Caricatures, Silhouettes and Illustrations by Leona Hosack

A number of years ago, I went to a children's book conference at the University of Mass. with some friends. We got to see Tomie Di Paola (StregaNona, etc.) speak about his Italian-Irish family and how he based many of his books on his upbringing in that culture.  One of the workshops I took that day was presented by the noted African-American children's book illustrator James Ransome. He showed slides of his work and discussed his method of illustration and especially how he used composition to compliment the action in his books! After the workshop I got to ask him a question I had because I was working on a children's book at the time that featured an African-American child.  I asked about illustrating children from a different culture or race of your own. I had recently read an article saying that illustrators or writers should stay within their own race or culture in their artistic endeavors. In other words, since I'm white do I have the right to illustrat...

Happy Valentine's Day! Been going through my digital art files and found these designs for cards I made a while ago. Not sure if I still have the originals, but  thought I'd share these here. I love cut paper collage! Most of my work is portrait work- caricature, silhouettes, or pencil portraits, as well as illustrations for kid books. The materials I usually rely on include, colored pencils, art stix, permanent markers, or even watercolor. But not often collage or cut paper except in silhouettes! However I did include some collage along with watercolor in my book Kamal's Day (available from www.bahaibookstorestore.com). I find that using cut paper or collage is a way of freeing up my style and allowing me to move places artisically, that I don't usually work with. This is the cover for Kamal's Day.   I used bits and pieces of collage paper, including some origami paper, in every illustration. The first illustration in Kamal's Day. ...

Here are some samples, that I drew from looking at faces in google search. I think I typed in "faces of Diversity".  I included these "practice" caricatures in my Etsy Shop as samples for custom orders. Valentines Day is coming and I like to offer my custom work as possible gifts for any specific holiday coming up! Here is a silhouette item I'm offering: Hand-cut Silhouettes in a hand-cut border! And yes, it's Mandala Monday. So here is my favorite video on making mandalas! It shows how to keep track of the marks you make, and encourages you to turn the paper to make marks in a circular pattern. It's a very user -friendly video and specifically designed for beginners! Happy Drawing!