The Paperman illustration

Hey guys!

I do have something to show you that was finished up over Christmas as a commission :)

I don't know how many of you might have seen the Pixar short "The Paperman" but I've heard it's really really great.  In all reality, what Pixar short film isn't great? exactly.
One of my good friends approached me about recreating an image of the two main characters he'd found.  He and his significant other had seen the film together and instantly fell in love with it, it was sort of "their movie" so to speak.

The original image was found online and if anyone knows where I can link back to the artist, please comment or message me (I believe it was from a Tumblr account).

Anyway, this is my version of that image.  It was done in cool grey prismacolor pencils on a warm grey canson paper.  I loved the feeling of being able to take the neutral tone of the paper and add in my own darks and highlights.  It's much different from working light to dark.

Hope you guys like it!

I may do some more Disney fan art on here, I really do love drawing different characters. :)

Facebook Giveaway!

Hey guys!!

*Sigh* Yes, I'm still alive.


I wanted to send out a short blog blurp about a facebook giveaway for my Illustration page!

I recently hit 100 followers or "Likes" and am hosting a giveaway for a hand drawn original postcard by yours truly to be sent out to the winner.
I'll be posting the official rules, start and ending time tonight on my page so if you are not presently subscribed to my page here's the link to do so Annie Hobbs Illustration - don't miss out!

I've not only got the give away to announce but I also have a pair of blank shoes ready for paint AND a new commission piece to be posting about!!

See you back here soon!

Most amazing Ariel Balloon art I've EVER seen! 

Online illustration videos & courses through Folio Academy!

Hey guys!

I wanted to share something with you that I'd heard about before but hadn't taken advantage of until recently.  As an artist, even though I'm done with school, I'm still very much obsessed with gaining as much knowledge as I possibly can about my craft.  I think it's important to look at different people's processes and constantly try new things. It's how we develop what works and what doesn't work for each of us as individual artists.

Well, I came across a site through several mentionings by other artists I follow called Folio Academy.
It's a great resource for anyone looking to get into Illustration, Children's books, etc but it also offers courses for traditional media techniques as well as digital work.  Even if you've been in the business for a while or have just finished school, I think there is plenty of information still applicable for anyone.

I recommend everyone to go at least check them out and see if there are any courses that strike your fancy :) I've been going through the "How to Illustrate Children's Books" and there's a ton of great advice and information through out. Very helpful and interesting.

*Edit*  The guys have just come out with a new tutorial on getting artwork ready for ebooks!


Go give 'em a look-see!

Hope you guys have a great week!!

Elephants & Tap shoes

**This was supposed to have been published a while ago, but somehow the scheduling part of blogger didn't go through. Oh well! ;) **


Hey guys!

I wanted to share a project with you that I finished up last month for a good friend of mine.  I illustrated a piece for her as a graduation present.

She and I have become pretty good friends over the last year or so; we met in the local community theater and have bonded over a few shows, tap dancing classes, and Disneyland trips.

She is a very creative person, loves to dance, and loves loves LOVES Pinterest! haha so I knew I needed to make her something inspiring that she can relate to in all her crafting a pinning endeavors. It started off pretty sneakily with me sending random texts asking what her favorite animals were... "I need some cute animals to draw, what's your favorite?" I asked.  Her reply was elephants, dinosaurs, baby orangutans, and baby tortoises.  Well, that would be an interesting illustration! LOL

So I got out my sketchbook and proceeded to study up on these.

sweet little elephants

fuzzy orangutans

I posted these to my facebook page to show that I actually was taking her up on the suggestions.  Meanwhile on facebook, I was completely going stalker- status on her pictures page.  It's an odd thing when one finds themselves zooming in on a friends facebook picture and studying the detail of their cheeks and how their eyes are positioned on their face...

.... anyway....


