IF: Moustache

Long time… Yeah, it's just been a long time.
I've been talking about experimenting for over a year now, and I haven't really gotten around to it, so tonight I sat down and forced something out. I don't necessarily like, but I think it's a real start of something.
I'm excited I finally did an iFri too (even if I am getting in about 40 past the deadline). I've been all wrapped up in "stuff", I gotta learn to have fun doing what I do again.

Jack-MustachiO's

*anyone catch my shout-out to Little Pea? LOVE that book!

Happy Blog-New-Year (#Twoodle)

four+carrot
(edited pencil sketch + digital color & texture)

I know, I know… it's the end of February. I'm just gonna say it, it's been s struggle so far this year. I'm trying to hang-in though, and here's my first post of the year, a #twoodle (learn more about twoodle here, thanks to the lovely and talented @aliciapatron).

I sent two words out into the twitterverse during the week, four and logging. It seems many twoodlers were also inspired by @johnlechner's word, carrot.

original sketch from sketch-a-day book

So, I'm going to try and sketch more and post more and just get back to being present here… and in life. Wish me luck!

Illustration Friday: STAY

So, this was a "morning/afternoon/evening pages" doodle I started and chipped away at all day today… it wasn't until I was almost done that I looked at it and thought, "Stay" and burst out laughing to myself.

Yes, you there… monstrous red, two-headed, six-legged wolf-dog… you stay right THERE -- and I'll just walk away, FAR AWAY. Pay me no mind, do not follow me, just STAY.

I'll probably play around with the word some more during the week and try to do something a bit more apropos to my current portfolio goals… but this was a fun little experiment for today.

Bella Sara Prints: Now available in my Etsy Shop!

Hi, Bella Sara fans! I am now selling signed and dedicated 8x10" glossy prints over at my Etsy Shop. At the moment, I only have Anemone (from the Royalty Series) listed, but any of my Bella Sara characters can be requested, check my Bella Sara page for a full listing!

Illustration Friday: CHICKEN

Yay! I finished an IF, just under the wire (in my own time zone anyway). I've recently been experimenting with a new style and decided to keep playing with it on this. It's all just for fun and experimentation.

New Work: Sticker Sunday - "School Senior"

Still in September, continuing along the school theme… here is an interesting sticker project I worked on a while back. It's a more "designy" illustration style and you can see I put a lot less detail in this sketch - it was more about concepts than beautiful rendering. This is one of the ones that changed the coloring after I had approval and the final art was delivered:The client gave the instructions for a fun graphic style with icons that included words. I also did "freshman", "sophomore", and "junior" - and each one had a dominant color theme. They didn't make many changes to those, but they obviously decided they didn't like the color way I'd chosen for this and changed it at some point. This is part of the production process and really doesn't bother me - they are still really fun stickers!

I had no idea what material they would be producting these stickers in when I completed the designs. Turns out they did layered mylar! Super fun and fancy! I happen to have some samples and snapped a few pics - they really don't do them justice, but you can get an idea of the layering and dimension, as well as the glossy metallic sheen.

NEW WORK: Family Crest Design & Illustration

I get some unusally requests from time to time and they usually end up being the most fun to work on. This is a family crest I was asked to design and illustrate. My client came to me with very specific requests that I used to create this detailed, traditional looking crest with some very modern elements. My client is very happy with the results, an so am I!

Bella Sara: TREASURES

At last! Bella Sara has introduced their new card series called "Treasures" on their website - now I can share the artwork I contributed. This was my first time working on Bella Sara with Hidden City Games. I was extremely excited because this is the kind of stuff I used to sit around and dream up when I was twelve (okay, so I still do, so what?!). It was definitely an experience from beginning to end, but I'm very happy with the results - especially since this is one of my first completely digital illustration projects (with the exception of Harmony, in purple, which i finished in colored pencil)

Merry Christmas!

This is a drawing I did for my Christmas Cards this year. It's one of my first truly melded traditional/digital images. The drawing was fully rendered in black and white on tan Rives BFK paper. The drawing was then scanned and fully colored digitally. I was very happy with the finished piece. I had three patterns papers that I used in making the cards, so the pattern in the background of the illustration changed according the card it was placed on.

I will update with photos of an actual card shortly.

Enjoy!

Illustration Friday: Vacant

In real life she doesn't look this old or sad - but after a long day when she's just exhausted, her eyes to tend to gaze over in a bit if a vacant stare.

Graphite, digitally colored.

Illustration Friday: YOUR PARADISE

I really don't like this at all. I just had to post something. :P

Illustration Friday: POLAR

Okay, done! A real original for IF!! Yay!
I had fun with this one. I was going to go all deep and try to do something about the polar bears drowning because of the melting ice floes, but that was too depressing. I decided to take a more humorous approach. You tell me, does it work?

Illustration Friday: GREEN 2

Did this one as a favor for a friend's birthday - thought I'd thow it up here as well since 'it ain't easy being green'. ;) Another experiment, very different style for me.

Illustration Friday: SNAP... dragon

Had a little fun with this one. Trying to post more, and more often. Please check out the new stuff - including some recent IF themes!!
Communication
Gravity
Hide
Nursery Mural
Recent Commission

Illustration Friday: COMMUNICATION

...or lack there of. I happen to be very bad at communcating my own feelings and often I avoid saying anything at all costs... along with some other people I know. ;)

Illustration Friday: MASK

UPDATE:





I've been working on a series of pieces based on the IF themes (actually thinking about and preparing for, but NOT actually drawing.... yet). But, I see them taking a little longer than 1 week... or at least longer than I have to give them in a week. So for now, I still have to resort to an old, sub-par piece I did years ago. This is from a sticker sheet of Marti Gras Masks. Sorry for the bad scan - I will try to replace with the clean vector art later.