independents to dinos to seattle

So updating this has not been my strong point this week. Sorry about that. Any who...the CSCA (Columbus Society of Communicating Arts) had a very successful Creative Best Judging weekend. Although I wasn't accepted (volunteering has it's perks, I got to know early, even if it was disappointing but now at least I don't have to wait another month of anticipation). Jessica Hische and Mikey Burton were super entertaining and Peter Chan was so knowledgeable about everything.

Independents Festival was amazing. I met lots of local artists that I wouldn't have come in contact with otherwise.

In creative news, the book has been progressing nicely. I'm fairly confident I'll be able to finish everything by Halloween.

I also made my first monster cutout. It's just my logo for now, but I'm planning on doing a series of note cards very soon.

This week I had that crafty urge...so my old ratty looking lamp the the preteen in me decided to paint sometime in middle school got a makeover. I bought some amazing vintage fabric at A Gal Named Cinda Lou's earlier in the summer and some ribbon from JoAnn Fabrics (which was easy to find and use thanks to my handy ribbon organizer!), add some white paint and Ta-Da!

  

Before (the top was almost completely broken off from the frame due to the wind blowing it off my beside table at least once a week)

Another before image, this one is my awesome preteen paint job.

I love the new simplistic modern look my lamp now has. It looks great in my room and was super cheap to make. To continue my craftiness this week I also finally made a shadow box frame (and by "made" I mean bought at Target) for some mementos I have from my trip to Seattle last spring.

Anyways, hope everyone is having a good week!

Exhaustion

It's been a busy and exhausting week in the life of me.

I worked at a temporary second job for the week in between the hours of my normal job so let's just say I've been a little more tired than normal.

But...I did manage to get some work on my dinosaur book. Here's another sneak peak.

Ha, I just realized you can tell I painted my nails in between making the table and the characters. What do you think? (About the work not my nails.)

Also, I added some new prints to my Esty Store.

Friday I met with one of my old professors. I don't think I would have made it through my senior year without him and his fiance (who was another one of my professors) but don't let him know I said that. We talked a lot about how I can get more work as an illustrator. Talking with him always helps me focus on what I really want to do and not what I think everyone else thinks I should do. I've come to realize that illustrating is what makes me the happiest and it's what I want to do with the rest of my life. That's right, illustrating not graphic design. I could probably force myself into a graphic design career but I wouldn't be very happy at the end of the day. I never liked branding anyways.

Tonight is CSCA Presents Jessica Hirche. She is AMAZING. I'm so excited to listen to her speak. Jessica first got her taste of fame in the design word with her BLOG called the Daily Drop Cap. She illustrates one letter a day. I highly recommend reading her about section on her site.

Tomorrow after work I'm going to check out the Independent's Day 2010.  It should be a fun time and I always find inspiration at art festivals.

This week should be a bit quieter so hopefully I can get some more done on the book.

Updates as promised.

This week about a bazillion thoughts have been running through my head. It been hard to prioritize what should come first on my giant to-do list: illustrate book, researching grad schools, trying to find a big kid job, not to mention fitting in friends and family.

So as promised, here are a few quick look into the book I've been working on.

This is one of the completed characters.

This is the sketch of the next scene that I'm currently working on. 

 

 

I finally cleared off my painting table to make room to work on this again, I'll still be painting but less so in order to finish the book by my self-made deadline of Halloween.

Today my daily Esty email showed off these too beautiful bags that I just had to share. I wish I could justify spending money on them.

This one is by EllaOsix. She uses vintage fabrics to make each of her  bags (and they're very reasonably priced!)

This next one was the very last on my email (see it pays to look through the whole list!) I just love how chic yet professional it looks. I'd love to be able to take with with me to interviews and business meetings. 

The Cottage Cupboard is responsible for this creation. All her bags are very smart looking. 

Lastly  for today I wanted to share my ribbon holder that I'm so proud of! It was super easy to make. I just bought a dowel rod and hand saw from work (they gave me base made of scrap wood for free!). Next I measured how far apart I wanted the rods and sawed them to the same length. I did make sure to sand and wipe down all the pieces before assembly. This helps the paint to stick better and to make sure I don't end up with any nasty splinters. If I had a cordless drill I would have made holes for the dowels to be glued in (unfortunately that item is still on my need-to-buy-list/on-my-Christmas-list) so I just glued the pieces to the board, taped them in place, and let it dry over night. Next step was just a simple prime and paint job. I chose black since it would be a better base color for which the ribbon colors would stick out on and it would give the whole piece more weight. So ta-da! A new snazzy ribbon organizer!

I'm pretty sure I got the idea from a DYI magazine at work. Either way it's a great simple and easy project that anyone can do. Now no more ribbon going every which direction!