coughing up a lung

Peter De' Seve is so brilliant. I collect his New Yorker covers and now I am looking at his blog while I try to muster energy for my IF submission. I have been working on the book like mad..I am calling it the book from now on. I am training for a silly little marathon and today was the 9 mile run. Ok, so I rode to work...cause I hate the trains...and then worked, rode home, and then it was over 80 and I mean a really not 83 and now I am dead. Horrible. Ok, so I am working forever this week, but I am going to draw something now...so it might be submitted tomorrow. Ok, in the mean time here is something I did not do recentlyit was from when I first learned to paint and I was turning blogs of ink into images. This is a chicken coughing up a lung.

Page 7 of the book

Page 7!

23 squirrels

that is a lot of squirrel related cards...

Someone from Australia wanted an inventory of all my squirrel cards...so here they are in all their glory. I have 60+ cards anyone wanna open a store?

OOh glam cam

New work and glam shots of products.

400 squirrels

The sleeves are in! They look great. They are 1/8 to 1/4 inch shorter than the prototype so today I am going to see how well they fit the paper cups we have at work. Its hard to know because the plastic cups and reusable cups I have at home are a little fatter than what disposable cups look like. Otherwise, the finishing is great and I cannot wait to have them at all the Joe stores. 6 bucks for a little something cute for your cup...I mean I would buy it. Also, its hard to carry around a cup, but carrying around a sleeve is way easier to make yourself do. Some people love paper cups so they can at least do their part by using one less piece of paper.

Yay!

new market

Testing out a new marketplace for my work

bigcartel

New Commission

New commission! Aren't they a cute pair.

A View from DUMBO

Interium illustration! I have been working on the book, but took a break to work on something equally as detail intensive....oops. The colors are ok, I do think it does not have the pop some of my other work does. It could use more yellow I think, still it is cute. I might do one for each season...but now I need to get back to the book. On to the living room.

Beginner

IF: Beginner.

I personally would need a lot more than wheels. Personally I prefer these. I want the pink ones...but I already have 3 pairs that are perfectly good. (I bought two and the 3rd came from a customer at work who did not want hers).

The Green Room

Here is page 6 of Getting Dressed for School! I am so excited these keep illos keep getting better! Onward, to the living room/playroom. Get excited as the rooms get crazier.

(Also including this in IF: Safari)

Very Eerie Ear

This is not an entry for IF, but I at 5:15am this morning as I was getting ready for work I was faced with an ear wig. I hate hate hate those little buggers. Lucky, I noticed it at the same time Fatty, the large and generally very lazy house cat, saw it took care of the problem for me in one bite. One of the awesomest things about cats is there ability to be useful when it comes to bugs and rodents.

I was faced with further vermin when I got to work....it was not pretty. The joys of living in the city.

Ok, off to bag cards and paint.

Cover your cup!!!

Here is the prototype is here. As you can see the stitching is on the top of the cup holder...which is an error, but luckily I opted for a prototype so it has not gone into production yet. They are sending me another in the mail where the stitching is on the bottom so it looks more professional. I love the sleeve (note that this sleeve is reversible and that is why there are so many squirrels on it!!), but here is the question:

This sleeve is very very white. The light in my apartment right now is very green because the ginko tree outside my window is very bright. Basically, this sleeve is as bright white as your computer screen. This is bottle cotton, aka, this sleeve is made from 100% recycled plastic bottle. I have other samples of this sleeve in recycled cotton, which is a natural fabric. Its a little more off white:

Now, the issue is that this cotton above, while post-industrial, is made from scrap cotton and plastic and not bottles. The bottle cotton only comes in white and black. If I go with the recycled cotton the little illustration is not completely accurate. The lovely people at Envir0-tote have pointed this out as something they are concerned about. I think it ultimately does not matter because both are made from post-industrial products and not brand new materials.

Thoughts?

(ps- the travel cup shown above is for Evil Kevin)

Its payback!

IF: lesson

Because that is what would happen if all my plants could bite back....and sometimes I wish they would so the animals would leave them be. Apparently, cats hate mint so I am going to grow buckets of it!!

Oy in the Oy

Oy, feeling like my coffee:illustration split is not so split right now. I cannot remember the last time I felt super illustration accomplished/successful. I still have no idea how to take the next step in the greeting card kingdom. Its making me sad really. I have a day off tomorrow, which is the first in awhile (where I did not have things planned) and I just need to make a game plan. I have been selling really well at Joe (4 of the 7 stores), but I need to get in other places or rather I would like to.

So, the question is:

How does one accomplish world domination?

(I looked up some things on Paul Frank, my business idol, and he was just lucky enough to be friends with venture capitalists and wealthy entrepreneur in school....If anyone wants to step forward, lets do it.)

I am also taking other ideas...go

Happy Mother's Day!