Website Updated

Updated my website with new illustrations! Come check it out!

http://www.donaldwu.com/children1

Amazon Rapids

I'm excited to announce the launch of Amazon Rapids. It's a cool new app that gives a modern twist to traditional storytelling. All the dialogue between the characters is set in texting format, with occasional pop up spots thrown in. I was fortunate enough to illustrate over a dozen stories for the app so far. Intrigued? 

To check it out and start your free trial visit; https://rapids.amazon.com/

Here's a quick video of the App!

Give Please A Chance!

An illustration I did along with others by fellow MBArtists will be featured in a book by authors Bill O'Reilly and James Patterson! The book is called Give Please A Chance and will be released in November 21st. Check it out!

Here's my illustration(top left)! 

Moonbeam Award

Exciting news! My book Champion Monsters was awarded a Moonbeam Children's Book Award silver medal in book with Merchandise.

Congrats go to super talented and fellow MBArtist Valeria Docampo for winning the gold! Well deserved!

My two little monsters are thrilled to add to their medal collection!

Clubhouse Jr Illustration

Here is my illustration in the July issue of Clubhouse Jr!

Dragon Tower

Managed to finish this latest promo piece on the last day. The theme for our upcoming MB Artists catalog is landscape. And the challenge was figuring out a fun idea that would work with a vertical format since the theme naturally lends itself to a horizontal format instead.

Happy to be Blu

Finally got my copies for my book Happy to be Blu! This was a lot of fun, and a little different than what I'm accustomed to doing. The main character for this book happened to be a rain drop so the challenge was not only figuring how to handle something that is essentially clear and also reflective. But on top of try to give it life with a face and movement. It was definitely a learning experience but a lot of fun!

Here are a couple interior pages;

New Catalog!

It's that time again! Lots of terrific artwork in this, Seeing everyone else's artwork is very inspiring. Good way to start the day.

https://view.publitas.com/m…/superheroes-pirates-princesses/

Double Trouble!

Subtle changes were made to make the idea clearer.

It's definitely nice to have peers that can give you some honest feedback! While working on this piece, I found myself struggling making it clear that these two girls were twins. I played out some ideas in my head but wasn't fully sold on them. Luckily I was fortunate enough to have some illustrator friends that I can bounce ideas off of. I found having an open dialogue with others and being able to talk through the problem was very useful. The result - I feel - is a much stronger piece!

So thanks again my fellow MB Artists!

Here's a previous version. It was a nice illustration but I was not convinced people could tell the two girls were suppose to be sisters...

This is Getting Old!

I've been working on some new pieces for my portfolio. The focus of these is to create work that included older children. With the more mature children came the more mature subject matters. Which was definitely more fun for me!

New Catalog

Latest MB Artists catalog was just released! And it's all about animals!

  http://www.mbartists.com/cgi-bin/iowa/catalog.html

January Issue of Clubhouse Jr.

Look whose featured in this months issue of  Clubhouse Jr!

The story is about Chester Greenwood and the inspiration behind his invention, the earmuffs. Cute story and I'm really happy with the illustrations.

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants!

Can't believe another year is coming to an end. And with it, my last promotional illustration of the year. I'm pretty happy with how this one turned out. I had this idea for quite some time now, and luckily the theme of our forthcoming catalog fits so I was able to use it.

I'm pretty proud of myself for consistently creating new art for each catalog for the last 3 years. Hoping to continue that streak into the new year!

Adventure Catalog

Our latest promo catalog is out! Check out the great art inside and out. The cover design just keeps getting better and better, kudos to our very own Jess!

Check it out here!

Champion Monsters Have Arrived!

I'm excited to announce that my latest book is out! This was a very fun project that I was able to be a part of. Not only did I get to illustrate a book filled with cute monsters, but l get to see one of my drawings and designs translated into an actual doll.

Front Cover

Say hi to our Champion Monsters!

The concept of the book is cute and the doll is even cuter! The book helps kids deal with their fears while their new monster friend gives your youngster additional support and comfort. Being a father of a 4 year old and his "blankie", I can definitely relate. The book touches on a lot of the situations your kids may face, whether it's the dark and a bad nightmare, or the doctors and hospitals; I think you'll find this book both useful as well as entertaining.

Here's the book with the "his" or "her" monster

All in one monster package!

You can go to their facebook page for the latest news. While you are there please share with your friends!
Or better yet, you can go to championmonster.com to order yours today, I think it'll make a great gift for the upcoming holidays!

