Hickory Dickory Dock

I've been thinking about doing a series of book cover designs with a nursery rhyme/fairy tales theme. Put them all together and it would make a neat portfolio. Check out other Hickory Dickory Dock illos over at the Illustration for Kids Blog.

Chicken Collection , part 1 of many

Yes, I have a sickness, maybe its the chicken flu? I finally got around to taking some pictures of my chicken collection. This is only a small part of it, unfortunately. Haha! Many are given to me by friends and family.

There are many more chicken things. More soon. In the meanwhile, did you know a Chicken Boy exists!? Check out his collection!

tagged

I was tagged by Donna Farrell (check out her lovely illustrations!)

Here are the rules:
Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

8 Things about me:

1. My favorite cocktail is a Tom Collins. I was also told by a bartender once that it was "an old lady drink."

2. I'm in love with a mathematician.

3. I thought snow came down as mini snowballs, just like in the cartoons. I was surprised to see it not to be so.

4. I've been in the same elevator with Dean Cain.

5. I shook hands with Method Man.

6. I like chickens, but I am not a vegetarian. (Shhh...don't tell the chickens!)

7. I listen to Japanese pop music and I don't understand a word of it.

8. I was bribed with art classes by my mother so I would practice the piano, which I was forced to do. *Side note: I am now an illustrator and I haven't touched the piano since :-)

I tag Kritty, Patrick, Laura, Eren and Maggie. And anyone else who would like to play. I 'd love to get to know more about you.

Mocca Artfest

Some goodies from this weekend:
I went to the Mocca Artfest this weekend and found this book, Confessions of a Process Junkie, illustration techniques for Adobe Illustrator, by Alberto Ruiz. What a find! There are tons of books on Photoshop but a good book on Illustrator is kind of rare (thats not text book-like). Alberto draws alot of sexy women...I probably won't be doing that anytime soon but I can appreciate his style and skills. A great book with easy to digest info and I did pick up a few tips! You can get a copy here. Look, I even got it signed!

New art for Promotional postcard

I am about due to send out another promotional postcard. Here is a new piece of art I just finished for it. What do you think? I am trying to keep up a regular schedule with sending stuff to keep my name out there...my goal is to at least send something out three times a year.

Speaking of promotion, I wanted to mention a few blogs that I've been checking out thats helpful:
The Marketing Mix- I've been enjoying the small bites of info and tips there....very easy read and not overwhelming. I've picked up some great ideas there.

Living the Creative Dream- a great inspirational site with everything from creativity to promotion by the super-talented Holli.

From the Renegade Craft Fair

Some really cute stuff I picked up from the Renegade Craft Fair in Brooklyn this past weekend:
I get very overwhelmed by these fairs because I want to buy everything! I ended up just getting this cute print and twill tape from The Small Object.

Here is a close up of the print...too cute:
And I finally got a chance to see in person some of my favorite works from M. Patrizio, My Paper Crane, and Seamripper. I wish I could of stuck around longer so I could of gotten some goodies from them too. Wait till next year....

Greeting cards

I'm taking a greeting cards class at the School of Visual Arts this summer. When I tell people this, I get alot of "Why do YOU need to take a greeting cards class?" Partly for motivation and inspiration, meeting new people, and simply for me to get out of my studio once in a while. The first assignment was to "create two 5 x7 cards using an icon, exploring different mediums." Ok, I have to admit, I was not thrilled about this assignment. After all, I know how I like to create my illustrations (the computer) and thats that, right? But after a little thought and seeing it as a challenge, it made perfect sense that I started using my left over scraps of fabric to create something.

These cards were made using leftovers- watercolor paper (when I use to paint!), fabric scraps, felt. sobo glue and the sewing machine. They were like mini quilts except I feel they were less constricting....I didn't have a need to sew everything, some pieces were glued when I felt necessary. Anyways, I enjoyed making these very much, so you'll be seeing more of these soon!

Camera malfunctioning

Its been an exhausting week for me, have you ever slept 10 hours straight?! Lots of social gatherings, including a friend's wedding...also got great news from my rep about a huge project I will be working on.

Crafting news: My camera died today and I can't take any pictures of what I've been working on. Wahh! I didn't know I used my camera this much (especially ever since I started a blog.) I have a canon powershot A70, and after some research online, there has been reports of this camera malfunctioning. Although canon is offering to fix this for free, I decided to shop around for a new camera anyways. Its time for an upgrade! I ended up with the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W55. I should get it in a couple of days. Anyone have good experience with it? It seems to get good reviews online.

Just to add some fun I took the Sesame street personality test. I am Bert! And he's my favorite character too. Woohoo! Let me know what you are!

