Tuesday, September 28
Wednesday, September 22
Illustration Friday--Acrobat
I haven't participated in Illustration Friday for awhile, but I couldn't pass up this week's topic: Acrobat.
Halloween is right around the corner, so of course I've been conjuring up my costume visions for awhile now. Friends and I are making circus-themed costumes, so I've spent the last few weeks referencing endless images for inspiration, and acrobat visuals have definitely been living in my brain....
But even more relative is the flying trapeze class I took a few weeks ago! That's right-I actually got to be an acrobat—flying through the air, just like in the circus! :) It really was an incredibly exciting, exhilarating experience! (I highly recommend trying it!)
So--how could I possibly pass up an opportunity to create this little acrobat image? I love making art that so directly reflects my life!
Halloween is right around the corner, so of course I've been conjuring up my costume visions for awhile now. Friends and I are making circus-themed costumes, so I've spent the last few weeks referencing endless images for inspiration, and acrobat visuals have definitely been living in my brain....
But even more relative is the flying trapeze class I took a few weeks ago! That's right-I actually got to be an acrobat—flying through the air, just like in the circus! :) It really was an incredibly exciting, exhilarating experience! (I highly recommend trying it!)
So--how could I possibly pass up an opportunity to create this little acrobat image? I love making art that so directly reflects my life!
Saturday, September 11
New piece
Today was one of the first Saturdays in a very long time that I haven't been bogged down with a looming deadline for a project or some kind of social obligation; It was also a beautiful, breezy day with a twinge of fall in the air--so was a perfect day to spend some time on personal work!
I revisited a sketch I did awhile back, that has since been pinned above my desk staring me in the face, practically begging for me to pay it some attention again. So I went to work on it--and made a little finished piece of it. This is one in a series of drawings I'd like to use to refine some digital techniques, and expand my body of work geared toward middle-grade/tween product and/or book & editorial markets. I've gotten positive response to recent illustration work in this vein--and this is also the market I've become most familiar with over the 6+ years I've spent designing young adult book covers. I had a ton of fun working on this--and really want to continue to refine this work process and style.
I revisited a sketch I did awhile back, that has since been pinned above my desk staring me in the face, practically begging for me to pay it some attention again. So I went to work on it--and made a little finished piece of it. This is one in a series of drawings I'd like to use to refine some digital techniques, and expand my body of work geared toward middle-grade/tween product and/or book & editorial markets. I've gotten positive response to recent illustration work in this vein--and this is also the market I've become most familiar with over the 6+ years I've spent designing young adult book covers. I had a ton of fun working on this--and really want to continue to refine this work process and style.
Saturday, September 4
Great Hopes and Massive Failures
A few weeks ago, I posted about The Sketchbook Project—a nationwide art project and traveling exhibit that I am participating in, organized by Art House Gallery. I've been having a blast starting to fill up pages in my sketchbook, and will periodically post some of my progress with it as I continue over the next few months (The deadline to submit the finished book is January 15th).
Each participant was to choose one of the provided themes to base the sketchbook on. (Though these are just to be used as a starting point and completely open to interpretation.) I chose the theme “Great Hopes and Massive Failures”.
Like many single women, especially in New York City, I've racked up countless stories of bad dates over the years. And, I would guess I'm not the first of these women to hear friends repeatedly say (after living vicariously through my tales of single-dom) that all these stories would make for a great book. I don’t, however, consider myself much of a writer—so instead decided to use this opportunity to create a visual diary of some of these stories. After all, what greater hope is there than the exciting possibilities of what might come from meeting someone new? And how much more massive failure can you feel when those hopes are smashed...like, by the realization that the guy who just showed up for your first date with a half-drunken 12-pack of beer is a total loser!?
Of course, this diary isn’t meant at all to be a venue for some man-bashing rant. It’s simply meant to be complete fun for me, and just to make light of some of the ridiculous dating experiences I've had in the past. Taking a personal approach to interpreting this theme allows perfect ground for me to freely experiment with visual ways to tell a story. I really want to push myself conceptually, using metaphors and composition to create a narrative in new ways. Also—the nature of this kind of story-telling allows alot of opportunity to incorporate hand-lettering which I am always interested in exploring more of too. And the sketchbook format creates a chance to experiment with medium without the need for executing finished, polished pieces.
I'm sharing here my title/first page—I had alot of fun with this, looking to old circus-y/sideshow poster type for inspiration and weaving in hints of gold leaf accents. I'll share alot more as I continue sketching!
Each participant was to choose one of the provided themes to base the sketchbook on. (Though these are just to be used as a starting point and completely open to interpretation.) I chose the theme “Great Hopes and Massive Failures”.
Like many single women, especially in New York City, I've racked up countless stories of bad dates over the years. And, I would guess I'm not the first of these women to hear friends repeatedly say (after living vicariously through my tales of single-dom) that all these stories would make for a great book. I don’t, however, consider myself much of a writer—so instead decided to use this opportunity to create a visual diary of some of these stories. After all, what greater hope is there than the exciting possibilities of what might come from meeting someone new? And how much more massive failure can you feel when those hopes are smashed...like, by the realization that the guy who just showed up for your first date with a half-drunken 12-pack of beer is a total loser!?
Of course, this diary isn’t meant at all to be a venue for some man-bashing rant. It’s simply meant to be complete fun for me, and just to make light of some of the ridiculous dating experiences I've had in the past. Taking a personal approach to interpreting this theme allows perfect ground for me to freely experiment with visual ways to tell a story. I really want to push myself conceptually, using metaphors and composition to create a narrative in new ways. Also—the nature of this kind of story-telling allows alot of opportunity to incorporate hand-lettering which I am always interested in exploring more of too. And the sketchbook format creates a chance to experiment with medium without the need for executing finished, polished pieces.
I'm sharing here my title/first page—I had alot of fun with this, looking to old circus-y/sideshow poster type for inspiration and weaving in hints of gold leaf accents. I'll share alot more as I continue sketching!
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