After getting the sketch of her face down I began to work on the composition of the piece.  I knew that I wouldn't be able to put in all the animals she wanted so I started out focusing on the elephant and a little monkey.  In the end, I had to edit out the monkey as the elephant stole the show. It just would have been too distracting as I illustrated the lettering as well.  When I got to the lettering, another text was sent "What are your favorite colors?"... so sneaky ...

Here are some process shots...

sketching out details of her face

I sketch ideas down and then use tracing paper to clean it up and get a full image

redrew the image on watercolor paper with my light box

illustrated Inspiration quote

why wouldn't an elephant wear leg warmers??

totally want to steal her outfit...

final framed piece 

I'm so happy with how it turned out.  That elephant made me giggle every time I looked at her.  Although, the best part was giving it to my friend.  It took all of my will power not to drive over to her house the second I finished, pound down her door, shove it in her face and yell "LOOK WHAT I MADE YOU!!!"  hahaha I'm a horrible gift giver, I can never wait!  I still had like 3 days before her party too.

Anyway, she did open it and she loved it! It lives in her house now above the fireplace tap tap tapping the night away :)

Upcoming Painting Project: Siren of the Sea

Hey Guys!

I know. Again I've taken my sweet time on this blog.

BUT I do have something I'm working on right now to show you!

The time of the year has come again to work on the booklets for the women's society.  I've had the privilege of producing them for the group for the last few years.

This year, I'm combining my love of the sea and a vintage flair to theme the book with mermaids a la the Coca Cola ads from the 40s and 50s!
Here's a sketch of the cover illustration...

She'll be sitting on some rocks and have a string of pearls hanging from her neck to her hand. The rest of the booklet will have ocean spot illustrations with shells, seaweed, sea stars etc.  I haven't yet decided on what element I'll add to make it pop.  I've had lace and flower seed paper in previous years.  

Check back again for the final illustration photo and some progress shots!! 

Have a good weekend!  

Disney Vinylmation

Hey guys!

I'm still alive!

I've just started the design work for a really exciting project, Vinylmations!  The first one is going to be more like a mural than a specific character or object but the theme is going to be Disneyland :D (of course)

I don't want to get into too much detail yet, as I'm just in the beginning stages of it and I don't really want to get my ideas out there before I start working on it.  A lot of people work on Vinyls and I want mine to show mine at it's completion - not that I'm so famous everyone will be dying to copy me LOL but I do want to keep the design safe.  I will be taking progress pictures to show you though when I do post the finished one.

To start off with, and to not leave you without any eye candy, here's a pic of the very beginning of my design process.  My friend bought be this sketchbook at Walt Disney World last year and it has the coolest stencil attached to the back! So much easier than trying to find a pattern online or having to take a straight picture for the right dimensions.

just make sure you have it right side up - the hands are different ;p

Here's a quick pic of the two large vinylmations I have.

The purple paint can be very easily painted over with a white base.  The green looking one, however.... is Glow-in-the-dark!
Whatever surface you DONT put paint on will show through and glow in the dark or under a blacklight.  You better believe this is being put to use in my design. ;)

Thats it for today! Hope you guys have a great rest of the week and weekend!

Ready for the Summer!

It's summer time! YAY!

This marks the first summer vacation I've had since being in school.  It's a little weird but oh so sweet! haha 

My teaching position has finished for the school year and I don't have to be back until the end of August.  Besides having a side job thats about 10 hours a week, I'm pretty excited about having some down time to work on my stuff.  (As I type this, I'm in my pajama bottoms and have a furry purry curled up in my lap) I have so many things I want to accomplish and I know that I desperately need to get rolling on them.  Here's the perfect opportunity! 

I'm currently sketching out some summer ideas to hopefully put on some cards.  

fat babies are so much fun to draw

I'm still working out some other ideas and I need to clean up and tighten this one but it's a start! 

Does anyone have any recommendations for art prints of your work? Do you send the file and have them shipped to you? Who do you use and is it reasonable?

Thanks for any advice!

Stay tuned for more work :)