Stefan Bucher's OPEN SOURCE MONSTER 10

Another 'monster' for fun! Created from Ink Blot #10 at Daily Monster

Portrait Party 2: Wonil 3

Went a little out there with this one. Still trying to find my own voice.

Illustration Friday: CARS 2

UPDATE!
Illustration/Photo:


Original:

Here's another. I really do love my little car. :)

Illustration Friday: CARS

UPDATE!
Illustration/Photo:


Original:

One car, MY car. I love my car. It's the cutest little thing on the road, as far as I'm concerned (see previous post!). I was actually thinking about branching out and drawing my car last week - before this topic came up - so it all worked out (I only wish the car actually looked better!). I had fun with this - kind of creating a little faux-ad for suzuki or something. Was going to through a little tag line and logo in at the bottom... but I ran out of time. Maybe I'll come back to it - I'm just excited to have this in relatively EARLY!

Sketch:

TAGGED: 7 RaNDom ThinGs aBoUt Me...

I've been tagged! At last! I thought no one loved me, but Kelly does! She even has me on her links list! I love being linked to!! That's why I link as much as possible!! Anyway - down to the facts:


1 • I LOVE MOVIES. unfortunately none of my friends seem to love them as much, so i often end up going to random matinees by myself. upside: there usually aren't many other people there to spoil the show with loud personal commentary, ringing cell phones, or stomach turning body odor. I also live for netflix - LOVE that I always have another movie coming!


2 • I DON'T HAVE CABLE. this doesn't mean i don't watch tv, but it does mean i don't watch that much (LOST! HOEROES! VERONICA MARS!). i gave up cable last summer to save cash (& time), but never really needed to get it back, so i didn't. i do have some very nice friends that DVR certain shows for me, and most of the REALLY good stuff gets talked about or offered for sale on DVD or iTunes anyway. :) shortly i'll be giving up my ancient tv as well. the computer'll do.


3 • I LOVE MY CAR. it's a make and model most people have never heard of, a suzuki reno, and ORANGE. it's officially 2 years old next month, but i try to take good care of it so it still looks brandy new - even though it tangled with three other vehicles in it's first year out (including a BUS!) and lots of time parked in Manhattan. it's lived to tell the tale though - must be its positive attitude. it's the cutest thing on the road as far as i'm concerned!


4 • I HATED THE COLOR ORANGE AS A CHILD. i thought i would always hate orange. oops.


5 • I'M MOVING TO MANHATTAN. at least that's the plan. i'm trying to be smart about it - paying off all debts, saving money at the same time, learning how to budget (and actually LIVE on that budget) and all that good stuff. and i'm struggling with the idea of possibly having to give up my car. :( but, MANHATTAN... it's a dream, it's exciting, and i'm scared out of my mind! but you're supposed to do things that scare you, right?


6 • I HATED THE CITY AS A CHILD. i didn't mind visiting, but i thought i could never live there in a million years! egh! dirty, crowded, noisy... how wrong can one girl be about her future!?


7 • I'M 6'3" AND I LOVE BEING TALL. it's taken 30 years to come to this conclusion. even with the funny looks, double takes, difficult shopping expeditions, and limited supply of taller men - i now embrace my height... and heels. :) (batman is SO not even taller than me... he's on a platform!)

ps... i also surfing the internet daily perusing other illustrator's websites kelly! i'm like - ADDICTED.

Useful Tools 1: Idea Log

Knock Knock is company that puts out funny, kitchy, ridiculously outrageous stationery products - most based on the idea that YOU fill-in-the-blank - whatever. They have products like REPORT CARDS, MULTIPLE CHOICE CARDS, FLASHCARDS, various KITS, plus so much more.

I've been a huge fan for years. They recently released a new series of LOGS, a series of To-Do lists for your brain, so-to-speak. I love them. I make lists ALL THE TIME, it's what I do - so this kind of thing is just perfect for me. I keep my lists all over the place - but these logs conveniently let you organize your thoughts by subject, all in one place. Log subjects include: the IDEA LOG, the MIND LOG, the HEALTH LOG, the COMPUTER LOG, the CULTURE LOG, and the MONEY LOG.

Quote 1: Penelope Dullaghan

Some days I find a quote I just have to keep, so I can look at it, soak it up, re-read it again and again. Today I found this, while looking through the MANY websites and blogs of Penelope Dullaghan. I had no idea just how busy that girl is - I'm sure she doesn't sleep. Thank you Penelope, you're an inspiration and beautiful, wonderful artist.

