Bye, bye!

Bye, bye sweet blog! It's been a great few years posting over here BUT I'm excited to share that my website is all new and fancy now, and I will be blogging illustration/design related posts over HERE! 

See you soon :-)

Get To Work

I'm really excited to be attending the SCBWI New York Winter Conference in late February, and have additionally signed up for the Illustrator Intensive Day.  This year, there is an assignment for it and because of my schedule I am working on it a bit early to get it done.  During my recent courses I found that I work really well on a strict, structured deadline so that is what I gave myself.  Anyway, just an update here to say I've been hard at work on the assignment, which is to illustrate a scene from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  

Can't wait to share more!

In 2013 I read...a lot!

Clearing my list on the lower right to list my 2014 reads, so logging 2013's right here! 

1. Divergent by Veronica Roth

2. The Pleasure of My Company by Steve Martin

3. The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver

4. The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones

5. Love Anthony by Lisa Genova

6. Starstruck by Lauren Conrad

7. Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

8. I, Rhoda by Valerie Harper

9. The Lion Is In by Delia Ephron

10. The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister

11. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

12. The Lost Art of Mixing by Erica Bauermeister

13. The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan

14. 5th Avenue, 5 A.M by Sam Wasson
15. Man Up by Ross Matthews

16. Wedding Night by Sophie Kinsella

17. Someday, Someday, Maybe by Lauren Graham

18. Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

19. The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

20. Revenge Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger

21. The Silver Star by Jeannette Walls

22. Claudia Silver to the Rescue by Kathy Ebel

23. The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

24. The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton

25. Emma's Secret: A Novel by Steena Holmes

26. Fin and Lady by Cathleen Schine

27. Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight

28. And The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

29. The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith

30. Sister Mother Husband Dog by Delia Ephron

31. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

32. The Interestings by Meg Wolizer

33. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

34. Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy by Helen Fielding

35. The Good House by Ann Leary

36. Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple

37. Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan

38. What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

Make Art That Sells, final reviews!

I have been finished with Make Art That Sells part B for weeks now! Weeks! It was such an intense 5 week session, but in the best way possible.  I found myself more worn out this time and it took me longer to recover after.  We can blame it on age 30 settling on in (hahah).  Really, I think the reason is I understood the process and schedule better since I completed part A, so there was no more the adrenaline rush of the unknown.  Also, I didn't think it was possible to work myself harder than I did in part A but I DID! I worked 150% and it felt great to be that absorbed by something I love so much.

All in all, I can speak highly enough of the class.  Lilla reviews work in her video critiques and because of the large amount of students, she can just select some.  Susan McCabe, an agent on Lilla's team, did a guest review during week 4 and my piece was in her selection.  I was OVER THE MOON. I'm still over the moon.  I had not been chosen before, and I was ok with that.  Of course I wanted to be, but I was able to listen to the critiques and take bits and pieces and apply them to my own work.  

Above is my Week 4 piece completed.  It was an editorial assignment of a map of your town.  My town is New York City but I didn't want to go about it the traditional Empire State Building kinda way.  Instead, I logged caffeine! This piece challenged me more than any other piece.  It is the one I am most proud of accomplishing within the few day deadline, so having it be chosen to discuss made it that more special! 

Week 5 drew from Ukrainian Folk Art inspiration and at first I was like uhh..whhhhaaaaatttt? And then I was all like, OMG I LOVE THIS.  I am still shocked at how inspiring I found this form of art.  We had to complete a paper party good set and I had an absolute blast with it.  I pushed my color choices a lot.  I loved breaking down icons into simple shapes and filling them up with other shapes.  I loved scale and composition play.  I just, well, loved!!! (click to enlarge)

Lilla did choose mine in her video critique.  Her positive words about it were so so so encouraging, and she said she wanted to see more cats! I can happily share that more cats are in progress as I type.  Well not literally as I type, because my hands are busy, but you know what I mean.   I look forward to sharing them soon.  I am also working on a piece for an upcoming conference based on Snow White and I am using Ukrainian folk art as the inspiration for that piece as well. 

I also am so pleased to share that Make Art That Sells is a course about licensing artwork, and upon ending the second session I was approached to license artwork for greeting cards.  I can't wait to share that with you in 2014, when they'll be on shelves!!!!! 

A Very Sparkly Star

It's been pretty quiet around these bloggin' parts because it's been pretty busy in these real life parts! Before I share a recap of the last few weeks of the Make Art That Sells class, I want to share an awesome project I had the opportunity to work on for Swarovski. The iconic Rockefeller Center christmas tree is topped every year by a massive, beautifully, sparkly Swarovski star. At ground level during the holiday season, in Rockefellar center, stands a replica. Visitors can take their photo with it and read the informational panels around it, explaining the history of the star as well. This year, the aluminum panels holding up this star were designed by me, along with the informational panels!!

