uni the unicorn

Today is a very important day.  Today, Uni the Unicorn comes out!

I know I've mentioned this before, but one the big bummers of working in publishing is that you have to wait a loooooooooong time before you can really spill the beans and share a project.  I finished the art for this book last November, and since then I've been going crazy because honestly, I love this book. And that's not the babbling of an ego-maniac, either!  A book is a group effort, with the illustrator, writer, art director, designer, editor, and MANY others working together.  It's just very rare and special when everyone is on the same exact page throughout the process.  So, so, SO very rare and special!

I knew I wanted to illustrate this book as soon as I read the text.  This is kinda (usually) how it works: my agent will send me a text, that's just the words of the book, and I'll read through it and think about it, and talk to her about it, and try and decide if it's something that's right for me to illustrate.  This process did not happen on Uni.  I got an email with the text attached to it, I read it, and I immediately called my agent and said "GET ME THAT BOOK!  GET IT! I WANT IT!!!"  That was in December of 2012.  Feels like a billion years ago!

The process usually continues like this: I get in touch with the editor and receive art notes (written notes about what image should be on what page) and then start sketches.  For Uni, I got to make the art notes myself, which was so fun and awesome, and I almost can't believe that a total kid's book rock star super pro like Amy would trust me enough to do that, but she did!  

So much of the book is about Uni's wishing, and thinking, and dreaming about having a little girl for a friend.  I tried to show those ideas, but the way a child would experience them.  Like when you are 6 years old and obsessed with having a bunny and all you draw is bunnies for months on end.

You know that feeling.  That's the feeling that Uni has!

I'd also like to point out that Uni is not specifically a boy or a girl...there is no pronoun ever used to describe how Uni is feeling or what Uni is doing!  I've read a few reviews that describe Uni as a "she" and I find it odd...I was always thinking of Uni as this magical, genderless creature!  

Thinking of Uni as just Uni was helpful to the book overall I think, because let's be honest: a book about a unicorn?  That could have ended up completey pink and fluffy and rainbow sprinkles and cotton candy looking (which I have nothing against, by the by).  I think it's much more interesting as is though, since it never quite veers into completely "girl" territory.  It could have easilly been a story about a little boy and a velociraptor, if you switched out a few words.  

But yeah, there are some rainbows in there too, because c'mon, how could you NOT have rainbows in a book about unicorns?!

where does kitty go in the rain?

It's been a looooooooong summer, guys.  

It started out great with trips and anticipation, but it ended in the most bummer-est way possible.  Without getting into too, too much detail, there was a death in my husband's immediate family and any of you out there who have lost someone close to you know how that goes...it SUCKS. 

But sucky times seem to be drawing to a close now, and we're moving forward into fall!

School is starting!  It's my third year teaching at CalArts in the Character Animation department, and it is pretty fantastic. 

Me and Sean have an anniversary/birthday trip to look forward to in October!

It will no longer be one-billion-million-jillion degrees outside!  (Those of you in Los Angeles know what I mean: it's been freaking HOT.)

I have a couple big, important, awesome projects that I get to dive into head first!

It's all good stuff!

These illustrations are from a book I illustrated for Blue Apple LAST summer.  That's one of the toughest things about working in publishing.  You have to wait THIS LONG to share stuff!

It's an e-book, for the iPad and such, but I understand that it's going to be printed eventually as well.  I didn't actually know that while I was illustrating it, however, so there's a lot of things resting in the "gutter" on these pages.  Gutter is the fancy word for 'middle of the page where the crease in the book usually is'.  A good rule of thumb for all you would-be illustrators: don't put things in the gutter.  

The story is very cute and simple: a little girl wonders where her cat hangs out when it's raining outside, and she goes out to find him, and sees bugs and worms and stuff.

This is the title page.  I really like how that cloud turned out.  

I played with color a LOOOOOT on this project.  It would have been easy, but super dreary, to make every page gray and blue and rainy looking.  Instead I decided to try making the background colors different shades of desaturated, soft color, so it feels cool and rainy but not out and out sad.

