Picture Book Making: My Process

I am working on a picturebook right now.

Here is my process:

First, I made 32 page a blank storyboard template. I used InDesign  to layout my pages here:

    

Then I created a storyboard which is  a pencil sketch of how the pages of my 32 page  book will look like.

It's like a comic strip where I can plan the sequence of events.

Below, a few very rough sketches for  my storyboard:

More samples of page layouts:

After the storyboard, I make a small rough book dummy.

More on how to make a small rough book dummy on my next post.

to be continued.....

My Batik Painting in Bali, Indonesia

Batik Painting by Maria Madonna Davidoff

This is my enrty for Illustration Friday Theme Intricate.

What can be more intricate than a batik painting. Two years ago, I decided to spend
a few months in the Island of Bali , in Indonesia, to study Batik painting.

This is one of my first batik paintings of a Balinese dancer. Batik is a wax resist dyeing technique used on textile. Batik is considered as national art in Indonesia.
I've been to several Balinese performances and I was really mesmerized. It was such a mystical and wonderful experience. The dancer were almost trancelike because in Bali, everything they do creatively are offered to the gods and godesses.

Here is where I set up studio in Ubud, Bali 2007

I was taught by a Balinese teacher who held classes in his own home.
Here I am in one of my classes:

Below, I am painting my first batik with my Balinese Batik teacher Wayan:
Here you can see me applying the wax resist first:

With my Balinese Batik teacher Wayan:

Below are some of the traditional dyes I used in Bali:

This is how I use colored dyes for my batik :

This is how I dry my batik--outdoor under the sun, the natural way:
It can get very hot in Bali--As you can see in my face full of perspiration:

Finally, after a hard days work painting, here I am relaxing in front of my Bali bungalow:

This is my walkway towards the Bunglaow:

Relaxing in Ubud:

Below, I am in front of one of the Balinese temples:

Still Winter & What I am Working on Now

Yeah, it's still winter here, but I am not complaining.
I love to hibernate in my art studio and work on my projects.
These are what I am working on today.

I am illustrating Magic on the Rooftop again written by Mari Mine Rutka,
published by Crane Publishing. I have to come up with a newer
updated version of Illos. The first version was really an old style of mine.
You can see the evolution of my style.

Here is the old illustration version of Magic on the Rooftop:

Here is a my process for Magic on the Rooftop:

1. I sketched in pencil , scanned and inserted an image of the teddy bear:

2. I colored the lineart in photoshop for my color studies:

2. Then I imported the text and made more color adjustment:

I have fourteen more pages to work on for this project.

My deadline is April 19,2009

Collage art-"Paper Cloth Doll" series

A Little Girl with Ribbon: I made this by drawing and then inking the girl image and then coloring it with watercolor and markers then I cut pieces of scrap cloths and ribbons, sewing them directly to the paper and then gluing it to the girl ( its fun making this --makes me feel like an 8 year old again---playing with paper dolls !!)