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Hovig Alahaidoyan

@iatemycrayons

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It's pronounced ALA-HIGH-DOUGH-YAWN.
Visual Development/Concept Art/Illustration/Personal projects
@notesonphotography @periphotetic

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I have pretty much exactly two months to complete my second picture book dummy; twenty or so spreads/40 pages ...and these three above (cover/inside cover/title page) don't count!

Deadlines are good.

Why am I sharing this?
Because it makes it more real in my head.

Is it real if it's not on IG?
Is it real if it is?
Is anything real?

Questions that keep me awake at night.

Don't bother answering...Comments are off.
You are all voices in my head anyway.

#illustration #picturebooks #childrensbooks by @iatemycrayons

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a month ago

Many of my best "bad textures" come from the most unexpected places...

Today we were at our local toy store for a birthday.

Half the store's roof was leaking after recent rains.

I was supposed to help find a present, instead I was sneaking around trying to get images of the soaked pieces of paper and fabric inside the plastic containers placed all over the shop.

I had more fun than my four-year-old.

If anyone's looking for unusual pattern and textures, specially for VFX concepts; come into my little musuem, where textures from all walks of life are welcome...

The worse, the better...

www.badtextures.tumblr.com

Have a good weekend

-H

#texture #conceptart #vfx #vfxconcepts by @iatemycrayons

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a month ago

The Plastic Kingdom
Something over on my other 'gram
@periphotetic

#summer #2026 #heatwave #Plastic #beach by @iatemycrayons

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2 months ago

First digital picture-book dummy is now... complete!

"Crickets"

40 pages and about a 1200 word count,

It's a bit above what is recommended for picture books for younger children... but recommendations are made to be ignored. It does, however, feel a lot less as it's a rhyming book...and with repeating passages.

Time to knock on some doors.

#visualdevelopement #picturebooks #childrensbooks by @iatemycrayons

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3 months ago

Those page markers don't bode too well for this Pompidou Herge exhibition book...

I was born in Belgium. The first thing they do when you come out of the womb is give you a Tintin comic which makes you a lifetime fan whether you like it or not...and that's the only "Belgian" thing about me. I even lost my citizenship after becoming naturalised in the U.S.

Some of the books don't hold up as well as I remember, and some of the very later ones I never got into (and some of the very early ones are very problematic to say the least) but I'd say The Adventures of Tintin has been a continuous source of inspiration for both art and the peripatetic life. Better than Natgeo and apparently partly the inspiration for Indiana Jones...which makes total sense.

Favourite? I am partial to any of the ones that take place in the Middle East as half my childhood was in Lebanon, where I grew up with the Tintin albums by my bedside.

#tocutoutornottocutout #tintin #herge #pompidoucentre by @iatemycrayons

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3 months ago

My son's art supplies vs mine.

Can you tell who's having more fun?

Anyway...my picture books started digital, but I want it to be a mix of digital and traditional.

Easier said than done
Lots of experimenting to come

#illustration #art #Artsupplies by @iatemycrayons

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3 months ago

Let's hope he turns out better than Mr. X...

#rocketship #visualdevelopment by @iatemycrayons

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3 months ago

A closer look at the protagonist of my second picture book in progress. Inspired by my chaotic four year old.

#Characterdesign by @iatemycrayons

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3 months ago

Work in progress for my second picture book; and as in the case of my first one (see previous posts) inspired by my four-year-old.

You want ideas? Have a conversation with your toddler.

No kids? Ask friends or siblings if they happen to have any around and talk to them. If not...volunteer at a library or at a school

It's not only the stuff that comes out of their mouth....but often, your own responses to their observations and questions that can spawn ideas.

Kids of course aren't restrained by adult logic - anything goes - connections between the simplest things that you could never dream up.

He's growing up fast, so I jot down any gems I can catch before he starts to understand how things work...

#picturebooks #childrensbooks #visualdevelopment #storytelling by @iatemycrayons

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3 months ago

Pretty much completed the text for my 2nd picture book project... and now onto the illustration roughs. It's a rhyming book about parenthood so that might explain the drastic stock market crash story arc there in red. I'm hoping I'll be holding a book dummy for this and the project from the previous post by Christmas; it would be a couple of nice presents to wrap up the year before the real work starts...Shopping them around. Oh and since sleep is overrated, I'm also available to sell my time to write and illustrate your ideas.

The....

Anyone? Anyone?

Great Depression...

#bueller? #picturebook #childrensbooks by @iatemycrayons

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3 months ago

This past April I was supposed to attend BCBF (Bologna Children's Book Fair) for the first time, but decided to postpone until next year, which has given me ample headstart to put at least one book dummy together for my project; Mari and the (magic) Rocking Dragon.

Children's picture books in this category - from what I've come to learn - are roughly 6-800 words and around 40 pages. (More or less.) The fun challenge has been to play editor and to have things fit within these rough constraints while keeping with the spirit and premise of the story. And constraints are good.

Even though this is a picture book, the process feels much like doing visual development for an animated short, all the while being written/directed by me for a change. Which is great, cause I can yell at myself as much as I want, without having to report myself to HR.

Remember HR...?
Offices...?
going to...work...?

Me neither.

On that note, if anyone's looking for a visual development artist, I'm available... In the meantime, I'll be polishing my story... along with two or three other projects I'm going to present at the fair...

Is anyone else planning to attend BCBF in 2027?

2nd image: this story is very much inspired by my surroundings... so I can shoot all the reference I need almost literally in my backyard...

#childrensbooks #picturebooks #story #bcbf by @iatemycrayons

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4 months ago

UGLY DRAWINGS OF UGLY CARS

My name is Hovig and I suffer from PSS.

Perfect Sketchbook Syndrome is an affliction that many artists suffer from quietly for years; keeping it hidden from peers in order to hide something even worse; Imposter Syndrome.

Well, I have some bad news, it's not a syndrome; you are an imposter.

Have you compared your photoshop "drawings" to your actual drawings done by your own hand? I rest my case.

But it doesn't have to be this way. There is hope.

See the problem is, you're trying to draw pretty pictures of pretty things in your perfectly new pretty sketchbook.

Pretty awful.

The solution? I think we both know the answer.

YES! We have to draw UGLY things!

When you draw ugly things your ugly drawings don't feel so bad anymore DO THEY? Next time you pick up your sketchbook to draw that quaint barn on the side of the road that gives you the warm fuzzies...or that cool gadget with clear - large/medium/small - shapes that you can't wait to share with the world...DON'T.

Instead, do a doodle of a modern midzise car, (they're everywhere!) which look like they were inspired by quite possibly the ugliest object ever imagined - your dad's comfortable old pair of New Balance trainers.

Problem solved
YOU'RE WELCOME!

#cars #transportationdesign #sketchbook #drawing #conceptartist by @iatemycrayons

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7 months ago