Illustration Friday: SMITTEN

I'm a little behind on this... but it's getting in just under the wire. And it's not quite complete. This is the underpainting stage. I am excited to finish, so I'll be sure to post it again as soon as it's done.

It's the closest I've ever gotten to a finished Illustration Friday themed piece it was conceived and executed solely for Illustration Friday. I know this shouldn't be such a big deal, but it is for me - any pieces I've created solely for IF before were either sketches or quick digital renderings. It'll be tough to finish this and start the new theme tomorrow, but I'm looking forward to the challenge.

Illustration Friday: TROUBLE

Jackal Jack: Trouble-maker.
At least, that's always the way I imagined him; Conniving and mischievous.
After my posting for QUIET last week, several IF followers expressed an interest in seeing more of the animal playing card series I did. Luckily this week's theme fit the bill. :)

Illustration Friday: QUIET

Okay, sleeping beings aren't ALWAYS quiet, but sleeping aardvarks that float in the night sky? That says quiet to me. ;)
This is something I did it as part of a four piece series of (African) animal playing cards. Ace Aardvark, Queen Quagga (a zebra), King Kudu (antelope), and Jackal Jack. I did them as self-promotional pieces.

Illustration Friday: PHOBIA

This is Arius. He's a flying giraffe... with acrophobia, that's fear of heights. Sucks to be him! ;)

Anyway, looks like I unintentionally took the summer off from IF! But I have been busy. I've updated my website: www.melindabeavers.com. Gone on several trips: New Mexico, Las Vegas, Paris, Tunisia. I even got through reading "Gone with the Wind", so you can't say I've been idle.

Been itching to get back to IF though, and even though this is an old illo, I’m looking forward to getting some new stuff up soon!

Illustration Friday: SKYLINE

variations on a theme...

so I've been reviewing the current submissions and I noticed that most are city skylines - is it that trees and nature are considered more landscape than skyline? I guess that's why I went for silhouetted skylines. the image above is a digitally edited photo I took in Hong Kong - I loved how you could look through the jungle to the city... it was a bizarre juxtaposition that I think works particularly well for this theme.


can anyone recognize the figure in this one? this was created using several photographs from japan and colored pencil sky from another piece I did.


people in the sky... don't know what I was going for here - but it came out so here you go.

ugh - I wish I had more time, enough to actually DRAW something! :(

Illustration Friday: PORTRAIT

KIRIN
the japanese unicorn

Colored Pencil
approx. 16" x 16"

So I've been extremely lax in keeping up with my posts, but I'm renewing my efforts! So here, on the last day of this theme, I post a PORTRAIT. I consider all the unicorns I've done portraits, so I thought it fit nicely here. Hope y'all like it! :)

Oh! And, I created a Cafepress.com. store this weekend! You can now pruchase most of my unicorns on a variety of merchandise! Check it out at Unicorn Kindom.

Illustration Friday: CAKE

*UPDATE - 05.29.06
Finished the promotional sign for the inside the shop. I feel like it's a little more complete this way.





completed illustration.


in context - postcard.


Irony saves the day...

It's been weeks since I've been able to get my act together enough to post something, let only a new something, especially a new something more complete than a rough sketch! Now at last I can post a finished illustration - thanks to the luck of the draw - no pun intended.

I do design work for a friend of mine with a coffee shop on a regular basis. This coming month is the shop's first anniversary, so the two of us came up with a birthday cake theme. The illustration will be used in several ways (Signs, Ads, promotional flyers, etc.) but the first thing she needed was a postcard to promote the celebration itself. Do you like?

What gets me is that I spent a good part of Friday evening completing this design - before I even looked at the IF theme this week. Too funny!!

I'll post the rest as I finish it. And if you like in the northern New Jersey area - don't forget to stop by!!