HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS RETURNS!

It's October! Which means.....time to start thinking about Christmas gifts right? Well, it is if you would like to give someone a custom illustration this year! I had a lot of fun creating custom building illustrations for folks last year so I decided to bring this project back again this year. I love drawing buildings and would love to illustrate one that is meaningful to you or someone you know. Whether it be a home, a summer cottage, winter cabin, historical landmark, travel destination, garden shed, or whatever other structure your heart desires. Submit a photo and you will have an 8x8 or 8x10 illustration on your doorstep by Christmas!

HOW IT WORKS

There is a limited number of spaces available (50) for this so head on over to my shop to secure your spot. Once you have purchased your spot, you can email a photo of your desired building to me at seguin.marisa@gmail.com.

How much does it cost?
$50 + shipping.

What do I get?
You will receive an 8"x8" or 8"x10" print that has been reproduced digitally on archival quality watercolour paper. If you want to see some examples you can see some of the homes I've illustrated for the project already right here.

What buildings will you draw?
House, condo, cabin, cottage, castle, Versailles.....as long as it has some semblance of a dwelling (i.e. I will not draw the Great Wall of China, Eiffel Tower, etc) then I would like to illustrate it for you!

When will I get my print?
I will be sending them out as I finish in the order that they are received. The last shipment will be made no later than December 13. If you need your print sooner than this please include a note in your email. I will do whatever possible to accommodate requests for prints to be mailed by a certain date but make no guarantees that they will be mailed earlier than Friday December 13.

Do you ship internationally?
Yes! You can find a list of shipping prices right here in the shop when you order.

Can I see my illustration before you ship it?
Unfortunately not. The elimination of the usual back and forth makes it possible for me to offer these at a flat rate.

Can I request certain colours?
Unfortunately not. Again, for the same reason as above, the elimination of the usual back and forth allows me to offer these illustrations at a flat rate.

Can you ship it to someone else for me?
Yes I can! I'll even include a note if you'd like.

Do you offer refunds?
Once you have sent me your photo your sale will be considered final.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any further questions!

STATION ZERO

I was  psyched when Light Grey Art Lab announced the call for artists for their Station Zero show. They had been working on amassing a collection of old sci-fi books from the 50s through the 70s and were looking for artists to reinterpret the covers.

I definitely wouldn't call myself a sci-fi buff. More a sci-fi admirer. When I opened up the package containing my book from Light Grey, I was excited to find the beauty pictured on the top left. Such a great cover already!

When I thought about what I like in great cover design, more often than not it is pretty clear, graphic and slightly quirky design. I liked the fun line of shapes under Leiber's name on the original cover and thought that creating vignettes on my cover using similar shapes could be a fun homage to the original design.

This cover turned into one of those cases where I work on it and keep adding things only to undo everything because it starts looking too cluttered. The book is actually comprised of four short stories. I thought four of the shaped vignettes would be an interesting concept to work with, one alluding to each of the stories. In the end, I simplified it down to two. One with the radar to hint at the government/technological aspects involved in the stories and one to hint at the barren landscape that permeates the book.

You can see photos from the show's opening last Friday on the Light Grey Art Lab blog. The show will be up for another few weeks so if you live in the Twin Cities area you should check it out! If not, the rest of the artwork can be viewed in their online gallery and prints are available from the shop. Thanks to the awesome folks at Light Grey Art Lab for including me in another one of their amazing shows!

CAKE!

I snuck a few new(ish) prints into the shop over the weekend. They were originally in the Hot Party show at Light Grey Art Lab back in February. If you want to pick one up you can check them out right here!

SMARTY PLANTS

Light Grey Art Lab in Minneapolis have another great show opening this Friday that has been curated by Amy Ng of Pikaland! SMART featured a call for art that is clever, subtle, and thoughtful. Only a slightly daunting task....

I decided to apply figuring it would be a good challenge if I was accepted into the show (and also because Amy is awesome). I then proceeded to agonize over what I'd illustrate for weeks after being accepted into the show. Everything I thought of just seemed so contrived because I was thinking about it so hard. After flipping through some old sketchbooks I was finally inspired by a doodle I had done years ago. 

If you live in/near the Twin Cities, the opening reception is this Friday at 7! Prints are now available in their online shop.

I have to thank Lilly for the clever title of this illustration. Pun master.

Also, here is a silly doodle of how I imagine most participants in this show to have felt when they heard they made the cut...

FEBRUARY MIX

Whipped up this illustration the other night to accompany my February mix on my other blog. You can listen right here if you feel so inclined.

UH OH, IT'S MAGIC

Any project where I can count this video as legitimate research is a good project.

I was psyched to participate in the second Harry Potter swap on Ten Paces and Draw this week! I got this fantastic sketch from Alyssa.

And here is my sketch contribution that Alyssa finished up so nicely. The grrimmmmmmmmm.......

A few Malfoy outtakes from my sketchbook. 

And, y'know, a reference shot. Thank you Lilly for letting me hug you awkwardly in the name of research.

