"Gator Day" Photos, Part 2

Here are a few more photos from "Gator Day" at Boyd Hill Nature Preserve (in St. Petersburg, FL)  that B.J. Lee (the author) and I participated in. We had a lot of fun presenting our book, There Was an Old Gator Who Swallowed a Moth. We did a presentation, took questions, signed books, and raffled off prizes.

Here I am, answering questions and bending my arm.

A raffle winner taking home a "Gator" coloring book.

More raffle winners.

Signing books (and drawing a picture inside).

Here's the raffle winner for the large drawing I did.
She was planning to frame the drawing and give it as a
baby shower gift.

"Gator Day" Book Event, Part 1

On Sunday, March 10th, the author, B.J. Lee, and I participated in Boyd Hill Nature Preserve's (in St. Petersburg, FL) "Gator Day." B.J. performed a reading (actually, she had memorized the text), I drew a gator, we had a Q&A, there was a crafts table, a gator watch/walk led by a very knowledgeable park ranger, book signing, a raffle...and many other activities. The Boyd Hill Nature Preserve was a wonderful setting for our book event and we're grateful to them for letting us participate.

Here I am with B.J. Lee.

Signing books before the presentation.

The crafts tables were a big hit. 

B.J. captivating the audience with her performance. And, yes,
I showed off my team spirit by donning a "gator" hat during
the presentation.

Here I am drawing the book's main character.

Process for "There Was an Old Gator" Illustration

Here's a little peek behind the process I used for the illustrations in the picture book, "There Was an Old Gator Who Swallowed a Moth," written by B.J. Lee and produced by Pelican Publishing. I created the original art with dip pen and watercolors on Arches cold-pressed paper.

The final illustration.

It all starts with a pencil drawing. I add tone in Photoshop to create
a value study.

Here's the ink drawing on Arches cold-press watercolor paper. I use a light
table to trace my drawing. I mostly used a Hunt 101 nib.

Starting to lay in the background.

The background is just about blocked in.

Building up the animals in the foreground.

This is my raw scan before I adjust the colors in Photoshop to better match the
painting and fix things up a little.

Here's my Layers Panel to show how much I adjust the scan. I select most major
colors (using the Magic Wand or Quick Selection Tool), Feather the selection about 5 pixels,
and then open up an Adjustment Layer. In this illustration I also copied and enlarged the
gator's left arm. Click to enlarge.