New Ceramics!

Up on Etsy! Yay.
I also found a company that does art printing on anything. So there might be some textiles in my future.

*photos courtesy of JJ

True Love

Here is the vectorized version of "True Love" for the new tote. I have asked some clothing designers I know who about transferring images in ways other than traditional screen printing. I really liked what the end product was last time, but this illustration started out as gouache (the other was vectorized to begin with) and I wanted to see if there was a way to transfer that quality to a tote. I have totally seen it on bags and shirts before and if the quality is super high, washable, and accurate than I would rather do that than have to have everything be flat color. I still think it looks cute it just loses some of the delicateness of the original illustration that make it so appealing.

(note: the other issue is that more than two colors on a screen printing job gets super expensive. I have three here and I think that might double the price...but all three colors are super important. The heart as an outline is just not as awesome.)

We got back from worldwind tour of family land Sunday night and I opened Monday and yesterday so I am feeling really behind on my art activities. I have a few new illustrations I will post later today and last night I painted two new mugs and a serving bowl so those will go up too. I am also waiting on the arrival of my mock up of the Ugly Sweater to arrive. This process takes so long and it drives me crazy. I just want it to go out already. I also have to get my work together for the Communication Arts Illustration Annual. Its hard to know what to submit because they have different judges every year and there is some work I did a couple of year ago that I still love. So I think I will send a combo of old and new. Anyway, more to do and my computer is getting slower by the minute.

Compooper

Placed an order for The Ugly Sweater. It should come next week maybe. If it looks good then I will order a bunch of copies and off it will go. It will be great, but I after shipping at 22 dollars a pop there will be no money for my "new computer fund."

I have been planning to get a new computer as the current one is sooooo slow and at this point almost 4 years old. I think if I get a refurbished and buy Adobe Illustrator and InDesign (JJ has photoshop and word) it will be 3000. I could get the student package, but updates would be a good. I was planning to wait until I get published...but it is going to take more time than I want to wait. I have savings, but I would rather just start from 0 and leave my savings alone.

Ok, enough boring. Will post new work today as we are hiding inside from the snow. I rode my bike today out in the elements and I felt hard core, but now I am going to sit and stay warm.

Rock the Boat

I love ugly things. I happen to think ugly things need more love and so I drawn to them. Right now I am working on making more ugly things. Stay tuned.
In the mean time here is something to ponder:

Today: I will be sick by my computer correcting the children's book and I WILL print out a copy/get it ready to print on lulu.

In flight

New business card and more ceramics for the holidays, yay!
Its a shame I am coming down with something resembling bronchitis....meh.

Yappy Holidays

I have been so busy I can hardly handle it...in fact I have a cough that reminds me of the cough I had that led to bronchitis. I am going to give it a couple more days before going to my unsympathetic doctor.
I think more than ever people are trying to avoid department stores this holiday season. Apparently, the Bust Craftactular was so crowded they had to hold people back because it was too crowded. I believe it. In the past 4 days I have sold 6 things on etsy and 4 prints in the shop...and I cannot keep count of the holiday cards. Its great, but I hardly have the time to make new business cards, for example. I did print some new cards today and I am really happy with them. They look similar to the old ones, but the icon is different. I used my amazing gocco, which I am still too nervous to really experiment with, and I printed on cardboard from packaging like soda containers. SO basically I made the cheapest business cards ever.
I am still mired in the children's book, but I have had so much holiday art stuff to do and the addition responsibilities at Joe, I have had zero time. I am hoping to have things under control by next week. I have to put up the Joe art show tomorrow night and then maybe there will be time for other things....like drawing.

2008 Holiday Card

I did these last year as a commission holiday card. I am going to have a few for extra for this xmas season available on etsy so keep your eyes pealed.

IF: Entangled

Entanglement

1.
2.
IF: Entangled

The second one is a little more like a pile than a tangle, but we can just say its open for interpretation. I did these illustrations of head dresses while at home for T-day and thought they fit pretty well.

Thanksgiving Illustrations

Squirrels and all

I been linked.

Yay, to squirrels.

Went to the Ace Hotel yesterday for some stumptown coffee and hangout time with a friend. It was a crazy crazy place....the hotel, not stumptown. Amazing. I loved the mix of old parlor, library, and taxidermy....I could hang out there all day.