I had a great time working on it and an even greater time going to see it once it was installed. So far I've gone in the day pre-tree lightening, in the night pre-tree lightening and in the night post-tree lighting! Each time the coolness of the whole project remains. If you are in NYC this holiday season, go see it! It's right next to Anthropologie next to the Swarovski kiosk. It's hard to miss, because that star is super sparkly! Here are some photos from the various times I've stopped by:

Better Late than Never!

A once in a lifetime holiday even took place late last month, Hanukkah overlapped with Thanksgiving and my family holiday card celebrated this exciting event with an illustration by me and the idea by my sister!

Happy holidays from my family to yours! 

Scenes from my desk.

I call this photo "Scenes From My Desk" and now that i'm thinking about it, I can probably call almost all of my photos that same title. Ha! Anyway, just wanted to show a sneak-peak of a work in progress. When making a map about coffee hot-spots in NYC be sure to consume a lot of coffee and scan in your coffee beans.

I made a lot of progress last night which is great.  It was Halloween so it was a bit odd to not be doing anything festive, but I had some apple cider and got to work. We only had one trick-or-treater in my building so I was happy to answer the door for them as a mini-break! This project is proving to be the most time-consuming so far for me, but there is something great about spending SO much time doing what you love.  

I'll be back to share the finished piece soon!

Say Cheese! Week 3 in Make Art That Sells

Hello, hello world. I forgot how intensive this course is!!! And howwwww right about now my brain literally feels like it's at maximum capacity and needs a night (or like 20 nights) off.  Which, in fact, I gave it last night. I wanted to share my week 3 experience because it was different than my usual week because of the way I worked.  Not like a totally different style or anything drastic, but a different approach to the way I create my icons.  This involved drawing digitally, printing on transparencies, taking marker to the transparencies and giving them each more character and a hand drawn feel, scanning them in and turning them to vector.  I had a lot of fun with it. I also hated it and wanted to scrap it halfway through because it was frustrating not being able to fully visualize my result like I usually can (or come close to) BUT I stuck it out and in the end was pleased with the result.

The assignment for the first 2 days was to draw cameras and typewriters.  Then from there the project became developing a page of elements for scrapbooking.  My sister scrapbooks (Hi, Ray!) and she told me I MUST included the word "travel" so I did…and hand written words were also part of the assignment so that worked too.  

I also wanted to play with a color palette I've been wanting to work in, but hadn't ever.  That might be my favorite part about the end product here, the colors! I definitely want to do more in this process and with these colors in the future.

Week 4 is more than halfway done, so I'll be back to post about that soon!

Join The Bunny Scouts!

Click image to enlarge!!

Week 2 of Make Art That Sells was all about baby apparel and the theme of our assignment was camping.  We had to make a pattern and if you wanted, some mock up baby apparel items. I make patterns almost every day as part of my day-job as a children's accessory designer, but I do not usually use my personal style in them because I work primarily with licensed characters.  It was really fun to try one in my own technique.  I spent a lot of time on the individual icons. A loooottttt of time.  That was my biggest take-away from part A of the class, that the more effort and detail I put into those during the mini assignments, the better my finish would come together and flow.  

Due to my schedule this week, I had to finish my project by Friday in order to guarantee I would be able to make the deadline.  I'm very happy this is the only week that timing will be tight for me, because cutting 2 days off was HARD! But, that being said, I had a really great time with it and made a narrative in my head that allowed the individual icons to unite.  My sister and brother-in-law recently welcomed a baby boy and while making the mock ups I had him in mind! I would love to see him wearing any of these. 

Here's a little video of my process from sketch to finish:

And now onto week 3! 

Back to School, Week 1!

I worked on a really exciting freelance project a few weeks ago that had to do with the holiday season, so I was in the perfect mind-set for week 1 of Make Art That Sells.  We spent the first few days focusing on ornaments and candy. I found myself leaning more towards the ornaments.  I snacked on plenty of candy along the way though!! Haha!  The full assignment was to create 2 holiday cards.  I learned in part A of the class that the more I work during the mini assignment realllllllly  ends up helping me for the final assignment.  So that's what I did. I worked. And worked and worked and worked. And in the end I create this, which I am so happy with! This is the card I ended up submitting in the class flickr group. Check out my Instavideo of this piece from sketch to finish HERE! 

