Blog Illustrations for "Secret Lives of the Unemployed"

I was recently asked to illustrate a fun story on a cool short-fiction blog, by writer Elizabeth Bartucci, that chronicles three Brooklyn neighbors, who after a year of being unemployed stop looking for work and embrace their lives of permanent hooky.

I created 3 pieces to accompany the post "Strap of a Jock", a humorous glimpse of a neurotic woman's traumatic wash-n-fold laundry experience. This entry made me laugh out loud, and I really had fun making the art! Here are the finished images, and the full story can be read at Secret Lives of the Unemployed.

The Fire Eater

 

Just finished a little personal piece, inspired by the sketch I made for this year's Halloween costume: A sideshow/circus fire-eater! 

 AND-it just so happens to fit this week's Illustration Friday theme: BURNING

After having such a blast creating the vintage sideshow-style costumes for Coney Island's Mermaid Parade this past summer, friends and I were inspired to revisit the sideshow theme for Halloween. I decided to make a fire-eater costume....of course with a gory spin on things--I had "real" flaming torches and a disgusting burn on my face!

Before diving into the costume-making, I sketched out my ideas as usual....and couldn't resist revisiting those—now that my Halloween fun is over—to make a nice little illustration. I also realized this makes a nice companion piece to the "Acrobat" image I made for Illustration Friday a few months ago. Looking at these together, I'm also feeling inspired to expand this into more of a series—and potentially apply to notecards, journals, etc. (for sale in my future etsy shop!). I really love this whole vintage-circus theme and feel like I could come up with endless characters.

Here's a glimpse at how my costume looked  :)

Commissioned art

A dear friend of mine got married recently, and I was honored to have the opportunity to create 2  illustrations for her. The first was a portrait of the bride and groom, used for her save-the-date card. The other is an image of the venue she had her reception; she created small prints of this give to each of her guests as the favors.

These were extra-special projects as it's wonderful to be able to create something for a good friend!