If Penelope were to make a drawing for us for Easter
what would it look like?
I figure it might be pretty simple: Easter eggs, and smiles!
Then again, who knows. If she were feeling particularly imaginative, almost anything could end up on the paper … 😉
But for now, here is an Easter smile and a hope that you all found lots of chocolate this weekend.
And good luck with the sugar rush!
It’s a fairly common misconception amongst adults, that humans are unable to fly, unassisted.
Children know differently…
Especially when there is a big pile of leaves to land on.
Junjie, Eloise, and Penelope Bloom find adventure in every season.
What memories of fall do you have?
Penelope peered at her friends through the crackling flames with a mischievous grin. “Once upon a time,” she lowered her voice, “there was a dark, dark forest.”
Gripping the hands of her chair, Eloise’s eyes widened with fear and anticipation.
“And inside the forest,” Penelope spread her arms wide, “there was a dark…,” she paused for effect, “dark tree.”
Above their heads, a large maple swayed, its limbs black next to the starlit sky.
“You can’t scare me!” scoffed Junjie.
She leaned closer. “And in the tree, was a dark,” she lingered on the word, “dark nest.”
“Ohh!” Eloise covered her mouth with a trembling hand.
Overhead, a branch creaked.
Junjie’s eyes shot toward the sound. “Nothing but a bird, I bet.”
“And in that nest,” Penelope’s words barely rose above a whisper, “there was a dark, dark….” Her body tensed.
Eloise and Junjie hung on her every word.
The pounding waves filled their silence.
“BOO!”
Eloise shrieked.
Junjie almost fell out of his chair.
Penelope giggled. “Gotcha!”
Their laughter carried across their campsite.
“My turn,” said Eloise.
They quieted.
“Once upon a time….”
The third of our irrepressible little trio is a boy, named Junjie.
Yesterday, I began to work out what he might look like, and how he and the girls might relate.
This is a first sketch … and I like it so far.
Pictured below are two stages of a drawing; first, the blue pencil drawing (it’s an erasable animation pencil), and second, the drawing after I’ve scanned and altered it on the computer so that it is an outline only, ready for colour to be painted on in a layer below the drawing.
I haven’t quite decided on his colours yet …
What is your favorite snow based activity?
One of my favorite childhood memories is of playing in the backyard at nighttime with my siblings, building snow forts. It was a magical experience. It didn’t matter how much or how little snow there was… we were in a world of our own making, far from the normal of everyday life.
Penelope and Eloise’s world is equally mysterious and beautiful. In their eyes, the house seems to appear far away, but in reality, it is much closer. The stars gleam as if caught up in their adventure….
We hope you had a very Merry Christmas and wish you a wonderful New Year’s Eve!
May you also have many exciting and meaningful adventures!
Penelope and Eloise have been best friends for as long as they can remember …
which is FOREVER!
They share the same sense of bold adventure, curiosity, and mischief.
Eloise, like Penelope, wears a tutu and has a big bow in her hair. But Eloise is also a princess warrior! She carries her bow and arrows around with her wherever she can, because you never know when you might need them….
In order to draw scenes for our book, “Penelope Bloom AND THE NASTY, GHASTLY, DREADFUL SMELL”, I’ve had to envision Penelope in a variety of different settings.
Gradually imagining these places is much more fun than creating them all in a hurry. As such, I’ve spent the past few weeks dreaming up her environment. I am excited to delve into this process further as I create all sorts of places for Penelope and her friends to explore.
This scene is inspired by the many antics of one of my favorite comic strip characters, Calvin, from Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson.
I’d decided Penelope’s basic proportions. Now it was time to try her out in various positions, activities, and moods.
In the sketchbook drawing below, I tested my basic concept of Penelope to see if her proportions would work sitting down, crossing her arms, and jumping in the air. I wanted to be able to exaggerate her proportions on a case by case basis (foreshortened and detailed feet with toes … bigger shoulders for a hunched up look when crossing arms) and was pleased with the result.
Next, Janna and I decided upon a hairstyle to match her character. Wild, carefree, stubborn, and loveable…her hair became an expressive part of her design. I wanted it to look generally the same, but be able to use it to indicate her mood and tell a story.
🙂
This drawing of Penelope is much closer to the final design, only her hair would be simplified over the next little bit.
This is also the first drawing of Penelope with her bunny and puppy (Snowflake).
But I still had questions. How would she look in her different environments. What would her house look like? How tall should she be in comparison to its front steps? How should I design her bedroom?
And what about the rest of her family? How should the rest of the Bloom family appear?
Very exciting!!!
We have a winner!
Penelope Bloom | Tricia Bos © 2013
Penelope is excited to share her bunny experience with you.
After placing all the names of our entries into a bowl, I mixed them well, lifted them high above my husband’s head, and let him pick.
Our winner is….
“Master Of Jokes”
And yes, that’s not a joke. 🙂
Please e-mail me at janna@vanderveen.com to give me your address and I will send you this beautiful prize.
Sweetheart by Janna | Janna Vanderveen © 2013
Thank you all for participating. We will do another giveaway in the near future.
Warmest regards, Janna Vanderveen, Tricia Bos…
and Penelope.
Every little girl imagines.
Every little girl is a princess in many wonderful, custom-made realities of her own.
It doesn’t really matter where she finds herself: she can enter those places from her backyard, the attic above the garage, her bedroom; even the classroom she’s supposed to be paying attention in …
Penelope has many such wonderful places. The forest near her house is one of them. When she and her bunny (and puppy of course) set out, there’s no telling what sorts of adventures will befall.
Penelope Bloom | Tricia Bos © 2013
And anyways, it’s always a good day to do something exciting with your friends!!!
After brainstorming for a while, it was time to make some decisions. If our Penelope was to come alive, she would be a person with characteristics that did not change. No matter what she did – jumping, sitting, yawning, or climbing – her little self would always keep the same basic proportions and characteristics.
Below, is one page of charts from my sketchbook where I began to work those details out.
The drawings are rough and unfinished … but Penelope is starting to take shape 🙂
Somewhere in the middle of August, my sister approached me with an idea. She had written a charming children’s book about a little girl named Penelope. What she needed, was a visual world … and an illustrator to make that happen. A sister team. That sounded good … and then it was time to begin. But how?
Tricia Bos | Penelope Bloom © 2013
Sometimes, the only way to start, is to just put the pencil to the paper, and go. That is what I did … and this is the first set of sketches to result. Penelope was to be quite young, an innocent rascal, creative, and impulsive. She has a big heart, big ideas, and very big plans.
A more orderly approach to character design would follow, but for now, it was simply about starting. I admit. I was curious to see who would emerge out of the scribbles … 🙂
Penelope Bloom 