beetlegrass

The Temples With Which I'm Familiar

As part of my sometime series on subjects I've frequently illustrated (what have I done thus far? donkeys? apples?), I bring you the next installment: temples. If you're an illustrator for religious curriculum, it's a lock you'll be drawing temples from time to time.

 

Since I'm not an architect (no, really, I'm not, don't mean to shock), I'm not going to have perfect parallel lines and vanishing points that make complete sense. I don't want to draw that way, and let's face it: I'm not paid to draw that way. I have to figure out a way to make drawing buildings without people, etc. interesting to me, so how do I do this? (My default answer of "volume" will not work here, I'm afeared.) "Swoopy lines" is what I call them. That's what makes drawing interesting to me..

 

The scene above shows the interior of the temple, with Samuel and Eli the priest. Can you find all the hidden flames? (Click on image for an enlarged view.)
 
  

More temples, above, used in a variety of educational ways. Picture #2: Find the hidden (Biblical) carpenter tools; Picture #3: Who are the people in your (Biblical) neighborhood? (oh, hey, look: a donkey!); Picture #4: A dot-to-dot that comes to a fairly obvious conclusion.

 

Above, some selling going on in the temple. Can you find all the hidden coins?

(Since the only things that seem to be working in my house these days are one knife and a hand-held pencil sharpener, the above was an experiment to see if I could put images from my computer onto a thumb drive, bring them to the library and blog from there. Apparently, I can, but it's a little jump-through-the-hoop-y for my tastes.)

These images are copyrighted. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Using them for your own Sunday School activities = you need a refresher course in the 8th commandment.

Pulling the Pug

I adore Pugs -- their cobby little bodies, their curly tails, their squishy faces & their clown-y dispositions. I wish I owned one, but until such time -- whenever an illustration assignment calls for a generic "dog", the Pug is my "default button". Recently though, one client has basically said, "ENOUGH", so now I MUST pay homage to this End of an Era with a retrospective of SOME of the illos I've done for them, showcasing my favorite pup.

Click on images for a larger view in a pop-up window.

      

    

Which dog breed shall I overuse now? Write your suggestions in the comment box.

These images are copyrighted. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 

20 Years

It was 20 years ago that I began freelancing as a children's illustrator.

Big company picnic. I gave a toast; I listened. I threw the frisbee; I caught it. Was really a team-building experience between me & me. So, all told: a success!

I DID bake a cake to celebrate -- wouldn't've seemed right to not in some way pay tribute to the many things learned during these past 2 decades.  Much for which to be grateful; much for which to feel proud.

This image is © Megan E. Jeffery. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Christmas Card 2003

In 2003, my sister Jane & I were heavily into... altered books & the like, so it was the various accoutrements from that art form that inspired my Christmas (or New Year's) card that year.

Besides being one of my all-time favorite winter birds, the Cardinal has a great song, which is "Cheer! Cheer! Cheer!", so I thought it be fun to "cheer" in the new year with this little guy. Anytime I can combine some bit of trivia with an illustration is a good time for me.

Also a good time for me: YOU having a Merry Christmas!
Do so, wouldya? ;-)

© Megan E. Jeffery.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Christmas Card 2001

In Christmas of 2001, after the attacks on the World Trade Center & the Pentagon, there was a renewed feeling of patriotism in the United States, with American flags everywhere & on everything.
Because of this, I decided to combine Santa with Uncle Sam (making him "Uncle Santa") in the classic "I WANT YOU" poster, but replacing US's dour expression with a more jolly one.

The inside of the card read:

... to have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!

© Megan E. Jeffery.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Christmas Card 2000

2000's Christmas card (and I mean it this time: it really WAS 2000) centered around a peace theme. Doing a "Christian spin" on the yin & yang sign, I implemented the Lion & the Lamb, who co-exist in the Peaceable Kingdom.This design was a rubber cut print-- much easier to do than a linoleum cut!

On a personal level, I had been through a lot that year, having been both diagnosed with & healed from cancer all within a 5-month period. Not a "fun" time, for sure, & not one that I would care to repeat, but all the same: it grew my faith in God, softened my heart, & gave me a first-hand knowledge of His healing grace. What this experience taught me about the character of God helps me now, when going through hard times. Testify, y'all! :-)

© Megan E. Jeffery.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Christmas Card 2002

ETA: I'm a bumbyhead. This card was actually from 2002, not 2000 like I initially said. Doh!

I love this poem written by Eleanor Farjean (or Farjeon), which is usually sung to a traditional French melody -- I always knew it as a hymn. This was my inspiration for 2002's Christmas card, as the words are beautiful; the message hope-filled.

As the words and images of this poem/hymn conjure up quilt images for me, I wanted to try to create that look. I did all the linework for this card on a piece of acetate, and glued pieces of fabric (some vintage; some not) to the back side. I then placed this on another piece of paper onto which I had drawn the brown "stitching" lines.
(Now I would be able to do all this in Photoshop, but keep in mind that this was the year 3 B.P.)
Color-copied the whole thing on one side of 8.5x11" sheet, folded into quarters.

Illustrations © Megan E. Jeffery.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Christmas Card 1999

I do a fair amount of American Sign Language (ASL) illustrations for educational publications, so decided to go this route for 1999's Christmas card. The words I chose are the four that are highlighted during Advent, for which a new candle is lit each week. The candle color order goes lavendar, lavendar, pink, lavendar, so those became the background colors for each kid.

© Megan E. Jeffery.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Christmas Card 1998

1998's card was fairly simple, with individually-done linework, & featured some great marbleized and gold papers.
I love this Bible verse from James, and handwriting all the cards proved to be a great way to memorize it!

© Megan E. Jeffery.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Christmas Card 1997

For Christmas of 1997, I made a lacing card in the shape of a gingerbread man. It was made from craft foam that comes in sheets. The features were painted with acrylics, and then shadows were drawn on with Sharpie. I remember that making these required the purchase of a smaller hole punch, which I am proud to say I still own & use to this very day.
I packaged these with lengths of white yarn, cuz I was too cheap to buy shoelaces for all of them. Oh, if I had only known that in the future I would see bundles of shoelaces for sale @ flea markets, who knows what direction my card-creating life would have taken.

If you can't read my handwriting, it says "Season's Eatings!" on the back. The Har-dee-har Factor is off the charts!

No Christmas card from me is complete without EXPLICIT INSTRUCTIONS on how to use said Christmas card. I still use my sample guy as a tree ornament.

© Megan E. Jeffery.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.