Monday, June 24, 2013

Home Decor and Kids Book Market, Assignments Turned In

These weeks of classes with Lilla are really intense. Even I, a seasoned veteran ...with a licensing rep...who teaches university students...is feeling insecure showing my work..even making work. Last week, when I attempted...and you are reading right..attempted making dinner plate artwork using the plant and pod images I showed in the last blog post I ended up crying in Gary’s studio that I could not seem to pick colors for my plate. I could not get those images to work no matter what I did so at the last minute I went back to my studio, used cut paper and made the following plate. 
























I solved the problem and people liked it but I was not happy with it really...I feel I would have done better using a circular shape and making my pods come off the edges of the plate and flow into the center. I plan to go back and revisit this project but for now I am leaving it alone.

Last week we did the kids book market. I have worked on kids books before. I have a ying and yang feeling about them....I would like to do preschool kids books like an alphabet book or a counting books...books where I could make simple strong images. But to do a whole picture book...not sure I want to do that. I worked on a full book for Klutz many years ago with a fabulous art director, Lynn Garrett. The title was Hunt for Harvey. It was like a Where’s Waldo book where each spread would have tons of stuff in it and you needed to find Harvey. The book went back and forth for almost six months. I had woefully underbid it and when the book was finally cancelled I was really happy. Never thought I would say that...my childhood dream was to illustrate kids books...but I wanted to have no more of the kids book market.

But I have changed my mind about this..it is now 6 years later...and I went into Lilla’s kid book week with gusto. Our mini assignment given on Monday was to make a snail ...use different emotions, draw snails with charm, whimsy...make a snail with character. Oh boy, I love to make animal characters! And if I was going to make one character how about 2...the snail should have a sidekick...I love to make sidekicks...the title of the book was to be The Snail and The Rose Tree....I would change the title to The Snail and Rosie...my sidekick would be Rosie. So I made Rosie the worlds tiniest dog..a ladybug...all sorts of things. Here are my snails.







































































Why I did not think to go online and goggle the title to see if was a story I will never know. When the assignment was posted on Wednesday I reeled with horror....the story The Snail and The Rose Tree was by Han Christian Andersen and in it the snail was a real gloomy gus...and the story had no room for sidekicks. I needed to rethink what I was going to do. We were to do a cover or a spread. We also had to do the title in handwritten type.

In the story the rose tree was full of life and did many things each seasons for others...the snail did nothing but complain all her life. So I made a big rose tree with lots of life in it and a gloomy snail with a season chart on her shell to show no matter the season she stayed the same. And since we had worked with mushrooms in the first project for Lilla and pod flowers in the second project for Lilla I put those in as a little nod to those projects. I was very happy with the result. Here it is:

























This week is Wall Decor week and for our mini assignment we are to gather collage materials...paper, ephemera, we can paint grids and make textures which will all lead to making some type of collage that is abstract. There is a color palette we are to work with...I am in the group of the color palette of orange and blue...not bad but my color choice would be green and pink. We can also use all neutrals. I do not need to do any gathering of materials...I have so much stuff I know I should have what I will need.
Check back next week to see what I have done.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Class in session with assignments due

If you have been reading my blog you know I am taking an ecourse from Lilla Rogers, a top licensing agent. I am enjoying the class, learning much and I especially enjoy talking to all the other students on a closed facebook page for everyone in the class. So much talent all in one spot, seeing so many different ways to do the same assignment. That part is a little intimidating but I am enjoying it none the less. 

Last week’s assignment was to sketch mushrooms and vintage pyrex casseroles and then put them into a pattern that would be used for fabric. We also had to have two coordinating patterns. Here is what I did last week. Some of you will have seen this since I did post this image on facebook. We are supposed to move beyond what we normally do so I went with a neutral background...a very dark grey and bright poppy colors. Here it is:

























This week we are exploring home decor. We were to sketch seeds, succulents and pods. We got our assignment today and we are going to use our images to design dinner plates. Since we were going to do floral stuff I decided to break away from cut paper and try ink and rubber stamps. Here are my sketches. Look I used black!



























Now I have to decide how I am going to put them on plates. I have gotten some inspiration from looking at mid century modern dishware and have decided on some different designs. We are to design 2-4 plates and then pick our favorite plate to post. Check back later in the week for the finished piece.

Catching up as usual...Mirror Ball Blog Hop






The Mirror Ball Dot Hop has come to an end. It has been fun and the projects that the other bloggers have made have been wonderful. 
Last weeks contributor was Nanette Zeller http://www.NanetteSewZ.com. Her project thrilled me...first off it was a plush then to top it off she made a fish...I love to draw and make fish..I have fish plushes in the works right now. She did an absolutely lovely job and I wish I could win her pieces...here they are. And what better fabric to make a fish but the Mirror Ball dot fabric...adds just the right  amount of shimmer. So if you are in a mood to make a plush go to Nanette’s blog to see how to make these fish.















You can also go online to Mark Hordyszynski’s blog http://madhatterofmaui.blogspot.com/2013/06/im-so-glad-we-had-this-time-together.html#comment-form to see all of the artwork done by all of us artists who participated in the Mirror Ball Blog Hop.

A big THANKS to Mark for making me part of the Mirror Ball Blog Hop...I had a lot of fun and am so happy that this fabric is back in the market...I am wondering what I am going to make with it next. And a big thanks to all the artists who participated...Jamie, Dory, Elisa, Nanette and Karen for making such wonderful projects with my favorite fabric. I am happy I was part of such a talented group!


Monday, June 3, 2013

I am off to school

This week I am off to school so to speak. I am taking an on line course from Lilla Rogers http://lillarogers.com who is a top licensing agent. The course is going to be about designing and illustrating images for licensed products We will be learning about all the different licensing avenues. This week we are learning about bolt fabric. I will be sharing the images of the work I do for the class...yeah this work will not be confidential so I can share it. There are tons of people in the class and there are several people I have met and know so that will be fun also. And I am looking forward to getting to know everyone else taking the class although there are at least 350 people in the class so this might prove to be daunting. Flora Chang from Happy Doodle Land http://happydoodleland.com, Julie Reed http://altpick.com/juliereed and Sarah Walsh.http://unicornpoo.blogspot.com I wish I lived in Kansas City because so many fabulous illustrators live there.

First assignment is to sketch mushroom and vintage pyrex dishes. This will be fun for me. I will show my progress as soon as I make something.