Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. :-)
Here is a work in progress for a Christmas card I plan to give out in 2012. I used my IF "Round" idea. :-)

Collab

Collab piece done between Piya and I. The original drawing was done for the Illustration Friday topic, Stir.
I am also painting this piece digitally, and will post ASAP. Until then, how cool is it to see two styles mixed in one piece?? :-D

IF~Round

For Round I thought I might do a Christmas illustration (the first thing I thought of was Santa Claus!) :-)

This is the final drawing with some spot colors. Final coming soon--will make a great Christmas card! :-D

Robots

My first attempt at illustrating some robots. I have a couple more I am working on too, and I plan to color them with Illustrator.

Hope you like them. :-)

IF~Scary

Ghosts!

Shamrocks

My shamrocks are finally finished! I've lost count how many layers were put into each piece but there are many! I decided to not outline these graphically. I like the pencil outline much better. :-)

Detail views of each to follow shortly...

Hibernate: Color, and Shamrock Designs

Here is the color so far for my sketch Hibernate, which I did for the Illustration Friday challenge last week. I decided to bring it in to Photoshop and add some color. I have really gotten into using custom PS brushes, which give really interesting effects to your artwork. I use the default brushes at a minimum now.

Secondly, I'd like to add my shamrock designs thus far. I posted the line drawings over the summer. In case you forgot what they looked like, to the left are the original drawings. I decided to drop the first design and draw two new ones to make it an even 4. Included with the line drawings is the color WIP...

I will post some detail views of the color designs as well, because they are quite detailed...

IF~Hibernate

Fast sketchbook piece for Hibernate...done last minute (had a very busy past few days).

I really like where this is going. I plan to go further and paint it digitally with Photoshop.

Enjoy!

Outlines are pen and ink.

IF~Ferocious

Ms. Chomper Plant...
Just a drawing in my sketchbook for this week's Illustration Friday topic, which is Ferocious. I would like to finalize this into an actual illustration (I'm thinking just in time for Halloween).
I did the hatching/coloring with Sharpie markers.

Blog Headers

For a while now, I've been meaning to pretty up my blog and give it more personality...and you know, make it look more like a real website. I have been thinking for a long time now about what to call my blog. I've never been really talented at coming up with clever titles for things. I still would like to use my name in my blog title but instead, drop my last name since it's quite a mouthful! I really like the idea of "ChristinaArts." (with one dominant letter A). Sounds kinda like "Christina's Art" but more of a play on words...Of course I would use lower case letters because I feel it looks friendlier and reflects my illustration style.

Here are some concepts of blog headers I came up with tonight. Bear in mind that I am an illustrator who is still learning about graphic design.

I plan to add a character somewhere in the header. My business card has a frog on it and I think he could be really cute here. Again, I wanted to play with Photoshop custom brushes. I am really into those lately. I may also try a handwritten type header. Handwritten type always looks cool.

Enjoy!

John Lewis Design Contest

I am participating in the Design for John Lewis: iPad and iPhone case contest. Below are my ideas for an iPad and iPhone case. You may vote for my submission on my Talenthouse page. This is my first design submission to Talenthouse. It's a great website for artists who are looking to get more exposure for their work, and the challenges are all different and interesting. Of course if you get to win one of their competitions that's great also! The prizes are pretty awesome. You may vote from September 1st-September 7th. I'd really appreciate your vote! Thanks! :-)

Both cases are enlarged to show detail:

IF_Swell

For Swell I have a distressed looking puffer fish/blow fish!

Sketchbook Pages 21-26

Pages 21-26 of my sketchbook, which is right now on the 2011 Sketchbook Project Tour. The tour ends soon, they are on their last stop at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida. After that, the books will be permanently housed at the Brooklyn Art Library in Brooklyn, NY. I went to the Brooklyn Art Library for their opening show back in February. It is a cute little gallery so if you're ever in the City (Brooklyn is a pretty cool borough too) I recommend going there.

IF~Gesture

My submission to this week's Illustration Friday, which is Gesture. I immediately thought of ballet dancers and the movements and poses ("gestures") they create.

Tattoo Design

A couple months ago I was asked to do a tattoo design for a friend. She wanted Daffodils, daisies, and sweet peas incorporated into the design with a Monarch butterfly somewhere within the flowers. I chose to put him at the top, sitting on a daffodil petal. The tattoo is meant to go on her shoulder. I added my signature scroll work, which I often use in my decorative art, and of course the leaves have decorative elements to them as well.

Focus On Nature Show

There is an Open Call to artists to participate in the Focus On Nature show in Albany, NY at the New York State Museum! They are looking for a broad representation of artists who can demonstrate high technical skill and scientific accuracy that comes with doing natural science illustration. In addition, great composition and aesthetics, etc., etc.
I have not done life drawing/painting in quite a while so I think this is a great opportunity to get back into it! I also love animals. And art shows!
The deadline to enter your work (4 pieces max.) is October 1st, 2011.
Best of all: No entry fee!

Independence Day Card Study

I hope everyone had a great Independence Day Weekend! Kind of late posting this, but I decided to post a study I am working on for an Independence Day card. This would be part of a Spring/Summer 2013 card line. As I said before in an earlier post, I am working on new greeting card designs for 2012 and 2013.

