Introducing QiWi

What is a QiWi you may ask? Well, he's not a fruit… or rather, he insists that he is not (I beg to differ, on occasion)

QiWi is a type of chimaera, a blend of several animals that make one magical critter (like griffins, mermaids and enfields). His particular type is called a Tirsu (Tier-soo).

*He’s also my new mascot & studio helper. He doesn’t have an artistic bone in his body, but with that handy gripping tail of his, he’s always ready to hand me what I need while I work. QiWi, where’s that cup of coffee I asked for?!

QiWi does think himself rather handsome, so he wanted me to share a bit of the process of how he came to be. It all started seven years ago…

Pt 1When I initially started designing a brand for myself there were a few important elements I wanted to include: I wanted it to be something unreal (I wanted to make it up) and having elements that were drawn and designed (after all, I do illustration and design). I sketched a horse-like critter in my notebook, scanned him, created vector artwork from the sketch, and blended the two. I kept things black & white because I wanted to highlight the color in my artwork… plus I was tired of seeing white backgrounds everywhere. Whatever, I’m over it - I need color now.

Pt 2I decided I needed an update, I didn’t want to start from scratch. So I took the old icon and started tinkering. I’d never drawn that original critter any other way, so I started playing with showing him in different positions, and even facial expressions.

Pt 3Then I started getting down to the details, okay he’s still very horse-like (what can I say, I like horses and I’m really good at drawing them). But he’s also got a very long neck like a giraffe and a curved back like a dragon or a dog. I’m not sure about the mouth feature yet - but he does have a bit of a cow nose. I spent quite some time trying to work out his feet - it was one of the features I wasn't particularly not happy with from the initial concept. I didn’t want him to have hooves, and I didn’t want them to be just paws - I eventually landed somewhere in between creating a kind of toed hoof (which is somewhat ironic given that a hoof is a toe, that’s right, for those of you that didn’t know, horses have four single toes). I was going to have a tufted tail (as you can see from the rough sketches), but I went back to the flowy horse-tail when I decided he would have movement control of each hail - like a million extra arms that work together to grip like hands.

Pt 4Now that I had a good sense of his overall structure and details, I just started sketching poses again and I landed on a unique one I thought would work well to compliment my new logotype (hand lettered - I’ll share that in another post soon) and my branding overall. It’s a unique position (horses and giraffes don’t sit, but dogs and dragons do). After the initial rough idea, I added the elements that help him identify with me (as my mascot & helper - he’s holding some of my tools). I also liked the tilt of his head, it’s almost inquisitive.

Pt 5Next… color. Always tough when you’re making things up as you go. I never had to think about this in the initial design, but luckily I’d already decided on a color palette for my new website, so I had something to start with. I did several of color studies, but ended up sharing these four with some of my trusted advisors (i.e. my crit group) and the consensus was V4. I had to agree, it’s unique, has an exotic feel to it, and it’s the least real-horse-like of the group. And there are aspects of this coloring that are reminiscent of a horse character I designed back in the 5th grade for a class picture book project. I kinda of liked the nostalgia of it.

Pt 6Then, I admit, I felt a bit rushed. I was anxious to get something done that I could share and get up on my new website & blog. Working digitally allows for extra editablility in the developmental process - so I decided to go vector first. It allowed me to work out a couple problem areas without redrawing 50 million times, plus is gave me wild freedoms in developing design elements for the website and branding I need him for. It’s a good place to start. I will use this finalized vector art to help create a finished version in graphite (which will be colored digitally) and a colored pencil version (which everyone is going to like the best - they always do).

Pt 7And so, here we have it… final vector line art and color. With a couple silhouettes for fun. I like silos, but since he’s a critter I made up and people aren’t familiar with him yet, it’s a bit confusing so I probably won’t be using them any time soon.

I just love making things up, and it’s been a lot of fun figuring out QiWi’s look. I can’t wait to share more versions of him and more poses… and perhaps, one day - a QiWi adventure!

