New Nature Alphabet Book

At last, it's ready!

When I first thought of making a series of nature-themed images to illustrate the alphabet, I was also thinking it would be neat to make a simple, informative children's book out of it. I was trying to find a way to have it printed as a rigid board book (sturdier for young tots) but it seems like all printers of such books are large factories in Asia. They're cheap- by the book- but I would have had to order cases of 1000 or something, which wasn't an option.

So I went with Lulu, the self-publishing company. I was very impressed with the quality, considering how easy the process was. Fortunately, my book had enough pages to get a perfect-bound spine, which I think looks much better than saddle-stitch and closer to my original board book idea; nice, square and flat:

It's titled 'Acorn, Bur, Conch' and has a little, simple blurb on each natural element chosen for each letter, an array of fruits, plants, animal elements and minerals. I think it's pretty cute and it's dedicated to my daughter- who is, conveniently, currently obsessed with the alphabet- Penelope.

Available for sale through Lulu's site. There's a preview as well.

Individual letter illustrations are available in my Etsy store.

Alphabet series!

It had been working on a series of illustrations of the alphabet for about 5 months.

The theme was natural elements or objects and it took me about a month of research on appropriate terms for every letter (some letters took a rather long time and much debate). It got tedious at times since I wanted a variety of vegetal, mineral and animal elements (although no actual animals, only animal creations or products); it was a matter of keeping a good balance and not having too many flowers or rocks or of any given type of 'thing'. Each item had to be visually appealing in its own way and they also had to look good together.

At last, the last letter was finished last weekend! So here is the full alphabet poster design (each letter- and the poster- are available in my Etsy store, of course):

And here's the alphabetical list:

Acorn
Bur
Conch
Dandelion
Egg
Feather
Geode (as a gemologist, I have an especially soft spot for this one)
Hive
Ivy
Juniper
Kumquat (thank you cute little fruit for starting with the letter K)
Leaf
Milkweed
Nut (Pedant alert: The ones I portrayed are 'true' botanical nuts, not the ones commonly found in trail mixes. It's surprising to learn how many 'nuts' are in fact seeds, fruits, legumes, etc...)
Orchid
Pebble
Quill
Raspberry
Samara
Toadstool
Ulexite (very cool mineral. Get some: It's cheap)
Violet
Web
Xerophyte (funny enough, I had several contenders for the letter X; xylocarp almost made it but it would have been redundant with 'Nut' and it was neat to get cacti in there)
Yew
Zinnia

Ottawa Mini Maker Faire 2012

Finally taking a few minutes to post about the fabulous weekend Jacob and I enjoyed at the latest Ottawa Mini Maker Faire. We were lucky enough to have had the opportunity exhibit our masks and met loads of amazing people in the process. Where to begin... We spent the couple of weeks prior to Maker Faire frantically making our signature miniature masquerade masks in order to showcase as many designs as possible. We have been making masks ever since that minotaur mask I've posted about a couple of years back (for Jacob's Halloween costume) and brought our full-sized masks as well. Here are a few of the newest masks we managed to finish on time (we had several other designs already completed, namely the ones featured on our Etsy store). As usual, we had a great time thinking of a bunch of small creatures and decking them up carnival-style:

Of course, things got too hectic for either of us to remember to take pictures of our own table (have a few taken by friends floating around that I might get a hold of eventually... fantastic blogger I am). Anywho, the event was a success, attracting hundreds of visitors and featuring a colourful and eclectic mix of traditional art, cutting-edge technology and science mingling together in various ways.

The crowd was simply amazing: Visitors and exhibitors shared a playful curiosity and enthusiasm that gave the environment the vibe of a bunch of children in a fabulous candy store (there were actual children in the mix as well, as the entire effort was very family-friendly). We got to meet lots of great creative souls despite the fact that it was difficult to pull away from one's table due to the steady flow of visitors (which is a pretty good thing all things considered!). One of them was fellow mask-maker Ian Langohr whose giant, clever masks were a neat complement to our tiny masks. As Jacob and I verified, his masks were as cushy and comfy as they were funny:

We unfortunately didn't get to cover every single exhibitor (or even to see everything on display) but the list is still available on Ottawa Mini Maker Faire's site and is absolutely worth perusing (many great projects and websites to enjoy). Really looking forward to next year's Faire (definitely being discussed and hopefully even bigger!). Awesome way to spend a weekend!