My second card will be used for social media purposes, and I loved the idea of playing with the term tweet.  I think I want to go back into it and play with the definition in the eyes, maybe make the thicker and adjust the color, add some lashes, etc.  But for now, here's my finish:

Ready-set-go! Week 2! 

Back to School!

It's back to school for me! It's actually 5 days in, but I am SO excited to see where Part B of Make Art That Sells leads! 

1 Year Anniversary!

Time is a really funny thing.  Sometimes events seem like they were ages ago, and sometimes like they were yesterday.  My wedding day feels like a big giant yesterday.  I remember a million moments from that day, and the days leading up to it, and that amazing feeling of happiness that just completely overcomes you the moment you say "I Do" to your best friend.  It probably helps that there are photos of that perfect moment plastered all over my apartment, haha!

Then I look at these snapshots, and the thousands more I have just like it, and say WOW what a year. We did a TON this year.  We celebrated and traveled and visited and shopped and ate and drank and celebrated more and traveled more and it was wonderful.  I am so lucky to have Tristan as a husband and so grateful to have had such an amazing wedding and such a fun year.  I look forward to a lifetime of more anniversaries and more memories with him.  Love is pretty awesome!!!!! So are anniversaries! So is my husband!

Illustration Friday: Onomatopoeia

For this week's Illustration Friday I had to take to the dictionary. Onomatopoeia is super fun to say, but honestly I had no clue what it was.  I was VERY happy to see an example of it within it's definition to be CUCKOO.  This is the cover illustration from my work in progress Charlie Bird and The Cuckoo Clock.  Turns out I love a good onomatopoeia! 

Illustration Friday: Totem

A totem of rescue monkeys! 
This illustration was printed as a decal for my nephew's nursery.
Check it out on the wall, along with a few of the other decals:

ABC Circus Style

During the last course I took (which resumes on Oct 7 and I CAN'T WAIT) I had set up a very strict schedule for myself that involved waking up hours before I normally would.  I needed to make sure I could dedicate chunks of consecutive time every day.  Since I work full-time (and part-time) the early mornings are my only free time.  After a few days of getting into the swing of that schedule, it became fairly easy. I would definitely get tired by the time night came, and EXHAUSTED by the end of the week, but it felt really good to know I was working so hard and putting in the hours towards my goals.  

A lot of the artists who didn't make the next round of Lilla Rogers' Global Talent Search started ABC projects, and I wanted to join.  After a few weeks of just talking about wanting to do it, I finally realized the only way I actually would is to go ahead and go back on my schedule.  So starting this past Monday I did!  I'm almost done with "C is for clown" and am debating on doing "U is for unicyle" or "R is for ringmaster" next.  I'm hoping to complete both of those before class begins and if I stick to this schedule I should be able to. Yay! 

Grayden Scott

Tristan's sister & her husband welcomed a beautiful baby boy just a few days ago!  Grayden Scott was born on Wednesday, September 4 and Tristan & I couldn't be more excited to call myself his aunt & uncle!!!! Congrats Devin & Logan! We love you! 

Congrats Liz & Chris

I can't believe it's already been a week but WHOA IT'S BEEN A WEEK!

I flew to England to watch one of my favorite humans on this earth say "I Do" and it was awesome.  There were unicorns everywhere, a happy baby and an amazing candy bar filled with British snacks! Congrats Liz & Chris!!!!! 

Now hurry up and move back to America. 

L is for Lion

I've officially started a circus themed ABC series! You'll notice a similar lion in the post below.  This is his cousin.  One fights fires and one is in the circus.  ;-) 

More to come soon on this project! 

Illustration Friday- Rescue

"Rescue" is this week's Illustration Friday topic.  It just happens to fit in perfectly with the nursery art series I just completed.  Happy Friday! 

****UMMMMM this just in. Apparently this week's topic is "Lush" and i'm losing my mind hahaha.  Sorry if you clicked this from Illustration Friday's site.  I was in England for the last 48 hours so let's blame this on a jet lagged brain.  

I'm back!

Tristan and I had an amazing honeymoon last week.  I can't believe it went by so fast! We cruised from Greece to Turkey to Italy. We toured, took pictures, shopped, drank, ate, and relaxed along the way.  It was awesome! We both posted a ton of photos to Instagram, so feel free to search #tristanandmargotsetsail to see them.  Now that I'm back, I'm hoping to do some illustrations based off of my favorites, starting with the one above! This photo was taken in Kusadasi, Turkey at a bazaar shop. 

Sometimes you just have to take some time out of your schedule to see the world and be thankful for how good life is! The below picture is definitely one of those moments.  That's Tristan in the Mediterranean Sea during our day in Mykonos, Greece.