Pet fish sketches

In between projects today, I thought I'd sketch our new pets. We have two betta fish (kept in separate tanks, of course). They are fun to watch and sketch!  The white one's name is Thunder, and the blue one's name is Daydream.  My 5-year-old named them both.

New project, coming soon!

Hi you guys!

Are we having an awesome rockin' creative spring so far?  I sure hope so!  March was interesting for me..  Lots of emailing with potential clients, negotiation, and paperwork.  I am always amazed at just how much office work is involved in my job - when I first started, I thought it would be 80% painting, 20% paperwork..  It's more like 70/30, or some days 60/40!  But I love it all, and I especially love my clients!

In between the busy-ness stuff, I went on a vacation to Maui with my hubby and came back super inspired.  I've been painting away as much as I can, in preparation for something brand new!  I hope for it to launch in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, here is a sneak peek:

Talk to you soon, folks!  Have a great day.  

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope all of you are having a wonderful February!

Live Sketches

I was the parent volunteer helper in my child's kindergarten class today.  As luck would have it, their gym time was rescheduled to happen while I was there, and I was allowed to come along and sketch during their special gymnastics session!  What a treat.  Balance beams, swinging ropes, bar apparatuses.. Too bad (for me) that they only had half an hour.

..Those kids move FAST!  I wished for a slow motion button, because they all had perfect poses in all their movements, but my sketching was nowhere near quick enough.

Sketch for IF: Haunt

Here is my sketch for this week's Illustration Friday topic, "Haunt".   I hope you all had a Happy Halloween! Welcome, November! 

Breezy

Staying afloat, keeping drawings loose, & putting pencil to paper as often as possible!

 (I just finished a big, left-brained, "paying the bills" job and am feeling happy, feathery, and right-brained again.)

Upload Guilt!

Hellooo out there!  It has been a while!  ...Since June, it says?!  OMG. 
I hope everyone has been well and living happy, creative lives.  <3 br="br">

I can come up with hundreds of excuses for not blogging, but I'll only mention three here.  First, I've noticed a huge challenge when it comes to updating stuff online.  Many (most) contracts say I can't show my work online until a given project is publicly revealed.  Even if I'm drawing all the time, it takes a while before my artwork comes to the surface, and by then it's already "old work" to me and though I haven't forgotten about it, I am likely excited and preoccupied about whatever secret project I'm working on next, creating this difficult cycle which, coupled with laziness, results in the blog going stale.  My sincere apologies.  

Speaking of laziness, even when I draw sketches for fun, many of them don't even make it to the scanner.  Those little guys I do forget about.  But I really hope to break this bad habit.  The sketch above did make it to the scanner, so I thought I'd post it in the meantime while I get my ducks in a row for the fall.

Lastly, the summer really, really, kicked my butt as a work-at-home mom.  My 4 year old wanted to try out several different summer activity camps, and my 1 year old was napping less, and we went out of town every other weekend.  Any time for my own needs, including work AND drawing for fun, (not to mention exercise, etc.), diminished down into maybe 5 hours a week, total.  Needless to say, I had an incredibly understanding client over the summer, possibly the world's best, and I had to let go of any personal projects for the time being.

So there are my excuses, but I have learned from them and am moving on!  The delightful world of illustration is always a learning process.  

IF: Shiny

Hello all!

I've been keeping busy - preschool graduation is around the corner, and a few top secret work projects on the go.

This week's Illustration Friday topic is "Shiny". I started this character to be part of a larger piece, but since the subject matter suited the IF topic, I thought I'd go ahead and upload what I had.  Consider it a work in progress.  :)

Happy Father's Day on Sunday!

IF: Sight

Hi, all!  My current project is in vector format, which I am really enjoying.  Since I can't show you that work just yet, I thought I'd do this week's Illustration Friday topic in vector as well.  Unlike painting in the traditional sense, vector painting creates images by computing curves and geometric shapes.  (It takes me back to days when I studied 3D modeling.  Kind of.) 

This week's topic is "Sight," so I thought I'd do a little owl character.  Hoot hoot!  Have a great week!

Quick check-in!

Long time no blog!  How is everyone?

Unfortunately, I have been sidelined with a back injury that worsens when I sit for long periods of time.  It has been quite painful and so I have been resting as much as possible when I don't have to work or chase after my kids.

I've set up a standing desk and have been able to sketch more in the past week.  The above is a sketch for this week's Illustration Friday topic, "Jump".  Please bear with me and I will post more content soon!  Wishing you well!  :)

Ink for IF: Popularity

Hi folks! My schedule is crazy these days - juggling work projects, packing lunches for preschool, trying to fit a run in somewhere, and my baby still won't sleep through the night! So, I got to the inking phase for this week's Illustration Friday theme, but am very sure it won't be painted in time. I want to do this one in acrylic when I have a spare minute!

Hope all is well in happy drawing land! Until next time!

Sketch for IF: Suspense

I probably won't finish this by next Friday, but here is my sketch for this week's Illustration Friday, "Suspense".

IF: Forward

I'm still playing around with ink & acrylics. This technique keeps me loose, which I love. Here's my painting for this week's Illustration Friday:

Until next time!

IF: Prepare

I finished painting this one.  In case you missed it, the sketch is here.  Enjoy!

IF: Twirl

So, I was not able to finish digitally painting last week's "Prepare", but it is coming along alright and I hope to finish it sometime soon.

I've been playing around with brush inking & acrylics lately, so I tried out this week's Illustration Friday, "Twirl", in that style.  It was a quick exercise for a Sunday afternoon, and I had fun painting it. 

Here's the sketch:

Incidentally, the red panda is my favourite animal.  :)

Sketch for IF: Prepare

I hope I can paint this one this week!

 

IF: Grounded

I wish I had a more grounded personality!

Happy 2012!

Happy New Year!! I hope everyone in the blogging world has been well.  The past few months for me have been a huge game of improv - who knew it'd be so tough to get on the computer while running around after two little ones?  Ha! 

 

My new year's resolution is the same as last year, to be creative every day, cherish these early years with my children, and continue to beef up my client list and portfolio.  Like always I hope to be around more on my blog, but that would be icing on the cake, wouldn't it?  ;)  

Enjoy this year of the dragon! 

IF: Boundaries

Quick sketch for this week's Illustration Friday topic, "Boundaries". No further comment. ;)

Have a good week, everyone!

Spark Story Starters

Last year, I started working with the delightful Tamara Vukusic on a project that would encourage creativity in children. She had an idea for a card game and app that would prompt imaginative answers and encourage parent-child conversation. Tamara and I got along right away, as we are both moms of young children and seek to balance motherhood and creative work. :)

In short, I created artwork for two of her projects, "Spark Story Starters" and "KidCart". Both are apps available on iTunes, and "Spark Story Starters" is also available as a deck of cards. "Spark Story Starters" is a creativity prompt game, while "KidCart" is a shopping list app that encourages children to help with the grocery shopping. I drew over 100 grocery items for that one!

I had so much fun being a part of these two projects, and I am especially happy to see how well "Spark Story Starters" is being received by both parents and educators! I play the app with my daughter quite often. She is now 4, and her answers to the questions have really evolved in complexity since we first started playing.  (Check out the Spark website!)

Here is one of my earlier designs for Spark.  I liked this version too, but in the end we went with a design that worked as a more recognizable brand.  Besides, this version looks a little naked..