In The Works, and Kid Inspired- My Adventures as a Portrait Artist and Illustrator

I decided to join the many artists accepting the online 31 day art challenge #Inktober2019 this year. https://inktober.com/rules I hadn't heard of this one before, and though I've done art challenges like Illustration Friday, I tend to draw almost every day, even if I don't have a book project going on, or any caricaturing gigs or custom orders to finish. Drawing is what I do for fun and to relax even if I've been giging! So I didn't need this challenge in order to draw more.  I wanted to try Inktober to get back into posting my work on line more! I amazed myself in that I actually finished the month long challenge by posting my work on line every single day. I hope to utilize that feeling of accomplishment to work on my new goals for 2020! Below are some of my artwork produced in October during the #Inktober 2019 online challenge.

Yay! Day 3 of #Inktober2019! I drew this using Pigma Micron 02 and 08 ink pens. I'm choosing not to use the suggested list of prompts but am focusing on my Cheering Child designs for now. For shading I just used graphite. This kid is cheering himself on! And his kitty too!

 Hi Guys! This is my second Cheering Child design that I'm sharing for #Inktober2019, a 31 day online Art Challenge. https://inktober.com/rules  I'm not really sure I'll be able to post every day, but I'm starting out that way and will see how it goes!#leonahosackInktober2019 I have been playing around with my idea of Cheering Children for a while, but now would like to work them up a bit so that I can present them on my Etsy shop eventually as instant downloads for a child's room decor, and also would like to produce these designs on items such as tee-shirts and canvas bags, etc. There is a list of suggested prompts to use for this challenge, but I'm choosing to focus on my own designs and I may work in some Halloween ideas. Everyone needs cheering up now and then, right? Wish me luck!

The sketch! The first final piece I did, but I had forgotten to make his hat and coat black as in the photo! I was asked to do this caricature of a deceased friend of my nephew, so he could give it to the man's widow, which is a very kind thing to do! I love the photo I worked with as it shows the person, whom I never knew, as a very interesting guy, though out of respect I have not included the photo here! I loved drawing the peacock feathers! Apparently he was a musician among other things! Which version do you like? The final final colored piece.

Here is my newest submission to Illustration Friday. The theme this week is "Fairies". This is an illustration I did quite a few years ago just for fun, but I think this is the first time I've posted this piece online.  I find that occasionally doing an art challenge like Illustration Friday gets my creative juices flowing and allows me to move forward in my illustrative abilities. Still growing as an artist even in my sixties! And fairies will never go out of style! These fairies are taking a tea time break from all their fairy work! Illustration Friday

What a great birthday weekend I had a couple weeks ago! On Saturday,2/9 I enjoyed doing Silhouettes at the Valentine event of the Old York Historical Society, in York, Maine! They had planned the event around my doing silhouettes, and had arranged for people to sign up ahead of time, and though we didn't have a crowd of people, there were enough to keep me busy, and several families wanted silhouettes of more than one child and also wanted to buy the extra silhouettes! I always cut two silhouettes at a time, because I can either keep them as extras, or sell them to people for a lesser price. Also cutting a folded piece of silhouette paper (always black on one side and white on the other) with the black on the inside makes it much easier to cut! All in all a very nice (though cold) day at the Old York Village Museum! The next day, February 10 was my birthday! And 27 years ago on that day I gave birth to my last of three children, a son! What a birthday gift! I have to

I will be cutting Silhouettes this coming Saturday, February 9th, 2019 from 10am to 1 pm  at Old York Historical Society, for their Valentine's Day Event! Call ahead for a reservation.  One free silhouette with your ticket price! Hope to see you there! https://oldyork.org/events/family-program-silhouettes-and-valentines/ Happy valentine's day!

Lily and her friend Rustam Payman! The original sketch for the illustration above. Almost two years has passed since I illustrated Ronald Tomanio's book"The Imperfect Pilgrim and One Summer, two wonderful stories written with Baha'i Junior Youth in mind. I love the challenge, (as an illustrator of children's books) of creating a visual character that fits the story as well as continuing a consistent look for that character throughout the book. I find it fun to try to figure how a person would look like from different angles! Original Sketches for Lily in "The Imperfect Pilgrim"! Lily and Rustam with friends! Lily with family and friends! Jessie, the dog with Annie in the background from "The Imperfect Pilgrim and One Summer" I took care to make Annie look different from Lily for this story since it was the second story in the same book!   Annie and Jessie Annie and Jessie! Happy Drawing! The book 'The Imp