30 Nov 2011 3 Comments
I am very excited about my new book project. This is my own story that I am putting into dummy form for submission. I am going to make three or four finished images for the book to put into my portfolio. Here is one of them. This is a cropped section of the image.
Quote Quiz: “Dad did you see size of those big honky teeth!?”
Currently Reading: Robot Zot by Jon Scieszka, illustrated by David Shannon
Currently Watching: Friends Season 8
25 Oct 2011 3 Comments
Remember my picking up leaves project last year?
Well this year I didn’t leave my leaves to languish in a drawer. hehe. I picked this one up Friday and glued it down and painted it all by Sunday! Nothing feels better than getting some projects done. I also did a test image of leaves as a fire and another Halloween image that I will share soon.
Halloween is getting close! Time to start dancing 
Quote Quiz:”It sucked his brains out!”
currently reading: Three Remarkable Journeys Around the World by Matt Phelan
currently watching: Sherlock, yes again!
20 Oct 2011 Comments Off
Here is my first go at making an illustration with dots for eyes. It still needs a little work but, I am excited about this new direction.
Quote Quiz: “I’m only an elected official I can’t make decisions by myself!”
20 Oct 2011 Comments Off
Halloween is my favorite holiday. I love to make art of the holiday’s favorite monsters. So it was very fitting when Fanartica posted this weeks theme as 80′s Movie Monsters.
Quote Quiz: “I must be catching cold” “No no dear, that was Reverend Harper, who sneezed”
currently watching: Sherlock
currently reading: Zita the Spacegirl by Ben Hatke
13 Sep 2011 3 Comments
My need for glasses(edited as my first comment pointed out I spelled classes, oops9-14) has been verified. I have an astigmatism in both eyes brought on by age. The right eye is significantly worse than the left. I am looking forward to getting a pair so I can see again!
During my blurry time I have drawn a couple of small pieces, trading card size. New work for my etsy shops, Biology Class and Critters. Can you tell which goes to which shop?
Quote Quiz: mouthed behind a folder “what is that?”
currently watching: Mad Men Season 3 ep 3
07 Sep 2011 5 Comments
Hello September! Time to start back up with the blog and a new schedule. This week my son started preschool Tuesdays and Wednesdays, which means I have 6 hours two days a week where I can work during the day. So far I have just done some cleaning and catching up. There were many emails that had lingered in my inbox for weeks and papers had gathered since I had design work that took up the last two weeks of August.
August was a strange month with new plans for moving forward. One of my directions is writing YA. I am not surprised this has poured out of me, I have always read YA and been inspired by the authors I have heard speak on the subject. Another direction is making full illustrations with sculpey. My first approach is very detailed models of my current characters, the three boys. Here are pictures of them so far.
After the first character I was asked to take pictures of the process. Here are three pictures of the process for boy 2.
When I had reached this point with boy 2 I lost part of my vision. I can see but my right eye is very blurred to the extent of causing mild double vision. I am able to work but it makes small details frustrating. Thankfully my left eye is unharmed. My right eye problems are due to a chalayzion which, should go away with time. For now it is causing an astigmatism. My next appointment is Tuesday to see where I am at and if I will need glasses. No matter what happens my vision should be fully restored soon. I am looking forward to working with both eyes again.
I did finish boy 2 during the eye problems; it doesn’t keep me from working.
However, I did take a break from creating more illustrations. Two weeks of design work showed up just as my eye was reaching a peak in blurriness and it gave me a good chance to rest my eye to help it heal.
Now that my eye is on the mend and I have new time I am picking up where I left off. The third part of my plans from August was to fully explore the three methods I use to illustrate, trying out all the lanes and picking one. Whatever I pick will help me build a new portfolio. I am excited to see how my art grows from this exercise.
Quote Quiz: “You are always preparing, just go!”
currently reading: friend’s manuscript
currently watching: Mad Men: Season 2 ep. 4
03 Aug 2011 4 Comments
It’s long overdue that I added some black and white art to my portfolio. I have been trying to get to a couple of black and white follow up pieces to my cover of The Dark is Rising from the NESCBWI Poster Showcase, since May. Any repeat viewers notice a change to my cover? I finally got two down. Although, I am probably going to make a quick change to the image of the rider, hopefully tomorrow before I fly to LA. (If you see my portfolio page after 3pm tomorrow the change is most likely made.)
