Christmas Book Time!

For Christmas, I went to New York and visited Books of Wonder. Books of Wonder is probably one of my favorite stores of all time; it's a real treat to visit as an illustrator or a fan of children's books. I came back with really cool books (some of them signed). Tove Jansson is one of my favorite children's writers and illustrators, and I lived off of her books as a kid. She is whimsical and very Scandinavian, which is a nice change from some copycat American books. Books of Wonder had two of her children's books, so I had to buy them.

I don't know if you can tell, but I'm wearing a paper Christmas crown

Good Morning

I wasn't sure which coffee I liked best, so I put them all up.

Amber Sketch

Messing around with more portrait sketches. Sorry Amber.

Unsavory Portraits

These are quick sketches that I scribbled into digitally. Sorry to Schuyler and Jai (especially Schuyler). I just loved that greenish skintone so I kept it. . .

Lunch Colored

Lunch

I'm in the process of writing a story about a rabbit named Lunch. These are some little character sketches.

Boar Gamer: Day 1

So I heard about this thing today where illustrators design 30 characters- one for every day in November. I'm a little behind, but I'll hopefully have 4 done by the end of today. This is my first one; sometimes, when I'm having trouble coming up with a character design, I start by drawing an animal doing whatever I want my character to be doing, then fit a person into that body shape and facial structure. It's a lot of fun, and it goes by really fast.

Backs of Heads

I know you're not supposed to sketch backs of heads, but that seems to be all I can get lately. People are so skittish. I must look like I'm up to no good or something.

Belated Happy Halloween!

Here's a witch

And some old man pumpkins

Scary Movie

I think I should've just stopped at the first sketch . . .

Prince Preview

Since I'm at work and can only really work on my computer, I end up messing around with Illustrator. This is a preview of a project to come.

Snacktime for Bear

Cartoony stuff isn't really my style, but I'm taking a cartooning class this quarter, so I'm trying it out anyways. There's something kind of fun about doing children's market styling with a dark twist.

Horse and Chicken

It's really feeling like fall outside now, so I thought I'd do a quick little sketch using some fall colors. This time I worked warm to cool, when usually I do the reverse.

Vet Office

I'm still going to make a lot of changes, but I had a lot of fun working on this.

Yellow Lab Comission

Awhile ago, I did a series of a bunch of paintings for Tufts Vet School. They've been hanging in their cafeteria for about a year, and occasionally I'll get emails asking for animal portraits from people who visited. A woman emailed me, interested in hiring me to do a painting of a yellow lab for her daughter's birthday. She told me her favorite colors were pink and purple, and it was super last minute, so I did the best I could with the time I was given. (That's my lovely boyfriend in the background holding it).

Vet Office in Progress

Can you tell which part I had reference for so far?

Summer

This summer, I've been working on non-art related things, so I haven't gotten the chance to draw or paint.
I was going through painting withdrawal, so lately I've been working on this big landscape painting to get it all out of my system.

Bantha Swamp Logo

I made a little logo for my friends' place, which they call Bantha Swamp (after the Star Wars creature).

Blog Header

Just wanted to let you know I changed my banner. . .

Be Brave, Improved

Before

After

Swamp Bears

A quick little painting I did from a hike.

Foxhunt Finished

The rabbit's kind of hard to see, but I wanted him to be hidden. From the foxes anyway. Tricky.

Foxhunt (in progress)

Snuffkin Gets Lost

Book cover for imaginary book by Tove Jansson.

Duet

Zombie

Bones, Boots, and Bucket

Hikes

I've been going on a lot of hikes lately. Since I love doing nature-based illustrations, I have tons of new source material and stories. Hopefully there will be a nice series out of these walks. More to come soon!

Be Brave

Which one?

Deserted

Oranges

I made orange juice this weekend.

Is for Belligerent

Is for Asleep

Onion

My first draft of a red onion.

Thumbelina (WIP)

This was my retelling of Thumbelina. It's now more finished than this picture, but I'm not completely satisfied.

Valentine

I did a valentine for my boyfriend and this is the end product. It's supposed to be super tacky.

Pearl Again

Pearl is my pet rabbit, and coincidentally probably the cutest, fluffiest, stereotypical bunny on this planet.

Pearl

Acupuncture Series

Acupuncture

Acupuncture

work in progress

Freak of Nature (Quick Visual Essay Color Study)