Promos and Art Styles

Promos
I'm very honored to be contributing again over at Zero2illo, with this week's focus on promotional materials. Here is a link to the post where I talk about two of my own promo pieces along with some tips and advice. Thanks to Jonathan Woodward, the creator behind Zero2illo, who is also a talented illustrator!

Art Styles
Speaking of which, Jonathan and I are part of 18 artists who share their opinions on artistic styles over at VectorTuts+. It is also part of a digital illustration "session" currently over at Tuts+, with plenty of inspirational posts. I'll be following along. Thanks to Chris Leavens for the interview and its a great article with a diverse bunch of artists. If you love vector art, you'll have to check out Chris' work; along with this fabulous link on how he does it all.

1-Sided business card

I was in need to restock my business cards when I found a great deal at overnight prints (sign up for their email list, they are great about having sales). I decided to quickly convert an old 2-sided design I had for last year's Surtex show and make it into a more general business card.

I put it up on twitter and unexpectedly got great response, so I thought I would put it up here as well. Stay tuned for more promo-related posts here very soon.

CGD Digistamps-June Collection

June is here and another Chicken Girl Design digistamps collection. Thinking about Father's day (June 20th), BBQs, and the weather is starting to get nice. Although there was a scary tornado watch here a few days ago, which is something completely new to me.

Thanks to the design team for making some pretty cool stuff out of these digi stamps:
Kate
Christy
Loretta
Lori
Tammy
Carlie
Michele
Laura
Deb

These digital stamps, 300 dpi greyscale PNG file can be downloaded for $2.50 each or the whole collection for $8.50. Happy crafting!

Duelin' Banjo Pig (+Singin' Chicken)

So...there is this duel thats been happening amongst a few illustrators' blogs. You may start seeing banjo pigs everywhere. It started over at Guy Francis' blog, go over and check out many other duelin' banjo pigs. Now I'm REALLY convinced us illustrators are...a unique bunch, heh. Rock on! Cluck on!

Inspiration from Tokyo- Part 3

One of the reasons why I love Japan is that there are illustrations everywhere. I mean, EVERYWHERE. It is not afraid of cute. It is a country where grown men have cute charms on their cell phones and its not a big deal.

Some fun graphics from the streets:

Even on drinks:

These toy packaging caught my eye- I love the design and illustrations on these:

and last but not least...

This is the ryokan (Japanese style inn) we stayed at in Tokyo (in Ueno.) I can not rave more about this place. We didn't want to stay in a generic western style hotel in the middle of a touristy area..so if you are a bit more adventurous, I highly recommend staying at Sawanoya Ryokan. It is family run and foreigner friendly...and possibly on the quaintest little street ever. We slept on futons and took baths in the gorgeous onsen (Japanese style bath) over looking a garden. It was inexpensive and Sawa-san and his family are great hosts.

And a few more links- through Ismoyo's blog and reading about her adventures in Tokyo a few months before mine, I found a very helpful Tokyo shopping guide link over at Asking for Trouble. The zine and guide was very helpful and I'll be using it again on my next trip back.

Thats all my posts related to my Tokyo trip. Now I'm plotting when I can go back...