Illustration Friday - Glamour

Progress

Another thing ticked off my list, putting a shop page on my portfolio site. There's only a few cards on there at the mo but I will also be putting on paintings and collages and prints over time.
My main card site is still work in progress but we will get there!

Illustration Friday - Cats

A sharp contrast from last week's! But this kills two birds with one stone as I'm in the middle of designing images for kids cards (the website is nearly finished - watch this space!) and I've been wanting to learn how to use photoshop for more than photo's so after seeing the tutorial from Copper thought I'd give it a shot. It was a quick sketch scanned in and coloured digitally using layers. Should have cleaned the lines up a bit but I was in a hurry to see the final result. I'm getting quite excited by all this as before I thought drawing was drawing and digital was digital but have realised I can use both, and include collage too.

Must seem obvious to most illustrators these days but when I was at college over 10 years ago computers weren't used at all, so to me this all new!

Illustration Friday - E is for...

Evil... ha ha ha haaaw....

Was sorting through piles of old work and came across this golden oldie, which was inspired by a gothic horror story based on the ghost Banquo from Macbeth (I think - memory is not what it used to be!). What is interesting is how 'nice' (for want of a better word) my work is now, all soft pretty blues, greens and pinks compared to a few years ago when everything was a lot darker and richer. Not sure if it's a result of having children and I've unconsciously censored myself (in terms of colour as well as subject matter) or I just generally got to a stage in my live where I just needed to shed a skin and reinvent myself. Who knows. Good to look back though!

List Update

Well I am slowly but surely ticking things off my list, the most important ones being to finish both my websites. In case you are wondering I have my portfolio site (which has a link on the right) and my card design site which was very outdated and needed a facelift. I've never really had time before but my maternity leave gave me the chance to start afresh. I'm a bit over schedule though so now I have to focus on finishing them. Hence the need for a list as I was getting too distracted by other things.

So I have finished tweaking my portfolio site ( I think) and all I need to do is add more paintings and illos and a few things to sell on the shop page. I am still working on the card site, lots of boring code to deal with here as I am customising an open source script for a proper shopping cart and payment thingy - yay! I've then got to go through all my card designs from the last 4 years and chuck out the ones I don't like/don't sell, update the ones I do like/do sell and come up with a load of new fresh ones. This my take a while but will be worth it in the end. My old site made money but wasn't very efficient and was looking tired, I also got fed up with getting paid after I did the work and had to chase invoices, with this new site I get paid first and can keep better track of things.

Here is one of my revamped wedding designs for the card site, I'll add the link when it's finished!

Illustration Friday - Sea

I wanted to do a proper little collage for this but as time isn't on my side this week I thought I would have a go at a quick digi one using scans of older pieces I already had. Not the best piece I've done but a good exercise!

New Year's Resolutions

The dreaded list is done. I decided not to go down the usual route of writing all the things I would hope to do and never actually manage but instead wrote all the things that actually need doing. Boring I know but a lot less disappointing. I can tick everything off as I go and pat myself on the back for a job well done instead of having a constant reminder of what I didn't do. (Resolution no. 1 - have a more positive attitude.)

That's assuming I don't lose the bit of paper first. (Resolution no. 2 - be better organised.)

Hmmm. (Resolution no. 3 - less thinking more doing.)

(Resolution no. 4 - no more resolutions!)

What to do first?

Well so far I have resisted the urge to write the obligatory list of 'things to do in 2006', but as I have spent the last two days doing everything that isn't constructive and nothing that is I think I might just have to do one, just to give this new year a bit of direction. Start as I mean to go on and all that!

Christmas was a dizzying rush made worse (or better) by Kamal getting a small but significant part in a musical for which I had to chaperone, so I had less time than usual to prepare for the occasion. Christmas cards were written but not sent, plans to make christmas goodies/decorations/mess with the kids went out the window, let's face it, a domestic goddess I am not!

But I have to say this has been the best Christmas yet. My failings aside we have a beautiful new member of the family who explored for the first time the joys of crinkly crunchy wrapping paper and twinkly decorations that are just perfect for bashing and chewing, (toys? who needs toys?) and Kamal has taken part in something that can only be described as magical, and we have shared it all with our friends and family. This is one Christmas I will remember for a very long time. The christmas cake will have to wait until next year!