DAISY'S QUEST

Over the summer and most of the fall I've been working on an app. It's a game that teaches pre-readers the parts of words. This has been a fun challenge to take on.

Daisy's Quest was first made in the early 90's. It won various education awards and was quite popular. (If anyone of you were learning to read in the 90's I'd love to hear whether or not this game helped you learn.)

It has been out of circulation for more than 10 years now, but they decided to give it an updated look. At first their thoughts were basically to replace the art, but as I looked at it I knew that more than just the individual bits of art had to change. After conversing with the proprietors we decided to completely revamp the look.

In the old 90's version in all the scenes there was a large blank area. The big empty area was so that the little pictures of the objects could flash up on the screen without competing for attention from the background. One of the things that I changed was to have the scene completely illustrated and then have the objects framed in with a box to separate it from the background. It gives the game a cohesive look throughout. 

In the game the child has to go to different areas of the country side to learn the different parts of the words. The word is spoken and a picture of the word pops onto the screne. Here are a few sneak peeks to some of the places they can go. These are not the full scenes but rather just glimpses.

They will be test running this next week. If any of you out there with small children would like a free copy of the game, let me know. I will get in contact with you. By the way it is a first come, first serve basis. They need about five more testers. And this game right now is only for iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches.

#UnfinishedSeries-Bison

We've had a busy few week, what with going on Vacation and preparing to go on vacation, I've not had time to post.

We had a blast in Montana at my family reunion. To top off our trip we drove through Yellowstone. It has been quite a while since I've last been through.

We saw elk and bison and geysers. Here are just two sketches from that trip.

#UnfinishedSeries-Sad troll at Happy Hour

This one is so nearly done, but I stopped working on it. You might think, "Well, Jen if its so close to being done why don't you go ahead and finish it?" And you would have a very valid point.

But the whole purpose of me doing these unfinished pieces is because whenever I've started posting on my blog, I've felt a compulsion to have a new finished illustration or at the very least a stunning drawing.

I'm showing these unfinished works so that I can take the pressure off of myself and just post.

I don't have any pearls of wisdom (at this point.) I'm just posting.

#UnfinishedSeries-Crazy Week

This week has been a major roller coaster ride.

My husband and I have been going back and forth about selling our home. We needed to do some repairs and cleaning. Our living room carpet was nasty (no amount of shampooing could fix that.) We have one bathroom. We don't have enough bedrooms. We'd like a bigger back yard for our kids to play in. And a quiet street would be nice.

Lets begin the roller coaster. This is the part where we go up.

My sisters come to tear out carpet. UP!
Oh, look! Its hardwood floors underneath! Up! Yippee!
Wait a minute! What are these two gaping holes in the floor, covered with plywood? Down! Nooooo!
My three year old jumps off the bed and breaks her arm! Down! AAAAhhh!
The doctor at the urgent care recommends us to go to Primary Children's emergency! Down! Noooo!
The doctor at Primary's says the break is not so bad. We won't need surgery! UP! Hooray!
But we still have an emergency room copay to pay! Nooooooo!
Rather than try to fix the gaping holes in the living room floors with real hardwood, we decide to laminate it. (This is the part of the roller coaster ride where you just going even and smooth. Just a breather.)
We find some very inexpensive laminate that looks great! Up! Hooray!
My sisters are able to borrow some saws from a friend. We don't have to buy a miter saw! Up! Hooray!
We end up installing a new AC in the van! Hooray!
We pay for the AC. Booo!
It takes all day, but we install the whole living room and hallway! Hooray! (I am so sorry if we woke any of our neighbors with the sounds of the power saws. We got done shortly before 1:00A.M.)

All in all it has been a very exciting week.

The image I'm showing today I think goes well with the way I feel. This is the process I go through when I have work with a client.

First I do a few sketches.

The client picks their favorite. Then I do a finished drawing.

And finally, I paint it. I paint it digitally.

I'm tagging as #unfinishedseries. Even though it is finished, but now your know how one of my images goes from unfinished to finished.

#UnfinishedSeries-Find and Count the Bugs

Here is a fun sketch I did a few years back. I was going to so it as an activity page for my kids, you know, count how many bugs you can find. But I only got as far as the sketch.

#UnfinishedSeries-Angel Part II

I am continuing my #unfinishedseries. 
Here is another angel.
Several years ago I was going to do an angel series. I only ever drew two. Now for the first time ever I am showing the general public.

 Enjoy!

#UnfinishedSeries-Angel Part I

I've been meaning to start posting regularly, but I never know what to post about. Well, I have come up with an idea! I will be posting what I now refer to as my Unfinished Series. These are pictures that most people have not seen. They are works in progress that have been pushed to the back burner.

Here is the first in the Unfinished Series. It is an angle. I should probably come up with a name, but that takes thinking and I don't have enough brains cells to think right now.

Say! I just got an idea. If anyone can come up with a good name for this piece, I will send them a print of this, the first in the Unfinished Series. #unfinishedseries. That would be a very limited edition.
Post your name ideas in the comments. My husband and I will go over them and choose our favorite name.