Let's Do Some Exploring!

It's been awhile since I've written a post going through my process of creating an illustration and so I thought with this recently completed promotional piece, I'd do just that.

Here is the finished illustration. With the theme for this illustration being "adventure", I drew inspiration from Indiana Jones and Mission Impossible. Whenever you get free reigns to essentially do what you want, I find a good place to start is to stick to subject matters and themes that interest you or things you think would be fun to draw. So for me, Egyptian culture has always interested me, so a big part of this illustration was just me giving myself the opportunity to add all the detailing and decorations to the walls and the treasure box.

So follow me as I go through my process;

 
With the theme and idea firmly in my head, I started out with a simple sketch. Because the theme of this piece is adventure, I wanted to make it easy for myself and designed the composition using diagonals and some forced perspective, these naturally give you a sense of action and movement, which are things I am looking for. So after my initial gestures and established composition, I began to start refining and adding in the details. This is where Google Images will be your best friend. Along with what you find on the internet,

This is just a sample of photos I found on the web. In addition to this, I also took reference photos of myself to help me figure out the pose better. This was especially the case for the foreshortening of the arm reaching for the treasure.    

For the background of my sketch, I basically left it loose and blank, I more or less had a plan in my head to add in the details and etching but I wanted to do that once I move onto the painting phase. Not only did it save me time, it also gave me the freedom to play and have fun with it.

Just by going through the research process, it gave me a good idea of the colors I wanted to use for the illustration. So first stage, like always, is to lay in the general colors. I did this in a multiply layer so my initial sketch remains intact. After that I started my first pass on the main figure and the foreground elements. This layer is on top of my sketch layer and is set to normal, that way my marks will start covering up my drawing. BUT not to fear, I always keep a separate copy of my sketch at the very top of my layer stack, that way I can switch it on and off if I need to refer to something.

After that, I made a similar pass with the background. As I rendered out the stones, I decided to go with the dark shadowy patch at the top right cause it provided a natural framing element to the composition. In addition, it meant I wouldn't have to render that area of the stone...so win win!

With that, my attention went back to the main figure. In addition to rendering him out and adding all the details to his clothing and harness, I made sure I tinted him so he would blend better with the color scheme.

With some minor adjustments to my adventurer's arm, I turned my focus to the treasure box. My plan all along was to have a glow emanate from the top, but while I was adding the details, I decided it needed a "lid" of some kind to make it more obvious that it's an opened box. Once that was done, I started adding the decorative elements to the stones.

I guess I was having so much fun that I added detailing on all the walls! After that I worked out what was going on the ceiling. I added the two kids and tried to design some "believable" rope-lowering apparatus. With that, I was almost done...

All that was left was to add in some rim light coming from the moon. This helped separate the figure from the background. Lastly, I made some final color adjustments and I called this one a wrap!

August Issue of Clubhouse Jr.

My illustrations are featured in this month's issue of Clubhouse Jr. Check it out!

Here is a detail of all the little veggies I had to draw
for the assignment. And let's not forget the bunny!

Ethnicity Catalog

Back with another catalog release! I always look forward to seeing what the other talented illustrators at MBArtists come up with. One of my faves would be the dragon boat illustration by Peter Francis...those who knows me knows why. :)

Enjoy!

http://www.flipsnack.com/AC98DF86AED/mb-artists-ethnicity-catalog.html

Let's Get Personal

For my latest promotional piece we were tasked with creating an illustration with the theme "ethnicity". Having been doing this gig for as long as I have, I knew the easy and safe route would have been to simply draw a couple characters of different ethnicity in some setting and call it a day. But because I HAVE been doing this for as long as I have, I also knew doing something uninspired and convenient, generally don't end with good results. And given the fact that this is potentially a piece for my portfolio, essentially meaning that it's a personal piece, I decided that being personal was the way to go.

Four years ago I proposed to my wife with an illustration. I thought it was the perfect way to both recognize and celebrate our differences. We were definitely different...different people from different backgrounds, needless to say, things never got boring. But I think that's what I love about it, what I love about her.

My "proposal" illustration 

   
Today on the day of our 4th anniversary, I am thankful we have continued to embrace our differences. And I am happy to report that life has never gotten boring since. and with the addition of our son...it's been anything but!

And I love it...

Perspective Catalog

Our new catalog is out! Great illustrations by everyone as always...now back to the working on the illustration for the next one!

LINK HERE