Confession

Remember this picture from this layout?

I have always wanted to write a children's book. I'm sure I will someday and at least publish one for myself. I would absolutely NOT classify myself as a good writer or a great artist but I have some fun crazy ideas I think kids would enjoy. My kids like the stories I make up at least. About 2 years ago I made the three pages you see below. Just for fun I started a book for my kids about a boy that went on a crazy adventure to save an ice princess. I never finished it because I didn't have enough pictures and the "star" of the book wouldn't let me take more. In case you are wondering, the middle page below is supposed to be the Yellow world, and the stars were helping him on his journey. I'm not proud of the art but my kids would have loved the book if I had finished.

I just finished the picture above today. I love how it turned out. My friend Katja created an art piece like this and I was so impressed I had to try it. Her picture truly is a piece of art. She is so talented. I like mine but it's nothing compared to Katja's. She'll post hers on her blog on Friday (after she gives it away to a friend), so check her blog then. You'll love it!

The idea behind my design follows this tutorial. I changed things up though. Instead of following all the steps for the dots layer, I used the stamp filter, then in a later step I filled in the rest of the lines as shown in the line art tutorial. Notice I also added just a bit of soft color to her cheeks and nose. I did this with a large feather brush, then I reduced the opacity quite a bit. I'm sure you didn't even notice I did that but if I showed you a side by side comparison to the picture without that coloring you would see a big difference. Its subtle but significant.

BTW - For those wondering... you can do some of this in Elements but it's much easier and much more professional if you have the full version of Photoshop. You need the full version of PS to follow the tutorials provided.