'Baby Bull' Children's Book Illustration - Speed painting

Illustrating bubbles - Adobe Photoshop Tutorial

Say 'hello' to Norman!

Norman loves swimming, talking to fish and exploring sunken ships, but Norman is currently missing a few bubbles. 

Bubbles are one of those things that seem like they should be really easy to draw but actually are quite difficult. They're moving, reflective, translucent balls of air and trying to draw one without it looking like a white circle is definitely a challenge. Here's my tutorial on how I create a good-looking bubble using Adobe Photoshop! 

Step One - The Outline

Using the tools panel, select the paintbrush tool. I always use a hard round brush and set the size to 3 and the hardness to 100%. Your size might differ if your canvas is a different size to mine, so play around until you can create a line of similar width to mine.

It's worth noting that I draw with a Wacom tablet and keep the Opacity Pressure tool on so that the lighter I press the less of a line appears. 

With white as your colour, draw a circle. Don't worry if it's a bit wobbly as bubbles usually are! 

Step Two - The Centre

With the paintbrush tool again, this time select a soft round brush. Set the size a lot bigger at 95 and the hardness a lot less at 0%

At the top of the Photoshop panel there will be two options; Opacity and Flow. Set the opacity to around 50% but leave the flow at 100%

Now fill in the bubble. The tip here is to fill in about half of the bubble randomly, using two or three strokes. I let my strokes overlap and one of my strokes was more of a 'dot' than an actual stroke but you can play around to create a unique bubble for you.

Step Three - Delete the middle

It seems silly to delete what we just did, but this makes a nice round middle for our bubble and gives it some depth. 

In the tools panel select the Eraser tool and set the brush to a soft round brush the same as we just used but with a bigger size. The size wants to be big enough to delete the middle of your bubble in one click but not too big that it deletes some of the white centre we just made. You should end up with something like this;

Step Four - Add some highlights

Again, select the hard round paintbrush with a hardness of 100. My size is 72 here, a bit bigger than our outline. The Opacity should be around 50% again and the flow stays at 100%.

You might find slightly different settings work better for you, which is fine!

We are now adding some highlights to our bubble. I like to change the highlights on each bubble so they are all different, but usually the top has the most highlight and a few bits elsewhere. I also selected the eraser again and with a smaller size (but the same settings as I used before) I deleted some more bits of the bubble next to my highlights so they stood out a bit more.

Step Five - Add some colour

Using the same settings as we did for the highlights, just change the colour. 

I used pink because Norman is purple and the bubble is reflecting Norman's colour. you should select a colour which is a lighter or more washed-out version of whatever the bubble is in front of or near. 

Make sure you don't fill too much of the bubble with highlight and colours (we still want to see through it!) and don't forget to change the colour depending on the bubble's surroundings.

And there you have it! The more bubbles you create, the faster and easier it will be.

You can copy and paste the bubble and change the size to create lots of little bubbles, or just play around with the process to make oblong and wonky bubbles - feel free to be creative! They really look effective when placed over objects like Norman's body. If you put any bubbles in the background, try turning their Opacity down to make them harder to see. (They will have to be on their own layer to do this.)

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial - have fun making bubbles! Bye Norman!

How To Draw A Cute Christmas Penguin - A Step by Step activity for kids!

How To Draw A Cute Christmas Penguin - Step by Step Guide

A great Christmas themed creative activity for kids!

When I was young, Christmas meant a lot of things; family, school plays and re-runs of The Vicar Of Dibley on the T.V to name a few! But one of the things I looked forward to the most, was sitting down at the family table for hours with a bucket of colouring pencils and a stack of white paper and drawing page after page of Christmas themed pictures. Penguins, reindeer, Santa, Snowmen - you name it, I drew it!

Twenty odd years later, and I'm sitting at my own table with my nephews and nieces doing the very same thing.

This November, I'll be creating four Christmas themed step-by-step guides that you can draw with the children in your family. Try igniting the imagination of children of all ages by helping them draw, and for the younger kids, scroll to the bottom of each guide to download the full picture to print out and colour in!

The first guide is our cute Christmas Penguin! Are you ready?

Step One 

Draw an egg shape with the top cut off

You can use crayons, pens, pencils or even paint!
Draw an egg that is missing the top.

Step Two 

Add a flipper

You can make the flipper point upwards or downwards - do you want him to be waving?

Step Three 

Add another flipper!

Draw another flipper on the other side.
You can make them symmetrical or have this one pointing a different way.

Step Four 

Add a line across the top of the egg

This is going to be his hat

Step Five 

Draw the bottom of the hat

This penguin is wearing a hat like Santa!

Step Six 

Draw a wavy line across the top

Don't worry if your wavy line looks a little different from mine, that's all part of being creative!

Step Seven 

Connect it with a little line

Make sure there are no gaps!

Step Eight 

Add a bobble on the end!

Draw a circle on the end of the hat for your bobble

Step Nine 

Draw a U shape in the middle

Can you guess what this will be?

Step Ten 

Draw a line across the top of your U shape

That's right, it is the penguin's beak!

