Plague - For digital class tomorrow

Yes, it's 1 something (in the A.M) and I'm getting ready for class tomorrow.
We're on our second week for Photoshop and I'm excited to share some techniques with my students tomorrow. As always, it's nice to brush up a little bit before you get up there and have to explain everything, so I made this weird walleyed, bloody boy for a demo tomorrow. I'm excited to try him out in class.
We'll all be coloring some nice greyscale drawings. Here's to a good class!



and here's the pencil drawing before all this crazy digital coloring.

New Painting - with a new method

So I stared this painting on Saturday with vigor and gusto - and got a huge chunk of it done. I'm working in acrylic, with a masking technique - on an 18" x 24" clayboard. All of which is semi-new, and really fun. I've gotten pretty good at making all sorts of shapes with artists tape over the weekend and wanted to show my process so far. I hope to finish this soon. I'm super excited to get a body of new work together... and maybe, just maybe, use it to apply for something special.


Full scale sketch


Color layer 1 and transfer of my drawing in white


Masking off areas of the painting with tape - creating the background


Process so far

So, this is as far as I got this weekend, which is a really great start for me. I think I only need maybe 6 -8 hours to complete it and I'm super excited to line up a bunch of canvasses for some landscapes I'd like to do after this.

Pattern process tonight. : Mice in some cheese.

This long weekend was awesome. I got tons of stuff done -- started a painting, drew in my huge sketchbook, made some food (congratulate me - that is hard to do!) and caught up on some daily patterns for Paper Bicycle's Daily Pattern Project

I just made one I'm super proud of. For some reason I was having a blast. Maybe it's the mice. Anyway, here's a bit of my process for making this pattern:


Finished Repeat Pattern


Sketches


Tracing the big shapes in Illustrator


Painted a bunch of Ink textures for the details


and then photoshopped all of them together.
I have some custom brushes that are awesome that I did all the linework with.
It didn't take that long, either! I think the hardest part was trying to come up with the repeat! Woo!

Daydreaming about Iceland's landscape

I spent the day thinking about Iceland again. I found a residency that looks phenomenal. I am seriously considering applying for a month over there. I have no idea how I'd make that work - with work. Still, it's in the back of my mind. I start teaching Digital Illustration tomorrow and I'm totally excited. Here's a quick painting I did tonight. Not sure why it's purple, but why not.



and the sketch that preceded it.

Gobs of Patterns from Paper Bicycle's Daily Pattern Project

It's hard to keep up with double posting these!
I'm having a great time doing the Daily Pattern project and am very proud of a lot of these! It's been interesting so far - I'm getting faster and it feels like it's only been tough to think of something a couple of times! The hard part is - if you don't do your pattern early in the day, all the good versions of that topic are taken, and you have to think really hard about how you're going to make a pattern that hasn't been done yet! So, here they are! Everything from the last two weeks!


Mice


Milk


Bulb


Fourth of July


Hair Products


Quilt


Minneapolis


Recess


Dog Accessories


Date Night


Bandaid


Circus


Keys


Bowtie

Another Batch of Patterns!

Here are a huge chunk of patterns from last week's topics!
I'm trying to get as much done as possible this week because I'm off to New Jersey on Wednesday to meet with an awesome client and THEN I'm headed to Portland for Erin Loechner's Ace Camp!
I am so excited!

I'm hoping to get some exciting art inspiration and meet some amazing people! Besides that, it's been nice getting a little bit of a break this summer! I love the rainy weather and I am getting used to doing a million patterns in a row!


A tribute to my late birdie, Dean!


Yoga


Air Mail


Hands


Father's Day

Besides this, I'm excited for us to get our crop share! I wish I was here to eat it in Thursday, but Chris and Francesca will have to eat it without me and let me know how it goes! Send me good vibes, I hope my travels are safe and that I get some sleep on my trip!!

Updatey Update

Wow, this week has been insane!
I am so excited. We're making patterns like crazy in our free-time, and getting things done! I've been having stair-master battles with Chris and eating a lot of spongey fake hotdogs this week (strange flavor and strange texture). I've also started teaching my two classes at MCAD! The trend blogging class is righteous and my digital pattern design class is full. Everyone is super nice and I am so excited to see what they'll do over the next 6 weeks!

Besides that, awesome news! I was featured on Betty Magazine's Blog!


I am so psyched!!!

We were also featured on Zupi. com, which was SO SO awesome!!

Alyssa Nassner's pattern is first on the list of patterns. She is super talented!!
Chris, Francesca, Mary and I are all in that post, too!



I will have this week's patterns to post here once we finish tomorrow's topic!
I'm excited for that one, too!

Seems like a good week, for sure!

Ah, to be in Paris...

I've been meaning to head to paris for the last couple of years.
After the loads of complements from my sister, mother and father, I've been meaning to make it there someday. I hear the food is great, the atmosphere is amazing, and maybe this is a chance I can finally go there!

Oh Happy Day is giving away a 7 day trip to Paris!
Here is a link to their giveaway!

I'm hoping that I'll get to go some day!
In the meantime, I'm posting this silly picture of a polar bear outfitted with french bread, a beret, a mustachio, and the Eiffel Tower. All the things Paris has.
:P

Last Week's Patterns & This week's news.

I have another chunk of patterns from last week to share. All of these are for Paper Bicycle's Daily Pattern Project!
Also - I have some awesome news! I was featured on DesignWorkLife.com.
I can't believe it! I am super grateful and totally surprised! It came on a day when I really needed some cheering up and I was shocked to see that I was feautured.
Here is the link to their post on me!


Bear


Childhood


Bikini


Amphibians


Backyard

Next week will be exciting.
I'm teaching my two summer classes at MCAD starting tomorrow. - Design / Trend blogging and Digital Pattern Making! Wish me luck!

I'm also contributing to Ten Paces and Draw - You'll see my sketch and final contribution later this week!

Check it out - Patterns galore.

So - The last post I made was the very first pattern for Paper Bicycle's Daily Pattern Project. There are a slew of us making a pattern every single week day and it's been going strong for almost a month. I'll get better at posting my contributions here weekly, - but here is EVERYTHING I've contributed to the project over the last several weeks! This project is so awesome. It's really pushing me to think faster and draw quickly. Yeah for being productive!


Gardening


Whistle


Fall


Race Track


Treasure Hunt


Screw


Easter Eggs


Writing Utensils


Groupies


Asprin


Suitcase


French Pastries


Spa


Tulip


Lamp


Saturday Pattern - for fun


Fishing


Books


Mirror


Bones


There you have it! A giant chunk of work! We've got next week's topics chosen already and I'm excited to start going on them! Wish us luck and be sure to check out everyone else's patterns on the Paper Bicycle blog!