Illustration Friday: Theory

Nutritionists are always telling us their latest theories---eggs are bad...no wait, eggs are good. Real sugar is evil, but now they say most sugar substitutes are even worse. My theory is that we already know what's good for us. A meal of home cooking with fresh garden vegetables is about as good as it gets. Mmm mmm!! :)

I did a rough sketch of this last week, but didn't have time to take it any farther. It's one of those images that popped in my head. I just bought 2 of Rébecca Dautremer's children's books, Princesses, and Cyrano. I've been wanting them for awhile, but my US Amazon wasn't carrying them. I happened upon Amazon France, and decided to give my password a try, and I was surprised that it worked. It never occured to me that all the Amazons worldwide use the same information bank. I decided to order from Amazon Canada since it is closer. Shipping only took a week longer, and there were no customs fees, so I was super pleased. I find her work very inspiring. In this sketch I focused on the big sweeping shapes, and then refined a few areas. I really want to try a traditional painting of this, but this digital photoshop painting helped me work out the colors.

You Make My Day! :)

I didn't mean to be away from the blog for so long. I had some other projects that I needed to focus on. I wanted to say a big thank you to Linda over at Sketched Out for passing me the "You Make My Day" a few weeks ago. Her wonderful sketches and brilliant sense of humor always make my day as well, so right back at ya' girl!! :)

Here is how it works:

1. Write a post with links to 5 blogs that make me think and/or make my day.
2. Acknowledge the post of the award giver.
3. Display the “You Make my Day Award” logo with a link to the post that I wrote. (Optional)
4. Tell the award winners that they have won by commenting on their blogs with the news.

I know this has already made the rounds to all the great artists out there, but I still want to pass this along to some awesome friends who are always making my days sunny! :)

- Eric Smith (glimbit)

- Eric Orchard

- David Sones (pickeldog)

- Andi Butler (gee, that's swell)

- And everyone who has stopped by to comment. Your input, support, and critiques are much appreciated as I continue on my artistic journey.

Illustration Friday: Tales and Legends

Oh, the princess had already kissed so many frogs, toads, and various other small amphibians, so how could she know if this one would be the true prince?
Was this tale created in the days of old to convince young girls to marry toothless ugly men? Just wondering.

I was so excited by this topic, and it's many possibilities, but the ideas didn't flow as expected. I've been collecting all sorts of references of people poses, etc. for quite some time, and pulled out my stash, and 2 images seemed like they would make a wonderful illustration. I tried to sketch it all week, but it didn't want to work, so I abandoned the idea, and started anew. I decide to work on the left side on my sketchbook, since I've been skipping over all the left sides, and I thought taking advantage of these blank pages would give me a new outlook. I worked with the overall broad shapes of the illustration first, and then gradually added a few details, and the process felt very comfortable.
I was reading my horoscope for next month over at Astrology Zone, and Susan included this interesting tidbit, "Social scientists say that creative breakthroughs occur in 90-minute cycles. When you first sit down to begin working on your idea, you won't know exactly where in the cycle you are entering, so it is important that you keep concentrating for at least 90 minutes."
They say this is the way our sleep cycles work, and also our daily energy cycles, so perhaps there's some truth to it. So when things aren't working next time I'll have to keep at it consistently for 90 minutes. I guess it's worth a try.

Illustration Friday: Plain

Scarlett was tired of being called a plain Jane.

This was inspired by the GI Joe Throwback contest going on over at Channel Frederator. I remember watching the cartoon everyday after school with my little brother. This is my kid sized version of the character, Scarlett who was know for being mighty handy with a crossbow. I decided to take this into Painter, and I had fun with the pastel brushes. I'm not sure if this is 'Joe' enough to submit to Frederator. I'd like to hear your critiques and opinions.

Illustration Friday: Stitch

Stitching together two lives is not always so easy.

I feel like I'm a bit late for my first post of 2008. I took a creative break for the holidays, and then came back, and had a hard time getting into the swing of things, and then some freelance projects took priority. Well, hopefully, I can get back on track. I'm actually super excited about this year, and all the possibilities it may hold. All this newness is exhilarating! I feel like this is the year to make my hopes, dreams and wishes come true. At least that's what my horoscope said, and when it's that positive I'm perfectly happy going along with it!!! :D

'Tis the Season...

I just wanted to wish everyone a wonderful winter solstice. Yay, longer days are coming! I'm home for the holidays, and I was hoping to do some dashing through the snow, (even though we don't have the open sleigh), but now we seem to be missing an adequate amount of snow cover. I guess there's still time for it to arrive. Maybe I should do a little snow dance while singing 'White Christmas'.

I also just passed my 2nd year blog anniversary, and I appreciate everyone who's stopped by, and left words of encouragement. It really keeps me going, and always brightens my day. :)

A very Merry Christmas to all, and Have a Spectacular New Year!

Illustration Friday: Little Things

Sometimes it's the little things that make life wonderful like enjoying a pint at Ibsen's favorite pub.

Usually commercials are annoying, but I love the Citibank commercial with the father and son in Norway. The dad is so adorable, and has the most gentle, sweet eyes. I tried to capture some of his likeness, but I couldn't quite get his full cuteness. For those unfamiliar with this commercial the son asks his dad what he wants to do for his 60th birthday, and the dad says he'd like to go to Norway, the land of their ancestors. They sample the local fare. They see the fjords, and get new sweaters. Then they go to the hall of records, and discover that they are actually Swedish, and buy two tickets, and set off for all new adventures. You can see the video of the spot on YouTube here.


Special Thanks
to Norm Golden
for stopping by,
and sending me
this great photo!

