MATS week 3... children's books!!

Ok, honestly, this was the week I was most looking forward to in Lilla's course and the dream area I would most love to eventually become part of and one of the main reasons why I signed up for the course. At the beginning of the week, we were asked to draw snails, snails and more snails. It was an interesting subject and I could see why she chose it in that you don't have to deal with hands or arms or legs... a real bonus. This made it easier in a short time frame, to concentrate on developing a character. We were then asked to develop some hand lettering with the title, "The Snail and the Rose Tree." Turns out, this is actually a lesser known Hans Christian Andersen tale and like many fairy tales, is actually quite dark. Naturally, I had been working on cheery little snails that somehow now seemed kinda inappropriate.

meet Leroy!! I still would like to do a story about him someday ;)

Sooo, I had to switch streams and make him grumpy looking. It is not my natural tendency to do anything other than "cute," so this presented a real challenge for me. After may hours of redrawing, I came up with the best grumpy I could do. My daughter Katie took one look at him and said, "CUTE!" Oh well, I am who I am! She did suggest I add the mustache which I thought was a nice touch and it was super fun to finally work on some hand lettering.

I must say, the work coming out of this class is absolutely amazing and humbling. If you have a moment check out the flickr group and be prepared to be wowed by the submissions! Take a look at my flickr favorites... it's worth a peek to see the incredible variety of wonderful work! http://www.flickr.com/photos/71597294@N00/favorites/

Make Art That Sells, Week 2

Week 2 in Lilla Roger's e-course, tackled the housewares market, specifically, ceramic plate design. This is certainly not an area that I ever thought about pursuing. The mini assignment, given out at the beginning of the week, was to draw all sorts of pod-like botanicals, leaves, etc. and to leave the tulips and daisy types back on the drawing board. This was a far more intimidating topic than the prior week that focused on patterns. There are a lot of wonderful floral/botanical artists out there and I am not one of them. My usual approach is to try to define the problem and then a solution... well, there was no obvious answer here other than to draw a lot. My first design was the one on the right. Not sure there is a market for sleeping birds on pod houses holding flower umbrellas in the rain, but at least this was more in keeping with my general style. I then tried my hand at a more traditional approach and attempted to modernize a typical vintage style floral plate. After  much mental debate, I ended up submitting the more traditional version. Poor little birdie! On to week 3, and the topic I have most looking forward to, children's books!

illustration friday... children

Ok, so another week with an awesome theme that I absolutely love and no time to do something new...argh!!! Watch...  when I do have time it will be some word like blood or gore, lol. Anyway, this was a  rejected concept for a unicef holiday card. Being a Disney/ Small World addict and Mary Blair freak, it was fun to work on! 

Make art that sells... week 1

Well I survived week one of Lilla Roger's e-course "Make Art That Sells!" This week focused on the bolt fabric market. We first were assigned a mini exercise of drawing mushrooms followed by vintage pyrex. At midweek, the actual assignment was given of coming up with 2 patterns based on the mushrooms/pyrex along with any other retro-ish, kitchen elements. Never having been a huge fan of shrooms, I preferred the kitchen kitsch part. I tried to remember my days of combing Brimfield or the many cool antique shops in central Pennsylvania. So much fun and no end to the great inspiration, from tablecloths, pixie condiment jars, PA dutch decor... love that stuff! Anyway, I ended up submitting the first one (gray bkgd.) along with some coordinates. On to week 2!

illustration friday... sweet

Not much time this week to work on something new for this topic, so I dug up and revised and oldie but hopefully still a goodie. How could I resist doing something for one of my favorite words? ;)

I've never been cool anyway...

Ok, so today marks my return to school, e-school that is as I am taking an online course from art agent guru extraordinaire, Lilla Rogers. To say I'm a bit intimidated would be an understatement but what the heck, I have nothing to lose, right? Homework has begun...stay tuned!

Hello out there!

I am now an official blogger...the most unlikely blogger that ever was! Please pardon the plain appearance. I have yet to figure out how to do all the fancy buttons and gizmos. Frankly, I'm surprised I figured out as much as I have so far.

Anyway, a little about me. I'm a mom, a former art director at a toy company who is presently trying to make a go at illustration and hand lettering in the children's market. I love all things cute, sweet and whimsical and hope to reflect that in my art. Thanks for stopping by and I hope my work puts a smile on your face!