Final to come soon along with preliminaries for other holidays.
:-)

Sketchbook Project

I was looking through some of my older blog posts and I realized a while back I meant to post my sketchbook from the Sketchbook Project 2011. My sketchbook is also on the Art House website. I got pretty busy towards the end of winter with my freelance client but now I am going through a bit of a quiet period so I thought I would put some scans up this time!
Soon I will be working on the sketchbook for the 2012 show.
Unfortunately I am missing pages 15 and 16 from my files, but you can see those pages here:

15 & 16

Pages 17-20:

Shamrocks

For today I have some more greeting card design process work. Here are three shamrocks I came up with. I may draw a fourth one. My idea is to have a repeat design with these on the front of the card and each shamrock will be pointing in a different direction. Color palette will most likely be monochromatic, with different shades of green.

Greeting Card Illustrations (Works In Progress)

I'm currently working on a series of new greeting card illustrations. I plan to cover many familar holidays and also Everyday occasions (including birthdays, wedding, baby, get well, etc.). I decided to start with St. Patrick's Day and I have a couple ideas in mind. This is a study I worked on over the weekend...just a little teaser:
More to come...

Twitter Button WIP

I have decided to design a custom Twitter button for my blog. Here are a few ideas I came up with today:

More ideas to come...

Sketchbook Project 2012

I have decided to participate in the Sketchbook Project again this year. A fellow illustrator and I have decided to combine our talents into this sketchbook and the theme we chose is This is a Sketchbook.
We don't have much to show yet but I am looking forward to seeing what turns out when we combine our styles! I felt that with this particular theme anything goes!
Art House has also uploaded my entire sketchbook to their site from the Sketchbook Project 2011. Please check out my pages and leave a comment!
Lastly, I now have a Twitter button on my blog. I plan to create a custom one because they are so much nicer and more personal I feel than the default buttons. In addition, I feel that it will show my illustration style more and my web design experience a little bit. I am also thinking of creating a custom Facebook button too.
Of course, I will post WIP with both buttons! :-)

IF~Soaked

For this week's IF a fellow illustrator and I decided to do a collaboration. He provided the sketch and I colored it! Though done really last minute, this was a lot of fun. I have not painted in Photoshop in a while so I felt this sketch was good practice on my Photoshop painting skills.

I like how I was able to achieve a watercolor-look. I will most likely implement this technique in future Photoshop paintings.

"Stir" Color Study

Here is a color study of an illustration I started a while back, titled Stir. The final will be in acrylic.

Paisley Tales

This is a revised version of the hand drawn type piece I posted last week. I decided to remove 'bird' since I have clearly depicted an illustration of a bird already. I may try designing different versions of this bird, and possibly have him interact with the type more. Print patterns other than paisley (like damask, for example) I think could also be interesting for a type piece...possibly a logo for a fabric or clothing store? My next idea is to have type or a phrase involving the four seasons, with 1-2 animals for each.

I am also planning on coming up with some new baby clothing graphics, for t-shirts and pajamas, etc.

More hand drawn type

I started this logo a couple days ago and did the color this evening. The words are from nowhere in particular, just something I came up with. Now I have an idea to do a type series using different animals...

Medium is pen and ink/digital.

Hand Drawn Logos

I am interested in learning more about graphic design, specifically graphic design that has more of a "hand drawn" look. I would like to begin to incorporate logos and/or hand drawn type into my existing and new illustration work. These are just some thumbnail sketches inspired by a local busines in town:

Drawing & Underpainting

My Stir illustration (I'm thinking if calling it something else now) drawing and underpainting on board. The illustration is now 12x16." I have named my character Sue. For future pieces I plan to feature her with other characters (including animals)! I am in the process of working out the color and I plan to have the finished piece up soon, with hopefully more work along the way too!

IF~Toy

A pencil sketch for this week's IF, which is Toy. I am in the middle of working on a series of self-promotional pieces for my illustration career, and this will be one of them. I had many ideas for Toy (would have liked to do all of them!) I decided on a tea party with stuffed animals. I may do the other Toy ideas or have a combination of them in a piece somehow...

I hope to have color illustrations again soon for future IFs! :-)

IF: Stir

It's been a long time since I have participated in an IF challenge! With this week's topic I decided to start up again. I plan to paint this piece later on and use it for self-promotion. I want to do a series of illustrations for my self-promo, probably 3-4 at the most with this piece being my first one. Any suggestions for a series would be great!
Drawing done with graphite/Photoshop.

Sketchbook Project: 8-13

Sketchbook Project: 2-7

Sketchbook Project: Official Scans

Here is the cover and the first page of my sketchbook for the Sketchbook Project! The opening show is this weekend in New York City at the Brooklyn Art Library. I received an email today that the show will be going on for the entire weekend, not just Saturday. :-)
I will use the best, most favorite sketchbook pages for my portfolio. Let me know which pages you like! More posts to come...

First Post of 2011: the Sketchbook Project & a Thank You

Okay now we're halfway through February...almost into March and I realize that I have not posted an update since December! I am now freelancing and it is a very exciting opportunity for me and it has kept me very busy as an illustrator. :-)
I finally sent off my sketchbook to the Art House Co-Op, the people who are doing the Sketchbook Project.
The opening show and reception is in Brooklyn, NY at the Brooklyn Art Library. The dates for the Brooklyn show are from February 19-27, 2011. The reception is Saturday, February 19th 12:00-10:00pm. I will be in New York that week so I plan on going!
I hear that signups for the Sketchbook Project 2012 will begin in May. I am debating whether or not to participate for 2012. I plan to wait and see what topics are posted and then go from there...My boyfriend and I are also thinking of doing our own sketchbook together!
I would like to say a big THANK YOU to him for making me a lovely greeting card for Valentine's Day! Please check out his blog and website to look at his amazing work.
I will be posting OFFICIAL SCANS of my sketchbook over the next several days. I will probably have a "daily" post of my sketchbook pages. I also hope to participate in some IF challenges again soon!