A Chinatown takeout box

For class our assignment was to design a decorative gift box. I thought about it and decided to make a box for tourists buying souvenirs in San Francisco. They can put their souvenirs in these cute boxes and give it to their friends - so the box becomes part of the experience.

My classmates really liked the idea of drawing Chinatown on a takeout box. So I looked online and found a takeout box template from this crafting website:

Next I digitally drew along the template, using some photos of Chinatown for reference. I included the green entrance gate, because that's an iconic part of Chinatown. The rest of the buildings are generally constructed from imagination and memory.

I love San Francisco's Chinatown. It's such a crazy mix of cultures - feeling very touristy but also like you're really in another country. It's crowded and old and run-down and colorful and it smells like incense and delicious Chinese food.

I had it printed on 11x17 glossy cardstock paper, which always gives things a nice, store-bought look. I cut, folded and glued the box together.

I have it sitting on my desk right now! It's pretty cute!

The process of designing a greeting card

This summer I'm taking a class called "Decorative Illustration." Part of the class involves designing greeting cards, and it's a lot of fun. Our first assignment was to design a non-holiday, "anytime" card.

First I drew a bunch of thumbnails. I hate this step, and after about 6 thumbnails I usually run out of good ideas and start scraping the bottom of my mind barrel.

I took my favorite idea out of the bunch and sketched it out in pencil. My favorite part is the stuffed whale - it's based on a stuffed animal my Mom made me when I was little.

Next I digitally added colors on top, trying various color schemes.

My teacher liked the last one the best, so I cleaned it up digitally and added some detail.

Then I printed it out on a card and made a matching envelope for it.

Cute, huh? It's kind of thrilling to design something on the computer and then hold it in your hands. I plan on sending this card to my grandma. :)

Adele sketch

I drew this sketch yesterday while listening to some of Adele's music. My husband came over and asked, "who's that?"

Man, last week was a busy week for me. The craziness has now subsided, and I've spent the last few days lying around feeling tired. I'm so worn out that I can't even write an interesting blog post about anything.

An urban Christmas card

Forge Church commissioned me to illustrate their Christmas card this year. They had a very specific vision of a traditional nativity in an urban setting, with lots of charming details. We talked about ideas, but it took me a while to realize that they wanted me to draw exactly what they were describing. They kindly sketched out their ideas on a whiteboard:

Sure, it's rough, but it actually helped tremendously. I basically just drew what I saw and got their feedback.

Next I did the digital linework, once again sending it to the church for feedback. I also added a few details of my own, such as the cat and Christmas tree in the window.

I received a few copies of the finished product today. I think it turned out really well.

Cinderella illustration

The Fairy Godmother waved her hand and a mirror appeared. Cinderella gasped. There in the reflection - standing in the same disordered kitchen, among the drying laundry and dirty pots and pans - was the most beautiful princess she had ever seen. Could it really be her?

My final project for one of my classes was to illustrate the above passage in two-point perspective. Here's how it worked. First I did a little sketch of my idea:

After getting some feedback from my professor, I laid out a two-point grid and started constructing the scene on top.

Next I drew the line art on top of my grid constructions.

After getting more feedback from professor and classmates, I started adding shadows. I established the top of the magic mirror as the main light source, and used measurements to establish where the shadows would be.

Then I just sort of experimented with the colors and textures until I got something that worked. And that's the finished image.

My professor really, really liked it, and I am quite proud of that, because he is notoriously difficult to impress. I'm looking forward to doing another Cinderella illustration soon.

Promotional postcards in the mail!!!!

I'm currently majoring in illustration with an emphasis on children's book illustration. At the encouragement of my professor, I've just started sending out promotional postcards to various children's book publishers, most of whom are located in New York. When I dropped the postcards into the mailbox, I wished them good luck! It's very exciting. :)

I don't really expect any job offers from this little mailing campaign, and I intend to send out more every few months. The idea is to get my name out there and see if I get positive responses. The children's book industry works slowly, and it's possible some art director will keep my postcard on file, then will call me up in a year or two when they've found a book that needs my artwork.

100% girl

There has never been a "before drawing" period of my life. I've always loved drawing. Here's some of my early work. I loved drawing ballerinas, angels (or "angles"), pretty dresses and Disney princesses.

If I drew this in 1995, the year the Pocahontas movie came out, I would have been 9 years old.

I drew a lot of these "storytelling picher"s, although I doubt that this was actually #101. I don't think there was really a story here either; I just liked the idea of having multiple dresses to choose from. I still do. It's one of my favorite dilemmas.

Laura Roslin pencil portrait

 

For the last year or two, Etsy commissions have been keeping me busy, so it's been a long time since I did any pencil portraits just for myself. My husband and I, after watching every episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Stargate SG-1, decided that we were still not as nerdy as we could be, so we turned our bloodshot eyes to the show Battlestar Galactica. And we loved it. I was particularly touched by Mary McDonnell's performance as the serene and dignified President Laura Roslin, so some fanart was in order.

Now that I look at the drawing on the computer screen, there's something a bit off about the eyes. So I may adjust it a little. But overall I'm very satisfied with how this came out. This 11x14 portrait took about 8 or 9 hours over the course of a week. I love Roslin's big, curly hair so I was very, very careful about drawing it to look smooth and shiny. Here's the drawing in progress:

Here are some detail closeups:

Yes, I'd say that my Geek Quotient is very high now. *gives self a high five*

The One Where I am Reunited with an Old Drawing

Last week my husband and I went to our friend Doug's wedding. The ceremony took place in his family's walnut orchard on a calm summer evening. They began and finished the ceremony with quotes from Battlestar Galactica, which we thought was a nice touch.

During the reception a very petite woman spotted me and said something to me in a thick Southern accent which I really didn't understand. I figured that this was probably Doug's mom, whom I had met once before way back in college, which was, like, forever ago. I assumed that she probably didn't remember me, so I said, "Hi, I'm Kelley-"

That was as far as I got before Doug's mom latched onto me and literally dragged me into her house. She pulled me over to her desk and pointed to a framed picture sitting above it:

It was a drawing of Doug that I had sent to his family over three years ago. "It brings sunshine into my life every day," his mom gushed. "When I first opened the envelope you sent and saw the drawing, I just burst into tears because it was Doug! I treasure it so much!" Throughout the course of the evening, she hugged me and thanked me over and over again for the portrait - which, again, I had sent her three years ago.

I was quite touched by the fact that Doug's mom remembered me and still loved and appreciated the portrait - even though, as I look at it now, it definitely has room to improve. This would be an interesting drawing to do again, and compare the before and after.

My Ideal Life

I drew this for fun yesterday, inspired by all the cool books we've been looking at in my Children's Book Illustration class. This is a pencil drawing with digital coloring. I tried to give it a bit of a retro feel, like children's books in the 50s. It's titled "My Ideal Life."

What would your ideal life look like, and would it include squirrels?