I was hacked :(

My website was hacked and that's not very cool, in fixing my website, I lost a few years worth of blog posts. Not that I had been terribly activate, but I did lose everything I posted from mid 2012 until 2015, so quite a few.

After some tears over having my wordpress website hacked, I decided to come back to blogger where I started and move my portfolio site to carbonmade. For now I need the security of not self hosting and less stress in getting everything back up as quick as possible.

I will get over this set back and I'll be back to updating my blog, on hopefully a monthly schedule.

Here is my latest sketch, that was deleted from my blog, based on Wyken, Blyken and Nod, for Illustration Friday a few weeks ago, for the theme Sleep. It's one from one of my favorite children's poems and I can't wait to do this piece in color.

Art show, workshop and portfolio facelift

So I have been working on my "Sirene de la Mer" (above) for a local art show, that I can never say no to because I like to remember my roots. No matter how in demand my work ever becomes, I'll still enter this community art show and price things accordingly. She is also part of my portfolio facelift and I think she'll make a cute summer mailer for next year.

I have also been asked to lead my first workshop on October 15th, it which I will demo how I make this collages and 30 participants will get to hunt through my found object loot to create their own reclaimed/ found object collage. I super excited and have a reason to visit my favorite, "found object loot" finding spots to bring all sorts of sweet stuff to the workshop. Hopefully someone will come take pictures for me so I can post it.

Anniversary and Update of Sorts

Monday, August 15th was my 2nd Anniversary with Chino. Having been busy this summer with lots of things i can't show yet, I created this drawing for him and printed it on canvas to give to him as an anniversary gift. Last year I also presented him with a drawing and hopefully I can make it become a tradition, we will just need more wall space one day.

Aside from enjoying a much needed day off at the lake with my love, I have been teaching art this summer to children age 5 though 14 and working on a huge interactive graphic novel that addresses bullying in middle school and high school. The bullying graphic novel is a departure from my regular style and work, but I have been enjoying it. I have been also working with a group of middle schoolers to make sure it is visually appealing to their picky age group. It has been a rewarding and eye opening experience, and I would love to do some more work geared towards tweens and teens in the future.

I have new mailers coming out this month too. I veered away from my normal back to school mailer and used my cute little swimmer. August - October are actually the best months to take swim lessons in California, so I always equate swimming with back to school since this is when the East Bay and San Francisco has the best weather of the year.

Next I'll be working on my fall "Don't forget my name promotion" I'll be sending out postcards that are themed for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas/ Hanukkah.

Asleep- Illustration Friday 5/27/11

There are 2 champion sleepers I can think of when I think of sleeping ( something I myself do not do nearly enough). Those sleepers are Rip Van Winkle-who sleeps for 20 years and Sleeping Beauty ( aka Briar Rose, Talia, Aurora)-who took a short

nap of 100 years

For this week's Illustration Friday I present Briar Rose, Talia, Aurora whatever name you give to Sleeping Beauty, doing what she does best... sleeping.

So this is of course not done, it's my color comp for the piece since I once again ran out of time this week to produce a finished version. The final will be coming soon as part of my portfolio facelift series. She's based on how I sleep, so that may not be that princess like.

I love all the versions of Sleeping Beauty. One of the darkest is Basile's "Sole, Luna, e Talia" Basile's version, the sleep did not stem from a curse, but was prophesied. The prince did not wake Talia from the sleep with a kiss, but raped her, and when she gave birth to two children, one sucked on her finger, drawing out the piece of flax that had put her to sleep, which woke her.

In Perrault's version The Prince wakes up Beauty, they get secretly married, have 2 children, the Prince ascends to the throne and her now mother-in-law is found to be of ogre lineage and wants to eat the children and her. Luckily the cook substitutes the meat with lamb, goat and hind. The ogress finds out the trick and preps the tub in the courtyard and fills it with vipers. Of the course the King returns in the nick of time and the Ogress throws herself into the tub of vipers. What an ending, What a Happily ever after!

Man! Disney, you forgot all the awesome parts that would have scared me into submission of being the best child on the planet, FOREVER. I digress... but fairytale origins are AWESOME!

Time for a nap...