I also met with a new client yesterday. I am going to put some of my info graphic edjamication to work for this one. He wants a "resume" done in a way that flows more like a tree. I am not doing a tree, but when we were meeting I did come up with a bunch of solutions and I will get to those this weekend.

In addition, to drinking lot of coffee yesterday I had a cleaning fit. I went through all my art supplies, clothes, and art. I have two bag of art that must go. I am going to a party tonight where I plan to unload this stuff before I resort to the old destruction method. I just have too much work. So, now I feel a bit more sane and I am off to make more things that I will have to get rid of in a couple of years....yay.

Tote time!

Just ordered 300 kraft flat mailers to prepare for the holidays. I usually just use cardboard and make my own mailers, but I have a feeling there is going to be an order influx this year...or at least I am going to will an order influx. I have promo cards I am going to leave everywhere even though they are not my favorite illustrations. Anyway, the idea is I will go prepurchase some stamps from George my mail guy (I hate the post office and therefore do not frequent it) and when orders come in at the last minute I can just drop them in the mail. I am also going to get cracking on some new holiday cards. Get excited!

In the mean time vote on the next tote possibly for the holidays:


a)

b)

Winter window land

Still plugging away on my book. I recently finished the covers and the inside pages (I have no idea what they are called, but its on the inside cover). A co-workers gf is looking at the content to see if it needs more revisions. She was an intern at Penguin and did editing of children's books so it could be useful to have her look at the language. Otherwise, work is just taking most of my time and while I would like to say I have other projects lined up I really don't. Kevin is finishing up all the stuff for the website, but it looks pretty amazing. I was trying to decide if I was going to do any craft fares this holiday season, but I really don't think so. I am just going to work on this book and selling art at work. I just don't have the desire or energy. I think after this book is done and sent out I might work on something new. I am revamping my business cards, but not drastically. Winter makes me sluggish.

Flamingos with Virtigo

Illustration Friday: Unbalanced.
....because its funny.

HORK

Because sometimes things don't make sense

A few new

A revision of blame the squirrelly one, I miss you card, and a kangaroo with a problem.

Positive reenforcement

If you are feeling stuck and want to be inspired Children's Books. I have been looking at the amazing work out there and it makes me feel that there is hope for unique/odd work.

Pleased to meet you!

IF: Blur

Paranoid Penguin

This weather reminds me of New England, which I love and miss. I get this feeling that anything is possible, which is odd because when I lived in New England and I was not in school I was often unemployed or feeling aimless and depressed.
Right now I am not depressed, but feeling a sense of aimlessness.
The closer I get to finishing the book and getting is ready to send out the more real my goal becomes and the more nerve racked I feel.

But who cares, here is a penguin! I drew him last night and I am in love. It's hard to say if I want to make an alphabet book of insane animals or just a children's book about a paranoid penguin....now a days I am sure 9 out of 10 children know what paranoid means...I mean there is a children's book about moms getting plastic surgery, is this really that far a leap?

To Boston

Ok so I finished the Ugly Sweater layout, but JJ said the type looked really boring so I am going to reevaluate before I jump the gun and print.
Going to Boston tomorrow so will update later. In the mean time enjoy some squirrels.
(I cheated and bought a new scanner off of ebay. It is the same scanner I have, but does not band or make horrible screeching noises.)

