Meet the Author – lesson series (5-6)

(click on image to enlarge)
Excerpt from lesson text:

At home that evening, he was finishing a jigsaw puzzle, when Anne (his younger sister) suddenly knocked lots of the pieces onto the floor.  Sam was about to shout angrily at her when he remembered the words from the Bible - "Forgiving one another, ... as God ... forgave you."  Sam was able to pick up the pieces quietly, without making a big fuss.  ....

Meet the Author is a 5-part Bible lesson series for children on the Person and work of the Holy Spirit.  Illustration created using Adobe Photoshop CS4 and Corel Painter X.  Flashcard lesson is 24x34cm with accompanying text.

Meet the Author – lesson series (4-7)

(click on image to enlarge)
This is the last picture of lesson four which concludes with questions to review what was taught about the Holy Spirit.  

There are application questions for the saved and unsaved child.

"Meet the Author" is a 5-part visualized Bible lesson series on the Person and work of the Holy Spirit.  Print size: 24x34cm.  Ring-bound flashcard book with accompanying text. Illustrations created using Adobe Photoshop CS4 and Corel Painter X.

Meet the Author – lesson series (4-1)

(click on image to enlarge)
Illustration for Meet the Author, a 5-part Bible lesson series on the Person and work of the Holy Spirit.

Print size: 24x34cm, ring-bound CEF flashcard book with accompanying lesson text.  Illustration created with Adobe Photoshop CS4 and Corel Painter X.

Meet the Author – lesson series (4-4)

(click on image to enlarge)
Another illustration finished today for Meet the Author, a 5-part Bible lesson series on the Person and work of the Holy Spirit.

Here are a few excerpts from the accompanying text:

"Have you ever seen a potter working?  He is a person who uses clay to make cups or vases or pots.

.... 

This is a picture of what the Holy Spirit is doing in your life.  He is the great Potter who is shaping you little by little.  The pattern that He has in His mind is the Lord Jesus Himself. 

....

The Holy Spirit who lives in me, is changing me little by little,  I am far from perfect but I know that the Holy Spirit will keep on helping me to become more and more like the Lord Jesus.

....

One day, when we get to Heaven, we will indeed be perfectly like the Lord Jesus Himself. Isn't that wonderful?"

Print size: 24x34cm, ring-bound flashcard book with accompanying lesson text.  Illustration created with Adobe Photoshop CS4 and Corel Painter X.

Copyright ©2009, CEF Europe.  All rights reserved.  These images may not be reproduced, displayed, modified or distributed without the express prior written permission of the copyright holder.  Thank you.

Meet the Author – lesson series (4-5)

(click on image to enlarge)
Application picture for Meet the Author Bible lesson series.

Here are some short excerpts from the accompanying lesson text:

"Another reason [the Holy Spirit comes to live in you] is to help you to be sure that you really are God's child (Rom. 8:15-16).  ...

The devil will often attack you and try to make you doubt that you are saved.  He wants you to keep wondering, "Am I really a child of God, Are my sins really all forgiven...."

....

Part of the work of the Holy Spirit is to help you answer the devil when he attacks.

...

Firstly, He brings back to mind verses like Romans 10:13 ....   

He helps you to be sure from these promises that you are truly God's child.

...

The second way that the Holy Spirit helps you to be sure that you are saved and are God's child is by helping you to see the little changes that He is making in your life, even when you are alone and no-one is watching to see if you do what is right or not. ...."

5-part Bible lesson series for children on the Person and work of the Holy Spirit.

Print size: 24x34cm, ring-bound flashcard book with accompanying text available in several languages.  Illustration created with Adobe Photoshop CS4 and Corel Painter X.

Copyright ©2009, CEF Europe.  Do not use pictures without permission. Thank you.

Meet the Author – lesson series (4-3)

(click on image to enlarge)
Application picture for Meet the Author Bible lesson series.

Here are a few excerpts from the accompanying lesson text:

"Another reason why the Holy Spirit has come to live in each believer is to change him or her.

His name tells you what kind of a Person He is.  He is holy.  That means that He is perfect and pure and clean.  He cannot do anything wrong.  He loves everything that is good and lovely.  He also hates everything that is dirty and wrong and sinful.

.....

When the Holy Spirit came to live in you the moment you trusted in Christ as your Saviour, He started the work of making you more like the Lord Jesus.  He will go on with that wonderful work, little by little, during your whole life (2 Cor. 3:18).

..."

5-part Bible lesson series on the Person and work of the Holy Spirit. Print size: 24x34cm ringbound flashcard with accompanying text.  Illustration created with Adobe Photoshop CS4 and Corel Painter X.

Copyright ©2009, CEF Europe.  Do not use pictures without permission. Thank you.

Meet the Author – lesson series (4-2)

(click on image to enlarge)
Application picture from lesson 4 – The Holy Spirit, the believer's Companion.