HOT PARTY INTERVIEW

The fine folks at Light Grey Art Lab asked me a few questions about art, cake, and parties for their current show, Hot Party! You can read it right here and see the rest of the art from the exhibition in their online gallery. They're also selling some prints of my cakes through their online shop if you're interested!

THE FIRST BOOK OF CONGRESS

If vintage children's books were a drug, Mallory would be my dealer. Her etsy shop, Elwood & Eloise, is a frequent internet stop of mine and I always find something good. One of my more recent purchases was this book. Written by Harold Coy and illustrated by Helen Borten, it was published in 1956. I love the simple colour palette of the illustrations as well as reading through and finding all of the anachronistic sentences....because I'm a nerd ("The Senate, or upper house, consists of 96 Senators, two from each state.") It's kind of the same joy I get from listening to people speculating in old podcasts and thinking, "You have no idea! That's a real thing now!"

Mallory also shares illustrations from her vintage book collection (including the ones for sale in her shop) on her aptly named blog My Vintage Book Collection (in Blog Form).

WHAT MAKES AN ORCHESTRA

This book was an amazing find that I picked up at Bay View Books & Music a couple of weeks ago. Published in 1951, it was written and illustrated by Jan Balet. It walks through all of the instruments in an orchestra with fantastic sonic descriptions of the different tones elicited from each. I love the mix of line vs. shape in these illustrations as well as the patternwork in the various musicians suits. The expressions in each of the characters' body language and faces is also great (with the tambourine player being my personal favourite. He means business). Also has great endpapers to boot.

LET'S DO THE TIME WARP AGAIN

It's musicals week on Ten Paces and Draw! I got to bring Karina Rehrbehn's Rocky Horror sketch to completion. I've had the Time Warp stuck in my head all week as a result. You can check out the rest of the illustrations right here.

For my own sketch, I had a really tough time narrowing down what musical (or even aspect of musicals) I wanted to pay tribute to. I decide to go with Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (brilliant suggestion from Lilly). Every time I watch it I notice something new. (An American in Paris was my runner-up choice).

HOT PARTY

The wonderful Light Grey Art Lab is celebrating their one year anniversary this month! I was happy to contribute some little cake illustrations to their show Hot Party (because what's a party without cake?). I first became involved with Light Grey last year for their gigantic Pokémon: Battle Royale exhibition and am so glad to be a part of the incredible community of artists that they have brought together. Lindsay, Chris, Francesca, and Jenny are such talented, creative, all-around cool people and I can't wait to see what they have planned for the coming year. Happy birthday, Light Grey Art Lab! Prints of my cakes are available in the Light Grey Art Lab shop right here! If you live in the Twin Cities area be sure to stop by this Friday for the opening reception and plenty of birthday festivities

I LOVE YOU ALL, MARTA!

You. Guys.

The response to my Bluth family Valentines. I can't even. What.

Thank you!

I had so much fun creating these so it makes me so happy that all of you are enjoying sharing them just as much. It's been crazy seeing them criss-crossing the internet and popping up in various places I just happen to be browsing. My twitter has also been blowin' out with all of the great feedback. You helped make them so popular that Buzzfeed picked them up and they even made it to the front page! (Which, admittedly, I didn't fully comprehend what an enormous deal this was until all of my friends started sending it to me on facebook). Check out my thumbnail chillin' at the top between Star Wars and Melissa McCarthy!

I had been planning to create a few extras (a booster pack if you will) because a) it just seemed sad that Michael didn't get one, and b) there were too many other characters that I wanted to illustrate. Please accept a few more Valentines as my humble thank you!

And an extra one at the request of my friend Chris.

YOU CAN SINK YOUR ARROW INTO MY BUTTOCKS ANY TIME

Valentine's Day provides the perfect opportunity to combine two things I love: fan art and wordplay/puns. Yes please. So I thought it would be fun to make a set of downloadable Valentines for you to give to your sweet baboo or your cousin or whathaveyou. I may have a few more for you next week depending on how much time I have this weekend....

Just save and print on 8.5x11 paper. Cut into quarters and you're good to go!

(And thank you to my coworkers for helping me think of phrases!)

If you're feeling adventurous with the double-sided print settings, I also made some borders for the back of your Valentines.

MIX IT UP

Here's a quick illustration I did for my other blog. Every month, I post a mix of some of the songs I've been listening to lately. A lot of them I have on while I'm working. What do you like to listen to while you work? Lately, I've been obsessed with The Nerdist podcast.

MISS MOLLY HAD A STEAMBOAT

Drawing for fun! I need to do more of this in 2013! I've been wanting to draw a steamboat for awhile now. They are just so grand and have so much opportunity to play with fun details.

DOWNTON ABBEY

Ten Paces and Draw has a Downton Abbey themed redesign on the blog today in honour of the North American premiere of series 3 tomorrow. I contributed an illustration of one of my favourite elements of the show, the Abbey of course! You can see the rest of the contributions right here. Thanks always to the awesome Natalie Andrewson for organizing!