Step Eleven 

Draw a line either side of the beak

Remember to connect them so there are no gaps.

Step Twelve 

Draw a foot on each side

Try making a W shape for the foot, and connect it to the penguin's body.
You can give him big feet, or little feet - it's up to you!

Step Thirteen 

Add the eyes

Draw two little dots for the penguin's eyes.

Well done! You've just drawn a cute little Christmas penguin. Isn't he great?! 

How about now you try and colour him in?

If you drew a penguin, I' love to see how you did! 

Send a photo of him to izzybean@izzybean.co.uk and I'll upload your work online!

Keep your eye out for our next Christmas Activity - coming next week!

Here is a large version of the penguin, you can download him, print him out and hand him out to kids to colour in! Just right click and 'Save Picture'

Kittens, Asthma and new sketches!

I have to admit, I love my job. 

Working late into the night, eating dinner at my desk while I work and working weekends - it's all worth it to be doing what I love every day. 

Here's what I've been up to recently...

KIT KITTEN and the TOPSY-TURVY FEELINGS

    It was such a privilege to illustrate for Jane Evans for her book 'Kit Kitten and the Topsy-Turvy Feelings' and I felt as if I had learnt something new whilst doing so. Jane is a trauma parenting specialist and her books are not your average children's books, they are carefully written stories about parents who aren't always able to care, or children who come from homes with violence. Each book features questions, games, advice and suggestions that encourage the adults to listen and the kids to talk in a way that they feel safe and without pressure. Something that makes Jane's books unique and essential in so many ways.

When I received my copies of the book in the post, I was delighted to see they were of a very high quality and felt great to read. The pages were thick and glossy, and the hardback cover works wonders for little hands to hold. 

Jane is currently releasing her third book, 'Little Meerkat's Big Panic' which I am proud to have illustrated also. To find out more about Jane and her incredible work, you can visit her via;

Website; www.parentingposttrauma.co.uk

Twitter; www.twitter.com/janeparenting2

You can order Jane's first two books through her publisher Jessica Kingsley or with Amazon.

I HAVE ASTHMA, WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

Wendy Chen's book was inspired by her own family, but is perfect for any child who might know someone with asthma. It's explains what happens during an asthma attack, how it is managed and how it can be part of a normal, active lifestyle. What a great idea!

You can find more about Wendy by visiting her website; www.wendychenbooks.com

And you can buy Wendy's book on Amazon.

SNEAK PEEKS...

I should really share more sketches of new projects with you, I absolutely love sketching and the process behind designing a new character. It's so fun! Here are some friendly faces you will be seeing more of soon!

  

NEW LOGO, NEW WEBSITE!

I've been busy re-vamping Izzy Bean Illustrations with a brand new logo, and a new website too! 

A lot of you loved the old logo and it got a lot of positive comments, but I felt it was time for a re-fresh and a change... plus I love the new logo a million times more! What do you think?

Thanks for looking, as always!

Website; www.izzybean.co.uk

How to draw for kids - a guide by a children's illustrator!

I’ve been illustrating children’s books for years now. I’ve done it all; baby books, rhyming books, counting books, books about grief, books about monsters, books about eating healthy and books about sustainable living, books about having fun and everything in-between.  

So what’s the secret?

Well, drawing for children isn’t as easy as it sounds. Children are the fussiest of readers, any parent will know how hard it is to keep a child interested in one thing for more than a second. They think differently, have different priorities, they’re still learning and they look at the world in their own unique way.

So I’ve got together a little list of tips and tricks for anyone drawing for children - weather that is for your own children for fun, or professionally as an illustrator. 

CHILDREN ARE NOT STUPID

First and foremost, don’t ever think that because children are young, that you can get away with cheating them. No chance! They gobble up information and process it faster than you can turn a page, and if you’ve drawn four pigs but the text only said three - busted! Perhaps you think they won’t notice your inconsistencies, but as everybody knows, children will ask all manner of questions and are very persistant. If the story says the main character wore a red coat - you better make sure that coat is always red. If you drew a tiny egg hidden amongst the clutter of a well detailed kitchen and forgot to draw it on the last page, parents will hear, ‘Daddy, where did the egg go?’ 

CHILDREN LOVE POOP!

And slime, and splats, and gunk, and smears, and any other disgusting, and dirty manner of filth. Forget keeping that bedroom looking spick and span to set a good example, that’s just no fun! Kids love mess. Picking noses, smelly socks, you name it - kids love it.

RED AND YELLOW AND PINK AND BLUE…

This one’s a given, but well worth mentioning as it’s one of the most important. Kids illustrations are almost always bright, bold and beautiful. Things which are quite neutral colours in real life, can be jazzed up for kids. A donkey can be light blue, a fish could be a strong orange... A good tip is to use a colour wheel to see what colours go best together, and utilise them in your art. Use your imagination too! A bright red jumper might be good, but how about a red and yellow striped jumper, with a green bow tie? If you page looks like the rainbow exploded, you’re probably on the right track, but there are ways to use eye-popping colour without using every colour known to man too - play around and see what works. I often employ a ‘colour theme’ per page. So if I’m drawing a little girl’s room, I’ll use lots of different shades of purples and pinks.

