Illustration Friday-Soar

Just poppin in to post this last piece of the year for IF- a nice, cute-sy sugary illo :-) Hope you all had a nice holiday, see you in 2008!

Have a good holiday, folks

I participated in a secret santa Christmas swap, I can't wait to show some of the stuff I made here but I don't want to spoil it for the recipients. So I will wait till after Christmas. But above is a sneak peek of some Christmas tree plushies work-in-progress.

Anyways, its time for me to take a break from the blog and enjoy the holiday goodness, but also really to catch up on some work. Have a good holiday, everyone! Chickeny wishes to all.

Illustration Friday-Little things

Its been a while since I've participated in IF! Put a face on a vegetable or fruit on anything and I'll buy it in a heartbeat. If only this was a piece of fabric made into an apron....

The Chickens are coming

Some chickeny gifts I got so far:

A chicken chucker! Just what I wanted for Christmas!

And a cute little brown chicken timer from a thoughtful friend. Cluck cluck!
This concludes the chickengirl's chicken update.

Think Jot Draw

This is a piece I did for a cover contest over at Think.Jot.Draw. I've had this in progress for sometime now. Initially the deadline was in October and that came and went, I never finished it. But I found out the deadline was extended till the end of the year. So head over and see what its all about and enter!

Front and back cover:

(On the left there is room for text and the UPC code.)

5 things

Mike r Baker, Marci Senders, and TokyoBunnie (a super talented bunch, yikes!) had tagged me with the 5 (and 7!) things about me meme. They are are alot of fun and have done similar tags here and here. Mike also tagged me with a 20 all time favorite movies meme a while back. I don't know if I can list 20, but how about some movie/show related things?

1. I usually like watching foreign/Asian films- just saw Lust, Caution. Oh la la!

2. I will also watch any film with Takeshi Kaneshiro in it. For very OBVIOUS reasons. :-) (If you are curious, he was in House of Flying Daggers.)

3. I follow two anime shows on a weekly basis, Naruto and Bleach. Always the subbed version, never the dubbed. And here is a plush character from Bleach that I have by my bed side:


4. More anime I recommend: Elfen Lied and Death Note. I even saw the live-action version of Death Note at the Japan Society this summer. (Please note, these series are not for kids. There is excellent story-telling but with nudity and violence.)

5. I'm a Hayao Miyazaki fan-My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away are my favorite of his. I have to admit I wasn't so crazy about Howl's Moving Castle though.

Now that you know a little bit about my tastes, any movie recommendations are welcomed!

crafty distractions

I finally got a chance to touch my sewing machine again! Inspired by Shim and Sons' pencil cups, I decided to sew up fabric sleeves to go over empty coffee cans. My first attempt- circle appliques over dotted fabric over a round can- hmm, not sure if its a bit over board. But these were very easy to make and very fast, just the little fix I needed.

Adobe Illustrator love

I love YouTube but this is the first time I've been compelled to share a video here. If you are a big fan of Adobe Illustrator like me, then you will love this video from illustrator Zsolt Vajda. Enjoy! (P.S.- turn down the volume if you are at work, there is music!)

I've been...smidged!

Thanks to Kat over at Smidge who showcased my holiday cards. I really appreciate the mention!

Shop Update

Yay, the cards are here from the printers!

Also my first fine archival art print available! This piece I did for Illustration Friday is now showing at the Open bookstore in California. It is now a swanky giclee print. All in the shop!

Moo!

I finally got a pro account over at Flickr and got some free Moo mini cards along with it! (Terrible photo though, struggling with my camera at the moment.)

Some link back love:
-Pingable.org mentioned this blog as one of 12 well designed blogspot blogs. Whoh, thank you!
-Over at DaniDraws.com, I was listed as one of the sketchblogs that people might enjoy. Thanks! (P.S.- be sure to check out this post that Dani wrote about drawing children, something I still struggle with)

And did you know, there is a Mr. Chicken (Monsieur Poulet) in the blog world? And he's an artist too!

Busy

Hello, all! I am still here. The holidays and general craziness with work and life kept me away from this blog for a bit. I suspect this might be going till the new year. Some random things:
So have you worked on your holiday card yet? This is the new design for this year's card, it should be coming from the printers next week.

Too busy to work on any personal projects at the moment but its important to fill the creative well. I've been enjoying my new subscription to Giant Robot I received for my birthday. Just the dose of inspiration I need.

