Illustration Friday: Island

When we were kids my little brother and I used to lay out the sofa cushions and pillows all over the floor, and pretend they were islands, and that the carpet was the ocean with shark-infested waters. Too bad our carpet wasn't blue like this to help add to the illusion. On a side note, the only color of shag carpet that ever made any sense to me was green, so you could pretend it was freshly mowed grass. :)

Illustration Friday: Clutter

Sorry for the ugly copyright notice, but I've found this image stolen & used on several blogs without my permission. I know it is old art, and I shouldn't care, but it irritates me when people don't respect an artist's work. Just because it's on the internet doesn't mean it is free to steal.

Baking cupcakes with mom is a lot of fun, but it does cause quite a bit of clutter all over the kitchen countertop. :)

I'm not yet sure where I want to go with the colors, so I'm posting a work in progress sketch somewhat colored in photoshop to squeak in before the IF deadline. I need to work more on a final technique, but I've also been working on making progress with my drawing skills. I've been feeling the need to step it up to make my children's illustration portfolio stronger.

Illustration Friday: Memories

Summer watermelon memories
hand drawn sketch digitally colored in photoshop with multiple texture layers

When I first read the topic this week my shoulder was hurting, and I was remembering that it was caused by stubbornly needing to carry every bag of groceries in at the same time the night before. I have a thing about not doing multiple trips, and now with the cloth shopping bags that fit a ton of stuff, and have big strong handles I can really pile it on. So, all in one haul I managed to carry 3 liters of 7-up, 2 quarts of Tropicana OJ, 1 gallon of milk, 1 very large head of cauliflower, (I literally gasped with delight when I saw how big and beautiful it was), other various veggies, several 6 oz. Yoplait yogurts, 2 bags of Tollhouse chocolate chips, 2 64oz glass bottles of cranberry juice, some frozen cod, 1 32oz bottle of Strawberry Kefir, and one large seedless watermelon. Needlesstosay, I won't have to go to the store again for a good while. I was going to illustrate this feat, but I lost interest in that idea, and decided to focus on the watermelon which I've been enjoying all week. I've been downright addicted. I've been seasoning it up similar to how my good friend from Mexico introduced me to years ago. I think she sprinkled on Lucas chili seasoning, but since they were found to contain lead a few years ago I haven't bought them, so I made my own recipe.

I just sprinkle on:
a dash of chili powder
a dash of cayenne pepper
a dash of salt
a dash of sugar
a sprinkle of lemon juice

The lemon juice starts to macerate the watermelon, so it needs to be eaten quickly or you'll have more water than melon. It sounds crazy, but it's mmm, mmm good, and really great for my sinuses! I wanted to make sure I enjoyed the goodness of watermelon before summer in this hemisphere is all but a memory.

Illustration Friday: Routine

One of the most important parts of any proper hippopotamus's routine
is brushing their impressive teeth.

Illustration Friday: Detach

Hubert always felt detached from the rest of the school.

Illustration Friday: Sail

Although I'm not very happy with China's policy on Tibet, or their smog situation I put that aside for a night, and immensely enjoyed the opening ceremony. One of the highlights for me was a lovely and graceful dancer who made her green ribbon sail through the air.

I was so inspired that I jumped up, and took a couple photos of my television screen.

I missed quite a few IF topics lately, and haven't been blog visiting as much because as I mentioned in my last post I was working on my new website. I'd love to hear your comments and opinions.

My New Website!!

I've been a bit absent from this blog because I've been hard at work trying to organize myself into website form. It was a project that became so much more involved then one anticipates, but I'm so glad I finally put the time in to figure it out. I was just the designer of the site, the credit for all the heavy lifting with the coding goes to my dad. It was our first time working together on a project of this magnitude, and I'm happy with the results.

I've never shared work from my day job, or my freelance work on this blog, so if you'd like to see the other sides of me that pay the bills please head on over and check it out. We see it as a work in progress that will continue to evolve, so I'd be interested in opinions and critiques.

My new website: www.angelamatteson.com

San Diego Comic-Con 2008!

