Vicious Bee!!

Hey!! What happened with this little bee's fingers??

Oh I c... 'somebody' tried to make this cute creature looks more vicious.... LOL!

FIRST LOOK session at The Asian Festifal of Children's Content AFCC

First Look-Illustration Critique Panel at AFCC Singapore 28 May 2012
My 6 illustrations among 42 others from 7 illustrators have been reviewed and commented on by a panel of international publishing experts.
Chaired by Kathleen Ahrens, International Regional Advisor Chair, SCBWI, Hongkong.

Being commented by these three represented critique panelists was a huge experience for me. 

Btw, in the evening after the SCBWI dinner, I had to go back to our hotel in Johor Baru. Crossing the Singapore-Malaysia border with pack of bags and sleeping Aruna (my 6 yo boy) on my shoulder while running like an idiot with my husband and our two other children trying to catch the bus back to Johor Baru was a real crazy experience that i don't recomend for anybody with children to do so.... but I kept smiling.... that's weird O_o.... but that's the spirit that I got from that wonderful First Look session!!! waahooo...!!!XD

The Critique Panelists:
Leonard Marcus, Historian & Critic, USA.
Sayoni Basu, Duckbill Books, India.
Naomi Kojima, Author/Illustrator, Japan.
One comment from Sayoni Basu about font for one illustrator was: "Please don't use Comic Sans, I hate comic sans." And later I found out that comic sans font has a groupy who hates it! You can find many of them in you tube :D

Have fun with masking fluid aka FRISKET

I love the frisket! it's a magic technique. It's very effective to block out areas of watercolor while you paint, thereby retaining the white of the paper or the previous color that was painted.

The first time i used frisket, it was sooo brush consuming!! I wasted a lot of brushes, as it is tricky to get masking fluid out of a brush. Some artists recommend dipping a brush in washing-up liquid before using the masking fluid, as this makes it easier to wash out of a brush. But I am done with the brush, period.
In my frustrated moment because i had no more brushes that i can use for frisket, a ball of lamp just swiched on in my head! hey, why not!! If I cannot use the damaged bristle of the brush, why don't i use the tip of it's handle! just sharpen it with the pencil sharpener and no apps can be better for frisketing!! YAY!! happy me!:))

Frisket that's got a color is easier to use than one which is white or transparent as you can see where you've applied it. Mine has a grayish color here.

Frisket is easily removed by gently rubbing it off either with your fingers or an eraser, once the painting is dry. And my white flying dandelions are so lite, happy and cheerful... love them!

Project book from 'Rumah Qur'ani' Indonesia

My messy table, the water colors and all clusters:)

Didi the bear and Cici the rabbit had a quarrel. That's because Didi thought Cici had his toy,  poor Cici.. Didi was wrong. Didi's toy was at home, they were exactly the same toy. But Didi was a gentleman, he admitted his fault and apologize sincerely to Cici. And what a happy ending for them, Cici forgives him, they make up again, and become best friends forever.. :)

The story was written by Rani Fitriani Ishak and the project leads by Fani Apriany from Rumah Qur'ani, a foundation in Islamic education for children. This book is one of the series of Moral Education for children.

A simple story, but written beautifully. I simply fell in love with Cici and Didi, and had a fun time making the illustration for the book, Cici and Didi and several cute creatures I added to cherries the pages.

As simple and beauty of the story, I had in mind to divide the whole story into three stages, in orded to make the story sounds more dramatic. The first page, when story teller say Cici was so sad, the sunset scene was added. Sunset scene with  the mellow feeling... And from the yellow light of sun set, we go to the bright blue sun as a flash back of the story when Cici and Didi had a quarrel. Three pages of the blue sky then we go to the evening time when Didi realized he was wrong, the fire in the fire place is crackling, mom's cook is bubbling on the big pot over the fire, and Didi regrets about what he had said to Cici. The make up scene then was in the afternoon, with the scattering orange, red and dark blue light in the sky, and the lamps on with yellow light, warm feeling when Cici forgive Didi...

My favorite page, dynamic scene with every things were scattering while Cici and Didi scrambled, tugged and pulled the toy. I love the little frog expression, so cute that I want to put her in my pocket. :D