New Work: Bella Sara SPRING CARNIVAL

The new series from Bella Sara has arrived! I worked on Nova for this series, a character that was introduced in the recent Starlights series, and is making another appearance here at the Spring Carnival. Once again, I did not work on the background art, but only concentrated on the character. As usual, I had so much fun working on this project that it can hardly be called "work". Creating the transparent decorative silks and elaborate "Mane&Tail-dos" were particularly challenging. I enjoyed stylizing her "angelic" wings as well. And special bonus, the Bella Sara team has made a digital "poster" of Nova that is available for download at their website - previewed below. Click on the image to go to the site and download it for yourself, along with several other characters from this series!

New Work: NESCBWI Conference 2011 Illustration & Promo Material

This year I had the honor of being asked to create an illustration and promo material design for the New England Region of the Society of Children's Books Writers and Illustrator's annual conference. The theme of the conference this year is "Celebrating Milestones" because both the SCBWI and the NESCBWI are celebrating big anniversaries.

Honestly, I really got myself worked up over this one. I mean, the PRESSURE. I was struggling with the deadline, the theme, and what style to go with. But with the help of my crit group pals, I finally landed on a solid concept that fit the theme and would be fun for me and my whimsical-fantasy artwork preferences. The main idea was based on the Gloucester Sea Serpent, a New England local legend, which grew to include a sailing ship to represent a long, on-going journey. I threw in a couple subtle references to the organizations - a feather pen for the writers, a brush for the illustrators and a kite to honor SCBWI National.

This was also a bit of an experimentation for me. I knew I wouldn't have the time for my favored colored pencil work and since I also love line drawings and work with vector art often, I decided to play around with blending both. I arrived at the final stlye by combining a vector color base, layered with several textures to add an organic feel, and finished it off with a layer of hand-drawn line work on top, to bring it all together.

All in all it's been a very fun project and experience. The conference organizers have been wonderful to work with (and so patient with me!). I can't wait to attend the conference myself, this May. :)

Illustration Friday: AFTERWARDS

They met on a perfectly average day, but afterwards they were the best of friends.

New Work: Bella Sara MOONFAIRIES

I'm pretty late with this update - this set came out way back on late spring, but I've only just got around to posting the artwork I completed. I was fortunate enough to be asked to work on four characters, two of them special promo cards (the dancing couple: Woodlock and Twilight). I don't have any actual samples of these cards, but I'll be keeping an eye out. As always, it was a super fun project.

This is Sylphie and the only card for which I worked on both the character and the background art. The rest of the designs were character art only.

Woodlock

Twilight

Mote

New Work: Bella Sara SUNFLOWERS

I know it seems like lately all I do is Bella Sara, all the time. It's not, it's just that Bella Sara releases their product lines with nice defined schedules… unlike several of my other clients. ;) I'm particularly proud of the work I did on this set, not only because I got to work on the title character, but I also got to experiment & have quite a bit of fun - designing pendants and crowns, as well as a grass-green, iridescent horse!

FEATURED: Bella Sara Fan Magazine (France)

I'm so excited to share that my artwork for the new Bella Sara Series, Bella's Ball, was recently featured on the cover of the French Bella Sara Fan Magazine (above). To top it off, they decided to follow-up with an interview article with me in the newest issue (below).

I feel so exotic being in a foreign language magazine! To be honest, I was really impressed with these magazines - when they contacted me I thought the magazine must be a small matte paper/ pamphlet-like thing, but these issues are full-on glossy magazines filled with Bella Sara characters, artwork, fans and various articles! I think I might have loved this kind of thing when I was that age!

The interview was conducted via email and while I don't have the actual translation of the edited down version featured in the magazine, I can share my original answers in full here:

Why and how did you become a visual artist?
When I was a toddler in day care, a teacher came to my parents concerned that I was constantly drawing horses, only horses. My parents were more impressed with the fact that I was drawing recognizeable horses at the age of two. I think having such supportive & encouraging parents has played a major part in my development as an artist. I always loved to draw, in fact I found myself drawing more often than taking notes, in school. That’s a lot of practice! I basically just kept going, until I found some people willing to pay me for it.

