Makin' Envelopes

Some experimenting with the reprints I talked about in an earlier post. It was perfect to fold them into envelopes. A little glue on the side and a white label on the front.
Stuffed with my postcards, it was more sturdy.
I sent one to Tom (who sparked this idea) and he gave me some feedback on how the envelope held up through the postal system. A little bit worn on the corners but otherwise it was OK. A fun little experiment indeed!

Ikea bag

A quickie update here with more sewing- bag with zipper made with IKEA fabric. Pattern from Sew Everything Workshop. (a great book with a variety of patterns, I've also made the yoga/ lounge pants from it.)

More update soon...its been hard to keep up with various emails/trades/swaps... please forgive me, I haven't forgotten about you! I've been busy with various things.

I went the Parsons Illustration Alumni reunion at the Society of Illustrators last week. So happy to see old classmates and familar faces....my class was always a small, tight knit and friendly group. I also had to go meet with a client and my accountant... maybe dealing with my taxes had completely wiped me out.

Wall pocket

I finally got some time to do some sewing again. Here's a little wall pocket I made for my bulletin board. The little tab on the lower right was meant to hold a pen, but it was too small. It was nice to finally make up my own pattern though (and know how to execute it!)

Thanks for all the wonderful ideas as to what I should do with the reprints. I need to get creative, especially since I have about 200 of them! Tom Barrett had a great idea with turning them into envelopes, I just did a little test run and it looks like might work out! More soon. Thanks, Tom!

Picture Book Directory

Last week, I got my copy of Picture Book 2008, (a directory of children's illustrators.) Here's my link on their website.
Along with it were reprints of my page, so much so that I don't know what to do with it! My mistake is that I used this image as a mailer last year. Any fun ideas as to what to do with them? Maybe line my entire apartment wall?

Supermarket

This is my submission to Revista Colectiva, The Supermarket issue.
(Thanks, Juancho for the invitation!)

I'm happy with the way this turned out...doing these personal pieces frees me up. When I know I am not doing something specificly for the children's market, which have many restrictions in a way (especially in textbook publishing and in the US.), I can play a little more. Or maybe its just all in my head. My sketchbooks use to be filled with alot more wacky-ness. Now its just all stuff for work.

Anyways, thank you for everyone's comments regarding my last post on STYLE. I agree with Zime that concept and the voice of the illustrator is part of the style and is what I am usually drawn to. And Bravo to those of you who can work in many styles! Personally, I am ok with working in one style BUT it is constantly changing and evolving...which means experimenting and working out of your comfort zone.

Alrighty, let me get off my soap box for now. Until next time, folks.

Illustration Friday-Leap

I'm so happy to make a fresh piece just for Illustration Friday. It is one of those free forming pieces that I worked straight on the computer, without thinking too much and see where it takes me. I 've been working on another piece that is looking similar to this. Perhaps this is my new personal style.

Speaking of style-What IS your style? Ever asked yourself that question and do you know how to answer it? In a recent interview, I was asked how I described my style. It is one of those funny little questions- because I draw the way I draw...never thought about what style it is. So I think of my work as cute, quirky, funny and modern. I also hear alot of people describe my work as retro. Never thought of it that way, but I do get alot of inspiration from retro graphics. Well, how about that!

Chicken Stampin'

A deliciously wrapped surprise package came to me last week from fellow illustrator and blog friend Andi Butler...its a chicken rubber stamp! You ROCK, Mrs. B!!! She also included a CD with some hilarious chicken songs and clucking sounds, it really made my day. Rooster Math Boy and I were dancing around the living room listening to it. Thank you for your thoughtfulness.

I can see how rubber stamps are quite popular these days, I see people at various blogs are making their own. So fun!

think.jot.draw....Winner!

I won! This cover here was selected by Judge (and illustrator)Amanda Shepherd for think jot draw, a very cool sketch/workbook created by Leeza Hernandez. Thank you so much! I had alot of fun with this, letting myself play with the concept and depart from what I am use to.

Amanda was kind enough to write some thoughts about each fabulous entry. Please head over there and take a look!

There will be a limited edition print run of this, so stay tuned and hope you will get a copy! In the meanwhile, I'll be using mine to work on that children's book idea thats been on my mind. Thank you, Leeza-for making such a fabulous product for creatives.

The World of Mr. Toast (interpreted by Chickengirl)

I was honored when Dan Goodsell, creator of The world of Mr. Toast, asked me to participate in a show where artists got to reinterpret his characters. How can I resist drawing his cute little characters with arms and legs?!

