"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.

Process for "There Was an Old Gator Who Swallowed a Moth"

I made a short video showing my painting process for an illustration from my recent picture book. The book was written by B.J. Lee and produced by Pelican Publishing.

This is the final illustration done in ink and watercolor.
copyright © 2019 David Opie