Who do the Lulu

My Lulu order arrived today a little later than I wanted, but that is only because I am impatient and spoiled by Zappos. When I lived in ATL I could order shoes at 11pm and get them the next morning...it was amazing and dangerous.
So my minibook looks really good. They made some decisions about the layout so while I wanted the images to have the right page with an image and the left side of the spread blank they print and both sides so images sit side by side. I can change that in the layout although I am not sure if I mind. If I decide that this is ok I do need to change the formatting so the titles of images sit on the outter corners...this is all boring and technical. The point is it looks good. I do feel that the colors look pretty good the blues are a bit washed out, but everything else looks nice even though its printed with a color laser.
I am going to try blurb next and see if there is a quality and price difference. I will report back.
Other news: Talked with Robert Forbes today about my children's book. He wrote a book that was illustrated by Ronald Searle so I thought he might be someone who has a good idea how to get things published. Anyway, I asked him if he wouldn't mind looking at a copy of the book and telling me what he thinks and he said he would not mind at all. So, this is a good step and a possible direction...mind you he might look at book say "how nice" and then nothing more. I am not good at prodding, but I was direct and if I have to ask for an introduction to a publisher I will...so there! I have another lead, but once again it could be nothing. I think children's books are not like novels where (in the case of Harry Potter) there was a bidding war.
My one operation of business is to find a publisher before the end of the year. I really want to be able to say I did something the year after I graduated grad school. My designer friends either have jobs, have started companies, or have (in one special case) started a textile design company. I do not know about the illustrators in the group. I was the only one in my class and I did both design and illustration, but spent most of my time with the designers. I saw a lot of unmotivated illustrators and I did not want to be identified that way. Alright off to craft night to continue operation children's book.

Flying dog

Flying Rufus. I want this to be the basis for the next book. I am obviously still working on the Ugly Sweater, but I want to start thinking about future projects so I do not get too bogged down by my own fear of failure...yay!
The Ugly Sweater is going well. I printed out some thumbnails for type and layout checks. I have some adjustments to make on images and type, but it looks pretty good. I know if it does get published there will be changes I am sure. Right now the type is Helvetica Neue because its friendly, sans serif, and rounded. I was also considering doing some of the words by hand. So just the words "ugly sweater" maybe or special words. I think I will leave it as is for now and just work on getting it printed and ready to mail out for round one of publishing submissions. I also still need to do the front and back covers.
I am still waiting on the minibook I ordered on Lulu. They 3-5 days, but we are obviously at the later end of 5 days. Maybe tomorrow? If not I might try printing at home. Anyway, I want to get this done and sent out by mid next week. I am so anxious and impatient.
oy

Skinny Legs and All

Another IF illo for Skinny

Chicken soup for the mold

I woke up in the middle of the night, ran to the bathroom, and had some drive heaves....delightful. It is that season again, the season of the unidentifiable illness. Luckily I am my own Jewish grandmother. When I got home from work I made chicken soup from scratch, which as you know, is the only way to get over the ick*. Canned or from the carton has a lot of sodium and gums so this is way better. I even made the stock from scratch. Ah the wonders of modernity you can make a stock from scratch and while it is boiling away be looking up scanners on ebay and correcting illustrations in Photoshop.
At work today one of my coworkers said I was going to be an amazing Jewish grandmother...but why wait I am already crotchety and my Yiddish is as good as its going to get.
Nothing better than some adobe layout programs while languishing on the couch....oh to be young and old at the same time.

*technical term for a fish disease, but in this case it refers to illness without origin.

Here's the Skinny

Illustration Friday: Skinny.
I was thinking of all the bad illustrations that could come out of this one. People who are sickly skinny, anorexic jokes, and all things tasteless and it kinda made me want to skip this week altogether. Maybe I am just being pessimistic about some folks sensibility.
So birds it is!

Another random illustration for the Ugly Sweater. The book is done! I finished all the illustrations last night. Now comes my favorite part...sitting in front of the computer and hitting my head against InDesign until the layout and type looks good. Then off to the printer so I can send out some samples to various publishing houses for judgement.
And I finished just in time to enter in the Communication Arts Illo annual!!! I can get rejected on so many different levels. No really, I am used to this. I used to draw comic books and send out about 25 books a summer to different publishing companies. I had no idea what I was doing, but I did it anyway and the rejections got better as I did. They become longer and more positive and more personal. So really I am ready to rock the rejection.
The cool thing that happened the other day was a guy came in to the shop, saw my work, and wanted a promo card. (When someone asks for a promo card it generally means they are in the business of doing more than just wanting a print to hang on their wall.) I did not have one on me so he gave me his card and I promised to send him an email link to my website. His business card said Disney Hyperion...I nearly peed my pants.
Anyway, he wrote me this email where he said he liked my work a LOT and if/when the right project came up the other editors in charge of children's books would reach out to me.

yay

An ink smudge on both your houses!

