Vote for me!

....no, not for President, though I don't think I'd do too shabby of a job. I would, however, appreciate it very much if you would please vote for my card design in Hallmark and (PRODUCT)RED's YourHoliday Competition! My design was picked as one of twenty finalist submissions; voting begins October 13th and runs until December 22nd, with one vote being allotted per person per day. In addition to a personal prize, there is also a monetary donation in the winner's name to The Global Fund, so I'm really glad to be involved in this contest.

Please vote for my design, thanks in advance, and happy (sort of early) holidays!

It's cold out, and that's weird.

I'd bet this is the first September of my life where I could go outside and actually feel like I needed a sweater. The reason being that I'm not in Florida anymore, but have moved to Michigan, where, unlike Florida, there are seasons other than summer. I'm really excited for fall because I've never seen the leaves change color, so I'm hoping to take a lot of pictures documenting my first real autumn. I've had some projects in the works lately and something I'm excited to share with you guys on here, but I should probably hold off on doing so until it's official. I promise to keep you posted, though, so stay tuned!

Humidity is evil.

This has been a crazy summer so far. I graduated at the beginning of May, moved off campus and into a spare room in Jimmy's apartment. Since I plan to move out of Sarasota soon, I tried looking for a part-time job in the area. I applied to several places and contacted a few people about working for design and printing companies in town, but nothing turned up, so I've gone back to working at Ye Olde Cold Stone for the duration. I can honestly say I would never have expected to work there again, but the pay should be just enough to fuel me (and my car) to move out of state, which is just what I need after 21 years of living in Florida.
I spent the first month of summer at Jimmy's, and now I'm bunking down at Sara's. Even without being able to really get much done creatively (most of my belongings haven't left their boxes from the first move, including most art supplies), there is still something inspiring about spending this time with these people, getting to know them better. It's kind of like being somewhere new, even though I haven't really gone anywhere. Although I'm still in Sarasota working a food service job for minimum wage, I think the knowledge that I'm paving my way towards my goals is enough to make it worthwhile.

Since I haven't been able to work on much art-related stuff recently, and I have yet to post anything from it, some excerpts from my senior thesis project, a children's cookbook:

Cover:


A recipe from the Desserts section of the book:

Because there should really be more stuff here.

Here's my new year's resolution: post more stuff. Technically, it's May, so it's not really a new year, but seeing as how I spent the first four months of this year in a rather zombie-like state, it kind of feels like the year is only just beginning. Either way, now is definitely a time of change and newness, so hopefully things will get better from here on in.

Earlier this year (during the zombie-like months), Jessie and I collaborated on a skateboard deck to be auctioned off to raise money for a local kids' skateboarding school. We submitted the board, and a few weeks later received an email from the guy in charge of the event asking us to create another board in a similar style to the first one. Luckily, the two of us are still in town, so we were able to design and make a second board without dealing with the hassle of trying to do so from across the country.

Both boards were sanded down to reveal their natural woodgrain, which took a while and quite a bit more person-powered sanding than you might expect. Jessie sketched out the designs for both boards, and I cleaned up the lines and followed up with ink and paint. The painting part was both fun and frustrating: to get a transparent look, I mixed gouache with matte medium, but because of the layers of varnish protecting the initial drawing, the paint would sit on top of the board instead of absorbing into the wood, so the color would apply in strokes instead of clean layers. Overall, I really enjoyed working on these, and would be glad to make more, if I had more boards to work with.

The first board:

The second board:


In uploading these pictures I realized the ones of the second board came out rather shoddy, what with being taken in a fluorescent-lit kitchen and all. I'll have to remember to take some better pictures of it outside later.

Running around everywhere!

It's getting to be so hectic! Winding down will do that though, won't it?
I've been getting stuff together for an application today, and in doing so I remembered that I never posted anything from last semester's workshop on here, so for your viewing pleasure, some ridiculous puppies:


Back to the grind!

I've been working on assignments...

...all the live-long day!
Though you'd never know it, what with the lack of work that is here! I am hoping to remedy that, so all you nay-sayers will soon be appeased!
I have plans for a website in the works, and once I've gotten that published, I'm going to upload my animatics, but for the time being, here is a board from my most recent one:


Devious looking, isn't he? He's not as evil as he seems, I swear!

As for my thesis, everything is going well; I've been busy finalizing the complete list of recipes I want to include in my book. I've been making spot illustrations thus far, including this one to be included in a preliminary chapter about cooking/baking preparation:



Time to get back to work!

Thesisness.

I really need to start updating more on here! We're already half-way into spring semester, which is unbelievable. I hope to post some work from my thesis up here soon, though it seems that I only ever think to update from home, and everything is on my home-space on the school network - which explains why I never post anything new.

Hopefully that will change soon!

Your Hallmark Red Competition

Last month, I entered a contest on the Hallmark site to create a card for a competition they started with (PRODUCT)RED. I was really excited to enter, and even more excited when I found out I was a semi-finalist in the contest. Earlier tonight, I received a phone call saying that I've been chosen as one of the ten finalists! Here's where it takes on the Prom Queen Effect: the winner of the contest is being chosen through a mass online vote that ends January 11th. Time to spread the word! If you have a moment, please vote for my design! The ten final entries will also be available for purchase through the Hallmark site starting December 28th, with 8% of the net sales going to the Global Fund, so that is quite awesome as well.

I really want to post some newer work on here, but with the network moving as slow as molasses I doubt I'll get to do that before I leave town for the break. Check back soon!

Aw, mash again?

This is something I whipped up for an open assignment in my Illustration class. I have this idea for a story concerning the classic monsters of old movies and folklore, but I've yet to work out a complete plot from beginning to end. The piece I'm working on for class right now is related to the same story; I hope to get it all worked out and eventually make a childrens' book.

He likes sunflowers.

Trying to get things up and running here. It's hard to figure out what to post when I feel pressured to only post my favorite projects and pieces. Someday I'll like all my stuff...I hope.

Anyway, since tomorrow is another six hours of Concept: Character and Environment II, here's an environment I've been working on - the front room of the house my monstery, alien guy lives in.