Illustration Friday: SIGNS 2

Second attempt, second thoughts. This one feels little forced. And it was. I made myself do it... in hopes that if I keep making myself follow through - I'll eventually get better at it. Better at the follow through, and better at the illustration.

Illustration Friday: SIGNS 1

First attempt. First impulse. The damage shows. Drawing from the heart and what's on my mind I guess. Still, I like it a lot more than I did when I drew it a few days ago.

Stefan Bucher: OPEN SOURCE MONSTER 09

Stephan Bucher is a brilliant designer & illustrator and a great inspiration to me. When a new design magazine, STEP Inside Design, came out several months back, I was struck by a particular and extremely interesting reoccurring column called Ink & Circumstance. It was so very different, and everything said within it was SO right-on to what I was experiencing on a day-to-day basis. Cut to last week, I discovered Von Glitschka's Illustrative Designer podcasts and discovered Stefan was in fact, not only the creator of Ink & Circumstance, but he also started another website called Daily Monster, a series of monsters created one-a-day for 100 days from random blown ink blots. He started the project to promote a book he’d done: the Neighbors Upstairs, but it quickly developed it’s own unique following – and people started responding with stories about the who and what the monsters were like – talk about happy accidents! He's just brilliant and has done SO much to get people and kids involved.

Part of the Daily Monster blog is the OPEN SOURCE MONSTER, which is a random ink blot he offers for anyone to download and turn into a monster of their own. This is SO my kind of thing. I had a lot of fun doing this in the wee hours of the morning!

Portrait Party 3: Doreen 1

This is Doreen... well kind of Doreen. Again, this is a "first draft". Lately it seems that everything I do looks slightly - or a lot - like someone's work that I've seen. Hmmmmmm.
Doreen is a brilliant freelance illustrator I met through a friend at work. We hired her to illustrate some fun stickers for us and well, she was just so cool I had to make her my friend! Thanks for being my friend Doreen! Check out her website and her blog. Oh, and you should definitely check out Baxter the Puggle's blog too - cause he's just the CUTEST EVER!

Portrait Party 2: Wonil 2

Okay, this on is just embarrassing, but I'm posting in good faith. I'm putting it all out there, even the bad stuff. Sorry Wonil - this doesn't look ANYTHING like you.

Portrait Party 2: Wonil 1

This is my friend Wonil. We met in a children's book illustration class at SVA in 2005. He is an AMAZING, amazing allaround artist. He has such a unique and brilliant illustration style, not to mention a great eye for photography AND web SKILLZ! Check out the Secret Toilet! And the Secret Toilet blog.

Portrait Party 1: Jason... again

I did a lot of drawing this weekend. At least I was semi-productive in that respect. So, as mentioned previously - I've been recently inspired greatly by Rama Hughes' Portrait Party. I've started a bunch - and I've been experimenting lots... I have yet to receive MY portrait in return... but here is the next in a series: Jason 2, a slightly different approach. :)

Illustration Friday: CITRUS

This was an early promotional piece for my design group: Tangerine Cafe. We do everything with citrus... and coffee there. ;)

Illustration Friday: NEIGHBOR

A cubicle neighbor anyway. This is my friend Jason, say hi Jason!

Reading around the many inspirational illustrator blogs that I do, I came upon Rama Hughes' Portrait Party a while back and have just got around to trying it with a few friends. I drew Jason from life... but we were rushed, so I took a picture as well. This drawing is from the picture. I plan to do several more versions until the 'right' one comes out or reveals itself. This one's a little forced.

I'm on a search for my artistic 'voice'. I've been consciously looking for it for about 10 years now. Every once and again it just pops up on it's own and I can revel in it... but it's not that often. So I have to coax it, draw the same thing multiple times, or just draw because I like to. Sometimes it's hard - I've forgotten how to just be and draw like I used to - I find I rush through everything... That probably comes from work and deadline oriented life. Slowing down is the key, neighbor.

slow down.

Illustration Friday: REMEMBER

to experiment. to make time. to forget time.

Late again! But taking a page from Keri Smith, I picked up a piece of weather newspaper scrap from the lot outside my apartment building this afternoon. I pasted into my sketching, and just started drawing on and around it. It was Play. I miss that.