Pouch

On the crafty front, I finally tackled the zipper using this tutorial to make a pouch. I did not use a zipper foot because my hello kitty sewing machine doesn't have one. But it turned out alright!

Illustration Friday-Hats

Above is a piece from a little educational book called Funny Bunny Hats for Houghton Mifflin. It was tough coming up with alot of different hats, but of course, I had to have a chicken hat in there!

Just came back from Berlin and had a wonderful time! We even took a side trip to Hamburg. I am a little sick right now though, and definitely jetlagged. But I'm already thinking where I should travel to next!

Berlin

Darrrrling, I am off to Berlin for a few days. See you when I get back!

Illustration Friday-Trick or Treat

I did this piece recently for the Illustration for kids promotion mailer and it is a perfect fit for this week's illustration friday! Happy Halloween!

Meet Up

Its Christmas in October! I got a chance to finally meet someone in person from the blogging world! Fellow Illustration for kids member Susan Mitchell (aka Sweet Pea) was in NYC and we got a chance to meet. Since we already "know" each other, it was very easy and a wonderful time. She gave me all these wonderful goodies, a print and bookmarks (be sure to check out her etsy shop) and her latest book, Comet can't wait for Christmas (and with stickers!):
Thank you so much, Susan! It was so nice to meet you. I had a lovely time!

ATCs- 2nd attempt

My second attempt at artist trading cards, some nice revisions from the first ones I made. They are digital prints with bits of fabric collage. I am happy with these, except with the print quality on them, my printer is acting up- and its not happy printing from Illustrator. So they are slightly pixelated/fuzzy and washed out in color than I would like. (Probably can't tell with the photo.) I like the idea of naming the characters, since they are on a trading card after all. Alright, I hope the folks I traded with like these and want to adopt one of them!

Above is an ATC I got from Eslina called "Duck tape?" Thank, Eslina! I think this is hilarious! Plus, look at the pretty envelope it came in. So very thoughtful. I finally decided to buy some cello sleeves for my cards when I saw that.

Chosen!

I was thrilled when I found out that I was chosen as one of the 25 artists that will be in the first Illustration Friday show at Open in California. Here is my entry. Razorbite, Can O' Peas and I thank you very much for voting for us. Who knew people liked a good pantry fight as much as us?!? Please check out the other chosen artists, they are a talented bunch!

A special thank you to Brianna and Penelope, whose hardwork is amazing to build and support the Illustration Friday community, and organize shows like this. Personally, many great things came to me from this site. You ladies rock.

Goodies in the mail

I've been receiving some wonderful artist trading cards over at Monday Artday ATC. This post is way overdue, I need to mention these great artists. Its too much fun getting stuff in the mail! Some even made a chicken just for me.

Top L to R: Chickengirl for Chickengirl by Tracy Cundiff, Flying Bird by Zime, Chickengirl by Bearuh
Bottom L to R: Burgertime by Jeff Brame, Suzy Sushi by Mike R. Baker, Uh-Oh by Bearuh

Most of them sent me their cards when I haven't even made any yet to trade in return (and still haven't!). I am very guilty and probably the worst trader ever. My only excuse is that I have been very busy, and want to take time to make nice ones to send in return. Anyways, just wanted to let you guys know I haven't forgotten!! Thank you for your patience.

Illustration Friday-Open

Super busy this week but since this week's Illustration Friday topic is a special one, I really wanted to participate. The Topic is "Open" and all I can think of were can openers (I am not that deep, am I?!) This was alot of fun to do and a good break from my crazy schedule.

Thank you for all the lovely comments for my last post, it means alot to me. Its so easy to just think about deadlines and craziness and forget about the little achievements along the way. Anyways, I hope to make the rounds and check up on what everyone's been up to soon.

*edited* Wow, thank you so much for the great honor to be chosen for the show. I'm thrilled!

A milestone

I use to work as a designer at Scholastic book clubs years ago. As I worked on these book club catalogs, I had a dream that one day, one of my books would be in them. My name would be in the illustrator by-line.

That dream finally came true.
Here is the October Firefly book club catalog, where The Mixed-Up Alphabet, a book I illustrated, is on page 4. It means alot to me because I know I am moving ahead towards all the goals and dreams I've set for myself. I better take a moment and acknowledge it.

A special thanks to Kritty who told me she saw my book in the catalog and ordered it! I can't begin to express how much it means to me.

And Tracy, who is a teacher, recommended it as a book pick in a newsletter she sends home to the kids. Holy smokes! WOW!

Thank you so much.