Drawing in black & white turns out to be a source of joy. I had so much fun working on this that I lost all track of time and stayed awake much too late. I point the finger at the brush pen for opening up this new love. Once I am back from LA I am planning to draw more.
Yes I am going to the SCBWI National LA conference. I can’t believe it, I am so nervous. Well, I’m not nervous of being there. I am looking forward to being at a conference just as myself and not responsible for planning or presenters. This is not a complaint about working a conference, I do love that too. However, for this big conference I appreciate not having that added pressure. So, the nervousness I am wrangling is my travel anxiety. I don’t know if others of you out there get this but, I get it bad. I had a terrible time eating dinner and that was a full 24 hours before I even leave to get on my flight. I’m not afraid of flying; I worry about missing my flight or delays or the general discomfort of being too much in other people’s space for hours. I wouldn’t want to miss out on the grand adventure of LA so, I do what I can to get past it. Hopefully as I continue to challenge myself by traveling it will get better and better.
LA should be a blast! I love that a meet and greet is planned with us all in comfy pajamas. I am looking forward to meeting all the people I have only spoken with online. Be sure to come up and say hi!
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I feel like mixing things up! I always loved playing the quote game (guess what movie this quote is from) in the car with my Dad on car trips. We watched a lot of movies so it was fun trying to find the most obscure quote possible to try to stump each other. I still love to play so I’m bringing it to the blog. For the people that come back regularly. Over the course of a season, every three months, you can earn points via a guessing game. I will leave a movie quote at the end of my blog posts and whoever leaves a comment with the correct movie title first gets 5pts. After three months I will tally the points and whoever has the most gets a free print. First quote:
“Why are you wearing these clothes?”
“Because I’ve lost my clothes”
“But why are you wearing these clothes?”
“Because I just went gay all of a sudden!”
Currently Reading: Standard Hero Behavior by John David Anderson
Currently Watching: Season 3 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
21 Jul 2011 Comments Off
I am trying to juggle a lot of projects right now. Somehow this week got very busy! I love busy, it keeps me on my toes and sometimes I think it actually helps me to be more productive. However, it is putting my timing off for the blog, as you regular readers probably noticed yesterday!
A piece of kids is still owed but I thought I would throw in something a little different first. A friend of mine, eHawk was making an awesome piece of art for a fundraiser with the theme Flying Bikes. It sounded like such a fun theme and I like the cause so I offered to donate a piece of art too.
currently watching : Make it or Break it season 1
currently reading: Real Mermaids Don’t Wear Toe Rings
12 Jul 2011 1 Comment
I am working on a new promo piece. I finished the final image for the front and I started a sketch for the back of the card. The back of the card unfortunately really doesn’t match the front or story. But, why else have a blog! To show the failures that are still fun.
And here is the final for the front:
10 May 2011 2 Comments
Every night my husband tells me “make more art that you are proud of”. I find as an artist I am the cliché, never completely happy with my own work. Always wanting it to be better, too close to the situation to see the continuity. This is not to say I don’t believe in my work or think it is marketable, I just am constantly wanting improvement. However, I have recently been happy with my work!
I sunk into a routine of spending any moment free making art. Apart from the large number of sculpey creatures I made, I also completed a series of pieces from The Life of Pi. The first two pieces can be seen here. Now, here is the third.
I am very happy to be able to add this series to my portfolio. Just in time for the NESCBWI conference this coming weekend. Ready for my portfolio review Friday and my web critique Sunday. The website critique is through the Advanced Illustrator Academy. I am happy to have helped organize this Academy which, will include illustrators Dani Jones and John Lechner, designer Kerry Martin, and agentNicole Tugeau. It should be a stupendous session! I look forward to seeing friends and meeting people that I have been talking with through twitter. Make sure you stop and say hi!
Animals in a Show! 
Sketchbook Project 2012 
NYC SCBWI 2012 
Portfolio update of January 2012 
SOPA, No Thanks 
Monochromatic – 7 
That’s the Kind of House We Live In!* 
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