PEEK-A-BOO!

A lot of children’s books, especially rhyming books, rely on repetition to capture their audience.

This is fine, but there are other ways you can sneak in visual surprises for the little ones to keep them on their toes. They’ll be grateful!

Try and use changes in angles when illustrating, a page looking down on your main character, or from behind shake things up a bit and provide a much better response when read in sequence. If the story involves a ‘peek-a-boo’ or ‘hello!’ then you might want to try some extreme close ups to make the kids laugh. Next time you’re watching a cartoon on the TV, count the number of camera changes and angles from which they tell the story, and use some of the ideas in your illustrations! 

HOW MANY RABBITS CAN YOU SEE?

This is an all-time favourite and a way of making the book last all that longer. Finding objects or counting doesn’t have to be written in the text, you can add this bit yourself without the author! Try adding some mini-games for your readers to entertain themselves with. It will be the difference between a child putting your book down after it’s been read to them, or not letting their parent turn the page until they’ve found all the flowers. Another little trick is to sneak a friendly face onto every page (without stealing the main character’s limelight!) so your child can look forward to finding him when they turn over.

THINK LIKE A 5 YEAR OLD

Or at least try to think about what your target audience likes. Countless times I’ve seen children’s books that were apparently made for adults. A 6 year old has no care about their clothes matching; princess dresses and trainers. Shorts and wellington boots. They have unbrushed hair, stained shirts, and mud on their face. Children like to see themselves in the book, so try to relate to what is most important to them, and make that important to your drawn character. 

NEVER TRUELY SCARE THE CHILD

They might like to be playfully scared, or surprised so they squeal in fright, but never, ever draw something too scary. You’ll lose the reader instantly! So forget realistic blood, or too much gore. Don’t make your character appear dead or ripped apart horrifically. You may think this is a little obvious, but you’d be surprised how many illustrators draw fangs dripping with blood, or an eyeball falling from the bloody socket of a dinosaur’s victim. They’re just kids! Keep it safe.

And finally…

HAVE FUN!

Be inventive, enjoy your work, have fun and laugh a little. It will show through in your work. Good luck!

If you're looking for a professional illustrator for your book, you can check out my site, at www.izzybean.co.uk for my portfolio of work, or email me at;

izzybean@izzybean.co.uk

Thanks for reading!

Step by Step HALLOWEEN FRANKENSTEIN MONSTER! With Free colouring sheet for kids!

Yesterday I posted a step by step guide to drawing your very own halloween bat, today, it's Frankenstein's monster!

If you missed the bat, you can find that here.

All you need is a pen and paper - or a computer and mouse. It's not too difficult and it's easy to personalise if you want to be creative too!

And for a FREE colouring sheet, scroll to the bottom of this post! (If you can afford to miss the drawing guide!)

DRAWING A FRANKENSTEIN'S MONSTER - STEP BY STEP GUIDE

We begin with this shape;

It's not exactly a curve, nor is it square; but somewhere in-between. 

Next, the same shape, but upside down!

Make sure they're touching and the bottom one fits into the top.

At the point where these shapes cross, draw some bent circles peeking out. These will be the ears - so if you want big ears, make them bigger! I went for little ears.

Next add two lines coming from the very bottom of those ears. The lines should not be straight down, but widen outwards.

In the dead-center, between the ears, add a nose! I drew two small dots, then a circle connecting them. Leave out the bottom of the circle.

To add a chin, draw a semi-circle over the bottom of the face. You should erase the bottom of the face so that it looks like the picture above.

Now draw a ( bracket shape on the left of the face, and a ) bracket shape on the right.

Connect these brackets with a curve - and you have a smile!

An extra, smaller curve under the smile gives him a bottom lip.

Now for the hair - here you can use your imagination and make it as long, curly, spiky or wavy as you like!

We want an L shape on it's side to make the monster's spooky forehead

And the opposite on the other side - it's good to keep faces symmetrical!

Above each L shape you just drew, draw some eyebrows - these are slightly arched

Let's get up close and add some eyes! Two little dots right above the nostrils look great - but you can play around with placement and see what looks best!

We're getting close! But there are still some important things to add yet!

Draw a small 3 in the left ear (your left, not his!) and a E in the right ear.

Halfway down his neck, underneath his ears, draw a small rectangle like this...

... and then join that to the neck with two lines like this!

Once you do that on both sides... ta daa! Your monster is complete! Mary Shelley would be proud!

Add some colour, and share your creation with the world!

Thanks for reading, don't forget to watch this blog for more halloween how-tos all this week until the 31st!

As promised, below is the FREE colouring sheet for any little monsters who like to get messy this halloween. Simply right click the huge picture and 'SAVE AS' on your computer, then print the picture onto A4 paper!

And if you would like to share your monster, just email a picture to izzybeanillustrations@gmail.com

See you next time!