Friday, April 12, 2013

GRUMPY GOAT EVENT

My friend, Regina Sadowski, has composed a score to accompany my picture book "GRUMPY GOAT". We will be performing it on April 21st in Manhattan at the Bloomingdale School of Music in Manhattan. After the music, I'll be signing books and doing some drawing with the kids, or anyone else. I hope that you can make it. Here's a link for the details. Bloomingdale School of Music

Friday, April 5, 2013

HOW TO DRAW A GRUMPY GOAT

I've been wanting to post an occasional drawing lesson, so I'm starting with the main character from my latest picture book "Grumpy Goat". Let me know if you like this and I'll try to do more.

One of the keys to drawing is to start with very simple shapes. It's tempting to draw the details first, but drawings will always be better if you focus first on basic shapes. Here's how I draw a grumpy goat. Start with a shape like this:

This is the shape of the goat's head. Next add some of the features, like the ears and beard. Remember, you still want to keep the shapes simple.


Now you can add the eyes, nose and horns, still very simple.


Once the basic shapes are in place you can add whatever details you like and refine the lines and shapes. Here's the final drawing. Give it a try, see what you can do. Don't be afraid to change the shapes and details to make your own grumpy Goat.