And then yeah...the sun breaks out at the end and girlfriend finds her kitty!  I think this is my favorite spread, probably because I can very accurately remember squeezing my own cat in this exact fashion.  

ozma of oz

This is my piece for an upcoming show at Gallery Nucleus, Not in Kansas Anymore: A Tribute to the Wizard of Oz.  

I chose a character from the books, ALL of which I have read.  It was a while ago (like twenty years give or take a few), so I don't super duper remember all the details, but I DO remember being really impressed with Ozma of Oz, the immortal girl ruler of the Land of Oz.  Here's my own version of her:

When I posted this on tumblr someone commented about how Ozma always has dark hair in the books.  Two things crossed my mind: do people on tumblr realize that _I_ posted this, and it's my own work, and that I can see their comments??  Helloooooo.  And also, this is MY version of Ozma, and in my version she is blonde and wears pink high tops with mismatched socks, so there.  

This is the post-it note that I sketched this painting on.  It is post-it note sized!

Here's a few instagram shots of sketches from my sketchbook:  to the left is my version of Dorothy...

Another little Ozma...


By the by, I'm missbrigette on instagram if you wanna be kept up to date on my dog pictures, cat pictures, shoe pictures, CalArts pictures, and occasional sketch pictures.

And a couple more Ozma sketches.  I really like this composition on the right, but I wanted to show more of her than just her head.  Think I'll put this idea in my pocket and use it another time.

in the pomegranate forest

Hello out there in blogger land!  I have a painting for you!

This is for the "I believe in unicorns, too!" show at the WWA Gallery in Culver City.    They specifically told us that we didn't necessarily have to do a unicorn themed painting, but I couldn't get this image out of my brain once it was in there, so out it came!

For this painting I wanted to try breaking away from my usual palette, and I kinda succeeded.  Specifically, I noticed that when I open my website (http://brigetteb.com) there is a LOT of pink.  Pink and purple.  And I'm not surprised, cuz I love pink and purple!  But I AM surprised that I keep going back to pink over and over....and over.  And over.  Pink is my safety color.  So I tried some browns, and greens, and blues!  The pinks still snuck in there (although a kind of electric peach or coral), but I did end up using a color scheme from outside my comfort zone, so I call it a success.

As you can probably tell, I really love pomegranates.  I think their shape is so beautiful!  I didn't originally intend on putting so MANY in this painting, but as I was sketching I added them in and I'm glad I did.  Even though they are intricate suckers to paint.

See you at the gallery opening, maybe?  I love openings at the WWA Gallery, cuz it's right down the street from one of my favorite veggie restaurants, Native Foods!  I go eat a bowl of veggies and drink a gallon of watermelon agua fresca and then show up at the opening bloated from a fresca overdose.  I recommend it!

flavia sabina de luce

This is my piece for the Book Show!

It's based on the Flavia de Luce novels, specifically The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.  I like the part when she melts down her sister's lipstick and infuses it with poison ivy.   Oh Flav, you vengeful little creature.

For those of you who haven't read the book (or books...there are 4 total with another one on the way and I've read em all wooooo!)  Flavia is a really interesting gal, not just because she's an 11 year old chemistry whiz/girl detective/British aristocrat/lives in the 50's, but because there are so many contradictions in her character.  Her mother died when she was a baby, so she doesn't remember her, yet she is obsessed with her.  She wonders why her sister's don't like her yet she goes out of her way to terrorize them constantly.  She's scary smart and sneaky and yet monumentally naive.  She's kinda bitchy and manipulative but supes vulnerable at the same time.  I love her and hate her alternately when I read the books...she's all complex!

She lives in a big old rotting English country house, where she has taken the Victorian-era chemistry lab as her own.  I wanted to show her in her natural habitat, among the chemicals and books.  The story takes place in the 50's, but the lab is totally old school and kinda mad-scientist-y.  At least that's how I picture it.

