Constellations and Decorative Animals

This year I began working on a set of images which ended up adding a whole new section to my portfolio. It started as just little experiments, playing around with ways to simplify shapes and use flat colors. I find it satisfying to distill an object down to it's most basic, pleasing shape, and these experiments allowed me to fully explore this idea. Eventually it evolved into two separate series.

The first was a set of 12 animal/creature constellations, which I turned into a big, pretty, calendar poster, available for purchase HERE. The calendar is not a Zodiac calendar, although some of the signs are represented. Rather, the constellations are ones that can be found in the Northern Hemisphere during the month they are displayed with.

The second series also involves animals, but they are more decorative, with elements from nature creating small landscapes that the animals sit inside of. When folks looked at these, they regularly suggested I turn them into greeting cards. So I did! There are two sets, the Wild Animals set, and the Domestic Animals set, both available on Etsy.

It is exciting when something that started as just an experiment, something meant as an exercise to stretch my art-making muscles, ends up as products out in the world. There's a lot to be said for allowing oneself to explore new ideas and methods, without any pressure or clients to worry about. You never know what might come from it!

Buy local/from artists this holiday season!

2014 Year in Review

Well it's been quite a year. At almost this exact time last year I left my day job to pursue freelance illustration full time. The next day, I moved from NYC to Washington, DC. It was one of the more terrifying and stressful times of my life. Ack! But some really great things happened in 2014, and let's focus on those for now. Here are the highlights:

I exhibited at my first two conventions ever!

Here is my table at AwesomeCon DC, which I shared with the glorious Marc Scheff.

Here I am at my Illuxcon Showcase table. Illuxcon was inspiring and loads of fun. There was an embarrassment of wonderful art and lovely people there to meet and reconnect with. I was also thrilled to sell a lot of my drawings and even a painting. I will be back in the showcase again this year!

 I produced my first Sketchbook, containing sketches from my Russian Fairy Tales series.

I opened an Etsy store, where I sell original art and other products (like my sketchbook!), and an INPRNT store where I sell a selection of art prints.

I started a series of drawings based on the animals at the National Zoo, which, lucky for me, is a short walk from my home in DC.

I dipped my toe back into teaching by leading two art workshops for teenagers, one about book cover illustration and design, and another on mural painting. Here is a shot of the mural my students created, with the theme "Our World". It was awesome and I look forward to doing more teaching.

I did concept art for a film which will be based on an Irish folk tale.

I busted out my big brushes to paint a 40 foot long mural in a children's library.

I turned 30!

I illustrated and designed the covers for a Young Adult book series which will come out in 2015. This is Book 1 of the series.

And here is the cover for Book 2! I love that the main character is a strong young woman. Keep an eye out for these (and a third book in the works!) in the coming year.

I had the opportunity to move to Oakland, CA for four months, and have been getting lots of inspiration from the art scene and all the twisty trees.

I got to be a model for the Dazzle Camo clothing line designed by Stephanie Syjuco for The Workshop Residence in San Francisco. 

I got to meet sloths and feed them apples!!!

I designed my first game character - a kick-butt 11 year old girl! Fun!

And the biggest milestone of all - I got my first full PICTURE BOOK assignment from Cengage Learning in Australia, for which I just wrapped up the last of the 23 illustrations. Phew! I will have some images from this project up once I get the green light from the publisher that I can share them. Thanks to my agent at The Illustrators Agency for bringing me the project!

Lessons learned - Overall, even though I earned less than in the years when I had a day job, I feel that last year was more valuable than any previous year of my career. I took huge leaps forward in improving my art and gaining a wide variety of freelance experiences. I am also happy to be getting a lot of work that focuses on portraying strong female characters, and also work based on folk tales, as these are two of my major areas of interest. I am still getting used to the ebb and flow of freelance life - weeks can go by without new projects coming along, which is always nerve wracking, but I am learning to make use of those times through personal projects and networking.

There were moments when the fear of failure loomed so large that I felt frozen, immobilized by uncertainty. I recognize that these moments will come along every so often, and I have found that the best way to deal with them is to just make something. Anything. A drawing, some jewelry, bake some cookies - just do what you can to get up and be productive and then get back to work. I am also working on making and maintaining connections with people - the freelance experience can be a very isolating and lonely one, and it takes some extra effort to stay in touch. This has been a year of learning and challenges and growth and fun projects and frustrating projects. It's been harder than I ever imagined, but also more rewarding and full of wonderful surprises.

And now for 2015!

Blue Fairy

This summer has been filled with a wide variety of freelance projects which have kept me very busy (a mural, 11 illustrations for a film, a YA book cover, and jewelry design, phew!). It's been awesome, but every so often I need to work on something for myself. I've been plugging away at this little series of Blue Fairies, and finally the trio is complete. All three fairies will be traveling with me to Illuxcon next month. Come meet them (and me!) at the Friday/Saturday Showcase.

(Click to view larger)

Firebird Sketchbook: They Have Arrived!

They're heeeere!! My Firebird sketchbook is my first little artist book, filled with drawings and process sketches from my Russian Fairy Tales series. They look lovely all stacked in their box, but I'd love to send them out to new homes. Each one comes signed and numbered, with an optional original drawing on the inside cover. Get yours HERE.

Hartford Art School Low Residency MFA in Illustration

Have you ever thought about getting your MFA in Illustration, but were worried about the time commitment, the cost, having to move, etc? Well, I just want to take a moment to put in a plug for the Low Residency MFA in Illustration at the Hartford Art School. I am in the midst of my first year in the program, and since beginning the program in July I have my first two children's book proposals under review, I have gotten work from a dream client, I have had my work re-energized, my understanding of the history of the field of illustration has deepened, and my circle of illustration contacts and friends has expanded to include folks from across the country who work not only in the children's and fantasy markets, but who do concept work, editorial, licensing, and more.

For me, the best part about the program is that my classmates and the faculty are ALL working illustrators. Many of my classmates are mid-career, so have quite a lot of experience in the field, and at least half of them are already teaching on a college level. Every single person involved in the program, whether faculty or student, is a great resource for information and feedback.

The program is structured so that its students can continue to live their lives, so that it won't disrupt their freelance or teaching careers, or their other full or part-time jobs. Those that have families don't have to move, or be limited to only what is offered nearby. We are technically full-time students, but only meet for a total of four weeks out of the year for two years (three summers). These one or two-week intensives are exactly that - intense! I always come away from them full of inspiration and new ideas. In-between the intensives we work on some small assignments, and most importantly we develop our thesis projects. For a lot of students, the thesis is something that they have been wanting to work on for a while, but needed some motivation and guidance to make it happen. I have been working on my thesis for 7 months now, and have over a year to go, and I am incredibly excited about it. I'm sure I'll do some posting about it in the months to come.

So that's my little pitch for this fabulous program. If you are thinking about getting your MFA and the low residency format sounds right for you, you can read more about it on the website here - Hartford Art School MFA in Illustration. Be sure to check out the mind-blowingly amazing list of faculty, and links to the work of current students.