Her Nashville

Her Nashville, December 2009 (vol 02, issue 6)

I'm very excited to have created some wintery cover artwork for the December issue of the beautiful Her Nashville Magazine. This issue centers around female bonding and friendships that are "like family without the dysfunction," as Heather Pierce explained it to me. Heather is the art director at Her Nashville, and she was super helpful and a pleasure to work with!

Below is one of the early sketches:

And here is the final without the Her flag:

Thank you to Heather and everyone at Her Nashville for this great opportunity!

Prism International

PRISM international 47:3, Spring 2009

Copies of the PRISM international issue that features my work just arrived in my mailbox. I'm so pleased with the results! It's lovely and has been a great read, so please please please pick it up if you get the chance. Or go subscribe to this quarterly at their website. Thanks to the folks at Prism, especially Michelle Miller, for contacting me for this project.

By Ginger!

Fluttering

Over the Bars!

It's probably obvious that these were greatly inspired by bicycle wanderings. This has been the main way of getting to know my new home in Santa Monica; by foot, bike and bus. Here are some of my favorite sites:

Under an overpass. 

The shadows cast on my porch.

The unfortunate butt.

The kick-arse ceiling, and book wall in our new aptartment.

Crazy critters also inspired me. Here's my favorite crazy critter, passed out in a sun spot after reading up on her art hero:

The Story of Docile and Feral

The Story of Docile and Feral - by Shelly Smith

This is the front and back cover of The Story of Docile and Feral, an adult fairy tale by Shelly Smith. Shelly contacted me a few years back to illustrate her story, and there are now over 30 full page and spot illustrations in this baby! 

The time is right and Shelly is now letting the book out into the world. For more information, or to purchase it, please visit: www.docileandferal.com Get your copy today! This is a self publishing venture so your support will be much appreciated.

Translating to the Beetles 

Above is a little before and after action. This is one of the first illustrations I made for Shelly, and it was eventually chosen to be the story's cover girl. You can see it has a vertical orientation, but somewhere along the line we changed things to be horizontal and the image had to be elongated. I wanted to show the vertical version here because it's still my favorite.

Time Out New York

Crimes of Passion - Time Out NY

My latest illustration can be found in the Seek section of Time Out New York, issue #704! Pick it up or read it in the Sex and Dating section of their website. It accompanies fun, inspirational stories about people committing "crimes of passion." These are some great, if sneaky, ideas about how to weasel your way into private events and parties. So let's save some money and have a good time!

I got to work with Time Out's awesome designer Kathryn Brazier on this one, and she was looking to play up the sneaky-slinkiness of a couple committing an act of "derring-do." I also had a personal goal: to give some love to the blondes and redheads of the world. I have neglected you... Here are some preliminaries:




A great phrase, derring-do. I would like to commit courageous acts of derring-do with a disembodied narrator cracking puns at me the whole time. (I'm thinking this guy: Moose and Squirrel.) Incidentally, I was confused about the spelling of derring-do... I had always assumed it was daring. So I looked it up and found this interesting literary mishap. Also in this article: handy tips on how to swash your buckle.

Thank you Kathryn and the folks at Time Out New York!

Weekly Dig

Social Butterflies and Candy Cigarettes - Cover of Boston's WeeklyDig

My illustration "Social Butterflies and Candy Cigarettes" has been featured on the cover on Boston's Weekly Dig! It's the cover girl for their "5 Drink Minimum issue." I believe this is an annual thing; The Dig's writers  go out into the Boston night life, have five drinks, and attempt to write about their evenings from the midst of lushie-drunken stupors. There should be a similar "requirement"  in all jobs... and, as my own boss, I will take it upon myself and force me to drink five drinks, create some art, and blog about it. Hope you guys like stick figures of sharks doing monkeys, and other such depravity.

This cover will soon be available for purchase here as a framed 8.5"x11" for $20 + shipping. So, if you've always wanted to buy me lunch but never had the nerve to ask, do the next best thing and support me financially by buying this print. The millions of lunches ensuing from the checks I receive will feed my body and nourish your soul. Thank you family, and you friends... and you most of all, Anonymous.

I want to give a big thank you to the Dig's Art director, Tak Toyoshima, for being freakin' awesome.  As well as a special thank you to Genevieve Sass for having a big mouth.  And to make up for that sorta back handed, but heart felt, thank you: Go check out her design work at Lilac Creative and get yourself a nifty new blog makeover!

