illustration friday: "retro"

Long time, no post! I have been drawing, just not so much for myself. I'll get around to posting up the commissioned stuff soonish (famous last words), but for now here's my take on this week's Illustration Friday theme, "retro." I just felt like drawing some olde timey beach bloomers, but I had so much fun with it that I ended up going all the way to a finished piece. Somewhere along the line it turned into a bit of a bad day at the shore... I went into this one without much of a plan, but I really like how it came out.

happy valentine's day!

Just what it says on the tin. Happy Valentine's Day internet!

illustration friday: wheel

As seems to me by way, here's my last minute piece for this week's Illustration Friday theme, "wheel." Except it's not really last minute - I sketched stuff for it last Friday, but just never got around to finishing it until tonight. But no matter; it's still Thursday, so it counts! Here again we see my little preoccupation with bendy circus ladies making an appearance, this time during the backstage practice portion of the show.

illustration friday: wings

Right under the wire! Also two posts in one day?! What is this, I don't even. Anyway, this week's Illustration Friday theme was "wings." If I titled my drawings this one would probably be called "now where did those come from?" Or similar.

I like the wings least of all in this entire thing, but no matter how many times I redrew them they never looked right. So it is what it is. And I do like the color palette quite a bit. I'm way into muted orangey-coral, sage green, and tan shades right now. Highly unseasonable. Maybe it's because I'm so flippin' cold all the time, and come summer I'll be all about the frosty lavenders and pale blues. Pantone, takes me awayyy.

grumpy tumbler

I've been working on something for this week's IF theme, but I forgot to put it in my Dropbox so I can't work on it during the day so it's not done. Dumb. Hopefully I'll finish that up tonight. But! In the meantime here's a grumpy little gymnast I doodled up.

I've had this obsession with drawing gymnasts/ballerinas/bendy circus ladies for a long time. I don't know what it's about, really. I think maybe I just like an excuse to put people in striped tights.

cold

If you are on the east coast right now, you're probably cold. It's been below 20 for the last couple of days, with a wind chill in the single digits. It is COLD. I guess if you're from Canada or Alaska you're rolling your eyes right now and going "poo poo, single digits, poo poo," but it's barely dropped below 40 for most of the winter this year and this feels absolutely frigid. Add in the fact that my workplace has no heat (that's right, NO HEAT), so I'm sitting here in t-shirt, a sweatshirt, a heavy coat, pants, thick knee socks, and boots, drinking my 4th cup of hot tea, and I can barely feel my toes. It's bad.

So of course I felt the need to doodle up what I feel like right now, which is pretty much like rigor mortis has set in. I've been having a lot of fun with color lately, trying to get out of the "normal realistic colors" box for everything. I like this palette and will be saving it for future use.

illustration friday: myth

This week's Illustration Friday topic and a current job/project of mine happened to coincide perfectly! I'm doing a label for an indie perfume/bath & body company called Arcana Soaps, whose products I loooove so it's very exciting for me. The label is entirely black and white (and I'll post it when I get the okay), but I liked the design so much I wanted to do a color version just for fun. The fact that it allowed me to do IF this week was just a bonus.

where have I been? + chamois cat

So it's been a while, right? I haven't updated this blog since July, which is just... wow. I'm sure the two people who were still reading it in October have stopped by now, so maybe I'm just shouting into the void here, but despite all outward appearances I have no intention of letting this blog fade away - so where have I been?

Kind of a long story. I'll just give you the Cliffs Notes version. I think I mentioned on the blog that I was illustrating a series of kids' chapter books last year - my deadline for everything was the end of August. So that's what I was doing until 11:59 pm on August 31st. (I kid. I actually finished a few days early. Also, more on this soon-ish.) It was a busy time. Bee-like. But where'd I go after that?

Oh boy. Let's just say there was some big time medical badness and I almost died. Like for real almost died, not "uggggh I'm so tired I could die." But I didn't! So yay for that. I spent a long time in the hospital (33 days!) and an even longer time recovering. It's been 4 months and I'm still recovering, honestly. Not to get all whatever on the cutesy picture blog but the tail end of 2012 was pretty much the worst of the worst of everything ever and it's going to be a long time until I'm "back to normal." But I'm worlds better now than I was, certainly well enough to draw and update this blog more than twice a year. (Seriously I am the worst.)

