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!

faith and lola

12x12, photoshop!

Here's a little illustration I did for Australian clothing label Faith and Lola.  Best part of this deal: they paid me in clothes.  That is like...a dream.

My inspirations for this piece were: actual faith and lola dresses, 1960's fashion illustrations, and cornflowers.  Cornflowers are beautiful and you should google image search them immediately.

I remember you

This is my piece for a group show at Susanita's Little Gallery.  The theme is the Ramones!  It opens early next month.  Each artist got to choose a song to illustrate, and I chose "I Remember You", cuz I like that song.

Acrylic on board.  And fun.

rose red + snow white + 2

Yeah!  Finally!  This took me forever to finish.

I couldn't decide which idea I liked better: the girls meeting the bear, or the girls riding on his back.  So I did both.  I didn't want them to have the same color scheme though, mostly cuz I think I'd get bored painting (basically) the same thing twice.  I loved this color pallet, even though it's nonsensical.  Who cares!  It feels right, that's what matters.

This painting will be on display this July at the Wonderful World of Animation, in a fairy tale themed show.  Yay!  I love fairy tales, I can't wait to see the rest of the work.  (Their website is...well, just look at it for yourself, huh?)

I think I'm going to give both paintings a glossy finish, which I usually don't do but it seems kinda appropriate for these.  Plus I understand that it enhances the color to a degree...cool!  Make those reds really pop.  

rose red + snow white

I'm working on a bunch of paintings at once these days.  This is the first one that got finished!  It's for a show in July, and it will have a sister piece to go with it... a diptych, if you're fancy.  

Click to see it bigger!

The show is fairy tale themed.  You know I love a good, obscure fairy tale.  You know what else I love?  Flowers, and vintage clothes, and patterns.  So all those things got wrapped up into this painting.  

It's acrylic on board, by the way, and 16"x16" square.  Haven't had it framed yet but I'm thinking something wood and vintage looking.  Usually framing is my least favorite part (who knows who will end up buying it, and what they'll like), but I can't wait to see this one all ready-to-hang.

As usual, I did a butt load of sketching before leaping into the painting.  Can you believe I really haven't done much bear drawing?  I just wanted him to be really BIG with a cute face.  And a crown.  Because if you know this fairy tale, then you know he is a prince, after all.  

I like post-its for compositions.  If you hate your drawing then you can just peel them off and throw them away.  

Yeah, flowers.  I had a moment where I thought I might do teenage versions of the sisters, and make them more contemporary, but the littler versions won.  As soon as I had the idea to put them in little mod dresses it was over with.  I might, however, still put those heart-shaped sunglasses on Snow White...

More comin'!

flower heads and cake ladies

I did these sketches for what was maybe going to be a stationary set, but it didn't pan out.  What a bummer.  I hate it when that happens.  

The idea was that they would be black line art on white paper, and they would come with a little watercolor set and you could color them yourself.  

As far as the designs go, I was just having fun, really.  They are marker and pencil,sketches and they're not the best drawings, but they give you a pretty good idea.  I probably would have fancied them up with a brush pen if they it had been a go.  Brush pens are fun things. 

Things I like: flowers, fancy ladies, beautiful desserts, and the 18th century fashion.  If you couldn't tell.  

And then there was this weirdo one withe the octopus hair thrown in.  

I like markers a lot, even though my marker technique (if there is such a thing in the case of markers) is pretty 'whatever'.  

Frustrating days lately, you guys.  Really stupidly tough!!  I can't seem to get any projects off the ground, for reasons that are utterly mystifying (to me at least).  I don't wanna bitch out on my blog, because that's sort of yucky, but then again why not?  It's part of the deal when you're an artist that depends on other folks/institutions to put your work out there.  Your s#*% gets rejected sometimes!  

Anyway.  On to the next!

dum dum girls

The Dum Dum Girls are al all-girl band.  They wear lots of black and fancy tights and red lipstick and they sound real good!  I've seen them play a couple of times before and they are one of those bands that really sounds best live, I think.  

