Saturday, November 27, 2010

Illustration Friday - Savour

This week's Illustration Friday prompt is "savour". I did this illustration a while back for a Chinese restaurant in San Francisco - they used it as their Christmas card (click on it to see it bigger). Santa is savouring a plate of dim sum while the reindeer, working as waiters, serve him. I know. Pretty silly.

I'm resurrecting this style for a new piece I'm working on. I've always loved these reindeer and this pen and ink plus watercolor style. Last night in bed I was reading "Artist to Artist" (23 Major Illustrators Talk to Children about Their Art), and in it Maurice Sendak says its important to have more than one style, which I thought was refreshing, and goes against everything everyone else usually says (more than one style will confuse art directors, they won't know what to expect when they hire you, etc.). He says "...develop a fine style, a fat style, a fairly slim style, and a really rough style." So I'm not sure how I'd define this 'reindeer style' but its definitely different than everything else I do. And its fun!

I resisted Black Friday like the plague, and will now gradually ease myself into the idea of Christmas. Actually, at this time next week I'll probably have bought the tree and have it all done up. But this weekend I will still savour the Thanksgiving leftovers and this very brief 'in between time' and get some work done.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Inspiration

This is where I went today~





And this is what I saw ~







The amazing wonderful work of the amazing and wonderful Wayne Thiebaud at the Crocker Museum. The new addition is open (and is not blue like in my pictures, but rather, all white) and is impressive.

The art - well, what can I say. (I hope Mr. Thiebaud doesn't mind me sharing these pictures on my blog - copyright and all that.) There were pieces he did in the early '60s all the way through this year. I was able to get this close to them all and see the brushstrokes and how he layered the paint in places. Some are almost abstract up very close, then magically turn into a basket of fries or a bit of landscape or something when you stand back. The paintings are simple and complex at the same time. A real treat.