Excerpt from lesson text:

"... If you are God's child, the Holy Spirit is always with you – when you are playing at school, when you are alone at home, when you feel afraid, or when you are sick.

He will never leave you.  You can always count on this good Friend (who is the all-powerful God) being with you.  In fact he is living in you. ..."

Meet the Author is 5 part Bible lesson series on the Person and work of the Holy Spirit. There are 7 illustrations per lesson.  Ring bound flashcard book with accompanying lesson text. Print size: 24x34cm.  Illustrated with Adobe Photoshop CS4 and Corel Painter X.

Copyright ©2009, CEF Europe.  Do not use pictures without permission. Thank you.

illustration stages (father/son)

(click on image to enlarge)
The stages to completing the father/son illustration:

The first stage (not shown above) is the most important stage of prayerfully reading the lesson text several times, making written and visual notes, historical and theological research, consider cultural differences between countries, drawing multiple (10-20) different thumbnail sketch ideas before deciding on a final idea.  These mini sketches may look like primitive chicken scratch to some folks but they are vital to the process!  This is the more time consuming stage with 95% of the decisions being made here before proceeding.

#1-3 Many reference photos are taken from various angles and locations then I select the ones to use for the illustration.  This may even involve using body parts from different photos and merging them into one person.

#4 Time to merge, mask and edit the images in Adobe Photoshop.  This may also involve redrawing, perspective correction, etc.  For a Bible scene, there would be an additional stage of totally redrawing a scene from the reference photos.  Modern day application illustrations like this are much easier than a Bible scene.

#5 This stage involves creating multiple layers in Photoshop.  The image may have 20-30 layers on top of each other where I use different digital brushes to add controlled dodging/burning, local colour adjustment layers, level adjustments, masking, etc..  Redrawing areas may be required and colour decisions are finalized at this stage.  This is all done with individual brush strokes using a Wacom® pen on screen. No "one click" trick Photoshop art filters are used.

#6 The Photoshop file is imported into Corel Painter X to create the final painting/illustration.  This is similar to traditional painting, using individual paint brush strokes and not applying any "instant" art filters. Corel Painter is excellent at creating natural media brush strokes and blending ... minus the setup or clean up.  The painting is brought back into Photoshop for final touch ups.

Photoshop and Corel Painter have greatly reduced my production time.  The final production stages #4-6 (after the initial research, sketch stage) may take between 1-3 days.  Some Bible scenes will take longer.  The final stages #4-6 of the above illustration took around 10 hrs. to complete.

Meet the Author – lesson series (3-7)

(click on image to enlarge)
excerpt from accompanying lesson text:

Maybe somebody has said to you that you look like your daddy.  The Holy Spirit not only brings you into God's family when you trust in Jesus, but He also begins to make you more and more like your Heavenly Father (1 Peter 1:14-15).  You do not become like Him in your looks, but in the way you behave.

Meet the Author is a 5-part Bible lesson series on the Person and work of the Holy Spirit.  Flashcard print size is 24x34cm.  Illustrated using Adobe Photoshop CS4 and Corel Painter X.

Lost (and found) in the woods explained

(click on image to enlarge)

This illustration is a review of the illustration about the boy lost in the woods and found by the forest ranger.

Questions include: 

Who does George represent? Why did George get lost? Who does the ranger represent? 

What is the Book that the Holy Spirit uses to show us the right way?  From what dangerous path does He want to guide us? Into what safe path does He want to guide us? etc..  

Bridge...   The Holy Spirit is the One who helps the sinner to turn to God.  

Meet the Author is a 5-part Bible lesson series on the Person and work of the Holy Spirit.  Flashcard print size is 24 x 34cm.  35 illustrations with accompanying text.  Illustrated using Adobe Photoshop CS4 and Corel PainterX.

Lost in the woods – Meet the Author series

(click on image to enlarge)

Short story illustration in lesson text: 

George took a walk in the woods and as it got dark he lost his way.  A forest ranger found him before he encountered a dangerous cliff.  He showed George how he was lost and warned him of his danger, turned him around and with the map helped him to get on the right path to the safety of home.

Illustration for Meet the Author 5-part Bible lesson series on the Holy Spirit. 24x34cm flashcard with lesson text.  There are 7 illustrations for each lesson. Illustrated using Adobe Photoshop CS4 and Corel PainterX

Meet the Author – lesson series

(click on image to enlarge)

Peter preaching.

Meet the Author; 5-part lesson series; 24x34cm flashcard with accompanying lesson text. Created with Adobe Photoshop CS4 and Corel Painter X.

"Meet the Author" series

(click on image to enlarge)

Here is an excerpt from the accompanying lesson text.

Some people think that the Holy Spirit is something like the force of gravity or electricity.  That is not so.  He is a Person.  A person is someone who can think, who can understand and know, who can love.  The Holy Spirit too can think, He can understand and know.  In fact He knows everything there is to know!  He can love – He loves everything that is good and right.  He hates all that is wrong. ....

