It’s about time to send out a new promotional postcard! (my last one hasn’t returned any bites, but I am hoping it is up on a few art director’s walls…) I have a lot of old work I still really like, but it’s all in colored pencil and, to save myself from Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, I am avoiding that medium for any professional work. Sooo, I decided to take a piece I did from long ago and convert it from colored pencil to watercolor, along with updating it to my most current style.

Step One – Planning and Sketching

The piece I chose is relating to airplanes and the crazy people you might sit by, and I chose it because I thought that it might work editorially as well as for the children’s market.

I made quite a few small changes that I hope will make the picture a bit better:

• Changed the format from square to rectangle to better fit a postcard.
• Changed the image. Nest of eggs put under the seat (Nothing is allowed in the aisles!); Added chicken drumstick to T-Rex’s tongue; changed the woman to a teenaged girl. I thought a girl would apply better to the children’s market, but by keeping her teenaged she doesn’t seem too young to appeal for editorial work. (I hope!)
• Changed colors. Girl’s hair is now orange; Plane interior is more like a real plane, made fish match T-rex. The color comp is extremely rough at this point so the colors are not exact and I’m sure changes will occur once I paint.

At this point I am slightly worried that the new picture’s color scheme looks too “4th of July,” and hopefully I will be able to use the watercolors to dispel that look.
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With this last quarter of college being so extremely busy, I’m just dying for it to all be over so I can have some time to learn new things. Once I graduate and DO have time, I will probably change my mind and want to be lazy, so I figure if I tell myself what I want to do now I might feel sufficiently guilty enough later to do it.

So here is my absurdly long list of what I would like to accomplish (professionally… yes I want to learn to pee standing up but that’s another post altogether):

1. Learn the intimate specifics of CSS and PHP – I know enough CSS to apply styles to my site, but I don’t much about positioning. And as for PHP… hahaha!
   
2. Put my newfound knowledge to work and redo my web site in validated CSS – I feel like a dinosaur as my web design is still in tables, with code from the stone age. Bleh! (Wow, nerd.)
   
3. Learn how to code in WordPress and move my blog over (Will Google send someone after me for this statement?) – Something about WordPress just makes me feel all fuzzy inside.
4. Get people to actually look at my web site – You’re not reading this. Nobody is reading this. So it’s time for a Super Promotion Attack Plus!
5. Publish a Children’s Book – This is probably my number one goal that I would wet myself if accomplished.
6. Learn to Animate - Flash… 3D, I don’t know. I just really want to learn to animate.
7. Get a couch – Okay, this isn’t a professional goal, but we have had this apartment for 2 months now and I REALLY WANT A COUCH. (We got a couch! SUCCESS!)
   
8. Expand portfolio to new markets – I would like to have a body of work for every market, so I could send a portfolio to get work in: Stationery, Toy Design, Concept/Character work, T-Shirts, Greeting Cards, Web Design, Poster, Editorial. I’ve got a ton of children’s work, but only a few samples of other markets.
   
9. Get in an annual – Yes, please.
10. Take Part in Illustration Friday – Good way to get the juices pumpin’!
    

Well, that’s all I can think of for now but you bet your sweet bippy I will edit this post if I think of anything else!

…what is a bippy?

I posted a while back about Wendy the Moth on SCAD’s web site, and it seems her rise to fame is increasing! I just got an e-mail from Adobe with a contract to show Wendy on their web site feature of SCAD as well as a video! Exciting! I always liked Wendy in all her nudist glory (if not that particular picture of her) so I’m happy others seem to like her as well.

In other news, I’m poppin’ out these Pooch poses for Piedmont Healthcare like rabbits in the spring so I’ll attach a couple more for your viewing pleasure.

I’m also working on a BIG children’s book project (my own for class, nothing published yet, sigh) and I’ll be posting some process pics soon!

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