,  I found the ruler, but because some of the previous lines were off, when I started drawing straight lines, they looked crooked! haha


























At this point, not worried about things being so tight and straight (Yes I see it's a little slanted!)  just figuring out details. There are few parts that...well I'm not sure how it would be constructed, but when I get to the building stage, I guess I will figure out if it IS possible. Fun.

And then of course, finding out about Steve Jobs tonight. Steve had an artists soul.  We will miss you. Thank you for making technology so beautiful.

The Strauss House: First sketches

 First sketch, based on a drawing I did this summer. Pretty simple. Not really pushing it. I wouldn't say this is a crazy house yet, but it is a start...

Then I started looking at reference and keeping a mental note of my favorite features of Victorian houses found in books, online and in my everyday life (I am lucky that I live in a area that is full of examples of Victorian,  Queen Anne, and Gothic Revival style houses) Still very rough, but getting somewhere...

I have to think about the sides and back of the house as well. Once I have a solid idea on how the house will look like, I will probably build a very basic 3-D model of it. (I'm still trying to figure out how I would do that.) I figure if I build a model it will help me get great perspective shots and creative angles of the house. The house is an important character of the story.

Moving House!

Last year, on October 1st, I moved to a new house. It was sooo stressful! I had lived in the same apartment for about five years and had accumulated so much stuff, it was a nightmare packing up and figuring out what to keep and what to donate or throw away. Don't we all wish that instead of just moving we could have the house MOVE with us?  If you have seen this movie, I know you understand what I mean:

Pixar's "UP"

Though the idea of moving a house sounds fantastical, it isn't. In fact housemoving is a profession that is hundreds of years old. Chances are, a house near you or in your town or state (or Country, even!) has been moved from one place to another.

 Last year while deep in the research stage for “A train for Halifax,” I wrote a draft of  a story called, “When Molly Strauss Moved House.” The story is about an eccentric young woman who lives in a CRAZY AMAZING Victorian house, and like so many historic homes throughout history, is being threatened to be destroyed. (her house sits where a bridge needs to connect the island from the mainland)  Her neighbors think she is simply going to move out, but on the day of demolition, she throws a HUGE party.  As they scarf down cake, and balk about why she hasn't even packed a thing, workers and horses show up and her house is slowly dragged into a new location (to the initial horror and delight of her neighbors!)

(“House Moving Day” Winfield, Kansas circa 1870’s)

I have a long fascination with housemoving. My first encounter was when I worked as a costumed interpreter for  Old Sturbridge Village. Sturbridge is a recreated village in Massachusetts set in the 1830’s. All the homes in this “village,” are from different parts of New England and were at one point moved to the museum site. One of the buildings I worked at, the Meetinghouse, was moved from Sturbridge to Fiskdale in 1838.

  

It’s a tall and stately church, but to move it, it was cut in half, and dragged down the street by oxen. When I learned this, I was amazed. I had never heard of such a big structure being moved like this.

My second encounter was through spending summers with family on Cape Cod. My grandfather explained to my why some of the houses in Provincetown displayed a little tile of a house floating on a boat.

The tiles are to commemorate that they were floated on skiffs over the water from Long Point (the very tip of Cape Cod) to where they currently sit. Provincetown was originally settled on the very tip of the cape, back when cod fishing and salt mills were productive, but once the fishing of cod began to slow down, the villagers got tired of living on the very isolated and unprotected part of land and decided to float across to a safer shore.

Up Next on Bonnie's Blog: This month I am going to start working on the design and script of the story. I hope to start storyboarding it by the end of the month. This week I will be facing the challenge of creating the ULTIMATE CRAZY LADY VICTORIAN HOUSE. (fun, fun fun!)


In the meantime, here are some CRAZY house moves for your viewing pleasure!

School of Visual Arts Portfolio website

The School of Visual Arts, my Alma mater, has a portfolio site. Pretty cool! I now have a page! Come visit and leave a note :-)

Click here :-)

Bonnie Branson Illustration is on Facebook

I don't have a link box up yet on the blog sidebar, but I wanted to share with you that if you have a facebook page and would like to connect, please visit my page and er..."like" it haha!


Trying to connect with other illustrators on the site so help me out here! :)


CLICK HERE FOR LINK :)

The Farewell

Almost done with this one. I submitted this to my critique group so hopefully after some changes I can send these out round the beginning of September. This is for a promotional postcard.
Makes me sad to think summer is almost over but...yeah only a few weeks left till school starts up again! Time flies!!!