Shawna J.C. Tenney's Blog, page 6

Tutorial: Using Your Pencil Sketch in Photoshop

Greeting friends out in Internet Land! Today I bring you another Photoshop Tutorial. In this tutorial, I explain how to put a pencil sketch onto it's own layer in Photoshop to preserve the energy of the original sketch in the final painting. Let me know what you think, and share it with any other artists you think may benefit!

In other news, I finally got myself an account on Tumblr. There's not much there yet, but I promise to publish some cool stuff over there. Here's my account: http://shawnajctenney.tumblr.com.

Composing in an Odd Space

Sometimes for certain illustration jobs, you are asked to compose your illustration in a certain space. In this case, this was a job I did for Triumph Learning. They gave me a very odd shape to work with. I had to be creative in how I fit things into the space. It was kind of fun because the odd shape made me think outside the box as far as my trees and bushes went, and I was able to come up with some fun shapes. If you've never had to do this before, try it sometime! Draw an odd shape, and then illustrate a Nursery Rhyme or another simple story you know and make yourself come up with a great composition within that shape. You may be surprised with the results!

Video Tutorial on Making Your Own Great Painterly Textures on Photoshop!

Here's a a little video I made about making your own great textures in Photoshop. This is how I make the textures I use for my illustrations to make them look like natural paintings.  Let me know what you think!

Animal Sketches from a trip to Cabelas

Last night I went to Cabelas with some of my critique group friends, and drew animals! It was lots of fun. I wish we had more time to draw even more animals. I guess I'll have to go back soon!

Use Pinterest to Gather Reference and Inspiration as an Artist!

Here's a video I made to inspire artists to use Pinterest to gather reference and inspiration!

Character Designs

I've been sketching up lots of character designs for a group project I am working on. Can you guess what story these are from? I will be doing a bunch more in the next little while, so I will post some more soon!

Illustrator Saturday Interview on Kathy Temean's Blog!

Here's a shout out to Kathy Temean! She's an author/illustrator and has a great blog full of illustrator interviews and tips and tricks for kidlit writers and illustrators. She interviewed me this week for her Illustrator Saturday post. Go check it out by clicking on this link. Be sure to leave a comment so we know you visited!

WIFYR Conference 2013!

If you are a writer and or an illustrator who lives in Utah (or you want to be) don't miss the annual WIFYR conference which will be held June 17-21 in Sandy Utah! Early registration ends on April 30th, so go check out their website now! 

Dragon in a Candy Store: New Illustration and Process Video!

I recently finished an illustration about a Dragon in a Candy Store. He is a little overly excited! I made a process video that shows the preliminary stages- thumbnails, sketches, gray scale study, color study, and then the painting process to the final. Hope you like it, and if you do, like it on Youtube and share it with your friends! Thanks!
You can also view this illustration on my Behance Portfolio and you can buy a print from my Society 6 Shop!

Fun Speaking at an Elementary School!

Thanks kids in the Freedom Academy Story Studio, for letting me come visit you today! I had tons of fun, and I hope you did too! Have lots of fun writing and illustrating your own stories!