Animal Icons

I'm working on a quilt for my forthcoming baby. When my first baby, Suzanne was born I made her a quilt inspired by Alec's Animal Alphabet, it was the second one as I had made a very similar one for my niece first. I didn't want to make a third animal alphabet quilt that was the same, but I wasn't sure I'd have the time for a completely from scratch quilt. I'll share the finished quilt and how it came together once the baby arrives.

To personalize this new quilt I created 24 animal icons, which I used to machine embroidery on the baby quilt. The pieces on the quilt were small, so I needed to make very simple designs that would show up clearly on a roughly 1.5"x1.5" space. I decided to illustrate easy to identify animals and some personal favorites, plus a roadrunner since it's the state bird of New Mexico.

Wizard Baby Shower invite

I've been super busy with various work projects which means that my personal projects have been baby related lately. This illustration is no exception, I made it for our baby shower invitation. We're having it around Halloween, so I figured a wizard theme would be fun. Our cat Webby is dressed as a vampire and helping add cool things to the baby brew. My bunnies Patty and Selma, who have passed away, are still helping out as little ghosts. It was fun thinking of different things to represent Alec and my interests that we would want to make sure our baby was into too.

The Devastator Horror Issue

I've did a couple of spot illustrations in the latest issue of The Devastator. You can buy it here: http://devastatorpress.com/horror/  It's a funny, awesome book series filled with hilarious people, you should check it out!

Cyberteens in Love

I have warm feelings of nostalgia for the movie Hackers, even though I know it's not that great of a movie. It shows a world where hackers are cool teens who wear crazy outfits, spraypaint their computers and rollerblade through New York. I love how it tries to make hacking and the '90s internet look more interesting and interactive than it was.

I found out about a movie called Cyberteens in Love recently, but I haven't found much more than this clip. The clip does have Sullivanmovies.com superimposed over it. I checked out the site and they don't mention anything about Cyberteens in Love.  The IMDB has just the basic information plus a terrible review. Well I love terrible movies and I love dated projections of the future so I really want to find this movie.

If anyone knows about this movie and a way to find a copy, please let me know!

Webbigail the Cat

This is my cat, Webbigail aka Webby. She is named after a cartoon duck, but she has very furry paws that almost looked webbed. She is a great cat who was shy at first but now rules the house plus she gets along well with Patty the rabbit. My other cat Nibs unfortunately died of FIP last year, which was traumatic and terrible but Webby is helping me get over it by being a total spazz.

CMYK Wedding invitation

This past weekend was my wedding celebration, and I designed the invitations. My initial color inspiration was the pinball machine Party Zone from 1991 which incorporates bright fluorescent colors. I quickly came to the realization that this party was not just my rave but a party for our families so I should keep it tasteful. To me fluorescent colors don't stand out well by white, it fades the brightness and I wasn't ready to use black as the background, so I dropped that idea. Instead I went with pure CMYK, to make it as bright as possible without using custom inks.

Cat Portrait: Dolly and Blue

My friends Angela is having an art show for her birthday and she asked me contribute something, so I painted her two adorable kitties, Dolly and Blue. When I get more info about the show I'll update this, but I'm assuming it will be in Oakland somewhere.
UPDATE: The art show is at MOCO 372 17th St, Oakland, CA 94612 and it should be up for the month of September.

I Love Bad Movies contribution

I'm a contributor to the latest issue of a super rad zine I Love Bad Movies. Issue 6 is their food issue and I got to do a write up and illustration for Deathbed: The Bed that Eats. I had previously said that I would never watch Deathbed again, but I recanted and actually enjoyed it the second time around. Buy your own copy here: Ilovebadmovies.com

I don't mention it much on this blog but I have a separate blog where I make watercolor paintings based on the bad movies that I watch with my friends: Terrible Movie Nights.

Fiesta Dress Sketches

I'm going to make a new dress for my wedding party this September and I'm currently inspired by 1950's Fiesta Dresses. Here's the first couple of sketches, I'm sure I'll be doing more before I decide on a final design.



Collage image credits (clockwise from left to right): Turquoise Dress, Pattern 1, Red Top, Brown Dress, Cream & Black Top, Pattern 2

Twin Beaks

I love Twin Peaks and I recently re-watched the series. I also love a puns, good or bad, so put that all together and I was inspired to paint this watercolor. The owls are not what they seem.

American Squirrel Dolls

Nibs the Cat

I've been busy working on some long term projects, which aren't done yet, so I haven't had much to post lately. To get back on track, I've decided to start making some little illustrations in a variety of mediums to have something new to share. I have high hopes that I will be able to stick to my goal of having a new post every week.

Alec and I adopted a cat at the beginning of this year, his name is Nibs and he's great. Alec has already posted lots of photos of him on flickr but here's an illustration of him from me.

Free Comic Book Day

May 4, 2013 is Free Comic Book Day! Tugboat Press has released a second issue of the Runner Runner anthology, it's free and I have a one page comic in it. So get out to your favorite comic book shop this Saturday and pick up some free comics.

Check the Tugboat Press site for a list of comic book shops near you where you can pick up a copy.

Mail Bunnies

Just in case you weren't getting enough drawings of my rabbits, for the back of my and Alec's wedding announcement I did a spot illustration of the rabbits eating and reading our letters.

Check out the awesome cover image that Alec illustrated for the announcement.

Happy Winter!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful winter holiday season.

Monster Beach Party

Samples for Fashion Club

I started a new job last month teaching an after school fashion design club for high school students.  I haven't done any fashion rendering in awhile and to show the students some marker rendering techniques I had to get back in the habit.  Here are a couple of my examples of combining markers and colored pencils.

Animals eating Ice Cream

 

 

Soft Doll Project

This summer is just flying by and I've been slacking off on posts.  I'm in the process of making a soft doll with a full wardrobe of outfits. The doll is already in progress so she should be done soon, in the meantime,  here are some of the first illustrations for outfits.  I'm sure once I make them and get the fabric swatches, the colors and prints will change,  but this is what I'm starting with.

Pink Tulle Lady

I've been working on more techniques using Illustrator.  I would have loved to have this outfit when I was 5 years old only wore my favorite colors pink and purple.