Wednesday, February 29, 2012

a jenny lewis model sheet

Okay, first of all, you may not know who Jenny Lewis is.  If that is the case, here's her wikipedia page so go read that for five minutes and then come back.

Second of all, you might be asking, "Brigette, why would you make this?"

To which I can only answer, why on earth would I not?

Seriously though, this is just one of those things, those spontaneous projects that emerge out of nowhere.  It pops into your brain and you're like "I'm gonna DO THAT!" and then when it's done you feel a little sheepish about it because it's really almost totally inexplicable!  I just did it, that's all!  

That and I'm in a work lull right now, so what do I do? I make a model sheet!


I'm a fan of hers, for sure.  I have special, sentimental attachment to the first Rilo Kiley album because that is the CD my husband burned for me when he was first woo-ing me back in my CalArts days.  I would listen to that thing in my little red convertible and drive around Valencia (where CalArts is) and wonder who this lovely voice was that was.  


I'm pretty sure she plays a bunch of other instruments too.  I wish I could play something.

I actually saw Rilo Kiley play live a couple times.  First time they were opening for Elliott Smith, and this is before the CD thing so I had no idea who they were.  They were really great, and I remember Jenny playing the keyboard with a lot of passion, which is saying something since most keyboardists I've seen kinda just hide behind their instruments.  She was twisting dials and singing and doing I don't even know what!  The second time I saw Rilo Kiley was at the Elliott Smith memorial concert right after he died but man, THAT was a bummer for a couple reasons: I went to this concert with my ex-boyfriend almost IMMEDIATELY after we had broken up (do not recommend) and everybody there was mega sad (although that was to be expected).  


I also saw her at a vegan restaurant in my neighborhood once.  I was eating and my not-yet-husband said "OH MY GOD.  That's Jenny Lewis."  And I looked up and she was there, and she was very small and her hair was really pretty and long.  

I've heard that she lives in a house that belonged to a Disney animator in the 40's.  That sounds amazing.  

I also saw her when she played with Belle and Sebastian back in 2010, and she sang a part with them in one of their songs, and let me tell you that for ME that was like having a goddamn donut-hot-fudge-ice-cream-sandwich-poptart-cupcake-milkshake poured into my ears.  It was like a beautiful indie rock dream come true.  

Jenny, if you're out there, I just think you're grand, that's all. 

(Also I hope you don't find this creepy.)  


Friday, February 17, 2012

princess sketches!

I've been working on lots of stuff but of course nothing I can show you.  But the blog needs an update!  So I dug into my sketch pile!  

These are my character sketches from the book I illustrated for JibJab, A Perfect Princess Day.  They are marker and pencil on printer paper.  I know, how thrifty of me.  Actually we just have this giant stack of weirdly shaped printer paper that I'm trying to use up.  It's a really annoying size.



I don't know how I keep ending up drawing horses all the time.  Animal drawing isn't really my thang.


I love messing with costume ideas.  It's ALMOST the funnest part!





For some reason when I sketch my drawings tend to overlap and run into each other.  I'm not sure why that is...yes I am.  Poor planning.  


For each character I made a sketch and then did a quick color mock up that I could reference while I was doing the final illustrations.  I went through a lot of different color ideas before I landed on the final ones, and I had to look at all the girls together to make sure they looked good as a group (color-wise).  


I was super into patterns in this book.  Patterns are fun and pretty!!




Ew that drawing in the middle is pretty sloppy.  Yuck!  I can see why I didn't finish that thought.  

More exciting update soon!