Elizabeth Allen

newest book...

2011-08-05T15:19:00.002-05:00

Mermaids in love...trying a new technique for fun.

2011-08-05T15:17:00.003-05:00

2011-08-05T15:11:00.003-05:00

I have always loved them. I also love water, and things that float under the surface.

New book....

2011-07-20T10:07:00.002-05:00

Here is an artist at work....

2011-05-11T14:28:00.000-05:00

This year's calendar for Barnes and Noble and Sterling Publishing. The usual suspects including the cat and mouse... this year in a hot air balloon.

2011-05-11T14:15:00.000-05:00

..filled with these kind of coloring pages..

Poster, something new and different

2011-03-04T14:32:00.004-06:00

I recently did a pro bono poster for a

local skills trading event here. It gave

me a chance to do caricatures of the

participants, something I hadn't tried before.

This is a little corner of the whole big

deal.

2010-10-11T15:12:00.005-05:00

Here is my studio. I'm set up to do both virtual/digital art and watercolor. I work on the large white table as a rule, then swivel my chair to the right to work on the Cintiq.
I can keep my reference files, if I am using them, on the laptop's desktop, while I work on my Cintiq, and the Cintiq makes an elegant reference display when I am working at my table. I'm working on some sketches for a book right now. I like to work in pencil for those, then scan them in, once they are finished, on my nifty new wireless scanner. That and the Cintiq have me feeling like I'm in a spaceship. I sleep up here now too, (the other half of the room) and I have a ladder that takes me downstairs, to the kitchen and living space.

The 2010 Barnes and Noble Calendar for Kids is sold out

2010-01-13T15:36:00.002-06:00

They sold out early! I can't get one anywhere either. I am working on the new one for 2011. It should be very nice. I'm happy with the interior, and the characters are evolving. I am going to the cover next week, watercolor and digital combined.

The little girl is Olivia, my little sweetie.

2009-07-30T12:14:00.000-05:00

Here is a new painting, digital oils.
What do you think?
click for the larger version....

I love the way oils paint in the digital world. Great that they smear.

I love the change from
watercolors.
And the opportunity to lose some of the detail.

Barnes and Noble 2010 Kid's Calendar

2009-07-14T09:49:00.000-05:00

Just got copies of the 2010 Barnes and Noble Calendar that I finished recently. It looks really great, actually.

I'm using watercolor with digital now, and I've always loved airbrush. Now I can get those flat graded areas up next to the beautiful natural flow of the paint.

These little characters are part of what I love about the paper dolls in the 30's and 40's..In this case they are dressing up in costumes to fit their adventures through time and space. I actually used fairly sophisticated references. Funny to see them transposed to comics.

Also, the job involved creating all these little stickers, which was a trip. You know..
"Haircut Day", "Worst Day ever" and "Ate at a Restaurant" to paste into the calendar.We could all use some of these, right? Like Twitter, only completely different.

You can buy one (the calendar comes with markers) for a child in your life at:
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/2010-Do-It-Yourself-16-Month-Calendar-for-Kids-Wall-Calendar/Silver-Lining/e/9781435115781/?itm=1

Soon....

2009-07-06T09:12:00.000-05:00

Starting up on July 11th...up to my eyebrows in alligators.

2009-07-03T15:05:00.000-05:00

The news from here all has to do with digital work. I've been combining scanned watercolor and digital. For me this is a whole new game, being able to work directly on the screen.

This is from a book I am currently working on. It's a lot like watercolor. It's quick and spontaneous. Only it's impossible to ruin a painting after you've worked on it for a week.