Interview

Mark Boliek, Author of "The Mahogany Door" interviewed me the other day about my work on the book. (My first interview!) Check it out on his facebook page.

Final Drawings for "The Mahogany Door"

It's been a busy month, but all of the spot Illustrations are FINALLY done for "The Mahogany Door"! PHEW! Here are a few that you can look forward to seeing in the book when it comes out. See my earlier post to see them in the sketch stage. Now I can move on to the cover, which will be done in full color. After that the printing process will begin and fingers are crossed for it to be ready for release by October! Stay updated on the progress of the whole project on the Author's Facebok Page. You can also see a few more of my finished drawings on his page!

Side Projects

As you probably know, I have had my hands full illustrating a children's chapter book for the past few months. Well I'm happy to say it's coming to the end and this fall the book will be released! I am finishing up the spot illustrations and still need to do the cover illustration. It'll probably be about another month and then I'm done!

With much thankfulness, I've had some small jobs during this time. Some easier than others, and some more fun than others. But all good growing opportunities! One project (just finished today!) was a T-Shirt design for a men's Fellowship. I got to make a graphic illustration of a big truck as vector art. I haven't done vector art in a long time, so I was happy to refresh myself with it! The final design for the back side of the shirt is above.

I've also been working on a logo design for a woman who runs her own Photography business (still in progress). And recently, I was asked to be a part of a rather large project to design signage for school cafeterias around the nation. This job is still being worked out, but I'm really excited about it! More on that later.... ;)

Drug and Violence Free

I was looking through some of my old drawings from High School and found this drawing I did Junior Year. I won second place in a drug and violence prevention contest in Orange County. One of the first awards I ever won!

This drawing makes me laugh...Thank goodness for college art classes!

"The Mahogany Door" Update 2

I've been working away at finishing up sketches and making revisions to finalize my sketches for "The Mahogany Door". Things are moving along nicely! Here's a little before and after sketch so you have an idea of how I work.

After reading through the chapter, I sketch a few images that I think are important or exciting moments in the chapter that I'd like to show. I do a general sketch, just to get the ideas down, then after deciding on the best idea, I add some value to see if the composition is working ok. I send this to the author for some feedback and revisions. For this sketch, I didn't need to change much. I mostly needed to make sure the crown was too large for the boy's head to show that he doesn't fit into his "kingship". I also changed the perspective a little so the viewer is looking up at the throne (it makes the boy seem bigger and more important). I also did some visual research on thrones to make mine look more interesting and also to fit the style and setting of the book.

That's it for now! Back to my sketchbook! More updates coming soon!
Check back here or visit the author's Website and Facebook Page for updates.

"The Mahogany Door" Update

Hey everyone! I haven't posted in a few weeks! My poor blog is so lonely! Well here is some fun news to make up for that time.

Work on "The Mahogany Door" is going great! The author, Mark Boliek, has started a Facebook Page for the book. So become a fan!! He will be promoting the book on his Page by posting clips and samples of some of the songs he is working on for the soundtrack for the book, giving updates on the progress of the book, showing some of my sketches that will be in the book, and much more! Check out one of the songs on the soundtrack "Kingsfold on Bruinduer". This song is still in the making, so Mark is looking for constructive feedback. Post your comments and suggestions on his page.

Mark is also in the process of creating a website for the book. I'll post it here once it's up and running. The goal is to have this book printed and ready to purchase by October of this year! So start spreading the word! Tell your friends and family, think of that Jr Higher that you know, or parents of Jr Highers!

I have all of the sketches done, so now I can move on to revisions. I am doing one spot illustration for each chapter in black and white, and the cover in color.

I will be posting more soon, and also stay updated on my Facebook Page, Lauren Gallegos Illustration, as well!

Here are a few rough sketches I've done just to give you a taste of what's to come!

I'm Still Here!

Wow, it's almost been a month since I've posted anything. I apologize! I have definitely been working on drawings though, I just can't really post any of them yet. My illustration project for "The Mahogany Door" is underway, I've done half of the rough sketches, so I am still on track with the timeline I have set for myself. Hurray! However, I realized just the other day that I'm starting to miss my Ant and Cricket project. It has been put aside while I work on this book and knowing that I probably wont be able to get back to it until the end of summer makes me sad! Maybe I'll try to squeeze in a few more of those drawings as I work.

I have, however, had time to do some reading and pondering. As some of you can tell, I have spent some time studying Beauty/Aesthetics over the past few years and just recently that study has become more intense and the more I learn, the more I WANT to learn! I have read a few good books so far, and I still have a pile sitting on my nightstand waiting to be read. Currently I am reading "Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art" by Robert Stecker. I haven't gotten too far yet, but it brings up some interesting topics and poses some interesting and thoughtful questions. For example: One section talks about how increased knowledge of an object can change the aesthetic value we place on that object. Did you know, the sunsets we find the most beautiful are caused by the refraction of light because of higher than normal occurances of certain kinds of particles in the atmosphere. A typical cause of the increase in particles is air pollution. So with the new knowledge, does the aesthetic value you place on sunsets decrease? OR does it actually become less beautiful? Should appreciation based on false belief be regarded as essentially flawed? This is some heavy stuff the think about!

I've also recently watched this video called "Why Beauty Matters". It is VERY interesting and has really gotten me worked up about the importance and value of beauty in our lives. We live in an ugly world, but there are still beautiful things in it to enjoy. Modern art, a lot of the time, seems to focus on all the bad and all the ugly. I want to find wonder and sit in the beauty of majestic mountains, not spend all my time complaining about the ugliness of this world that I must live in.

I could go on and on all day, so I'll just stop here. Ha! But I believe my study of beauty and aethetics will be a life long study and I am so very excited to discover more and more.

Hopefully I will have some time soon to just draw for myself so I can post something for you guys! Thanks for sticking with me!