JEN KELLER ART

This illustration has been a LONG time coming... but I think it's worth it in the end. There might be a few final touches I have yet to do, but it's close to finished. Mattie is being a bit naughty here! No worries, that pup will put her straight.

This is my final of the Alice and the Cheshire Cat scene. I decided to run with a murkier day outside, instead of the sunny day I had originally planned. The happy bright sunshine just didn't fit with the mood of the cat. I'm enjoying using this new medium more and more. In this one, I used a lot more prismacolor and pastel to bring out the details. It was a lot of fun.

As my semester drew to a close, I found that I enjoyed the pastels a bit more each time. Using this medium really forced me to think in a different way, a much more "painterly" style, if you will. I feel that it helped me with my illustrations a lot... and definitely had an impact on my improvement this semester. Here are a few of my final "faves"... We had some great characters come in to model for us, everything from a Belly Dancer to a Psycho Clown/Drag Killer. Pretty fun stuff...

I have been thinking a lot about Pinocchio lately and this scene is one of my favorites. It's so dark and scary... really if you think about it. I believe it scares me more now that it did when I was a kid.

Here is (what I think) it probably the saddest scene in the book. Mattie in the kennel. Who would blame her for barking at everyone who came by...! Don't worry Mattie... it gets better. ;-)

Here is the drawing for my the last page of the book. I'm pretty happy with this one. It has that safe and sweet look I was going for, but without being too sappy... I hope. Mattie finds a forever home!! I hope I didn't ruin the ending for anybody. ;-)

I had a concept to update Alice in Wonderland last semester in my Graphic Novel class, but due to time, I never felt like I could realize it fully. This semester with the help of my new animal anatomy knowledge, and the models I've found... I managed to recreate the first scene. I wanted to make the cat a bit scarier, not the rolly polly image we're used to seeing in previous versions. I think it makes sense that Alice would really stop and listen to a cat this size! After all, talking animals at this point in the story don't really phase her anymore.