So that's where I've been. Living the dream and then living the nightmare. But I'm back from the dead (she jokes) and one of my new year's not-really-resolutions-because-resolutions-are-doomed-to-fail is to draw more regularly for fun, so I'm hoping to post here at least once a week. HOPING. We'll see how that goes.

ANYWAY. Let's move on to something more pleasant, shall we?

Like Chamois Cat! Chamois Cat is something my boyfriend and I made up that is probably amusing to absolutely no one else, but it makes me laugh every time I think about it.

CHAMOIS CAT COMETH. To wash your car. Or dust your hardwood floors. Whatever! Chamois Cat just wants to help.

drifty's polar parade

In honor of the first day of summer, and the fact that it's 100 degrees in Philadelphia today (UGH), here is a seasonally inappropriate snow man I did for this year's Swift Creek Mill brochure. I envy you, snow man.

Republicats: Lick Santorum

Just the worst.

Batbear

Full disclosure: I love bears. They are my favorite animal (with goats, otters, and sloths close behind). So yesterday when I read a new story about a bear who saved some guy from a mountain lion, I immediately wanted to draw Batbear, scourge of the forest, protector of innocents. This was the end result. He looks decidedly less scourge-y and more cuddly, as bears (and I) are wont to do. Also, one of those utility packs is full of berries. It's important to bring snacks when you go out to fight crime.

Republicats: Mew Gingrich

Republicats continues. Here's Newt Gingrich as a cat. I think it looks kind of freakishly like him. While drawing these I keep a picture of the Republican in question in my Illustrator file for reference, and looking back and forth between Newt and his cat avatar (catvatar?) always made me laugh.

Republicats: Mittens Romney

I'm not even going to front like there's a good reason it's been almost a year since I posted something here - some stuff happened, but mostly? I am the worst. I have been drawing and working and whatnot, I just haven't been posting. See above re: the worst.

But today I posted this to Twitter and then thought maybe I should throw it up here as well. Because that's what this blog is for? Or something? ANYWAY. Here's Mitt Romney as a cat.

chicken little

Look at me, being a delinquent blogger again! I've had stuff to post, too, I'm just terrible about posting it.   I suck. But a month or so ago, I did another set of illustrations for one of my regular clients - a children's theater. So here's one of five!

Sketches and color comp below - my color comps are really ugly, yikes. But I think the final piece came out pretty well.

sketches, round one

final sketch

color comp

cupcake dress

Just a silly little girly drawing. This dress reminds me of a cupcake and I want to wear it. Also, I am totally obsessed with mint green and coral right now, alone and in combination. Such great colors.

boobs for beads

I'm not dead! I know it's been forever (almost literally) since I updated; it's terrible. I started a new job at the end of last year and while I enjoy it, the adjustment period has left me a tad burned out. I think I'm coming out of the slump now though, and what's more appropriate for my triumphant return than boobs? Nothing, that's what. In honor of Mardi Gras, of course, because I do enjoy a holiday that combines cake, costume jewelry, and spontaneous nudity.

IF: sneaky

Girl Detective returns! Sneaking around at night, searching for stolen jewels - which everyone knows you should hide on your freakishly large black cat for maximum protection.

I'm not super into this, although I can't really put my finger on why. But it's been forever since I did an IF piece, so I'm posting it anyway.

cheap trixie

Ever since I watched Whip It (lo those many months ago), I've been wanting to draw some roller girls. So I did! One, anyway. I'm calling her Cheap Trixie, because it is adorable. She might get some friends eventually. Or maybe not. We'll see.

Anyway, I like how it came out. Close-up below, for a better view of her King Pug tattoo.

zombabe

Happy Halloween! Eat some brains. Or some brain-shaped candy for the uncommitted.

P.S. I am super happy with how this came out and it was really fun to do. I've been working on the fairytale pin-ups but I think I might derail that for monster ladies instead. A vampire and a werewolf, at the very last.

hey there sailor

A little nautical pin-up action. I think she's practicing for the next Fleet Week.

I love the whole nautical aesthetic, but since I hate the beach and get incredibly seasick on anything that isn't a floaty tube or a kayak, I can only express my appreciation by drawing lots of ladies in their seafaring finery. I know. It's a hard-knock life.

And we zoom-in, the better to see all the details no one ever sees on the final product.