Curly Girls

These were just little practice doodles for an illustration of the little girl with the little curl in the middle of her forehead. The one on the left is minorly based on a girl in an old cocoa advertisement  and the one on the right is somewhat based off Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz.

I just love the ruffled collar and apron on this girl. And her sweet face, which I can't really duplicate in my style of drawing.
 But I didn't want her to have just plain braids, I really wanted to emphasize the curly hair, so looked to Dorothy's style (from about the same era) for how to do those curls.

Clay Chic's Bad Hair Day Earring's

I designed this curly haired girl for Clay Chic's Bad Hair Day Earrings. She makes these huge sterling earrings that are so stunning no one will be looking at your hair. She'll be making hang tags with this image on them.

All images on this blog are property of Melody DuVal. Please do not use with-out permission.

Summer Beauty

Check-out my flickr stream to see my latest piece in full!

It started out as just a doodle, but I loved the curve of her hair and her dress. I don't usually enlist outside help for my color choices, but this time I was inspired by Colour Lovers. I hope to have the print available in my etsy shop by the middle of June.

Any Given Sunday

When I was a little girl some pastors used to tell my mother that I shouldn't be drawing in church or that if I was drawing it should be about the sermon. Apparently my mom thought that could get awkward ("So, how did you illustrate Song of Solomon, Melody?") or difficult ("Well now, that's an nice drawing of predestination, but I think your propitiation could use some more shading."). Or maybe she just thought that dealing with an antsy six year old might keep her from listening very well.

In any case, she didn't make me stop.

Over the years I went from doodling on the back or in the margins of bulletins to sneaking in my own blank paper to brazenly carrying in my sketchbook along with my bible.  Maybe some people think I'm not paying attention, but I can only tell them what I have told every teacher in my life.

It helps me focus.

If I don't draw my mind wanders, drawing keeps me grounded in the here and now. And as you can see, it doesn't keep me from note-taking either.

Vampire Weekend

My youngest sister asks me if every person I draw is her. Unless it obviously is her, in which case she asks if it's someone else. Fangs seemed like an appropriate response.