Friday, November 19, 2010

Illustration Friday - Sneaky


She's sneaking up on some lucky person who's about to get beaned with that snowball. Glad its not me!

~~~~~

Still working on the little cards. Turns out the envelopes were on back order, but no one told me, so I have to wait until next week for those to arrive. After that I will have to hustle to get them all put together, since some are for Christmas. Talk about 'last minute'!

Thanksgiving Day preparations are starting to happen. Next week will be full of hustle and bustle, so I may or may not post. I hope everyone has a lovely holiday filled with good company and good food and lots of warm fuzzies.


Friday, November 12, 2010

Its never as easy as it looks ...

(warning: whining ahead)

How hard can it be to make little cards - right? Well I'll tell you ~

First you get that cool idea. "Oooh, I know - I'll make little tiny cards!!"
Then you start the actual process of figuring out how to make them.

Lay them out in Photoshop so you can print several on one page. Not hard.
Test (aka 'waste') different papers, determining just the right combo of the image looking good plus foldability. Settle on something after printing way too many on paper that will now be used to line the bird cage.


Trim them all. Start with a trusty utility knife and straight edge and cutting board. Think "this is crazy" and go buy a 'cutter' at the crafts store. Decide the cutter is a cheap piece of crap, and go back to the utility knife. Think "this is 10 cent an hour slave labor - is this really what I went to art school for?".




Ruin several cards, and realize the knife could probably use a new (aka 'sharp') blade. Change the blade and be momentarily amazed at just how sharp a new utility blade actually is, and realize this is a job that needs to be done while very WIDE AWAKE with no distractions. Do quite a few, until attention starts to wane, and pack it up for the night.


Think it might be cute to have rounded corners, so use the cute little 'corner rounder thingie' that was also purchased at the craft store. Practice diligently on 'bad paper' until confident to move on to the real cards. Make several 'just slightly off' cuts which produce a notched effect rather than a perfect rounded corner (usually on the 4th corner of a card, which looked like it was going to be successful).



Throw bad card into basket. Try not to calculate just how much this is costing, what with paper, ink, printing and cutting and folding time (oh we haven't even gotten into folding yet!). Go pour a drink. Ponder what made us think this was a good idea to begin with. Wonder how all those people on etsy just whip this stuff out like its nothing. Question our very existence. Eat something.



This is the evil, EVIL, corner rounder thingie. This is the little orange machine-like punch thing that not only doesn't work perfectly every time, but also can give you carpal-tunnel in the punching arm after about 10 minutes of use.




I'm still waiting for the envelopes I ordered to arrive. And figured out after the fact that they are 'ungummed', meaning you can't lick them to make them stick shut. Will anyone care? There isn't a 'gummed' option in this size. A lesson in "read the fine print". I knew it was too good to be true when I found them. If I don't use them, I will have a box of 1000 wee tiny envelopes taking up space in my closet. What to do, what to do ...

So that's what's been going on at my place. And now you'll know why I'll be charging $25 a card when they finally get up in the shop. Oh I'm kidding but not by much. Lets add in the 'joy' of experiencing the craft store with its 3 different awful songs playing simultaneously over the loudspeaker in different parts of the store to get all of us shoppers 'in the mood' (one was Christmas, the others were just everyday annoying - and if you stood in the right place you could hear all three of them at the same time!).

But let's see if I can end this on a positive note. The amazing genius computer guy came and fixed my Photoshop issue. YAY. And did some other fiddly stuff while he was here.
I'm working on some art I can't show, so that's a drag, but the way it is.
And I just bought some new candy to draw - some new taffys and other goodies, so that will be fun.

So hopefully the next time I post I will have something to show for my trouble, and there will be less whining.
Pumpkin ice cream awaits!

Saturday, November 06, 2010

Ugh, computers

... they can make you cry.

I'm having an "I can't open Photoshop" issue at the moment (which no doubt has something to do with the new printer I set up yesterday). Long story short, tomorrow someone will be here in person to sit down in front of this machine and tinker with things, which I hope is more successful than the poor online tech help people who have been walking me through steps of opening folders, deleting, uninstalling, testing, ad nauseum that you'll be familiar with if you've ever had something like this happen to you).

I'm grateful that I at least have the internet and mail! - but no Photoshop is like not having lights or running water to an artist these days. One can scan in images, but not open them up or print them out. Or if one actually does their work using Photoshop, its much more dire a situation. Thankfully I can still use my colored pencils, but am a little shocked at my own dependence on this one program!

So I thought I'd better post something, just in case (knock wood) more things crash and burn - fingers crossed they won't!!

I'm doing little 2 inch square cards with my candy art ~
I ordered wee little square envelopes and can't wait until they arrive. They're so cute!
Of course getting the cards actually made is on hold until I get things sorted out with this machine (as is all other art production type of stuff, phot0-making, posting on etsy, etc.)

Sigh.

In other news, I received a copy of Childhood Wonders, a new book out by National Geographic, which is using one of my illustrations - Cozy Quilt.


Its a sweet book. (My piece is the laaaast one in the book, page 128, if you do the "Look Inside!" thing on Amazon.
Here's another link - to Random House, who has a neat 'look through the book' feature.


And I think my Spaghetti alla Caruso recipe is going to be in a cookbook - not sure of the details yet.


I'm pretty pleased with myself, considering that piece is the first real 'pen and ink plus digital color' whole illustration I tried! Maybe I won't give up on that style quite yet after all ...

And there you have it. I have to go tidy up my workspace, then do some 'coloring' - and praying to the photoshop or computer gods to put everything right. Wish me luck!

Monday, November 01, 2010

Plaid Season



Now that Halloween is over, we can really get into the part of Fall I love. Today I pulled out my Indian corn, preserved Fall leaves and cedar and little pine cones and decorated up the house. I love this time of year, its like New Year's to me. I get a real battery re-charge when the air gets a bit chilly, sweaters come out of hiding, and rich plaids appear. I go all funny over a nice Pendleton wool plaid anything, and collect 'fat quarters' of cotton and flannel plaids. Once when I was gushing over some stack of holiday plaid squares I'd just bought, my Mom asked "what are you going to do with them?" and I said "just look at them, for inspiration". (insert raised eyebrow look here)



These two pieces were painted with watercolor. They're roughly based on actual clan tartans - with good bit of artistic license thrown in! The 'decorative side' of me could just sit and paint this kind of thing all day long.

So Happy Plaid Season everyone! - just remember to wear them responsibly.