christmas card design

I spent yesterday and today working on this design for a holiday greeting card. I was originally going to put some text in the center, but I liked it better without. Here's the line work before I colored it:

And the painted version is now finished and can be seen here!

it's autumn already?

I'm definitely appreciating the cooler weather, but it feels like summer absolutely flew by. I have a very summery illustration series of girls of bathing suits I'm still finishing up. At the moment, I'm in the middle of redesigning my site, but I'll get that up that up very soon.

Here's a mixed media (pen, watercolor, markers and colored pencil) piece I did yesterday while staying dry inside. I used an Aquash-style brush for the watercolor, which worked much nicer than I'd been expecting.

Illustration Friday: Swell

'Swell' as in 'Hunky Dory' as in, 'Let's dress up and pretend it's the '40s.'

Let's just go with it. Ballpoint, watercolor, colored pencil and gouache.

...and a finished project!

I finished this graphic on Friday for a Wise Guys game. I was given only very basic guidelines for the faces, so there was a lot of creative flexibility. And it wound up being a lot of fun!

a belated personal update

I've keep asking myself where the last two months went then I remember, oh yeah, I've been planning my wedding! James and I are getting married on July 23rd, which is...well, excitingly close!

Melissa Tomeoni is our wedding photographer—and we already had a lot of fun with her in June during our 'engagement shoot.' Her photography is beautiful. Check out her blog!

(James is pretty great too).

charity auction piece

In March, I participated in an online charity auction to raise money for disaster relief in Japan. According to the last tally post, the first round of auctions netted $45,743.10. And that update was from April 7th. Wow, right??

I auctioned off an original digital commission and was pleased to work with the winner, whose story I have read and enjoyed. Here's the picture I did of her two main characters. Looking sassy:

Publishing a story!

I have a short story titled "Susannah Don't You Cry" appearing in the upcoming issue #3 of Line Zero, an indie arts and writing journal.

Anyone interested can check out the journal at their website!

Issue #3 comes out May 15th, but is available for pre-order. I've seen the proofs, and there looks like a bunch of great material in that issue. Maybe next time I can get around to submitting some art too!

OFFICE POWER

I've been watching much too much of The Office lately. Both UK and US, apparently. It's Dwight and Gareth!

No, I'm not sure why I drew this.

just a peek

A very small look at my mystery project that just wrapped up. Very mysterious!

kim hapless: pages 3-5

And now, the thrilling conclusion...to what amounts to an introduction!


I was playing around with tones on these pages, which wound up being timely as the big illustration project I've been working on this month is black and white only. And tones are a nice touch. Maybe a sneak peek of that soon...but just a peek!

Also: YOU'RE KILLING ME, PAIGE.

kim hapless: pages 1 and 2

Now that my comic/cartooning class has drawn to a close, I have my resulting 5 page comic to share. I suppose it's more of an introduction to the characters than a finished story. It stars my Kim Hapless character seen here.

Hand-lettering (hello, Ames guide!) turned out to be a very time consuming process. I'm thinking it the future I'll do that digitally. But inking with a brush went well...my only thought there is that I might start with a larger piece of bristol. These were done on 9'' x 12''.

Here are the first two pages:

Stay tuned tomorrow for pages 3-5!

illustration friday: swarm

Oh wow, when I saw the theme it reminded me of this little painting I did in...2009, I think. And had completely forgotten about. I'd never scanned it before because I didn't think I liked it and it was done with some kind of kid paint (fake gouache or something?). But I managed to find it again and I think I like it now.

SWARMED BY LADYBUGS ♥. Seriously though...they bite...

character design

I'm in this cartooning class where we'll be making some short comics over the next few weeks. I drew up a design sheet for this character, named Kim Hapless, who'll be the star of my story.

She's very laid back, you see.

And in other news, here's an inked drawing of some teenage melancholy.

sketchbook project: finished!

My Sketchbook Project book is finished, stamped and sent! I dare say I will miss it a little. I went ahead and uploaded some scans to this set on flickr. Cover seen above!

It was a really good project for me—I experimented with different media that I'd never given much of a chance before and fell in love with micron pens all over again. I also surprised myself by drawing a plethora of girls in dresses. I guess that has become my go-to doodle these last few months.

But now to return to my sketchbook with the nicer paper!

illustration friday: deja vu

I don't usually work with colored pencils, but I did get a small set of Prismacolors towards the end of the last year to play around with. And they've been great for the Sketchbook Project book, with its rather thin paper.

A little sloppy, but I like the colors.

so close to done!

I have less than 10 pages left to fill in my Sketchbook Project book and the deadline's coming up soon (January 15th, for those of you playing at home)! Here's a page I liked from yesterday:

Micron and watercolor. Actual watercolor. Not gouache for once! But I still need to do something with the book's cover. And that...that will be gouache again.

illustration friday: resolutions

Hey, Illo Friday! :) It's been a while.

Also, apparently the new hotness is anthropomorphic objects yelling at people! (Remember?) Please, don't let this be my theme for 2011...

Edit: Figured I should put up the pen and ink version too. I almost like it better!

lovely couple

I did a few ink drawings for some of my friends' stories this holiday season—and this one is probably my favorite. Quite a pair, yes? :)