Here’s a recent piece for Learning A-Z. The waiting room in a veterinarian’s office. The unusual clientele is because this is for the educational market. The words for the animals (except for the cat) all have unusual plural forms. Wolf/wolves, sheep/sheep, goose/geese, mouse/mice.
Here’s a third image for Learning A-Z. One more view of children playing in a neighborhood park, focused on the mom this time.
Here’s another piece for Learning A-Z. A different view of children playing in a neighborhood park.
Here’s a piece I finished recently for Learning A-Z. Children playing in a neighborhood park.
I had a bit of trouble this morning opening a PSD file I’d worked on for hours yesterday. It didn’t recognize the file type even though it was saved as a Photoshop Document (PSD) file on Photoshop. Thought I was going to have to completely re-do several hours of work. But, on a hunch, I searched the web for a way to recover the file. There were suggestions on how to do it by going directly into the code and manually fixing something. I’m not really comfortable working at that level. But, luckily, I did find an App called PSD Repair. Now, it’s not free, but it’s not too pricey either. And they offer a trial which recovers your image (proof it works) with a watermark (to force you to pay for it). Fair enough. It did recover my file, which is worth $27 to me. So, I paid it.
Now my file is recovered.
I do need to go in and redo the spacing on my font and make sure that all my layer effects came through correctly. However, that should be much faster than starting from scratch, so I’m satisfied. They also have an option to recover one file at a time online at $10 a pop. That would also work, but I figured I’d spring for the download just in case it happens again.
So, anyway. I would like to recommend PSD Repair for anyone who needs their PSD files repaired. Seems to work, it’s not too pricey, and you can check if it works for your file before you buy.
Here’s the link: https://www.psd.repair/#/
Here’s a new illustration commissioned by United Methodist Publishing House. I think it’s going in a kid’s history textbook. It’s supposed to show black slaves hiding and sneaking, and sometimes being smuggled north out of slavery before the civil war. I was given very specific elements that I needed to include in the picture, and it was quite a task to fit it all in. I’m rather proud I managed it.
I added some swirls and magic sparkles to this one I did awhile ago. I think this looks better. And it hides the fact that I didn’t really bother to include an actual background. Just a color.
A slightly sleazy businessman commissioned by Kyle Szklenski of Diurnal Productions. His company is a small video game company and this is for a scene where the player signs with their new employer. It’s a digital image drawn in Photoshop. There are a couple gradients, but mostly it’s flat colors with cel shading.
Here’s a girl with a glowing (probably magic) sword fighting some sort of tentacle monster.
It maybe needs some magic sparkles or swirls, but I’m happy with it for now. I may add a few more magic effects later. I dunno. I’ll think about it.
And here is the final version of the piece I’ve been working on! So much excitement going on here. You’ve got the rockets blasting off behind, probably an emergency evacuation. Are the searchlights searching for her, specifically? You have the abandoned motorcycle, maybe it was hers and it ran out of gas or something? That would explain the goggles. Looks like she must have met with an accident on her right side at some point in the past because she’s got a prosthetic arm and leg. They must be good tech, though, since they don’t seem to be slowing her down any. Notice the blue light on her arm? That’s a power indicator. She still has a full charge. It’ll turn orange, then red as it runs dead. At which point she becomes a lefty. I’m not sure what the earpiece is. Maybe just communications equipment, maybe a hearing aid of some sort? It is on her injured side. What’s in her bag do you think? Tools for maintaining her prosthetics? Or the plans to the enemy’s base that she has to deliver into rebel hands? It doesn’t look like she has any offensive weapons. Just that energy shield, but I think it’s underpowered to stop that robot hand. Maybe it will buy her a crucial second to slip out of its grip, though!
Here’s an Easter egg. You can’t tell at the resolution above, but this is in the background. The search light washes it out, but you can see that she’s not the only one running.
And here’s a behind-the-scenes from way back when I first started this piece. This little mannequin helped me work out her pose.
This piece was a personal project, not one meant for any particular client. I wanted to add a detailed sci-fi piece in my portfolio, one with a lot of action. So, that’s the reason for it. I’ll get it up on the portfolio in a couple of days here. [Edit: It’s up now.]
I had not really intended it to be as involved as it ended up, but the concept demanded certain elements and complex lighting. Luckily, since I had no real deadline, I was free to take as long as I liked. It was fun and I really like how it turned out. 
Karen B. Jones - Illustrator 