The Climb

Climbing - Topic for Illustration Friday

The above illustration features my good friend Jay Thompson. Somehow, I convinced him to climb into a tree and model in some very difficult positions for an previous illustration. The payment was probably in Riesen dark chocolate chews and Pappa Johns bread sticks... I'm feeling ashamed and amused by this cheapness. Mostly amused.

It was my original intention to re-work and improve some of my older illustrations. But I had this great out-take shot of Jay hanging wearied from the tree branch, and decided to work with it instead. I don't know why I love this idea of a dude in a nice clean suit climbing a tree. I wonder how long he's been hanging there. Will he try for the top? And, assuming he hasn't just given up, once he finally reaches his goal what will he do? What's waiting for him up there? A good view? Is he a peeping tom? Does he plan to jump? Was this a dare? Is there gold in them thar branches? I don't know, but I like to think about it.

Though I'm usually not depressed, I'm not feeling particularly optimistic today. I spent a lot of time sending out e-mails, looking at job postings, and trying to find a cheap apartment in LA somewhere. *Special note to my mid-west friends: I do mean "cheap" in Californian terms. There is story after story on NPR about California's economic troubles. and oh. Oh nice. It might be fun to mention that just now I heard a news story about the peanut-butter recall while eating a peanut-butter toast snack. I'm doomed!

Also, I'm really missing my car today.



It was towed away back in August... and while my bike is hands down the best decision I've ever made-ever; I just miss driving alone singing along to tapes and the radio. (yeah, tapes!) Not having a car has been a non-issue till these past few weeks as Jesse and I have been looking into new jobs and a new apartment. Chances are that as soon as these things are found, the heartache I feel for my old blue Chevy will die. But right now I cant help but reminisce. I cant believe I got so attached to a car that months latter I still mourn it, it seems silly. Please tell me about your weird, materialistic attachments. Make me feel normal!

Pale

Pale - Topic for Illustration Friday

Hummingbirds are mother nature's color sampler tools. Would I lie to you?

I finished this illustration on the Jan 21st, 2009. Not a bad birthday for an illustration! Obama's first official day in office was the one and only thing the world was talking about yesterday. It seems only right I send my congrats as well, and dedicate this piece to the day. I imagine Big O is feeling pretty overwhelmed tonight, what with all the briefings and meetings piling up. I wonder if he's gotten to the fun stuff yet... like that part about the massive government cover-up concerning UFO phenomena. I wonder still, will he keep his promise to make government more open and accountable to us? I'll give him a few days to let it all sink in of course. I'm sure he's learning secrets so extensive they will forever change his perspective on the universe. I expect my Interstellar Telleporter delivered within 5 - 7 business days with signature confirmation, Mister President.

I'd also like to dedicate this to my boy, Jesse. Jes just got his masters studying Experimental Animation at the California Institute of the Arts, and his brand-new beautiful website can be seen here. Check it out and tell your friends. You know, all those friends you have working in animation studios. Yeah, those ones. He just got an animation gig at Duck Studios for a few weeks, and the 21st turned out to be his draining first day as well. Only thing is Obama gets Air Force One while Jesse gets a 2 hour train/ bus commute. I bring this up mostly to drive home the point that Obama needs to give us all teleporters.

Here he is with fellow animation wizards, Daniel Ash and Dillion Markey, on their last day and CalArts.

Proud Mary

I don't pretend to know why Tina does the things that she does. I'm just here to document it.

A few months back my good friend Truly wrote on her own blog that she was having visions of Tina Turner terrorizing vintage illustrated Chinese villagers. I thought that was the funniest thing and laughed out loud. In fact, months later, I'm still laughing out loud whenever I think of it and things have started getting uncomfortable in public places. So this had to be done, cause it's too funny not to be done. Truly, my quirky minded friend, this is for you.

I also posted this on Illustration Friday. For those who might not be familiar, IF is a website that presents a weekly illustration challenge for anyone who wants to participate. Every Friday a new topic is chosen, and it is left up to you to interpret in your own fashion. Once you're done you can post and link to your masterpiece of illustration genius on the site, or just spend a few joy-filled hours browsing the other posted work. This weeks topic was Contained. (NOT Tina Turner as you may have guessed. ha!) Some people cant be contained, others you can just stuff into jars and save for later. Yeah it's silly and a bit irreverent, but it's the first image that popped into my head when I read "contained."

In other news, I got to see this Cowboy chasing a cow statue while visiting my family in Texas.

It was neat.