Sketching Day 15

February 15, 2013
My puppy. And an imagined pug with my shoes. A good day of sketching I'd say.

Sketching Day 14

February 14, 2013
Long day. Little sketches. But aren't they cute!

Sketching Day 13

February 13, 2013
A quiltish pattern.

Sketching Day 12

February 12, 2013  
Bought a new cookbook, so of course I had food on the brain. I really think this kind of sketching is where I excel.

Sketching Day 11

February 11, 2013
Some characters are getting ready for Valentine's Day.

Sketching Day 10

February 10, 2013
A few odd characters.

Sketching Day 9

 I have not forgotten to sketch, just haven't been able to scan them in. Here are the last few days.

February 9, 2013
Some more lettering. That last one is for you Dani. :)

Sketching Day 8

February 8, 2013
Although we don't have snow here, I've been thinking fondly about winter and my sketches went that way too. These are some of my favorites.

Also, I found this little gem in my sketchbook from a month or so ago and couldn't resist throwing it into the wintery mix page.
 

Sketching Day 7

February 7, 2013
A long and rough day, I decided to just work on some lettering and focus on something that's true.

Sketching Day 6

February 6, 2013
It was an odd day of sketching. I had read a lot of picture books about animals so I'm guessing that's why my brain immediately went to birds and crocodiles. And then, late last night I started drawing this little old woman. Next I wondered what her husband would look like, and her house… and that's where this odd little drawing came from. I like it. Very different for me, but I really want to know more about them and their quaint little home.

Sketching Day 5

February 5, 2013
I love to create icons. A bit obsessive about them really.

sketch to card

My little elephant sketch and birthday lettering from day 2 has now become a lovely little card for one of my dearest friend's little girl.

I am so thrilled about how it turned out. I scanned in all the separate parts, cleaned them up a bit in PhotoShop, decided on a layout and then I painted them in PhotoShop as well. I realized after that it would have been way faster to use real watercolors and paint by hand, since I'm so much more comfortable with a real brush than virtual ones. But it was a fun and good experience and something I'll probably dabble more with here and there. To complete the watercolor painted look, I cut some watercolor paper to size and printed the finished design directly onto it. Love the result! The texture and weight of the paper is perfect and the card looks stunning in person.

Hope the little birthday girl (and her parents!) love it!

Sketching Day 4

February 4, 2013
Some quick, but sweet sketches of my little one. First time I've ever tried to draw her.

Sketching Day 3

February 3, 2013
Just barely got any sketching in with a full day yesterday. Practiced some lettering though. Rough, but I got it in. Had to have a football of course being it was the SuperBowl. :)

Sketching Day 2

February 2, 2013

Really inspired and enjoying myself. Drawn some from vintage children's cards. Working on a birthday card for a friend's kid. Bottom right kid copied directly from lovetoillustrate.blogspot.com. I take no credit for that cutie.

Sketching day 1

February 1, 2013
Inspired by Don Madden characters.

28 Days of Sketching

A new project for myself. Hoping for habit-formation, inspiration, improvement, and whatever else occurs.

As we head into the new year, if you've been missing my voice here; you can find me over at Three Books a Night. That's right, my new blog is up! This is the place for all things children's book related. I finally have an outlet for my obsessive passion about children's picture books and you can bet I won't run out of content anytime soon. I'll be back here eventually with more illustration and design inspiration and work once I feel settled in a bit more. Hope to see you there!

Merry Christmas and happy New Year!

yes, this is an update

January 9, 2012

So things never seem to turn out like we expect. What is that saying "the best laid plans…?" Nevertheless, after receiving a few comments and questions regarding the goals in my last post (from November) I realized I needed to make an update. Things are still in the works, just at a slower pace. And the above illustration is why. I'm still working on my illustration style, the above illustration being a great example of what I'm trying out, but as today is my "best guess date" for our first child's arrival – things illustration/blog/and business-wise have been on hold. I knew I was pregnant when I made that post in November, but I was coming off the first trimester crud and was a lot more ambitious about where I could have things before little one made the debut.

As for the illustration, (which I promised every post would have from now on so at least I'm keeping that goal!), I created that back in January and intended to make a New Year's card out of it, and then a Valentine's Day card, and then we gave up. It just never came together. But I still love it. It will get used somewhere. It's really the first time I've ever done an illustration that really felt like my style. It makes me excited to look at and think about what I can do next. I have filled out a few more pages of my sketchbook as well, but nothing as finished as this and so I'm waiting til I can focus a little more heartily on it.

Now, with the little one coming any day, I'm not making any promises. But, I will be back, and I guarantee that this blog is not going to become baby-zone and neither will I. That's not me and it doesn't fit the passionate goals I have created for myself and this space either. I'm sure there will be an illustration here and there of the little one, which I'm super excited about illustrating, but I still have ideas swirling that need to get out as well. So stay tuned. It's still coming. It's just one of those extra-long, it will be worth it when it does come kind of things.

No. 2 pencils required… and probably an eraser or two

Welcome November! I'm so glad you are here. And thanks to you dear friends who still check this blog occasionally. My absence will not be felt any longer. But I'm about to shake things up and change it all around. (Officially) starting this month, I'm no longer a graphic designer, but a full-time illustrator working for myself! Woohoo! If you've known me for long, you've known this was always my (and our) hope. A couple months ago we decided it was time to give it a go. I'm not going to lie, I'm scared to death. The past few months have been different, shaky, and full with unexpected things. But I'm also very excited to try my hand at this, literally. (Sorry, it was begging for a joke.)

So, here's what is coming up:
1. The blog will be getting a new header (hopefully this week), and will definitely be getting a new focus. My goal is to blog at least once a week, but hopefully once a day during the typical work week. The once a day thing is going to have to be felt out as I'm determined that each post should from now on contain some form of an illustration, done by me or perhaps an inspiration piece I discover.
2. As mentioned above, each post should include an illustration of some sort.
3. I'll be doing themes most weeks for my own illustration challenges which will probably be quite apparent on the blog, so don't get weirded out if there are a lot of posts about penguins one week and then umbrellas the next.

There are other tricks up my pencil smudged sleeves, but they are going to come in time. Perhaps that will make it more exciting. But I decided it was high time I break the silence and give myself some blog-public goals for where this old friend is headed. Things to look out for in the future, and if you feel so led, to encourage me about are:
• my new portfolio site
• an etsy store including items like calendars, custom portraits, random prints and more
• another blog with a focus on something I'm uber-passionate about
• my first official venture into children's book illustration

Buckle your seat belt. I have no idea what kind of a ride this is going to be.