Meet the Author –  5 Bible lessons for children on the Person and work of the Holy Spirit.  Final printed size: 24x34cm.

When including the Bible in an illustration

(click on image to enlarge)

Finished another illustration this evening...

If I'm including a Bible in an illustration, I remove any text from the cover as the lesson will be taught in many different languages.  I also avoid having the Bible cover black as this can be confused or associated with religious prayer books, etc. in some cultures/religions.

This picture is at the end of lesson #2. There are 5 lessons with 7 pictures in each lesson.    The Gospel is clearly presented in every lesson. 

Meet the Author – Bible lesson series. printed size: 24x34cm.  Illustrated using Adobe Photoshop CS4 and Corel Painter X.

Building Bridges from the familiar to the unfamiliar

(click on image to enlarge)

This illustration is an example from the "Meet the Author" Bible lesson series where a suggestion is given for a visual aid.  The teacher could remove an actual letter from an envelope and begin reading.  For those who may not have a letter/envelope on hand, we've included an illustration.  The letter is building a bridge from something they are familiar with to better understand a Biblical truth they are unfamiliar with.

Here is an excerpt from the text that accompanies this illustration:

"If you get a letter or e-mail from your grandmother or some other person, what kind of things would you find in it?  Isn't there usually some news about the person who wrote to you and then probably something about you: your Grandma says that she is glad that you are doing well at school; maybe she is pleased that you have good friends.  That is exactly what the Bible is like.  There is news in it about God the writer.  The Bible tells us that God is good and loving.  He is totally perfect.  He never does anything wrong."

Flashcard series: printed size 24x34cm.  Illustrated using Adobe Photoshop CS4 and Corel PainterX.

RGB to CMYK

(click on image to enlarge)

The title of this blog entry might not make sense to some of you.  Stay with me as I explain ... 

A computer screen or a TV uses red, green, and blue light (RGB) to create all the colours you see on your screen and even then, the colours will appear slightly different on your screen from another computer screen.  If you mix 100% of all the colours together you get white.  

The printed page (offset printing) creates colour differently.  All the colours you see on a printed page are made from cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK).  The range of colours possible with CMYK is much smaller than with RGB as you can see in the image above!  If you mix 100% of all the colours (pigments) together you get black.

Now you get a small glimpse of the challenge we face in bridging these two worlds – creating graphics in an RGB world, on a computer, and knowing how they will appear in the CMYK world – in print for the children.  The above illustration, completed a few minutes ago, is a perfect example.  The image at the top is very bright and saturated.  Most of the colours fall far outside the range possible with CMYK printing (image below).  The bottom image is a soft proof I did within Photoshop on-screen to see how muddy my colours might become when printed and then I decide if a more suitable colour should be used.  Even when I used to work with traditional materials (paint, colour pencils) I still had to store away half my colour pencils and avoid some paint colours because I knew those colours would not survive the printing process.

The illustration above is for the "Meet the Author" lesson series.  Final print size is 24x34cm.  If we produce the series as a PowerPoint® presentation on CD, I will adjust the purple and green again.

Using symbols to teach truths

(click on image to enlarge)

For a Bible lesson series, simple symbols can be effective in illustrating a truth for children.

Here are two illustrations for Meet the Author, a lesson series teaching about the person and work of the Holy Spirit.

Illustrations created in Adobe Photoshop CS3.

Final print size: 24x34cm

Application picture-Meet the Author series

(click on image to enlarge)

Several excerpts from the Bible lesson series, Meet the Author:  

".... The wind fills the sails and carries the boats across the waves.  

That is another picture of how the Holy Spirit helped the writers of the books of the Bible.  .... "Men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1:21b). .... The information in other books may grow out of date.  But God's Word is for ever.  It is always true; always right; always up-to-date.  It will never pass away."

I'm trying to keep a consistent style between each illustration while still learning and refining my use of Corel Painter X in the workflow.  It's difficult to see the brush stroke details in this reduced image, but I used a wet camel hair oil brush and was amazed at the Corel Painter's ability to blend and flow colours resembling real oil paint on a brush!

Final print size: 24x34cm

Isaiah writing

(click on image to enlarge)

I completed another illustration for the Meet the Author Bible lesson series this evening.  I might tweak some colours later on before it's printed this summer.  The colours (especially the violets and oranges) will become more muted than they appear here, when converted to CMYK for printing.

Flashcard size is 24x34cm.  Lesson was illustrated in Adobe Photoshop and Corel PainterX.

Isaiah preaching

(click on image to enlarge)

I just completed this picture for the 5-part Bible lesson series on the Holy Spirit – "Meet the Author".  Printed image will be 24x34cm.  

The illustration was created using Adobe Photoshop CS3 with additional editing in Corel PainterX.