Lots and lots of goodies!

Hello all!
I know, I know. I'm back so soon! Well, my lovely followers, I have so much wonderful news to share!
First of all, here is some new work (I have been very busy!):


"Trees in the Grove," Gouache, 2011.


"Picking Pears," Gouache, 2011.


"Harold Carries, Rosie Counts," Gouache, 2011.

These pieces are from an imaginary children's book I came up with. Theoretically, it would be titled, "Pears, Peaches, Apples," and would be about counting and seeing differences in objects (fruit specifically). I haven't added any text here for two reasons: first of all, I haven't written any text, and secondly, placement would likely be a designer's job, not mine. I had a lot of fun working on this, because of the challenge of a semi-limited color palette, as well as keeping my characters consistent.

Exciting bit number two:
The reason I was motivated to create these spreads was because I received a couple thrilling emails! First was the blog feature I have already mentioned on here. Annie Ericsson, an art assistant at Penguin/Putnam, loved my postcard mailer enough to post it on her website, and suggested that I create some spreads that show consistent characters to push my portfolio further. I have emailed her all of my most recent work.
And now, the Art Director of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has emailed me as well, saying that she loved my postcard and wants me to keep her updated with new work. How exciting is that?! So, I sent her my recent pieces also. Obviously, I will be letting you know if something happens!

And here's the BIGGEST NEWS OF ALL:

Our last Square Carousel challenge was to create a map for the wonderful website "They Draw and Travel," where illustrators around the globe create beautiful and geographically informative artwork. They often create books and calendars from hand-selected pieces, and are widely followed by the creative community. Here was my map (of my lovely home, Austin, Texas!):


"Austin Map," Gouache and Digital, 2011.

This project took a long time, and was pretty difficult for me because I don't usually work with such intricate details and backgrounds, but the struggle was so, so, so worth it! As soon as I uploaded my map to the TDAT (They Draw and Travel) site, I was contacted by the creators, Nate and Salli, saying that they had completely fallen in love with my work (I'm blushing!) and after searching around on my site and blog, they discovered Square Carousel. It was so exciting to them that our group of diverse (and talented!) illustrators had devoted our collective challenge to TDAT, and because of that, they offered to us the incredible opportunity to be heavily promoted by their network.
TDAT then did us the biggest compliment possible by telling every single person they could about our group. They featured our maps at the same time on the website (currently mine sits as the homepage!), with an amazingly large header that links to the Square Carousel page. Also on the They Draw and Travel site, Nate and Salli wrote a lovely blogpost about our collective. Then they took to Facebook and Twitter, repeatedly updating their hundreds of followers on our work. (Please check these links out for yourself, too!) The most exciting of all, however, might just be that Nate and Salli emailed all their subscribers (about 500 people, I believe) with an image-packed update of all Square Carousel's maps. This email also went, with a personal note, to the amazing Lilla Rogers, an artist representative who has corralled some of the most fresh illustrators to date. Even if none of us see immediate feedback from this networking extravaganza, it is such an honor and compliment to be promoted so heavily by one of the best creative websites around! THANK YOU, TDAT!

This made me so excited, so inspired, and so motivated that I decided to submit to TDAT's sister site (also run by Nate and Salli) called "They Draw and Cook." They are currently running a competition called "Cooking 4 Kids," so I did a quick, easy, and fun way to get children to eat their veggies: "Zippy Zucchini" (an allrecipes.com creation). This is the link to my submission and it's comments, but here's the image itself:

"Zippy Zucchini," Gouache and Digital, 2011.

And that would conclude all the exciting news I have for you right now! Stay tuned though, because I have a new Square Carousel challenge that I'm pretty close to posting...
adios,
caitlin

Spring settles in as winter waltzes away

Just a quick update with the last of my work for the quarter!

For my very last printmaking assignment ever, I wanted to create something that made me leave the department with a bang. Unfortunately, I don't think I completely managed that, because my ideas were too large to follow through with. Not to say the piece isn't successful, because I do like it, but It wasn't the "bang" I was hoping for. The end of this class was strange. It was much like being in a bad relationship, spending all your time wanting it to end, but when presented with your new found freedom from the bond, you experience a sense of confusion and restlessness, instead of relief and happiness. The beginning of my minor was extremely enjoyable, but as I experienced more and more distaste of commercial art by the fine artists, and had to spend more and more time away from my major, the passion truly faded for me. I think I just need some time away from printmaking to enjoy it again. But I promise, I will do some woodcuts and screen prints in the future. This is not my last print ever.

Anyway, in my Portfolio class my professor was talking about taking rejection in the field of illustration. She was emphasizing that it is important to not be hurt by being turned away or not selected to win awards. She said "just remember, it means everything if you win, and nothing if you don't," meaning, although celebration is expected and good when you are recognized, it isn't the world if you lose, and life goes on. I have personally been struggling with this lately, and decided to make a poster for myself with the phrase to look at when I am upset. Unfortunately, nobody in my class understood that the message was an uplifting one. They all thought that it meant "winning is the most important thing ever." Sigh. I just can't win with some people. But it's still on my wall for inspiration.



"In Other Words: it's okay to not be the best," screen print, 2011.
So concludes my printmaking education.

And last but not least, my art licensing Halloween illustration! These can be on plates, napkins, buckets, stickers, cards, anything really. It is very unlike my comfortable niche in both color palette and subject matter, but I really love it! And my professor had a really wonderful suggestion, saying that the work is extremely versatile because each individual character could also be on different products. It could be a whole series!



"Halloween Friends," Gouache and Digital, 2011.

Here's a quick mock up:



"Halloween Friends Mock Up," Gouache and Digital, 2011.