I ordered a small hand held portfolio from Lulu.com today. I have no idea how it will turn out, but it was pretty cheap and could be something nice to give away to potential clients.
I could print myself, but after paper and ink costs alone I would be losing money...I am not even taking my time into account. What is hard to consider is that printing is never as easy as it seems. No matter how simple something is it always goes wrong. Its either your fault or the printers fault (in this case my Epson R2400). The classic things I forget are bleeds, spelling, image size, and type size ratio. The printer usually smudges, runs out of ink, the rollers are covered in paper dust and will not grab the paper, or there is a COMMUNICATION ERROR. One easy way to deal with human error issues is printing thumbs of your work before hand. My only issue with this is that is takes my printer 45 minutes of processing a job to accomplish this task even if I export it as a pdf. The printer issues are more complicated in usually involve a ritual dance where I bounce from foot to foot yelling obscenities at the computer while holding up the paper and yelling "see what you've done! How is this ok??" Basically, fixing the computer is on a computer-by-computer basis. For roller issues I suggest getting Epson Cleaner sheets. It does not matter if you have an Epson or not it works for any computer. The paper is sticky and acts as a lint roller to pick up paper dandruff off the rollers...much cheaper than bringing it in to get serviced.
Ok so you have overcome all these issue and now you have pages printed, yay! But wait there is more. Now you have to cut the pages down. I used to use the old exacto-ruler method...boy did I screw up a lot..which means back to the printer, yay! Now I have a very fancy paper cutter from the 70s; my beautiful Premier. It saves my fingers and poor judge of a straight line. But really the kicker is that once you have all these pages beautifully cut you have to bind them together. Perfect binding is the easiest, but it if the pages are held together tight enough then you can have glue seepage, which means the pages will stick together and your beautiful pages become gross.
Doesn't that make you want to run home and try to print a book!
Will let you all know how the Lulu experiment goes. The book was 19 dollars after tax and shipping. It is full color, saddle stitched, and 46 pages. There is also blurb, but Lulu had more layout size options.
All this work made me hungry, lunch anyone?

Pulling a fast one

Another IF doodle: Fast

Rub a Dub Dub Run Away Tub

Illustration Friday: Fast

soul sucking latte

I love my job, but my soul is dripping out of my ear and into someones latte.
I sent an important email today to someone important who saw my work in the shop. It made me very nervous, so much so that I kept typing a sentence and erasing it because everything sounded dumb. Basically, now that my site is up and something I feel really good about I want to let folks know so I think there are more scary emails to come. The difference is is that in this case this person wanted to see more if my work. I think if its something that comes to anything I will post about it. Right now I can't really because its just one of those pipe dreams and anytime I talk about something that is just a hope it comes to nothing.
I have decided to make this blog a little more dedicated to my thoughts as well as art now that I can direct folks to my website that will have all the art and no talk.
I am going to send an email to the writer of a blog I really admire. I wrote an email to this blogger and have it saved as a draft because I did not want to send it out until the website was up...well now is the time.
In other news my children's book is coming along slowly but surely. I am trying to get it done before the December if I can. The problem is it limits my ability to take part in things like Illustration Friday. I am going to try and fit in a couple as long as I can hopefully more than one day before they switch topics.
Onward and upward

Dawn of the Squirrel

Because now I am double posting. This is for a Halloween card cause why not?
So I do not know how this is going to work. I guess this will be the blog with lots of words and maybe stuff that does not make it onto the folioblog. I think I still need to blather so that what this will be, but it will still be art related.
Ok, so if you just want images go to charrow

New Folioblog

Its up!!!!

charrow

new, improved, and really really nice. I am so love I just want to spend all day updating it.

Thank you Kevin!

New birthday card

dry brain soggy ffeet

Its been a very busy two weeks and I have been having a heck of a time catching up with myself. I think the winter funk is setting in but Im trying to push through.
It is time for some new greeting cards so here is the first of hopefully at least 5 new ones before the holidays kick in and demand my full attention.

Sneak peak

An image from my children's book. Get excited.

Sketches from Canada

Did a little doodling in CA on my new sketchbook which i love. I did not do as much as I thought I would, but its a start. I have been distracted lately by personal issues, but I am trying to refocus.