My Top 25 Favorite Movies

I was tagged by the uber-talented illustrator, David Sones a.k.a. Pickeldog, to put together my list of top 25 favorite movies. Whenever asked this question I draw a blank. While there are many, many movies I've enjoyed I just can't go handing out the title of 'favorite' all willy nilly. It's been over a year since I've been to the theater, so if it's not on dvd I haven't seen it. There are only 7 movies that I personally own. To make it into my library a film must be full of artistic eye candy, and/or have a story that somehow pulls me in every time I see it. So, this list took some deep thought, and I feel like I'm forgetting some goodies, but here's the ones that came to mind.

1. Run Lola Run
2. The Nightmare Before Christmas
3. Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
4. The Chronicles of Narnia
5. James and the Giant Peach
6. Empire of the Sun
7. Children of Dune
8. Memoirs of a Geisha
9. Alice and Wonderland (Hallmark version)
10. Lara Croft Tomb Raider
    
11. Fight Club
12. Pan's Labyrinth
13. Mirrormask
14. Ratatoulli
15. The Princess Bride
16. Star Wars (the original trilogy)
17. Titanic
18. Scrooged
19. A League of Their Own
20. Stranger Than Fiction
21. Jumanji
22. Back to the Future- trilogy
23. Batman Begins
24. The Neverending Story
25. The Journey of Natty Gann

I now tag the following 5 incredible artists:
Eric Orchard
Andi Butler
James Bradshaw
Claudine Hellmuth
Michelle Lana

Illustration Friday: Excess

When Ned walked into the laundry room and witnessed the overflow of excess suds he knew Billy had been up to trouble once again.

I'm lacking an excess of time this week, and the ideas weren't flowing so good, so I only have time for this quick colored sketch.

This topic made me think of the Tricky song, 'Excess', which is on his 'Blowback' album. I thought it would be fun to listen to while I brainstormed ideas, but my album seems to have gone missing. :(

5 becomes 8 Random Things Meme

I was tagged by 3 wonderful artists. Both Kimberly of Soggy Dog Studios and Sheree Boyd tagged me for 5 random things, and Linda of Sketched Out tagged me for 8, so I added a few to the list.

1) I absolutely love cats, but I don't own any myself. Instead, I count the days between visiting my parents and their 3 furry friends who I adore.

2) I'm an herbal/homeopathic remedies junkie. The Vitamin Shoppe is one of my favorite hangouts to support my habit. I can sometimes be obsessive about it. I realize that this can be viewed as unhealthy.

3) I'm a tv-oholic. My must-sees include 'Chuck', 'Heroes', 'Prison Break', 'Pushing Daisies', 'Reaper', 'Project Runway', 'Grey's Anatomy', 'Supernatural', and more. I also enjoy the Discovery Channel, History Channel, and the Food Network. But, most always I multi-task while I watch, or just listen. I'm often drawing, painting, reading the newspaper, or cooking dinner.

4) In grade school I once won a hula hoop contest because the other girl looked over at me, and couldn't stop laughing. My technique was apparently quite comical.

5) Chocolate is an essential part of my life. I could possible live without it, but really have no intention to. I don't need a lot. A few Toll House chocolate chips are enough to satisfy me, and get me through the day.

6) I was rear-ended just last week on Black Friday by a Direct Tv van.

7) My first job was at a vinyl window factory where after 2 years I learned just about every job in the plant, and could build a window from cut pieces on down to final assembly. Funny, how that skill doesn't come up much in day to day life.

8) I love to read horoscopes. I don't think they work for everyone, but I'm a very typical Pisces, and very often my life's ups and downs follow the star patterns. My favorite scope to read is my monthly horoscope over at Astrology Zone. Susan Miller is very thorough, and this month looks wonderful for me! :)

Here are the rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

I tag:
Trevor of The Art Pitt
Eric of Glimbit Art Blog
Amy of Amy Zaleski Illustration & Lettering
...and anyone else who wants to meme along! :)

Pies and Pumpkin Cookies

I know thanksgiving has passed, but it is still November, and I'm not quite ready for the official beginning of the holiday season. I was home at my parents place for thanksgiving, and these were the pies my mom and I made. My mom always makes the pie dough, and the pumpkin filling, and my job is to make the cherry filling on the stove top, and decorate the crusts, which is my favorite part. I'm never quite sure what each year's design will be, so as they say on Project Runway it all comes together 'organically'. This year we added some wheat flour to the pumpkin crust hence the darker color. I used a maple leaf cookie cutter for the border. For the yummy cherry I went with a cherry tree of life sort of design with my traditional pinched crust border.
The pies were disappearing, so on Saturday I made a recipe that was printed in the Chicago Tribune, Mimi's Pumpkin Cookies. They were easy to make, and soooo delicious with their spicy pumpkiny goodness, and their brown sugar icing. I did make one change to the recipe. I substituted 1 cup of coconut oil for the 1 cup shortening. Everybody said 'Mmmm'..... I'll definitely make them again some day.

Illustration Friday: Superstition

The Golden Compass hits theaters December 7, 2007, and already there are groups urging a ban of the movie. I haven't read the book, but I read about some of the controversy over the themes of past myths and superstitions on a forum that was linked to my Borders newsletter. I've never understood the banning of works of fiction. If one has a strong faith, than why is there so much fear of words?

I'm looking forward to the movie. The trailer looks amazing! I've always liked the idea of polar bears, or ice bears, as modes of transportation. Over at the Golden Compass website you can discover your daemon which is your animal spirit that accompanies you throughout your life, and represents a person's soul. After taking the quiz I met my daemon Remis the lion. I tend to identify with the cat family, so I think we are well matched. We're going to go watch some tv now. Heroes is starting to get good again :)