Illustration in Progress

I'm stuck inside today. Waiting out Hurricane Sandy (aka Frankenstorm) and working on illustrations for 2012 Holiday cards. And I have to say I'm having a lot of fun working on these new designs. I'm curled up in bed (yes, I know, still!?) and have a hot cup of coffee, my laptop, and my wacom tablet and to me there isn't a abetter way to spend a hurricane.

When I'm working out ideas I tend to line up all of my ideas, inspiration, and art boards in one Illustrator file and just keep working. Sometimes the changes are pretty minute but it helps me to fully work out a concept and find the best design possible.

Above are three ideas I'm working on for the holidays. What do you think? Would you send any of these cards this year?

For everyone on the East Coast stay safe and have a lovely day.

XO

Currently Obsessing Over

clockwise from top left: Julianne Hough, Ashley Greene, Taylor Swift, Minka Kelly, L'oreal, Make Up Forever, Dior, Taylor Swift.

I love the way red lips look. So glamorous and classic. Perfect for the daytime to spice up a casual outfit, at night to bring an added pop to an evening look, anytime anywhere. But truth be told while I LOVE this look, I'm  hesitant to actually wear red shades of lipstick myself. I feel to made up, to over the top. BUT, I recently stumbled upon L'oreal's colour caresse by colour riche in cherry tulle. It is a beautiful red that goes on in a sheer stroke of color that I feel comfortable wearing all the time. So it's like cheating a little but I still feel like I am wearing red lips without having on to much makeup. And, as an added bonus, it's $9.99 versus the $25 I typically spend on my favorite brands at Sephora... so I'm officially obsessed!

What do you think? Do you like red lips? And do you rock them all the time or do you feel like me and it's just to much makeup?

Fom Concept to Reality

This is the best part of my job. Working on a project and loving the original concept and then watching it come to life.

A few months ago the lovely Andrea approached me through my etsy site to create an illustration for her blog header. She was looking for an illustration of her five dogs and herself as well as a crossfit theme including workout attire, weights, and other equipment used in CrossFit. I also needed to leave space for the title which would be added by a calligrapher later. Other then that I was basically free to create any concept or imagery I thought would work.

I sketched out a few options but thought that the idea of one image of her and her dogs in full color with almost a shadow of her doing the workouts in the background would show the concept of a CrossFit workout without just having the equipment around her. I wanted to bring the idea of actually working out to life more so then just hinting at it. The layout from left to right was intended to be viewed as a progression with the illustration of Andrea standing proudly at the right finished her workout and that much stronger.

So that's how the idea and the illustration above came about. And I have to say that I'm pretty happy with the result and I hope Andrea is as well. Go check out Andrea's blog, it's awesome and inspiring! And while you are at it, like her on facebook!

A special thank you to Andrea for choosing me to create such a fun illustration for you. I absolutely love the illustration on your blog with the added text.

Diary of a Freelancer: Ups and Downs and missing my blog

I know I've said this before; that I love being a freelance artist and working from home because everyday is different and I never know what tomorrow, next week, or next month will bring. I also feel incredibly blessed at how terrifically busy I have been since I started and I hope it continues and increases even more. But with all of the excitement of my many jobs and unique days, I'm in desperate need of some grounding and regularity.

I am constantly working on finding a way to have some semblance of a schedule. Not a nine to five hour by hour schedule but more of a general guideline to keep me as focused and productive as possible. So far though (if I'm completely honest) I have failed miserably at this.

And basically this little write-up is leading to an apology and explanation for my lack of posts lately. I tend to get so wrapped up in each job I'm working on, and then when I'm not working on a custom order, I'm filling etsy orders, and if I'm not filling etsy orders I'm thinking about ways to better market and brand myself and my work, and when I'm not doing that I'm trying to keep active on twitter and pinterest and facebook because they are some of the easiest and definitely cheapest ways to market myself, and sadly, lately, my blog has fallen to the bottom of this list.

When I first started writing this blog my goal was to write a minimum of once a day, but on good days I posted twice. Now if I post twice a week that's a good week. And basically I wanted to let you know that I still love this blog, I love interacting with my readers, sharing my work, inspiration, and hearing about your thoughts... I  miss it a lot since my posts have been slipping. And so, I'm going to try, very hard, to find time to post more and to find that original flow and inspiration that I had at the beginning. I may never be able to get back up to once or twice a day, but I would like to post more then twice a week.

So with all that being said, back to illustrating, social mediaing, and loving my job! Have a wonderful weekend and I'll be back soon!

xo and happy Thursday!
Michelle

Currently Reading

I recently read the book The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and absolutely LOVED it. The imagery was incredible the story was fantastic, I literally couldn't put it down and read it in two days.

The Night Circus follows two magicians, and not the type of magicians who are entertainers, but people with true capacity for magic. They are bound together in a game by their caretakers / fathers  when they are very young and have no choice but to compete with each other. They are told nothing about the game, given very few rules, and have no idea how to win or finish the game.

The Night Circus is a complicated tale of love and fantasy set among a circus in the early 1900's. The circus serves as the perfect canvas for the acts of magic and fantasy that they create, each coming up with new tents and performances and things to see that are incredible to the people attending the circus and serve as moves in the game.

Go read this incredible book. I can't even explain the plot, the characters, or the imagery well. There are no words. Just check out the book.

Happy Friday!
xo

A Picture A Day

After a very rainy and very cold Sunday spent on the couch in my sweats I woke up this morning and I think it might be even colder! So I'm sitting at my computer in my sweat pants and heaviest sweatshirt and fluffy socks... plus I'm wrapped in a throw blanket (let's not even talk about how un-glamorous I am.) And days like this when I just feel like I look "blah" I tend to wish I was going somewhere that required me to be dressed up... in something feminine, maybe a little flirty, a little edgy... and definitely more elegant.

Do you agree / do you have days that you feel this way?

A Picture A Day Project Reveal

This is definitely one of my favorite parts of my job. When you see a picture go from concept, to sketch, to final product, and you finally get to hold the final product in your hand. It is seriously the best feeling!

Do you remember this image, first shown here? When I couldn't tell you anything about it, and the sketch looked like nothing more then sqiggles and you were probably like "huh? Michelle this is not one of your best?" Well I can finally tell you a lot more about it! And also prove it got much better!

It's been a few months, but back in May the lovely quilter Diedre of Whimzie Quiltz contacted me to work with her on a special project. She had written a new version of the classic story, A Chirstmas Carol, called A Quilter's Christmas Carol. She was looking for an illustrator to create a drawing for the cover of the book and wanted to be able to have the books ready by the holidays (They would seriously make a great stocking stuffer!) Diedre was so much fun to work with and basically gave me free reign to create an image for the front of the book. Literally my only guidelines were that she wanted the girl to have red hair and that she needed space left to add the title and our names. She also sent me a quilt pattern that she created to go with the story and she wanted to incorporate that as well. Based on these few parameters I went to work, and not that I'm trying to brag or anything but I'm really happy with the final outcome, and I think Diedre and I make a great team! 

What do you think of the final product?

Check out Diedre's site, like her on facebook, follow her pins on pinterest, and contact her if you would like your own copy of A Quilter's Christmas Carol!

Happy Friday Sweets!

xo