Oh yeah, and here's that magazine mock up I mentioned last time:



"Abandon the Binky Mock Up," Gouache and Digital, 2011.

That's all for now!
adios
caitlin

A little late...

Well, the second quarter of my senior year is flying by, and I've been so busy, I haven't even found the time to update you all! This is going to be a very long post, so hang in there.

I started off the quarter with some really exciting news. Two of my pieces from last quarter were entered by the SCAD illustration department into the Society of Illustrators Los Angeles Illustration West 49th show, and were accepted! Kellan also got three works in, and we furiously framed, filled out forms, and sent away our pieces at the beginning of the quarter. The show just ended last week, but we will be on the website gallery, with contact information, for two years! This is such a huge honor, I can't even describe to you how thrilled I was to be a part of a Society of Illustrators event. My work is sitting on the same website as illustrators I have looked at countless times for inspiration. And there's even the opportunity of getting clients from being there, too! Here's a link to my work. I am number 21 and 22 from the bottom.

Also, my "Bunny" piece was finally sent to Hong Kong for SCAD's "Year of the Rabbit" show. I wish I could get a picture of it on the wall there, but I'm not sure how to manage that.

First completed piece for the quarter was in my Photographic and Digital Applications for Printmaking class. We used Solar Plates, which are a much easier, but more expensive, version of Drypoint Etching. Just, instead of scratching the surface with an etching needle, you shoot and develop the plate just as you would in many photo processes. I wanted to create some hand-lettering after my roommate, and fellow illustrator, Cat Fontenot showed me this incredible website called Letter Playground. I think I might actually enter them, and see what happens! Here it is:


"See Eye Tea Why" Solar Plate, 2011

The next work I turned in was for my Portfolio class. I wanted to create a children's book spread that included many images I have been tempted to incorporate into my work lately. This included anthropomorphic characters, buildings, and plants. Peter Brown's "The Curious Garden" was especially inspiring to me for the foliage. I really need to suck it up and just buy that book already! It'll be a great addition to my collection. Some day I'll write a lengthy blog post about my love of books. Anywho, this imaginary book would be about a city frog and a country frog, yes, very much like the story of the mice. I am pretty happy with this piece!


"Urban Frog, Rural Frog," Gouache, 2011.

I decided to create a challenge for myself for my second Portfolio assignment. I was inspired to create a repeat pattern to use in nurseries or children's bedrooms, but I was very unaware of how confusing and challenging creating a pattern in Photoshop can be. I painted each element of my pattern individually in gouache, and then scanned them all into the program. Following a set of specific guidelines of half-drop patterns (they are much more confusing and difficult, but look better because the repetition is less obvious), I worked and re-worked my colors, composition and sizing for my pattern over and over. In the end, I was actually pleasantly surprised with my result, considering I am not exactly the most proficient artist in Photoshop. Creating this was challenging but not frustrating, fun but not lackadaisically so. I even took the time to create mock-ups of this pattern on potential products! Seeing my art this way was very exciting. After our critique, I tweaked a few colors. First is the original:


"Repeat Rabbits" Gouache and Digital, 2011.

And the redo:


"Repeat Rabbits (Redo)" Gouache and Digital, 2011.

Here is my mock-up sheet (which the original pattern was used for). My favourite is the lamp!


"Repeat Rabbit Mock-Ups" Digital, 2011.

Although I thought originally I would talk about my second Printmaking assignment, I might leave that for another day. I do not have the scans for it just yet, and there is quite a lot to say regarding it... Or rather, regarding my Professor's response to it. I think that one deserves a post of its own. Foreshadowing!
That's all for now.
adios,
caitlin

A quick update!

Hello all! Here's a few images of stuff I've been working on.

In Survey, we had to create a magazine spread ala the 1950s (stories for women in Good Housekeeping, etc.) Here's mine- it's for an actual published story in 1959 titled, "Take One Rainy Night..." I'm pretty pleased with it. The text for the story would be in the bottom left-hand corner.



"Take One Rainy Night..." 2010 Gouache and Collage.

I've been working furiously on children's book as well! Here's a few images from the spreads I've finished.



"Simon and Brother" 2010 Gouache and Collage.



"Frances Reads" 2010 Gouache and Collage.

No images yet from my relief class- but some good stuff coming up soon, I promise!

I've been pretty inspired by the art of Mary Blair and Jan Pfloog lately. Blair was a character designer for Disney, and more or less created all the old characters we know and love. I don't want to be a character designer, but her painting technique is so wonderful. The flat colors and movement are outstanding!



A children's book spread, © Mary Blair.

Jan Pfloog is not especially well known, although she had a pretty good run with Golden Books. I've had several of her stories since I was a kid- "The Farm Book," "The Zoo Book," and "The Kitten Book." I love her dry-brushing and use of color. Sorry I don't have a better image of her work. The interior illustrations are much more inspiring.



Cover for "The Farm Book," © Jan Pfloog.

adios
caitlin

Been working on my book

Hello all!
During the summer I wrote and illustrated a children's book (for my own pleasure) and have finally found the time to edit it! I'll update more as I keep chugging along on this project, but here's just an overview of the story. It's called "Only With You," and I actually got the idea from a class project (featured on the front page of my site, titled "Bunny"). The plot is that a little girl named Bernadette has just moved and gathers the courage to explore with her stuffed rabbit Mr. Wiggles, who is "larger than life." Thanks to my lovely mother for working out the plot kinks and thanks to my lovely boyfriend Kellan for editing and helping me with page layouts (which I'm still working on).

Here's one of the spreads:



"Spread 6" Ink, Watercolor, Varnish and Digital, 2009

Let me know if you are interested in purchasing a copy of the book when I'm finished putting it together!

I'll be updating a bunch soon with winter projects, so keep an eye out!

adios
caitlin