I have this little obsession with automats and vending machines, and thought his food characters would be really cute in them.

The show runs March 1st to March 16th (opening on March 1st from 4-8pm) at:
Monkeyhouse Toys
1618 1/2 Silverlake Blvd
Silverlake, CA 90026
Please go check it out if you are in the area!

P.S.-I've owned Dan's book, Krazy Kids' Food! Vintage Food Graphics (by Dan Goodsell and Steve Roden) for a long time. Its a great source of reference and inspiration if you love retro graphics like me!

Sending some love....

Did I mention how much I love blog friends and the blog world?
Crystal Driedger sent me a wonderful package last week. She held a giveaway on her blog and I loved everything. Thank you, Crystal! The calendar is up on my bulletin board so I see your lovely artwork everyday.

Also sending some love to more awesome folks who gave me a mention, I appreciate it so much, it keeps me going (and going with my evil plan to take over the world with chickens!!!):
Jeff • Marci • Zime • Zari • Rachelle
Thank you, xoxo...cluck cluck!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Over at Illustration for Kids, we just did a valentine's day mailer. This is my piece:
Here is our mailer (front):
And here is the back:
and I got a sweet little CHICKEN valentine from Gis. Thank you, Birdie! The chicken is so cute, I had to show it:
Happy Valentine's Day!

Notes from the Conference

There is already much coverage of the SCBWI conference in various blogs that I won't be going into details with everything that happened. But I would like to share a few notes/quotes on the ones that made a big impression on me.

Illustrator Jerry Pinkney
"Every image is a portrait."

The first talk of the day at the Illustrators' intenstive. He mentioned that he saw a difference in his work when he really focused on picture books. His dedication to the craft is very apparent, especially when he said that while illustrating mongoose for a picture book, he listened to a tape of mongoose sounds. It made me realize I that I've been pretty scattered-brain lately, wanting to do different things with my art, etc., when my first love is the picture book and I still have alot to do, learn and work on. I immediately re-dedicated myself to making great picture books after his speech.

Holly McGhee, rep, Pippin Properties
"Working out of your comfort zone is essential in survival."

"Its not art if we are not in a new place."

"Never let complete ignorance get in your way."

"A simple suggestion opens the door."

A great talk about working out of your comfort zone. We all have them. Things that are out of my comfort zone: drawing different/dynamic perspective, and drawing people. I'll be working more on that.

Author/Illustrator David Wiesner
I've heard David Wiesner speak before at the Society of Illustrators. Each time I hear him speak, I get very inspired and want to go back to work right away, AND also think "Ok, why do I even bother?"

His work is incredibly amazing. I have a special fondness for the wordless picture book, so I am definitely a fan. I also saw his dedication to the craft when he showed 3-D models he had built for his book, Tuesday. He made clay models of the frogs and also a foam-core model of the clock tower that is on the cover, so he could try out different perspectives.

Author/Illustrator Tomie dePoala
What a treat to see Tomie de Poala in person! He gave some hints on making a portfolio:

-"Have I seen this before?" (your portfolio should be unique)
-"Is there too much in the portfolio?"
-Consistency in quality a must
-A portfolio is like an audition, a monologue to the art director
-Sequences are important

I was also thrilled to hear Illustrator Harry Bliss talk.....with new yorker cover after new yorker cover.....after new yorker cover. He also mentioned he won't be doing another children's book for a while. It sounds like they are pretty draining on him, he puts his blood, sweat and tears into making a great picture book. I have much respect for him.

I also enjoyed the luncheon keynote address with writer Carolyn Mackler. There were so much more but thats it for now...some food for thought!

I'm Back!

I'm back from the SCBWI conference and had a wonderful time. Alot went on and I need some time to gather my thoughts, but two main things that came from the conference:

1. I can now see more clearly the next level I must reach and

2. Meeting some great illustrators...in person! (so many fellow bloggers/ Illustration Friday regulars!) I'm a bad blogger in that I didn't take much photos at all. This was the only one I have on the last day:
Left to right: Yours truly, Courtney Pippin-Mathur, Leeza Hernandez, Jennifer E. Morris (fellow Illustration for kids member!), "Lil" Kim Fleming(who came all the way from Australia!).

Also two other wonderful bloggers/IF-ers I met: Alicia Padron, Gina Perry and so many others. And a shout out to Ellen Crimi-Trent who couldn't make it at the last minute, I hope to meet you at the next conference!

I came away from this conference with alot of mixed emotions- inspired yet overwhelmed, recharged yet tired (2 and a half very long days!). I'll share some more details in another post. There is extensive coverage of the conference through Leeza's blog (who did live blogging, its true!), she did a wonderful job, so go check it out...(there is a picture of me making a really ugly "funny" face, I really should of just been normal!)