I love how they all dress in black.  Why don't bands art direct their costumes more often??  It's so effective at making them feel like they go together. 

Look at them go in this video!

 

I think the text on this is a little wonky but hey, I'm no graphic designer.  

In other news, I'm pretty not-busy right now.  It's nice to have time to do things like fan art for bands I like, but I'm starting to get stir crazy.   I like having a BIG project to work on!  Also I like to be paid for it!  So I can buy clothes and then write about them on my other blog!  But that's how the freelance life goes, ebbs and flows, and lots of blog updates.  

my first ever give-away!

UPDATE: A winner has been selected. Congratulations Christen Krumm! The give-away is over now, but you can still comment if ya like.

Thanks everyone who entered!

Well, I got a big box of Princess Matching Games in the mail last week. I got more than I can possibly play with alone. So I'm giving one away!!!



Here's all you need to do to enter the give-away:

1. Leave a comment. Make it something amusing, for goodness sakes. And don't forget to put your e-mail in there so I can get in touch with you if you win!
2. Wait a week. I'll be picking my winner via random number generator on February 28!

SO EASY! The matching game is not technically out yet, so you'll be getting it before ANYONE ELSE. That's really special. There's 72 pieces of matchy-match fun in that box. It also has a magnetic flap closure, which truly elevates it beyond simply a cardboard box full of cardboard bits. Really!



If it goes well, I might do a stationary give-away too. We'll seeeeeeee...

Here's some images from the matching game pieces! These are my favorites. The little black dog is my actual dog, Lila. She really sleeps on a pillow like that. She's such a princess.

The Queen

The King

Royal Dog

The Castle

Princess Lilac

Good luck!

dress shoppe stationary

Hello to you out there in the blog-o-sphere! I know I've been neglecting my blog, and that's not fair. My little bloggy blog has
done a lot for me, and yet I ignore it. No more!! I'm going to start posting more regularly now, I promise. I've even got a few ideas for regular/weekly/feature type blog updates so that even if I have nothing of my own to show you I can at least post something. Keeping it fresh is important, dontcha know.

In the mean time, just to prove that I have not just been sitting around my apartment eating bon bons and painting my nails (although I do so in moderation when the mood strikes), I'd like to present one of the projects that has kept me away from bloggin' as I should: my Dress Shoppe stationary set! I know I mentioned it before, but I got the thumbs up to do a more in-depth post on it, so here goes...


I wanted all the gals to look different but like they are from the same universe, too. This first lady in the suit might be my favorite. She's like the ultimate chic housewife of the decade. I imagine that she wears this outfit to the supermarket to buy 50lbs of meat to store in her giant freezer in her turquoise and pink kitchen. "Off to buy some haaaaam!"




This gal might look familiar because she is a re-incarnation of my Librarian Paper Doll. She was the inspiration for this set. (I still really want to do a straight up paper doll book or magnetic paper doll, by the by.)


I love this color combo: red orange, pink, minty green.



And one last sunny yellow dress! Actually, this might be my favorite. She's more 60's looking than the rest, but I love her flats and pink gloves. I pretty much gave her an outfit that I'd like to wear.

I made the set for Chronicle Books and I have to say, they really do a bang-up job on the graphic design end. The style of the set is super girly and very 50's, and I had the pleasure of working with folks who totally understood what I was going for and had a lot to add to it. Look at the little photo shoot they did for the back of the the box:

So perfect!!

It comes with stickers so you can stick accessories on the gals, like little glasses and purses and flower brooches and hats. And pink envelopes! Did I mention that they stand up? They do. (PS, please excuse the general crappishness of these photos.)


Anyhoo-a, you can pre-order them on Amazon
OR on the Chronicle Books website, but you wont be able to play with 'em til March. :)

just messing around

Here are some drawings to keep my blog alive! Some girls with cats. These are related to nothing, except for the last lady, who is a rejected design for a project I'm working on. Sorry lady, you didn't get the job.