Can you tell us a bit about your career?
I sold my first painting when I was 13. It had been an art class project, the object was to illustrate a word acting out it’s definition. I chose the word camping and I painted the letters of the word, sitting around a camp fire on a starry night, in a forest clearing with tents in the background. It was on display at my school and someone that passed by had an immediate emotional connection to it and asked the school if she could buy it. It was a very exciting moment for me, realizing I could earn money doing something I love to do.
I’ve always been attracted to fantasy worlds and fantastical creatures, naturally I thought children’s books where the way to go for me. I started focusing on that direction for my career, but it usually takes time to break into that industry (it involves a lot of hard work, dedication, and more than a little luck), so in the meantime I needed to find a regular job that would help me pay my rent and my college loans! I was lucky to get a staff position after college, designing & illustrating stickers in the scrapbook industry. I got to travel all over the United States for market research, visit manufacturers in Taiwan and China, I even went to big trade shows in places like New York City, Hong Kong, and Paris. It was an amazing job and I learned lot during my seven years with that company.
I left that position two years ago to work as a freelance illustrator and designer. Now there is a lot more variety in my work - and one of my newest clients is Bella Sara! I have to say, the projects I do for them is among the most fun I have - and I already have a pretty fun job. :)

What is your creative process? Do you get specific guidelines before starting a project? How do you proceed?
Bella Sara does send specific guidelines for each character they assign. They always include a few reference images along with a detailed written description to get the artist started, but they are also open to the ideas and suggestions of the artist. Most clients just send a theme or idea and I have to create a visual concept for it. I always like to start out by researching any special attributes, such a a particular horse breed. I use various internet searching techniques to gather information and imagery that inspires me, and that help add on to the ideas I’ve already started to formulate in my head. Once that’s done, I start sketching. These days, I do a lot of different sketches, scan them into my computer, then take the best parts and layer them together digitally. Once I have the sketch just the way I want it, I submit it to my client for review. They either approve it as is, or come back with a few changes for me to make. Sometimes I make the changes and submit it again, sometimes I can make the changes as part of the final color artwork.

What/who inspires you?
Just about everything I see inspires me. I am an admitted design geek - I love Ikea and all things considered “designy”. Books and movies are a huge source of inspiration for me also (for example the Narnia books or anything by Neil Gaiman, or the ending credits artwork from the Lemony Snicket movie). Whenever & wherever I am, I usually have a book, along with a moleskin sketchbook just in case I read something that inspires a visual image in my head that I just have to put on paper. I read and collect picture books as well - I would still love to work on one, they’re simply the best avenue for an artist to really showcase their ideas and artwork. The internet as opened up a lot of options for finding new and interesting things to inspire me. Some specific artists that are constantly inspiring me are Danny Gregory, James Jean, Jennifer Meyer, Kelly Murphy, Mary GrandPre, and my brother, Sean Beavers. There’s really too many to list.

Do you work digitally, or do you still pull out the ol’ paint and brushes?
I actually favor colored pencils. I’m a signature member of the Colored Pencil Society of America (www.CPSA.org). My work has been accepted into their international juried show 4 times, and I’ve had the honor of receiving two awards. It’s a great medium, but it’s a little on the slow side, so I’ve only gotten to do one of my Bella Sara pieces in colored pencil (Harmony, from the Treasures series). The rest have been a combination of traditional graphite drawing and digital coloring. I like to use a lot of textures in my digital paintings as well. More often than not, it’s just a paper texture, so the digital art has a slightly more organic feel. I also love photography, and I never leave my house without a digital camera, so just as often as I stop to take a picture of a beautiful sunset, I’ll stop to take a picture of an interesting marble, granite, or stone surface. (Suffice to say, I’m always carrying around a really big, really full, bag)

Illustration Friday: CONTAGIOUS

It would be nice if I could post to my blog everyday, but I'm lucky if I get something new up once a week. Thankfully, I've been getting better with free-time doodling, due in part to the inspiring Dani Jones and her amazing ability to record and share almost everything she does.

Today she posted to her own doodle blog, Dani 's Doodles, which gave me the bug… and since i would never draw a robot of my own accord, I thought it a pretty appropriate post for this week's theme. :) Of course, my little robot doesn't seem to be invading anything - he seems more curious than anything else.

