Book Project – Work in Progress III

Another page sketch ready to be inked today. Although I still need to tweak a few bits and pieces.

2403 Book project dog Labrador children's book pencil sketch work in progress _Melanie Franz

Book Project – Work in Progress II

Another page almost finished for my upcoming children’s book. It will be total 32 pages and I think almost finished are about half of them. So expect more progress shots coming up.

The biggest part eventually will be the scanning and editing of the images. But that is for next month. Goal for this is to finish most of the drawings.

Have a great weekend!

2403 Labrador Teddy ink drawing illustration work in progress children's book_Melanie Franz

Book Project – Work in progress

I am currently working on illustrating a children’s book that I have written. Inspired by our loveable and sometimes silly black family Labrador and why she sometimes barks at night.

After a lot of ups and downs the last months and being stuck in the Hendrix’s pit pf despair for what felt like an eternity (see image below), I have been on a great climb for the last week! And I have been really enjoying it!

I am trying to make the most out of the current momentum and therefore have been drawing the last couple of nights. Sleep deprivation is a small price to pay to get out of the pit I guess.

Do you know about this long project arc? Have you been there?

I am currently redrawing the frog page which I have posted previously. The first rendering does not fit the overall style of the other illustrations anymore and I wanted to tweak the composition a bit. I can really get lost in the hatching now. It is rather soothing.

2403 frog ink drawing illustration work in progress children's book_Melanie Franz

A little bit of everything…

This week I feel like I have been all over the place. New uploads to my Etsy shop, book illustrations, people drawing…. And nothing really got finished… Oh well..

2403 ink drawing street at night _Melanie Franz
Current page I am working on. A work in progress…

At least I haven’t spilled any ink today…

What’s next?

Honey Badger Coffee ETSY 5x7 printable Greeting card _Melanie Franz

OneWeek100People 2024 – Getting to 100

I totally forgot about One Week 100 People this year! I had so much fun doing this challenge last year and I actually was looking forward to it again but completely forgot to check the dates. So it apparently started Monday the 11th and runs until Friday. I started to play catch up last night and just went to my Pinterest board from the previous year as there are about 300 people pins that I never got to.

Drawing feels much easier than in the previous year, although I think I haven´t sketched any people since then. Anyhow, great practice and warm up for other drawings. I will try to make it to 100 until the end of the week. Currently I am at #37.

Are you taking part?

2403 One week 100 people sketches_ Melanie Franz
2403 One week 100 people sketches_ Melanie Franz

More book progress

This is another test page. Trying to figure out the overall style I want to have….

I have inked some more pages since doing this that I am more happy with. Still need to scan them. So watch this space.

Happy Monday!

Practice makes perfect

More doggies. I had so many ups and downs this past week. One day was great and I was all happy about my book progress and the next I felt like I cannot draw a single line and I should give up then and there. Quite a rollercoaster. And the progress is slow. I am seriously considering to start going digital after this. It will certainly be quicker. On the other hand, having ink stains on my hands is also fun….

But I ran out of paper and now I cannot find the same paper in the art supply shop anymore… bummer. Will do another shopping spree tomorrow to see what I can find. Until then, happy weekend!

Character sketches Labrador ink _Melanie Franz

Another round of dog sketches…

More doggy sketches on this sunny day. Currently my illustration process alternates each day from “I love it” to “I hate it all and I cannot draw shit..!” I suppose that is normal? Either way, I decided to push trough and get all the pages done by the end of this month. So watch this space.

Character sketches Labrador ink _Melanie Franz

More dog sketches

As you might guess from the sketches, Mouse´s favourite past time beside eating and running around is napping. I mean, dogs sleep 12-14 hours per day. I am pretty much envious at this point as I have been sleep deprived for a month.

And more dog sketches…

I have been pretty much drawing dog after dog, exploring different poses and especially sleeping positions. Dogs can look too funny while sleeping.

I was stuck with my book dummy and some of the spot illustrations I wanted to add. So now I have a huge number of sketches from which I will pick my favourite ones.

Character sketches Labrador ink _Melanie Franz

Last but not least

Ok, last greeting card design for now. At least for today. I somehow feel like making more cards, but I guess I should stop the procrastination and keep working on my children’s book!

Are there any other card designs you would like to see? What’s your favourite animal?

If you need a last minute Valentine’s day card you can find it here in my Etsy shop as printable download!

Happy Valentine’s Day or Friends Day as the Finns call it! 🙂

Happ

Capybara Valentines ink illustration printable card_Melanie Franz
capybara valentines day card ink illustration - printable - Melanie Franz

Who doesn’t like capybaras?

Another design attempt. This is really fun.

Are you looking for a last minute Valentine’s day card? Maybe for the capybara lover in your life?

You can get the card here in my new Etsy shop as digital download.

capybara-heart-5x7-greeting-card- ink illustration_Melanie Franz
Capybara heart 5x7 Greeting card printable_Melanie Franz

Playing around with design

I decided to set up an Etsy shop for printable wall art and cards and have been having fun the past week in coming up with designs. I think it is also a way of procrastination from the task at hand, which is getting my illustrations done for my latest book project. I still haven´t managed to posted about it…. Maybe tomorrow.

Anyhow, I have been having fun learning more about photoshop and designer and mock ups, so it is not all wasted time. Apparently Valentine’s day is just around the corner and I thought I experiment with that. Here is one for the honey badger in your life! What do you think?

You find the download in my shop here.

Capybara Motivation

Needed something to distract me from my actual work plan, so I messed around with my capybara drawing and Affinity photo and voila! Meet the Capybara queen Brenda 🙂

Now back to work…

2401 Capyking_capybara ink drawing _Melanie Franz

Watching your back

That’s me, waddling out into the snow today. We are back to winter wonderland after 2 days of snowfall and no one who cleaned the roads…

Happy Sunday everyone!

311018-inktober-moon-Melanie Franz