a smart girl's guide to money

I'm going to be doing more posts like this one soon.  That is, posts where I get to reveal a project that has been done for what feels like an eternity!  

I illustrated this book, A Smart Girls' Guide to Money, and it's partner, Making Money, almost a year ago.  I just got a big old box of them on my doorstep a few days ago, and I have to admit, no matter how many times it happens, it's always exciting to see your work in print and bound together as a book.

These books in particular are very, VERY dense with illustration.  There was at a least an illustration per page, and sometimes multiple illustrations or images that spread across more than one page.  A lot of work, in other words!

Things I had to learn while working on these books:

-how to design stacks of money in an appealing way

-how to design a box of receipts in an appealing way

-how to draw girls of every body type and ethnicity between the ages of 8 and 12 (it was easy to go to young and too old and I did both at times...the tweenage years are tough to draw!)

-how to design an illustration that packs many, many ideas into itself at once (the art notes for this book were DETAILED)

-how to have fun with an idea that could otherwise be very dry, like illustrating some credit cards, or a bank building. I had to make it fun for myself.  

Anyway, the books are published by American Girl (yes, THAT American Girl!) and they'll be available next month.  I have to admit, even though I'm supposed to be a grown up lady, I actually did learn a lot about money from reading the text as I worked on it.  It's VERY smart, and yet very easy to understand, and if you know a young girl with an entrepreneurial spirit, I'd say you've found yourself a birthday/Xmas/whatever gift if there ever was one.   Here's your sneak peak at what's inside!

sailor moon

These are my interpretations of Sailor Moon, Mars, Jupiter, Mercury and Venus!

Basically, I wanted to style each gal as if they were teenagers right now, in the present.  I looked at a lot of Japanese street style, and I used boatloads of my own style preferences too, of course.

For Miss Moon herself, I wanted her to be really fun looking, like a young teenager just starting to play with styling herself.  And she's got on her high top flatforms, of course, because all flatforms are pretty ubiquitous with Japanese fashion, and also with me!  I love converse high tops! (In case you haden't noticed.)  I also switched out her buns for hair bows, because...I just liked that better.  I know the buns are part of her iconic look, but if I'm going to give a character a completely illogical hairdo, I like for it to be a bit more fanciful!  

Mars is more sleek and grown-up looking.  She seems like she'd be really into classic pieces that make her look more sophisticated.  And yes, I gave her a demure little mars symbol tattoo. 

Jupiter!  I like Jupiter.  She's somehow the most tomboyish AND the most feminine of all the scouts, so she was a lot of fun to style.  She's got a motorcycle jacket, but it's pink!  She's got boots with buckles, but she wears them with thigh high stockings!  She accents her strong eyebrows with emerald baby bangs.  I could probably figure out one million outfits for her.  She was super fun.

Mercury.  Poor Mercury, she so often gets the short end of the stick when it comes to fan tributes.  Nobody can really figure out her hair...is it...a bob?  or a pixie?  I think it's supposed to be kinda Winona-Ryder-in-the-90's-esque.  I think.  She's often portrayed as being sorta mousy, and with BOOKS.  I think that comes from her being a Virgo, which is among the most buttoned up symbols of the zodiac.  But you can cover everything up and STILL look sassy, in a demure kinda way.  I love her with glasses, too.  

And lastly, Venus!  I had the hardest time with Venus because...I don't really remember what her deal is.  I read all the Sailor Moon comics as a teen (all that had been translated, at the time, at least!) and watched most of the anime, but I just coudln't remember what she was like!  BUT, she's a libra, which means she's friendly, and flirty, so that's how I styled her: as a cute, friendlly, flower-crowned flirt.  She's the girliest of the group, too!

I had a lot of fun with Artemis.

My friend Ed told me: You made Sailor Moon so hipster! 

 And yes, that's exactly what I did!  And it was soooooo fun!  I wanted to do ALL the scouts, but alas...not enough time.  I already had ideas for Saturn (goth, big eyebrows!), and Pluto (I was gonna make her black!  I always thought she was, but some careful googling reveals that...nobody really knows for sure what the deal is with her race), and Chibi Moon (total Japanese street style overload...barettes in the bangs, giant headphones!).  Maybe one of these days, when I have time!

Come see these babies in person this Saturday April 5 at Q Pop Gallery in Los Angeles!  I'll be there!  Me and all the other girls who spent their young lives with Sailor Moon.