Illustration Friday: IMPOSSIBILITY

I've drawn a lot of impossibilities - in fact I'm pretty sure it's my favorite thing to do. This is just one... that I don't think I've shared before. I imagined a unicorn from Madagascar (one of those unique and amazing places I would really love to visit in my lifetime). I think I may have pushed him a little too far in to the lemur side, but I've always thought he was an interesting hybrid. :)

Illustration Friday: INTRICATE

So, it's been a really long time since I posted for Illustration Friday. I've got my friends & colleagues hooked on it so much that we have a weekly 'date' to set aside two hours every Friday afternoon at a local coffee bar with free wifi. But when I get there I realize I have an email to answer, or I have a deadline to meet, and I somehow blink and the our time is up. Of course, this week's theme (so right up my alley) called for a little time to be spent - I thought about it for a couple days and realized I could combine this theme with another project I've been wanting to work on - Custom 52!

So here it is, in progress - my intricate deuce of diamonds. Will post updates as they come!

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)

Award: CPSA D.C. 219

A couple weeks ago I submitted two pieces to my local CPSA chapter who were putting together a show of colored pencil works. I did not know they would be awarding anything but much to my surprise and delight, one of my pieces "Queen Quagga" was awarded First Prize. I would like to thank the chapter for organizing the event and Around the Corner Art Framing Gallery for hosting. It was lovely meeting so many members and visitors at the reception last week.

Award: Slush Monster! / Illustration Friday: HEAVY

Thanks to the many who voted for me in the Editorial Anonymous mascot competition! The piece I had submitted was just a rough sketch colored digitally. After being selected for the final mascot, EA asked me if I wanted to make any changes before he was placed in his new home on the blog. I accepted of course, and here is he is in all his final glory.

I'm also posting him for the Illustration Friday theme, he looks like he could be heavy. And he eats paper! Of course he's Heavy!!!

Thanks everyone!

Illustration Friday: THEORY

What happens to all those Christmas spirits? Isn't it Christmas somewhere all year long?
I intended to do a christmas card, but it got done a little later than I had planned, so I tried to make it more of a cross-over, Christmas - into new year card. How did I do?

SFG! The Blank Book Project

Hello! I know it's been over a month since my last post. Summer seems to have thataffect on people.

But, I couldn't put off this project! This is the Blank Book project from SFG!. 50 illustrators, 500 days, one blank book soon to be filled with amazing artwork and amazing stories. Above is a picture of myself handing the book off to the next artist, Adam Levine, below is a teaser shot (a small cropped portion of my completed piece) that is posted on the Blank Book flickr page. It's been a really amazing experience, I'm so glad I got to be a part of it.



Speaking of summer, all day long I've been hearing about the 'last day of summer', sad faces, festive dress in farewell celebration, etc. What a load! It's the last day of AMERICAN SUMMER. REAL summer has almost a whole month to go! I say - don't stop enjoying it!

Illustration Friday: MOON

I've been out of commission for a while now, over a month in fact. I'm good and all, but I've been distracted. Loads to think about, plans to make, need of a summer break - of sorts.

So I return with another existing work: AquaLuna. This character was developed for a children's book dummy I started but never finished. This year it was accepted into the Colored Pencil Society of America's 15th Annual International Exhibition in Bethesda, MD - open now through August 25th. The Opening reception is August 4th, 7-9pm at The Mansion at Strathmore Gallery, 10701 Rockville Pike. I'm not going to be able to make it, but if you're in the area check it out!

SFG: Sketches

I decided to look through some sketchbooks and pull various sketches from over the last few years. I've been trying to sketch more recently, because I'd fallen out of the practice... thus the date stamped sketchbook. Goal: draw SOMETHING everyday. Anything else is bonus. At the beginning, it was hard just to get the one drawing in, now I usually have to keeping going. Just wish I hadn't let it go for so long...

My crazy mind at work, this is the fun stuff I really enjoy. Wish the inspiration hit me more often.

Horses, my first passion... then came the drawing.

Random daily sketches.

These are the oldest sketches, from a personal project I started in college. I don't sketch like this anyamore, I've become too lazy. Would love to do it more often.

Custom 52: New Submission

A new submission for Custom 52. Should be up in a few days - check it out and VOTE FOR ME!

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.