You Are Bert

Extremely serious and a little eccentric, people find you loveable - even if you don't love them! You are usually feeling: Logical - you rarely let your emotions rule you You are famous for: Being smart, a total neat freak, and maybe just a little evil How you life your life: With passion, even if your odd passions (like bottle caps and pigeons) are baffling to others

The Sesame Street Personality Quiz

Illustration Friday-Your Paradise

Usually I would draw some sort of chicken palace where chicken takes over the world and that would be my paradise, but I feel like its wise to give the chickens a break and draw something else. Thanks for all that commented on my last week's IF entry- the mouse with his cheese car was a hit! So I think drawing cheese is kinda fun right now and a cheese shop would be a paradise for mice, no?

Over at the Illustration for kids blog, I write a bit more about the process that went into this piece if you are interested. See you there!

Illustration Friday-car

I can go on and on with rows and rows of this...maybe repeat it to make it into a gift wrap design? Currently, one of my favorite blogs is Print & Pattern- a few months back Doodlegirl kindly sent me a note on all the cute kids stuff that was happening there (go to the archives for March 2007). Go and get inspired! I was drooling over everything.

And the winner is...

The winner of the penguin book giveaway is Ken Chandler! To nerd up the whole process, I went to random.org where it can generate a random number and that was how I picked the winner. I wish I could give away a book to everyone who wanted one. Thank you for all who left comments and I promise to have more giveaways soon!

I make bag, bag makes me happy

My new favorite bag! More projects from Amy Butler's In stitches....I was finally confident to tackle this bag and it wasn't that hard. Plus, this fabric is the most expensive fabric I've worked with yet...can't mess it up! Although I haven't bought the very expensive yet very cute Japanese fabric I've been oogling over just yet. This fabric is from The City Quilters, very easy for me to get to. Or maybe too easy....I've already got the farbic hording syndrome....

Book Giveaway!

Oops! Its been quite a while since I popped in, huh? I'd like to make it up to all the lovely people who drop by- by hosting a book giveaway. I just received copies of my Penguins' Perfect Picnic book, complete with bingo cards. Please leave a comment and let me know if you like to be in the drawing and I will randomly pick one winner next Monday, 5/28, who will receive a copy of this. (Its nicer than this, my picture taking skills is to blame!)

On other news, there is a nice interview with me over at Monday Artday. Please go and take a look! Thank you so much for the folks who left such nice comments over there.

Random creative distractions

Sometimes its just nice getting off the computer and do some creative things with my hands. Maybe thats why I've been so drawn to crafting and sewing in the past few months. I made this fabric basket (from Amy Butler's In Stitches, excellent book!!):

I'm also a secret anime/manga fan, I don't talk about it too much here but I can see it influencing my work more and more. This past saturday was free comic day so it was off to the comic shop. Besides the free comics, Mathboy and I wanted to pick up a plastic model to build, just for the fun of it:

Ok, we thought we would get a small one just to get our feet wet. This little guy is only about 2.5 inches tall and was super easy to put together. Thought it might be harder since the instructions were in Japanese. The gun actually shoots! How cute!

I think after taking these little creative breaks, I can go back to my illustration with a fresh eye and perspective. So I guess I am off to draw some robots...!

3-D Cardboard creations Samples

I wanted share with you some samples I got yesterday for 2 art and craft book kits I did for Walter Foster publishing. Its quite unique in that there is a foldout story book and also art materials to make the characters from the story.

I had to base my illustrations on the cardboard characters that already existed. But It was a good challenge to make the characters my own as much as I can. I am so happy with the design and it never gets old to see my work on nice glossy paper in a product like this.

The back of the foldout is an illustration of a "stage" where you can play in front of with your cardboard creations.

They are available here and here on amazon. I wonder if they are in stores. If you see them, please let me know! Have a good weekend!

Spring Promo mailer

Over at Illustration for Kids, we just did a spring themed mailer. It amazes me how the seven of us from all different parts of the world can get together and come up with this. Thank goodness for the internet!

Here is my piece up close:
My piece turned out a little bit more on the sugary side than I would of liked...but overall I am happy with it. The weather here in NY is gorgeous today, hope everyone gets a chance to get some fresh spring air.

Illustration Friday-Remember

Its always fun to draw a slice of meat. Heehee.

Haunted

I made this checkbook cover with the left over strips/scraps from the bag that I made. Originally I wanted to embroider some sort of chicken or bird on it, but I found out I have yet to master the art of embroidery, and that with hand crafts, there is no such thing as command Z. (ughh!) The seam ripper is not that much fun. I thought-what character can I do instead that was a easy and simple shape? A ghost!

So my ghost obsession continued, and more ghost drawings were done in my sketchbook (yes, I've jumped on the molskines bandwagon, the paper is delicious!):

What to do with these ghosts? Maybe design some cute stationary? Or a little story? We'll see.

Chicken Love

An anniversary card for Math Boy- its been three years and I can still remember our first date like it was yesterday- meeting on the corner of Houston and Mulbery St. And yes, he turned out to be a good egg!

Illustration Friday- Fortune

Hello, IF. Remember me? Yikes, its been way too long since I've participated! Won't you come by and have your fortune be told by Madame Kitty for only $5? I see....FISH in your future!