How I develop my character for illustration

How do I create characters for my illustrations?

First, I get inspired in creating a character for my illustrations through either personal acquaintance or relationship.
In this case, a little girl named Rose came over with her parents to spend the day with us last Friday. Rose is an adorable girl adopted from China by Jan and Jon.


Below are some sketches I made from a scene in the playground with Rose:





Next, I traced the whole sketch to a watercolor paper on a light box and started painting in watercolor.

Below is the work in progress entitled " A Day in the Playground with Rose".

TO BE CONTINUED.... watch out for the finished painting!!

Illustration inspired by Bali

My entry for Illustration Friday's theme this week : CRAVING

I created this illustration based on a Balinese mythology, inspired by my travels to the island of Bali. I was in Bali last April and I rented a small bungalow which resembles the one in my illustration below. This is an illustration of a Balinese witch who likes to devour children. In the myth, the Balinese children saved themselves from being eaten by dancing.

by: © Maria Madonna Davidoff

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

Back again and flying high


I've been away for awhile from this blog. But now I am back.

Here is my new illustration for October entitled " Flying High"

Actually, my husband Bart just got back from Tokyo so I tribute this to him.

He also brought me a special cute gift ( japanese wooden doll for my collection)

enjoy!