For the Birds

So many birds so little time. I was flipping through my Dover book of animals and I did not have enough squares for all the cool birds in that book.

Tout your Tote

Type Tote design. I am working on a few more possibilities for the next tote. If this works out well enough I might might might be able to have an image on one side and type on the other....like woah.

pepto

This is not a happy subject, but I really cannot ignore it. I wanted to do something that was both clever, but also dealt with the seriousness of the situation. Its hard enough to draw an imagined creature suffering, but when I know there are real animals suffering it makes it that much harder.

Droool

New greeting card on etsy.

Prototype

Ordered one of each to see how they look from CafePress. If it looks good I will order a bunch and start selling them on etsy. Keep your fingers crossed.

Maybe Baby

Potential baby shirt. Organic cotton. Would you buy this? I am thinking about doing a couple of test runs of this product, but apparel is a complicated venture.
Thoughts?

House Painting

We are back from the house painting adventure. And now back to work. Here is my contribution from the weekend.

Early Summer

IF: early

Words from the wilderness

In the back woods of MD for the weekend where people have woods behind their house and nobody locks their wifi (you thought I was going to say houses). The might J is painting and I am assisting (sitting on the computer trying to work an interior space for my big freelance project). I do plan to paint tomorrow, but when I attempted to do some freehand cutting around the base molding it was determined that my skill set stopped at gouache on paper. I have never been good at acrylic or anything like it so this came as no real surprise. I did find that, although tape is rejected by the professionals, it works might fine for those of us that cannot draw a straight line even when sober.
The freelance project I am working on, luckily, does not require straight lines...or rather I said I would not be using a ruler. It is, in fact, something that could require a ruler. I am doing three full color interiors of condos. The project is something I have not really done, but I find it fascinating. It will allow me to do some obsessive pattern work (check), earth tones (check), I can throw in some plants (check), and add "whimsy" (double check). The only issue is that these are not built yet....so the dyslexic one had to look at floor plans to get a sense of the layout. 2D is not my strong suit and I spent nearly an hour figuring out what a 3D rendering would look like. I finally put together 6 different thumbnail views for the first illustration (I am rejected ever using the abbreviation illo ever again).
I will post my progress once the work is completely finished.

The Structure of Animal Hiearchy

IF: Structure

Roof Top Garden

Meet the book brain storm illo

Infectious

I have been amazingly busy with non-illustration stuff, which has been making me cranky. I do still have some freelance and might might have something corporate coming my way for a freelance project. It would be nice to start to be approached for jobs. I assume if a client finds me then they know what they are going to get, but maybe I just have a hard time picturing what someone corporate would want with someone who draws squirrels with guns, cats puking, and deranged zoo animals.....

Anyway, portfolio meeting at the Times next week (they have an open door policy for illustrators if anyone is interested in a bit of not so public knowledge) and a new greeting card with type, yay. Let the productivity commence.

Fearless Leader

IF: Fearless

Shelving ideas

Making the time to draw what I want had been really hard because I have so many projects. I am very grateful for the work, but I sit down at my desk and immediately feel conflicted between doing what I want and what I am getting paid to do.
I think finding a balance is a constant struggle, but hopefully I will have a bit more time this summer to do what I want if I can cut back hours at work and still make rent. Cross your fingers.
The above illustration is based on our cat Fatty. She was sitting on the table and I realized had flat her back was...she would make a great shelf as she only moves for food.

Come out of your cocoon

A little New Yorker style illustration.

IF: cocoon