She talks about chemistry a lot in the book(s). I tried to take chemistry, but bounced out of the class when I realized that I had no idea what the &$%# was happening and had no hope of catching up (it was a city college class, so you could kinda do that).  Flavia certainly makes it interesting, compelling even, but I was so completely lost in that class.  Much like John Cusack in this particular movie clip!

dresses which are not dresses + website

I forgot to mention this before, but I finally have a place you can find me in the internets with a name which is very easy to remember!  

It's brigetteb.com!

That's where my tumblr-based portfolio lives.  If you have a tumblr you can follow me and tumbl away! It feels very official and neat.  The only bummer is that you still have to remember to spell my name right (no D, two E's, two T's, yes I know it's a funny spelling, but I didn't choose it).

And here are some discarded ideas from a thing I'm working on, er, trying to be working on.  

I'm not going to explain too much because there isn't much to say.

Here's a birdcage dress lady!  Her hat is also a birdcage.  

I imagine that the weather girl is prone to mood swings.  

Pomegranates.

Yes I know they're very silly.  

stereo girl

I did this for my friend's zine!  I remember wanting to make zines when I was in high school and college, and then never doing it.   Sometimes I would even do a bunch of drawings and be like, "This is for the the ZINE!" And then the drawings would sit there forever and ever the end.

I'm not sure where this girl came from.  I did a super rough sketch of her a few years ago and I just liked the idea that her clothes (and maybe also her body?) are like a stereo, but a cool analog stereo, that plays how she feels.

In these drawings she's in a joyful dance-y kind of mood!

What's she dancing to?  Maybe THIS?  That song always makes me feel joyfully dance-y, even though it's not necessarily super dance-able.

Or THIS?  I mean, you can't really argue with that.

In other news, I've been around old CalArts a lot this week looking at student portfolios!  I have a workshop-stype situation going on.  SO MANY PORTFOLIOS!  It's great though.  I get to meet the students and hang around in the faculty lounge.  I'll be there next week too!   Busy busy!

bring your record player

Another painting for the Norman Rockwell show in July!  It is the horizontal sister to the other painting of teenagers.  I took these pictures really quickly and sloppily immediately after I finished it, and then I packed it up and sent it on its way.  

This is my favorite part.  

A portable record player is a good thing to have.  I've got one.  It's not pink though, unfortunately.  

A big gross mess!  I used that brown paper (actually cut up Trader Joe's bags) to wrap up the two paintings.  Recycle and stuff!

I kind of went with a different process for this painting than I did for the other.  I didn't really make an initial sketch, instead I did some little studies and then drew the sketch directly onto the primed board.  Then I scanned it (in pieces...I hate doing that) and did a digital color key.  I always like the way the sloppy color pass looks better than the finished painting.  It has more something.  I'm not sure what.  

I'm not quite as pleased with this one as I was with the other one, but c'est la vie.  I was also in a tremendous hurry to get this one done, and I'm sure that had something to do with it.  Working under pressure is tricky.  Sometimes it forces you to be more awesome in a smaller amount of time, and at the end you are so happy and you feel like you WON!  But other times you can't escape that gross feeling that you really just don't have enough time and what you're trying to do isn't going to happen, and you go into lazy auto-pilot mode.  

In any case, it's time for me to drink an iced coffee, so til next time!

Color, color, who's got the color?

I'm gonna paint these guys. I pulled these awesome color schemes from some cool vintage fabrics I found. If you're gonna bite, bite from something totally awesome, right?

I am leaning towards pink (#4), but because I am interested in your opinion, and also because I've got nobody around to bounce it off of, I'm having one of my ol' fashioned votes.

#1: Turquoise and yellow...pretty but kinda plain. My first impulse. This is the color scheme I first imagined it in.


#2: Green and orange-red together, like something you'd find in a thrift store.


#3: More muted pink and blue and warm grey...gives it a whole different feeling, doesn't it?


#4: Think pink! My favorite so far...but I like the others too...maybe it's too pink? A little too saccharine?


I'm painting it tomorrow, so don't think about it too long!