Ready or Not, Here I Come

I'm off to the SCBWI conference tomorrow with my little red portfolio. I'll be sure to come back with all the details!

Sending some love to Mike R. Baker and Holly DeWolf who gave me the You Make My Day Award, too! I'm so honored. Thanks, guys! I need to update my blogroll with some great blog friends, stay tuned!

Learning Flash update: thank you for those who left me some great links to look through. Video tutorials are a gzillion times better than learning from the book. I haven't touched it much this week, but I am keeping up with the reading and watching the tutorials. Yeah!

Following Through with Resolutions

With all my big talk of "I want to learn Flash," maybe its a good idea to get the software first...Hehe. Ok, so I did have Flash on my old computer (the version when it was still from Macromedia), but its time for a sweet upgrade for me with CS 3 (working in CS right now.)

After browsing at a few books, I ended up with Sams Teach Yourself Adobe Flash CS3 Professional in 24 Hours. So far so good, I finished "Hour 1." I'm not a complete newbie in Flash (maybe an advanced newbie) but everything sure looks intimidating when I haven't touched it in years.

Hopefully I can start posting some things here as I am learning. Thank goodness for this blog to keep me accountable. Maybe I'll get somewhere by the end of this year.

Swaps and Trades-Goodies Received!

Thanks, Gis, for also awarding me the You Make My Day Award. (We are afterall bird-related, check out her cute birdies!) Here is a wonderful opportunity to give some shout outs to all the blogger friends I 've made and some recent goodies I've received over the mail:

A package from Zari- I was so blown away with the personalized notebook (I love that chicken with my initials on it!) and all the other goodies! Her work is even more amazing to look at in real life. Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness, Zari:
I wish I had more time to participate over at Monday Artday ATC, but I was still getting some wonderful ATCs. Some recent ones:
Top left: A Halloween Cutie from Jeff Brame- He is incredible with making so many great ATCs to trade! Thanks, Jeff!
Top Right: Bearuh sent this as a surprise, a kawaii donut, whats not to love?
Bottom: Fatburger and Shake from JC, she did this one especially for me since I told her I loved drawings of food!

Thank you guys! Cluck Cluck!

Anatomy of an illustration job

I'm on a roll with these illustrators shop talk posts! I'm happy to hear that many of you are enjoying them. Over at Illustration for kids, we are talking about Process, I thought I would also post over here too.

Instead of talking about my process in illustrating, I thought I would talk more about the process of an illustration job. For this particular job, it was a map for a kindergarten book.

Sometimes clients send me quick sketches of what they want, and half the time it throws me off. Do they want it exactly like this or is there some room for me to make it my own? It also takes a bit of fun out for me, but other times it just makes the job go smoother. In this case, I get a quick sketch from the client and it works, because I now get an idea of how the layout of the map is like:
With the additional info I get, I use my illustrating power to turn that into this:
I still do pencil sketches. I scan the sketch and place it into Illustrator, where I use to pen tool to draw on top of my sketch. And here is the final:
When there is text in the illustration, alot of times the type will need to be on a separate layer. Voila! Time for another job!

You make my day

Thank you so much, Rachelle, for awarding me with the You Make My Day Award! You just made my day too!

To pass it on, here are the details:

1. Write a post with links to 5 blogs that make me think and/or make my day.
2. Acknowledge the post of the award giver.
3. Display the “You Make my Day Award” logo
4. Tell the award winners that they have won by commenting on their blogs with the news.

Here are some fine folks that make my day. There are too many to list just 5!

Allison Sommers-if only I can paint like her. I love the crazy and twisted world she creates.

Danidraws-Dani generously shares her knowledge and info, I'm always learning something new from her.

Andi Butler-Mrs. B's retro style is fantastic. Always fun to check in to see what she is up to.

iSew-I'm blown away that she is making her own wedding dress! Enough said! Plus, she makes these cute lil' monkeys.

Oiyi's Crafts-she knits, sews, bakes the most beautiful things, and just recently had the cutest baby girl ever!

Illustration Friday-Tales and Legends

I'm cheating a little bit this week with something I did for MacMillan/McGraw Hill-the three little pigs story cards!

Being Age Appropriate

One thing I've learned as a children's illustrator is being sensitive to your work being age appropriate to the project you are working on. A cute bear you draw might be fitting for a kindergarten book but it might look too young for a 2nd grade book, and vice versa. And of course, you'll need to be able to draw children at different age levels.

