Flying Pony Studios site rebuild - DONE!

Welcome to the new Flying Pony Studios website!

I rebuild my website every few years.

It's necessary as both the times, and my focus, changes periodically. 

The new build is teaching-focused with pages for classes, an event calendar, and a page to promote my art coaching business. Of course, there's also a gallery of my artwork and a place to see some current projects. About the latter...there'll be more added to the current projects page sometime soon. I have a few new projects I'm really excited to share with you.

I'll get there.

And there will be a e-commerce store here, too. In time. 

For now though...I hope you like the new Flying Pony Studios website.

Drop me a line with comments or if you find any *shiver* typos.

My newest commission was delivered today

A very happy client

My newest portrait, a surprise birthday present, was received today by its new owner. The subject was Ryker, a very dear Belgium Treverian who passed away not too long ago.

With persmission, here is what the portrait’s new owner had to say:

“My daughter, Samantha, had this portrait of my Heart Dog, Ryker, made for me. Beautiful art work by Sara Light-Waller. She captured Ryker's very essence.” – Diane Garwood

"Ryker" by Sara Light-Waller

“Speaking of your amazing artistry.... I received my picture of Ryker that you drew. It is on my FB page. Although showing it on FB does not do it justice. As I opened the wrapping paper Cassie had put it in, and started to see what it was I was overcome by amazement. I started to cry and when I pulled out the whole picture I was sobbing!! You so totally and completely captured the love and very essence in his eyes. I honestly do not have the words to convey my gratitude for Samantha commissioning it and for the obvious love and care you put in to drawing it. Thank you Sara. Thank you from the very deepest part of my heart.”  – Diane Garwood

Thank you Diane and Samantha for the commission and the joy I received from creating it for you.

A very delayed post – or maybe not. It is my blog after all….

I thought it was high time I recorded something here about what’s been going on in my life.

I’ve been writing. Yes, writing. As I intend all the books in my series to roll out in a timely fashion, I need to have several book in various states of completion at once.

Here's the rundown on my forthcoming novel series - 

Book I of the series is nearly done. I’m currently working on the painting for the book cover. This will be one of the very last steps before I bring it out. (I tell myself to “have faith” several times a day. *lol*)

Book II is written and has already been through several drafts.

Book III is under way and the first draft is about 3/4 completed.

Book IV (the final book) is still a twinkle in my mind’s eye.

As you can well imagine this has been a lot of work. And a challenge to my courage and fortitude every step of the way. First it was, can I actually write these books? Then it was, can I step up and do the illustrations the way I visualize them? Now it’s, am I going really going to do a painting for the cover? Can I do it? Well, sure I can. But it means pushing my skills once again.

So that’s what I'm doing right now — preparing the painting for the Book I cover. At the moment, I’m doing character sketches before starting on the color thumbnails for the whole painting. Slow and steady work.  

I feel like such a girl geek laying this all on the table out like this. It sounds like some pie-in-the sky project that will be talked about forever and never actually done. But that's not the way I work. It'll all get there, eventually. And hopefully be worth it when it does. 

I already have quite a bit planned for the book launch, including some videos and sample chapters available on my website. It should be exciting and fun! So, that's it for tonight. I’ll be back again soon. Now back to the drawing board.

Three Scenes from My Life with Percy: Done in a Paul Brown style

Yesterday, I challenged myself to do some drawings in a mid-20^th century pen & ink style. Before starting, I took a close look at the works of Paul Brown (1893-1958). Brown was a respected children’s illustrator, well-known for his horse art. Brown’s line work is typical of the time. accurate but fast, with most of his lines being gestural, rather than decorative. The sparseness of his line work typifies the black & white illustration and advertising art of the 1930’s through 1960’s - very “modern” and streamlined.

from what I can tell, Brown preferred a brush to a pen for his ink drawings. This is clear to me from the variation of line widths and the types of marks he used in his drawings. His people tended to be pretty generic, but his horses and ponies showed great character. 

Horse illustration by Paul Brown

I decided to treat my drawings as if part of a children’s book called, “My Life with Percy.” All are done in brush and ink. True to the style, I left the people generic, and made my colorful horse the star of the drawings.Ultimately, I tinted them to make them look like they were from an old children's book.

My Life with Percy: Dad visits and brings a bag of apples.