New Shop Update

Too many birthdays to remember this month, so that is where this card came to be:


And a cheese shop card, just because!
Both now available at my shop!

Contest!

You can win all this stuff! I am one of the many contributors for this giveaway over at Maustudio, who is celebrating their 2 year anniversary. I know you want to enter because you can get one of my vroom notepads, right? Go here to enter your name and address for the drawing. Good luck!

Highlights for Children Illustrators' Party part 1

Its been a while since I've posted anything, but I have a good excuse since I just came back from the Highlights for Children Illustrators' party. Every year the generous folks over at Highlights throw a huge party for their illustrators in Honesdale, Pa, for an entire weekend, filled with food, music, seminars, and even square dancing. This year was my second year attending, I saw alot of familar faces and met new people. Everyone was super friendly, I was very comfortable, even for an introvert like me, so thank you.

They have a theme every year and this year was "The Happy H Ranch." A few pics from the party:

Outside their main office building in Honesdale, Pa.


The first issue of Higlights for Children, June 1946

The first issue of High Five (why, that looks like my blogger friend Roz's art!) Woohoo!


At the firehouse. The band for square dancing!

More pics soon. We had a wonderful time!

Mini pouch

Thanks to everyone's comments about my ATCs, I decided to put up the kitty and the crocodile for trade. I wanted to put up the pig card too but it accidently took a dip into my cup of coffee and it got ruined.

I did some sewing this week (way over due), this little pouch was made from a (slightly modified) pattern from The Crafters Companion. The cute twill tape is from The Small Object, which I bought a few months back at the Renegade Craft fair. This pouch was meant to hold lip gloss and such but since I have way too much stuff, it doesn't really hold enough. I need to make another version with twice the size!

ATCs-First attempt

These are my first attempt in makeing ATCs (artist trading cards). They are digital prints with a bit of fabric collage and I ran it through the sewing machine with a zig zag border. They look OK as a set but I am not happy with them so I don't think I will trade these off. It was a good experiment though.

I just signed up over at Monday Artday ATC where artists can trade there. There are lots of cards I want yet I have nothing to trade with yet!

Illustration Friday- wedding

Cheating this week with an old piece. Hope this inspires all brides to get a wedding cheese instead of a wedding cake. Umm, cheeeeeese......

Mona "Monkey" Lisa

"Monkey Lisa" made with Sculpey.

This piece was commissioned by Nickelodeon magazine for their art-themed issue. They had asked various illustrators to reinterperet the Mona Lisa and this was my piece. Unfortunately I didn't make the cut and mine is not in the issue. :-( But I am glad I can still share it here.

Check out the other interpretations from the magazine here.

New shop update

Some new cards available at the shop:

And making some shop stickers for packaging:
Happy Monday, everyone!

Old work vs. New work

Thanks for all the comments for the previous post, everyone! Its great to get positive feedback and I will be sure to do more posts like it in the future.

Over at the illustration for kids blog, we are comparing our old work vs. our recent work. What a trip down memory lane!

Work from Art school days:

On the left, a self portrait (yes, the chicken obsession was already evident) and on the right, a gouache painting for a concepts class.

Going digital- work from 2003:

You can read more on these here. And be sure to check out the other Illustration for Kids group members' comparison. Its quite facsinating to see how we've all progressed.

Improving on your work

I am always looking for ways to improve my work. Sometimes it only takes a small detail in making an illustration from just OK to being great. Digging around the computer, I found this old piece I did for my portfolio from a few years back.

Before

This illustration is ok- cute enough, but nothing too special. I was lucky in that I had (and still have) an awesome agent to help me improve on this piece. The cat needs to look more like a cat and the mouse needed to look more like a mouse (even if they are drawn in my style). The most important thing of all is that an illustration tells a story. What story was this image telling? Is it loud and clear?

After

The new and improved version. Besides the new details in the room (curtain, lampshade, etc.) There is more of an element in story telling; the cat is now holding a fork, there is a mouse trap with cheese. The cat is definitely on the hunt for mice.

I've learned a great deal with this piece and try to bring the same attention to details to all my illustrations. Hopefully this helped you too!

Illustration Friday-Alphabets

I've done way too many alphabet-related projects to really do a new piece for this topic. So I hope you enjoy some of these oldies but goodies. These were done for a little book for Educators Publishing Service.
I also have a book out in the Fall called The Mixed-Up Alphabet written by Steve Metzger, illustrated by me. So thats plenty of alphabets already! But I thought about doing one as a quilting project-it might be pretty cool. If only I had some more time...