POSITIVE INKING

Alyssa Nassner has started a new collaborative project called Positive Inking (everyone loves a good pun) that features illustrated and hand-lettered affirmations from a bunch of cool artists. This was my first contribution to the project—a hat-tip to The Brothers Vlog. I love making simple animated gifs but they usually don't look the best with my illustrations because there is such a variety of colour with the watercolours which often gets pixel-y and simplified in order to be small enough for a gif. This was a fun opportunity to bust out one out. You can follow the project on tumblr here or on twitter here. 

MILWAUKEE MAGAZINE

Here's a little spot illustration I contributed to the current issue of Milwaukee Magazine. It accompanied an article about historical homes.  Great working with art director Kathryn Lavey on this project!

The issue also features a great cover illustrated by the wonderful Mary Kate McDevitt

YIP YIP!

I seem to have been bitten by the fanart bug lately, which I am ok with. Pokémon and Arrested Development, now Avatar! This was my contribution to the Avatar edition of the Character Redesign Project on the Ten Paces and Draw blog. This awesome series has been spearheaded by the wonderful Natalie Andrewson and has included so many great themes already (Kill Bill, Wes Anderson, The Avengers, Game of Thrones, to name a few). It is pretty much an opportunity for us illustrators to nerd out about our favourite pop culture characters.   

When I saw the Avatar redesign posted, I knew I had to participate. Truth be told, I really chose Aang just so I could draw Appa and Momo. You can see the rest of the Avatar redesigns right here. And be sure to keep your eyes on the blog for future redesigns! There are some kick ass themes coming up (seriously, it was very hard not to sign up for every single one).

BLOGS & BOOKS

I've been working with Sara and Colleen, two fantastic local bloggers in Milwaukee, to brand this fun new collaborative event they've been scheming about. Blogs & Books is going to be a seasonal book club and blogger meet-up. I'm excited for the first meeting in August! You can find out more details here (and don't be shy if you're not local! They've got fun stuff planned for out of towners, too!) It was great working with you Sara and Colleen!

MAKE GOOD ART: WORDS OF WISDOM FROM NEIL GAIMAN

"I knew that as long as I kept walking towards the mountain I'd be alright. And when I truly was not sure what to do, I could stop and think about whether it was taking me towards or away from the mountain."

A few weeks ago I found this incredible commencement speech that Neil Gaiman gave to this year's graduating class from University of the Arts. I must have listened to it three times in a row and many times after that. I wanted to share it here because a) Neil Gaiman is awesome and, b) his words had a profound impact on the way I now think about the career I am trying to shape (especially after reflecting on them after Meg Hunt's Illustration Bootcamp that I attended a couple of weeks ago—there's a recap coming soon, I swear!) and I think it is definitely worth a listen for anyone working in a creative field.

SUMMER ADVENTURE THANK YOU

The artists who participated in this project received some thank you notes yesterday! Just wanted to share mine. The kids also sent us a picture of a summer adventure they'd like to go on. My buddy Ross wants to ride a shark!

I love that sting ray!

THE LATEST ADDITION TO MY BOOKSHELF

I've got quite the collection of illustrated children's books (when I signed up for a Barnes & Noble Kids Club card a little while ago, the woman at the desk seemed a little puzzled when I said I didn't actually have any kids) and I thought it might be fun to share my new additions every now and then. The Beetle Book by Steve Jenkins is my latest find. I have been enamoured with bug-forms ever since I made that beetle illustration for Oh Comely last year. Jenkins' beetle illustrations are stupendous. Both artful and scientific, they appear to be collaged of many different kinds of paper. My illustrations are usually built out of a bunch of digitally collaged segments of whatever I am depicting so I love looking at all of the pieces used to compose these beetles. Here are a few interior shots for you to oggle and the back cover (which is possibly my favourite part).