My Life with Percy: Ayla takes Percy for a ride.

My Life with Percy: Percy and I go to a dressage clinic and are stars.

Having started the illustrations for "My Life with Percy," I suppose I should consider actually writing the book. Might be fun, at that. *chuckle*

On Understanding the Works of Other Artists

A Thelwell cartoon I chose to study

My freehand copy, made with an eye towards understanding Thelwell's line work.

One of the most challenging things about drawing or painting in another artist's style, is finding the correct rhythm of the artwork. For example, I am very well-versed in pen & ink. However, every masterful artist does a pen & ink drawing a little bit differently. In order to study the work of another artist, one must try to understand how they placed their lines and other marks on the page. It's an interesting challenge, and greatly expanding of your skill set. By expanding your artistic viewpoint you can also enhance your artistic voice, making it more educated and facile. At least, that's the way it works for me. ;-)

Lots going on at Flying Pony Studios!

My new drafting table

It has been a massively busy weekend here at the studio. To begin with, my illustrations for Tetong in the Land of the Unknown by Ludvimin Reyna got a nice mention in a Kirkus review. *yeah* It’s always nice to get good reviews, especially with the new book coming out soon.

Following this bit of good news I bought a new (actually, quite venerable) drafting table on Craigslist last Friday. Wow! It's fabulous. There is such a huge difference between professional and amateur drawing tables. This fine table is at least as old as I am, made of heavy wood, has foot rests(!!!), and a built-in light box.

As we were setting it up, I asked Matt to raise the tilt of the table until it literally matched my drawing hand for best comfort. What a joy! Of course, my old drafting chair was way too short for this tall table but I magically inherited a wonderful drafting stool from a dear friend who lives nearby. He owns a barn filled with all sorts of mysterious things. I swear that place is magical. The same friend also loaned me a lovely cutlass to use as drawing reference for my hero’s sword. Fantastic!

The other thing that happened last weekend was that our old Privateer Princess webcomic site was hacked. This precipitated taking down the old site content making way for the new novel website to come. I have put up a temporary "coming soon" page for the new novel. It’s pretty exciting actually! The first real evidence of the books to come. Here’s the link for the new page: http://www.privateerprincess.com/

So that was my weekend. If it sounds like a lot...it was! But there was even more. In my next post I'll describe my newest painting and what I've learned (or more properly...unlearned) about watercolor painting from Golden Age illustrator, Rene Bull.

Cheers all!

Looking back & looking forward

Tonight I took a journey back through time to see how this blog has progressed over it's three and a half year run. So much has happened in that time! Many new pieces of art have been produced, articles on art theory and instruction shared, art shows entered, and several books (with illustrations) created. I have to say that I'm pleased with what I've accomplished over the past several years. It is easy to forget your own progress as you journey forward, but sometimes the check-in is critical. Today I stand on the edge of a brand new landscape. One with two illustrated novels in various states of completion. Each day brings me closer towards being able to share them with you. And for that I am most grateful. After all, what good is a storybook if there's no one to read and enjoy it?

Hugs to all!

-Sara

A new flying pony incident has been recorded!

Friends of Flying Pony Studios know that I am an amateur naturalist collecting incidents of flying pony sightings around the world. In my growing incident files are stories and photographs I've collected documenting the appearance of flying ponies in various places throughout time. Today, I posted a new incident file on my website, the first in quite a while. This one was reported in Yellowstone in 1934 and shows a very charming spotted foal.

Click here to see the new incident file on my website. 

www.flyingponystudios.com/incident_file_3.htm

Book illustration - “This Girl is Under My Protection”

"This Girl is Under My Protection"
Copyright Sara Light-Waller, 2013

Well, here you go, the finished piece seen in development over the past few days. This is the third illustration I’ve done for these books thus far. I’m not sure yet how many illustrations will be in each volume. Of course, the drive is to do many, many illustrations per book but I actually think that a handful will be enough. It seems to me that this creates a sense of anticipation in the reader for when the next plate will be coming along.

At the moment, I have two images jockeying for the next spot in the drawing cue. I don’t yet know which will get the priority slot but I’ll do sketches of them both tonight in order to have the visual notes ready to go no matter which I pick next.

So onwards and upwards and back to inky stained fingers!