Soaked- Illustration Friday 5/20/11

Idioms are so fun and so hard to understand as a child. I remember being really little and seeing my mother look out the window when it was raining hard and say " It's raining cats and dogs out there," it took me a year to understand that she didn't literally mean cats and dogs where falling out of the sky. So here's what happens when it literally rains cats and dogs.

I ended up liking this sketch so much, that I'll be refining it some and using as a piece in my 2011 portfolio face lift series. So stay tuned, a final is coming soon. :)

Lesson- Illustration Friday 4/29/11

"The Swim Lesson" - Acyclic and Enamel on vintage textbook paper.

Well I managed to get this one in the proper category. Anyway... I use to work in an office beside a city pool. While pool rules did not allow floaties inside, kids would always come to the gate with all sorts of the goggles and floating devices on, and a parent would have to return all that stuff to the car. I always imagined what would happen if the kids got past the gate and waited poolside in their silly garb for a swim lesson, so here is one all dressed up and ready for her 3pm lesson.

Bicycle- Illustration Friday 4/22/11

My first illustration friday, coming a little late, but better than never.

Immediately when I think of bicycles, I think of Bicycling Bears. Bears seem like party animals to me, so this guy is on his way to a mysterious party or on his way home from one, you decide.

Painted in acrylic and enamel, on a vintage chemistry page.

Update: Oops, sorry folks, didn't realize I couldn't link for last weeks topic after this weeks was released on IF, so my bicycling bear, is in the lesson category. I guess I just learned a lesson, ahh irony.

Dr. Sketchy's- March 12

Talia (the model) is adorable. These images are from the long pose session of Dr.Sketchy's Sf on March 12. The first is about 30 minutes and the following 2 are 20 minute poses. Hopefully I can use these as final art, as the model is so inspiring.

Dr. Sketchy's- Feb 22

20 Minute Sketch from Dr. Sketchy's SF on Feb. 22nd 2011. This was a 20 minute pose and one of the only one's I liked and could see well (feet were always blocked) from the night. Of the derby girls she was the best at posing and staying as still as possible. Completed in Brown Prismacolor Art Stix.

2010 Review

I did not blog as I said I would in 2010. I was busy getting use to the schedule of the freelance Illustrator.

My sleep schedule is that of a vampires and there are friends I haven't seen in a year, but I still love what I do. I feel like after a year of freelance work I have this life/work scheduling balance more in control .

In 2010 I worked on 3 full length pictures books. That's about all I could have tackled in that first year. These books are, "No more Bullies", "Eat Your Breakfast or Else", and "A Daddy's Dream". All completed in different mediums and styles that seemed to best fit the books. I am versatile, which helps get me jobs for now, but I've been refining my own voice as a illustrator to have a more distinguishable/sell able style.

I'm still working with very small publishing houses. Theses houses release 1-3 children's books per year, so they are tiny. The good thing about being the reliable person at a tiny publishing house, is sometimes you illustrate all of their books for the year. That produces solid work for me.

2010 also found me applying my illustration style to larger format canvas's for galleries. I ended up with one show and one painting sale. I hope 2011 will find me in more gallery group shows, leading to an eventual solo show.

In 2010 I made about $15,000 from my art. Granted this is a $50,000 per year pay cut for now, but I loved the past year. It really tested if I could do this, and I really think I can. My goal this year is to surpass my earnings from last year and have a little more of a liveable wage so I can rebuild my savings again. Remember Slow and Steady wins the race!

How I got my first book contract

Of the 40 or so illustrators I when to college and grad school with that had real passion and/or talent. About 10 -15 of us are working in the field. Others gave up, some others chose different directions in the art field. It's not an easy career choice, Illustration is just about the hardest career path I could have chosen for myself. So far though, I'm glad I did. Sometimes though it's all about being in the right place at the right time.

It took me 5 years to get one book contract. This is because it seems like no one will publish you without being published by someone else." I constantly asked myself, how do I get published if I'm not already published? How does anyone new, get work? Well, it's all about timing and connections.

I got my first book deal because of an artist being flaky, this is more common in the commercial art world than you would think. I was friends with someone who also worked for the same publisher, but who had accepted a contract with DC so could no longer freelance. This friend called me, because he knew I was trying to get a book, I was not a flake and could work pretty fast. I had a 3 month deadline, start to finish. I worked on that book every night, even while I had the stomach flu for 3 weeks. I got it done by the target deadline, and my second book sort of fell into my lap because of who my teacher in grad school was.

