Been watching a lot of Cesar Milan on Youtube. This is a drawing of his favorite Pitbull, Daddy. Been really busy with work, and sometimes ya just have to sketch for yourself..keep the hand loose...this one was done in less than 5 mins.

WOW! Finally got a few moments to finish this! I've permanently added two new colors to a very small palette: Quinacridone Blue Violet and my new favorite: Light Blue Violet. Light Blue Violet is a very versatile color because what it really is is a cool neutral grey; and can be mixed with flesh tones and does not overwhelm warm fleshtones, just cools it. Manganese Blue can often turn the fleshtones too cool too fast. Also the Blue Violet is excellent for shadows on white (early morning).

WIP: People ask me if I use a pencil to sketch in the figure before starting. I do not. I paint in guidelines very quickly first, making sure that those simple few lines carry the composition and emote what there is to emote. Then I block in the shadows, either warm or cool, depending, then put a light wash of sepia over the whole thing. I can tell you this, that this painting will be the best I've done yet.

A snippet of part of the color pallette; I really liked these color harmonies. I bought a colored rock at the swap meet a few weeks ago and was inspired by the colors and came up with this pallette. This is what I used for the last painting post. Painting sketch is acrylic on bristol vellum bound in a sketchbook. Ron Velasco suggested that I mix my paints on a neutral gray wax paper and it has made all the difference in my color mixing choices and I'll never paint without it again.

A rough start and a weird pallette. Had to go back and saturate the flesh tones a little more to bring the figure out a little more. Happy Valentine's Day!

Hello Everyone: My father recently died of complications of cancer a few days ago at the hospital. I have not been able to create or blog any work for this period and will be returning Saturday to the Los Angeles area. This is one of the last photos taken of him; we were very close. He is the greatest man I have ever known and it is because of him, that I am the artist I am of today. Kimberly See you all in February.

Amazing, amazing gallery show at the Weisman. It's the first time an illustration show has been featured at Pepperdine. For all you that could not make it, this is one of the best shows you will see for the year 2013, esp if you like art from this period. You won't likely find the quality and amount of the draftsmanship, craftsmanship in one gallery this year. I believe it runs til March so you still have enough time. It's free! What's astonishing is the concentration of talent that flourished in this short period. I can't get over how creative each artist was with composition, gesture, the ability to tell a story in a glance, and the brushwork! Oh the brushwork! Leyendecker, Pyle, Wyeth, James Montgomery Flagg, Mead Schaeffer (next to Leyendecker, one of my favorite work examples, powerful, with huge bold and brave brushstrokes), Cornwell, Parrish, Charles Dana Gibson and even a Frank Leyendecker were represented. This is why I became an Illustrator. And the gallery was packed after 6! I talked to Stuart Ng, Ruben Procopio, http://maskedavengerstudios.blogspot.com, animal sketch teacher, Marshall Vandruff (Gnomon), even ran into my illustration teacher, Bunny Carter, who had flown in from San Jose, California just to see the show and the collector of these extraordinary pieces. Many people were not able to make it this weekend, but I am planning to circle back to visit again with some folks so I will keep you notified of the next gathering. Thank you, everyone, for your interest and support! Kimberly

FINI! Finally gave birth to this one! I'm actually sick of looking at it, but did have lots of fun with it.

Doggone tired today..Miss painting; did not get a chance, but drew some horses. The lines which go beyond the figures are guidelines and help to keep the flow in the subject. I learned this method from Mark Westomoe and Paul Wee. Paul pushed me to find the "calligraphy" of the figure, a much more eloquent and descriptive word which made more sense to me than "find the gesture" or "design of the figure", etc.

Update on screen pic: A few days ago, Pop was diagnosed with cancer literally flowering at the end of his esophagus. And the reason why I mention this is because I fell into a deep depression; my Dad one of my favorite people, the man who has taught me how to be independent, to have integrity, the man who brought me into this world, was dying. Usually I attack everything with speed and confidence; I never rest and this day, could did not even know who I was. I was frozen. In order to break out of this I unplugged myself from the world and needed to get my brain activated. I painted. Back in November, I attended CTN in Burbank and talked to world class artist, Rob Rhuppel, and had shown him my book of painted screen shots. I am learning to turn the figure with warms and cools, learning to abstract the painting a little esp. in the background, getting some environment in there and he said simply, you now need to show some depth, make sure the fore figure comes forward and everything is pushed back in the background. So this will be the next goal. This will probably be the last entry for this year. Everyone, have a wonderful and memorable Holiday! And stay safe out there! Kimberly

Quick plein aire in Mission Viejo with my best friend's daughter. It's a bird sanctuary called See and Sage. I suck at plein aire since I don't get enough practice in..it was a dark overcast day with brackish water...

WHAT'S NEW: An interview with Animation Insider: http://www.animationinsider.com/2012/12/kimberly-m-zamlich/ and thank you, Mike Milo: mike@animationinsider.com

This is a book published by artist Pascal Campion, titled Papa c'est Moi. I met Mr. Campion at CTN this year in Burbank and as I rarely buy art books at these kind of events, I highly recommend this one as a Christmas gift, and yes, I did buy it. It is was wonderful mix of the magic and joys of being human. Garunteed you will feel lighter and at peace after looking at his family oriented art. These images stand out among the edgy, dark and cynical work that you typically see on the internet. Sit down with the family, relax and immerse yourself in this kid friendly collection of images which will have you wonder and smile.

Ruff for a digital illustration

Update: Feeling weird today, not sure of what I was doing, but it worked to my advantage. I like the non editing going here and will try to stay in this vein...done during lunch...

As posted on FB: "What goes on in my mind when I work or just breathe? Pushing the pencil around! The loving dog belongs to Steve Andrews and we dogsit him when we can. He is really fun to sketch while I work. But drawing him helps me draw dragons...sabor tooth cats ...And no matter how I put the drawing in the scanner, it's always upside down!"