I've been back from Comic-Con for a few days, and I still don't know how to sum up the experience other than to say that it was mind-blowing and spectacular! For a tv-aholic like myself it was so much fun to see some of my favorite stars talking about the shows I love. My first panel was for Stargate, and I have to admit, I'm not a huge fan, but I couldn't pass up seeing Richard Dean Anderson and Ben Browder. The whole cast was wonderful. I then tried to see a bit of the exhibit hall, and found Gris Grimly's booth, and came back to buy 'Little Jordan Ray's Muddy Spud', and have it signed by the man himself. After a very long line I made it into the 'Dr. Horrible Sing-a-long Blog' panel with Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion, and the one and only Buffy creator, Joss Whedon, and it may have been the most entertaining panel I attended. All 3 acts of the musical, Dr. Horrible, are temporarily available on Hulu.

Also on Friday I attended panels for Family Guy with Seth MacFarlane, and Seth Green, and Prison Break, which was missing Wentworth Miller. :( On Saturday my friends and I walked to the end of the longest line I have ever seen for the Heroes panel. It was literally over a mile long, and went way past the convention center, and then when hope appeared to be lost it actually started moving, and we made it into the hall amongst cheers of 'You made it!' The 6000 of us were treated to an airing of the entire first episode of the next season, and a very brief chat with the entire cast. Later, on the exhibit floor I saw Adam Baldwin with his son, and proceeded to stalk him for a few paces for a few pics. He was then at the Chuck panel where he stole the show in front of a crowd that contained more than a few Firefly fans sporting Jayne knitted caps. I somehow ended up at a Battlestar Gallactica panel, a show I don't watch. It was still fun because Kevin Smith, who I enjoy, moderated, and the cast members attending were hot! :) The last panel I made it to was for Fringe with J.J. Abrams and star Joshua Jackson. Walking around the Gaslamp District we saw a herd of cows penned up in a parking lot presumably as viral marketing for Fringe. It's still too soon to tell if this show will be any good.

It was then back down to check out more booths, and take more photos of people in costume. I was impressed how everyone came prepared with their perfect pose for photos, but I still found it sometimes more fun to catch those candid moments.

I ended up picking up anything they were giving away. I figured with the popularity of reusable shopping bags, we'd see the studios take advantage of this form of advertising, and it definitely was the year of the bag. The poster size Pushing Daisies bag was my must have Con accessory.

It wasn't all just tv and movie booths, although they were the loudest presence, and attracted the most wall to wall people. The Ugly Doll booth was bright and cheery, and I got a few pics of the life size dolls roaming the halls. Sights like this meant standing in line was never dull.

Seeing so many of my favorite illustrators was a real treat. Chatting with the great Stephen Silver was a special highlight.

I ended up with a bag full of cards and postcards of inspirational artist's work that caught my eye that I'll be looking into more online. I didn't bring big enough luggage for all the books I wanted to buy.

One of the best parts of this trip was reuniting with my most awesome college chums, Bob, Trevor, Sean, and Eric. After all the chaos of the Con it was nice to kick back, and enjoy the beautifully perfect weather of San Diego.

We had some great fish tacos at Tin Fish near the convention hall, and the taste of Shanghai at the Red Pearl Kitchen another night, and a nice relaxing day of sightseeing along the beaches of La Jolla. I was excited to see the seals swimming in the ocean, and while strolling along the shoppes we stopped for some most delicious gelato! I had a scoop of blood orange with raspberry fudge swirl on top. So good! :)

We also took the trolley to Old Town, which had photo opportunities a plenty. We had some great Mexican food, and went ghost hunting at the Whaley House.

I took around 900 photos and videos, so this post could go on forever, but I'll end it here so I can get back to doing some illustrations. :)

Illustration Friday: Enough

Even though they were like ducks to water, Rupert and Mildred had

had enough of all the flooding in the Midwest.

I haven't posted in forever, and I have been really missing participating in Illustration Friday. I needed a little break to enjoy all the wonderful summer weather, and to get all my ducks in a row. It should be known that even if you do manage to get your ducks in one single row that getting them all to face forward is a whole other matter all together.

The last few weeks I've been working on some other projects which I hope to share here soon. Tomorrow though, I'm off to San Diego for 6 days to meet up for a mini-reunion with some of my ol' college chums, and to attend Comic-Con. This is my first year attending a conference of this magnitude, and my first time on the west coast, so I'm unbelievably excited!!

Illustration Friday: Worry

When I saw the IF topic, worry, I almost was going to do a collage of some of my past illustrations since so many of my characters end up with a somewhat worried look on their faces. I think I'm drawn to that worried look because you can see that something is churning in their brain. I find the mystery of what that may be intriguing.