So it really is who you know in life and being in the right place at the right time. I've made it a point to try not to burn bridges with anyone, because you never know if you might need them in some different way in the future.

Wish List

Getting started in the illustration business full-time is exciting and a lot of work. I'm planning on some mailers to go out in March/April to get more clients. I'm working on a self promotion piece involving my moving for the mailer. I'll do I show and tell once I have them ready to send.

These are some of the companies that are on my client wish list:
EeBoo -awesome games and puzzles for children
Chronicle Books
Ginger Bread Books
Scholastic
McGraw-Hill

I've decided on Marketing Mondays. I'll use most of Mondays to update my portfolio sites and website. Design Mailers, mail things and research companies. That's probably when I'll update this blog too and give a review of the past week.
Tuesday-Fridays will be Illustration days, and any extra time that I don't find myself busy with travel or personal commitments will be when I work on my fine art pieces. That's when I get to do the weird dark art that I like so much.

If you think about it, I just went from a 40 a week job to an 80 hour a week job. I believe though, that if you love what you do you'll never work a day in your life. It's all going to be worth it when I'm a well know illustrator and get mountains of work without even trying (that's the goal atleast, correct?).

Confirmation of my decision

So last night confirmed it in my head that I need to be a fulltime illustrator.

I was finishing a storyboard that was due on Friday by 1pm after dinner. This means by the time I get off work, cross the bridge, pick up mom, cook and plate it's 8:30pm. That means didn't get to start my story board until 9pm. I was up until 1am, which is when I finished. I decided to go to sleep and scan the images in the morning at work because I was exhausted. I spent the morning at work scanning and sending of my work, not something I should do, but something I needed to do.

Now if I didn't have to wake up at 6am to get to my full-time job across the bridge by 8am, then I could have stayed up all night and finished the scanning. I wouldn't need to stay up all night though, because I would have had all day. I am so happy that starting February I will be a full time illustrator, I can do this... I'll still be busy.

"If it's meant to be. It's up to me"

I believe that I can make a living in the creative field. I have been successfully creating books for small publishers on a part time basis since 2008, and since college I have had a few smaller illustration jobs. It has been 7 years since college and it is 4 years after grad school, but 2010 marks the year that by January 1, I had signed 4 contracts for books. All those contracts have completion dates due before July. That's not a bad living, it's not a great one, but it's good. After much hemming and hawing, I decided to resign from my cushy-full-time -benifited-city-government-job as a Facility Supervisor. It was a good position and good benefits, but it was not for me. Totally not my passion and a case of the grass is not greener.

I have the drive and determination needed to make it in the creative field. I will knock on publishers doors and be persistent, until they see me even if it's just so I'll stop knocking on their door and go away. I have to admit I'm not 100% confident in my style, but I'm not waiting around until I'm better. I am going to get myself out there now. I have made every excuse to not be a freelance illustrator "I'll be broke for too long", " My work isn't up to par", "The economy sucks" and "I have no time", plus a few others. Well I have time now. I'm changing my whole life. Now IS the time. Time to seek bigger publishers. I have compiled lists for mailing, sketches for new portfolio pieces. I need time now, and time is exactly what I will have starting January 29th... well sort of.

On February 6th, I am moving from Richmond to Crockett, a 15 minute drive and $400 a month savings. So that first week of my new life will include packing, moving and unpacking. Something I hope my friends can help me with. Who doesn't like to unpack other people's stuff? I know I love to do that. I'll need all the help I can get.
For 2 years while I was in the process of reaching this point, not the moving part but the dream career part, I had a full time job, freelance design commitments, and a ton of personal and family commitments. Nothing could stop me, and I'm glad it has brought me to this point. I HAD to do this. I had to resign for that cushy job, for my boyfriend, friends, family and my own sanity. On February 1st, I will be a Full- Time Illustrator.

I'll be updating this blog with projects I'm working on, how I market, and more of my general insanity regarding following my dream. So stick around, buckle your selt belt because we are in for a wild ride.