For example, here is an initial sketch I did for a math book:
Comment received: too young looking. To make it for a slightly older audience, I've stylized the animals even more, making them less round, the eyes a bit bigger:
The color palette is important to the age appropriate-ness too. For this, I stayed away from my usual color choices and use a more "sophisticated" palette than I am use to:
I hope this is helpful to you as I always love to see someone's behind the scene process. This is something I've picked up along the way as a children's illustrator and was amazed (and surprised) with the intricacies that come along with doing art for children. And I love it!

Fresh from the printers

My business cards came! Notice its slightly different than what I had shown. Its from all the over thinking and now I am STILL unsure about it. Yes, I've definitely got some control issues.

Oh well, they are shiny and ready to go. One thing checked off from the list of to-dos!

Struggling with Structure (Resolutions)

Thank you all for the kind words and encouragement for me to attend the SCBWI conference! Every comment received gave me a jolt of energy, I will be sure to report back and share what I've learned.
Is it too late to post new year's resolutions? I've noticed while blog surfing that many people come up with a theme for the new year. I thought it was a great idea, and the word for me would be Structure. On the illustration front I am sailing along, but I've been struggling with work/life balance as a freelancer working from home. I never thought that would be such an issue, since how great is it to work from home? In a lot of ways, it is. But there are alot of downsides that I would like to address this year, and also other little things:

*keep a more regular schedule: I'm admittedly a night owl. There are days when I go to sleep at 5am and wake up at noon. Especially in the winter, I'd like to catch more sunlight. Although some parts of me think why I need to fight this. Its the natural rhythm of my body. But I don't think its too healthy in the end.

*leave the house more: When your work is fun and your work space is five paces away from your bedroom, the days can pass and you realize you haven't left the house for a while. A walk is always good physically and mentally.

*Organizing that paper pile: since I still sketch by paper and pencil, there is the inevitable paper pile next to the desk. To remedy this, I'd like to start learning how to sketch on the computer. I have a wacom tablet and have tried it in the past, it still doesn't seem very natural to me yet.

Other goals include writing my own children's book and learning flash. There I said it. Now I 'm really going to be held accountable!

Branding

A few things going on professionally this year as I will finally be attending the SCBWI (Society of Children's Books Writers & Illustrators) winter conference in February. What took me so long? After all, I live in NY and can conveniently attend, without worrying about hotels and traveling. To be honest, I was worried if I was "good enough" to attend. But, this January marks the beginning of my third year as a working freelance illustrator. That counts for something, right? I'm excited to meet those of you who are attending. Come up to me and say "cluck cluck!"

Other news, My agent, formerly HK Portfolio, is now MB Artists. Same great agent, just under a different name!

To prepare for the conference, first things up- some new business cards.
I wasn't crazy about the old design. I wanted to take the emphasis off of the big text that read Chickengirl Design, and more of my actual name and style. I won't abandon the chicken branding anytime soon, it has worked well for me. But as I get older, I wonder, is it too immature for me to be "chickengirl?" Anyways, the new design suits me, for now!

By the way, there is a nice little deal going on now over at psprint where you can get 50 business cards for $4.95 plus shipping. (the offer ends 1/31!). 50 cards are plenty for me, so thats where I will be getting them done!

Illustration Friday-100%

I really don't have an explanation for this other than that I had a need to draw some fur balls. And I don't even have any cats. What a great topic this week though, I can think of tons of things to draw. This is just one of them.

Kawaii Inspiration

There's been alot of talk about inspiration lately. I'm enjoying Danielle's inspiration monday post, Doodlegirl left me a very kind comment about wanting to know where I get my inspiration. I can start with this- oh this definitely inspires me: why, its "Children Pinch!"
I got this for Christmas from my mom...They are little bowling pin shaped people (and dog) on little clothespins clips. The best part is the little labels they have on them, like "Sister," "brother," "dog":
There is something about labeling things that I love, which is probably one of the reasons why I love those Richard Scarry books so much.

Other random things I am enjoying: Swaptree.com, where you can trade books with others. Look me up if you have some goodies to trade!

Happy New Year! (+Xmas swap craftiness)

Happy 2008! Wishing everyone a wonderfully creative new year.

Might seem a bit late here but I wanted to show some of the goodies I made for a secret santa swap over at Monday Artday ATC (and I hope all my recipients got their packages?!):

I love cello sleeves. Its so much fun making your own little packaging.

And fruity notebooks made from an Illustration friday entry.

Next up, some new year's resolutions, so many things I would like to accomplish this year!

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.