I'm not sure what this bunny is worried about. I know he wasn't so sure he'd make it to post before the deadline, and he's not sure where he came from. He just showed up about 5 minutes after I started sketching. I'm not so sure he's worried about anything in particular, and instead is just generally neurotic.

Illustration Friday: Wide

Lucy Pevensie pulled the wardrobe door wide open, and found a whole other world.

I've been meaning to post some photos I took a couple years back of the actual wardrobe that inspired C. S. Lewis to write The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. It was on display along with his writing desk, and other items. I was most interested in the wardrobe, which although it was not the one from the movie it was more special because it was the catalyst to the entire Narnia series. I thought it was timely to post it now with the new movie, Prince Caspian out in theaters now.

This sign was some cute museum humor. It warned, "Enter at your own risk. The Wade Center assumes no responsibility for persons who disappear or are lost in the wardrobe."

A Typical Day

The other day I was reading a post on Eric Orchard's blog about his typical day, and I couldn't help thinking about my own day, and so when I got to the end of the post, and saw that I was tagged, I thought what a fun surprise! But, sorry to say, my days are quite boring, and I don't have myself on a schedule for the illustrating stuff you see on this blog. I'm thinking I may have to fix that. Oh well, here's a typical weekday:

4:55 am - The alarm goes off. I hit snooze to turn the buzzer off. Also, my wakeup light turns on, and I have my thermostat set to make it hotter, so I'm forced to throw the covers off.

4:57 - The radio alarm turns on, and listen to the weather, etc for a little while, although lately all I hear is the rhythmic creaking of my neighbor's bed above my apartment. More incentive to get up, and leave I guess.

5:15 - give or take - Take a shower, and make myself presentable to the world. Make a protein fruit smoothie if I have time.

6:10 or so - Pack my lunch from whatever frozen meals I have prepared in the freezer. Grab my protein smoothie, if there is one, otherwise just grab a yogurt. Leave for work. It's so nice not to have to clean the ice and snow off the car anymore.

6:30 - Arrive at the office. I'll check my email and horoscope, and maybe a few blogs. Also, I have my breakfast smoothie, or the yogurt with cereal. Then I look at what projects I have. Right now I'm designing Christmas. So everyday is fa la la la la, and holly, holly, snowflake, snowflake. A few other projects also cross my desk.

midmorning - I start to get hungry. I might nibble some Trader Joe Multi-grain Pita Chips, and then a few Tollhouse chocolate chips. I would say I check my email again, but I've probably already checked it 5 times by now.

about 5 to 10 minutes before noon - I go to the cafeteria to heat up my lunch, unless I have a cold salad. Lunch is almost alway brought back to my desk to eat, and internet browse.

after lunch - Back to work.
2:00 - small break

3:15 pm - The benefit of starting so early pays off. It's time to go home!! :) Now here's the variable part of my day. I'll either:
a) Run some errands
b) Drive to the bike path for a 3 mile walk followed by relaxing outdoors
c) Go straight home, and do my Yoga Booty Ballet exercise video followed by a shower
d) Go straight home, and browse blogs, or draw, or work on other projects
I didn't do much of b and c over the winter, so I'm trying to get them back into the routine, so I have more energy. Yesterday, I did 16,585 steps, according to my pedometer, approxiamately 8.29 miles to make up for all the slacking. I'm feeling it today. Good pain though.

between 5:00 and 7:30 - I make myself some dinner. I'll usually have my favorite Discovery channel shows on, "Cash Cab" and "How's It Made".

7:00 - 10:00 - Watch tv and maybe draw, or visit blogs, or work on some procrastination project like making a necklace, or work on a freelance assignment. What I do in this block of time depends on how tired I am.

between 9:30 -11:00 - I often fall asleep on the couch with the lights and tv still on. This is an awful habit I'm still trying to break.

2:00 am - I awake to find that I'm still in the living room, and some horrible infomercial is on, and those messed up dreams I was just having are starting to make sense. I now try to go to bed, but end up not being able to fall asleep, and I toss and turn for hours, hopefully, eventually getting a little more sleep, before the alarm goes off, and I do it all over again.

Whoa, sorry this got to be so long. Probably way more then you ever wanted to know.

I will now tag-- Eric Smith, Andi Butler, David Sones, and Sheree Boyd