Something wicked...

...this way comes.

...

Kitsune - Fox Spirit

New illustration post, again. I haven't been very good at this whole blog thing. The point is probably to say a tiny bit more about my art and (gasp) thoughts than just "here's a drawing", which is pretty much what my latest posts have been. Will try to elaborate a bit more in the future... And by that I mean not today :P Anyway, here's one of my latest illustrations, out of the Shinto mythology theme I've got going... I've had this image of a Kitsune- or fox spirit- floating in my mind for a while...

More action coming soon...

Blue Whale and Giant Squid posters

Two new finished pieces: A potential duo, appropriately themed- and sized- to be printed as posters (up to 16" tall). They were loosely inspired by Alphonse Mucha's art nouveau posters for plays and various products. At first, I wanted to put more text, like they were advertisements for the animals ("Blue Whale - Gentle giant of the sea!" Or some such) but in the end, I opted to leave most of the space for the fauna itself. I felt that too much text was taking away from the actual subjects.

Here's the majestic blue whale:

and the mysterious giant squid:

I'm working on more nature-inspired posters, but all I'll say for now is that the next one will either be an insect or a bird...

However, when I was looking for ideas and references, I ended up spending so much time admiring the amazing shapes and colours of various tunicates (the plant-looking animals underneath the squid) that I'm thinking I might dedicate an illustration just for them...

More Shinto goddesses

I finally got around to finishing the triptych I decided to undertake when I finished Benzaiten. I'm not sure that I am entirely done with the whole ukiyo-e inspired style yet. I really enjoy the ethereal look, with the figures seemingly suspended in time and gently considering their surroundings. But for now, these are the deities I thought would complement each other nicely.

So there's Benzaiten/Benten, as previously introduced...

Then it's O-Ryu the willow goddess with Konohanasakuya-hime the cherry blossom goddess. I liked the contrast between the two trees/goddesses: An sturdy, tall green tree beside a dainty flowering tree...

Lastly, there is Amaterasu, the Sun goddess. I wanted her to look colossal, as the Sun shines on the entire world, but I wanted her to still look nurturing and poised...

Even though I didn't carefully plan how each picture would look when finished, I quite like the effect when putting them all together. There is a nice spectrum of elements going on with the goddesses and the colour schemes, Benzen being water, O-Ryu and Konohanasakuya earth and Amaterasu fire...

What I've been up to...

I did mention before that I'm not so great with personal blogs... but even I am willing to concede that a year between posts is pretty pathetic. Oh well. Where was I... I did end up drawing a fair bit, much of it being for a single children's magazine in Austria. They're fun little stories about a grey fox and a chipmunk. There is a small pile of them, as I do several illustrations per issue. So here's a quick little compilation, just as proof that I wasn't slacking offline quite as much as online ;)

Work in progress - God of Birds

I seem to have been dabbling heavily in mythological/god-like figures lately. It's mainly because I enjoy the allegorical quality of such characters: It's like putting a human face on wonders of nature and life.

With that in mind, I was pondering one night on the fact that, aside from some animist societies, we represent deities, nature spirits and allegorical figures as humans or, at least, partly human. Even Death, despite being universal and a reality for all creatures, is traditionally portrayed as a human skeletal figure (my own piece featuring Death coming soon ;) ).

Therefore, I was wondering whether our fellow animals would personify objects of worship as their own species, if they were so inclined.

To explore that concept, I began with the God of Birds. I figured that birds would probably come up with a sun-deity. Since birds tend to begin singing at dawn, many birds who flock do an impressive 'dance' at sundown and migratory birds rely heavily on celestial bodies to navigate (the sun being the brightest), I pictured birds celebrating a surreal, vaguely bird-like god in the shining orb.

This is a first sketch, entirely digital (as opposed to a pencil/ink drawing) and the style turned out quite different compared to my usual stuff: The God of Birds-

New piece - Sky Maidens

Another piece with mythological undertones. Since I've recently explored more Asian and Indian styles, I went with a Greek or Roman feel. At first, I had the goddess Selene in mind, but it turned into more generic allegories of the Moon and stars.



I guess I could post more images of the work progress. It looks nice and spiffy on a blog... But as I previously mentioned, I'm a bit lazy about it. It's good enough that I draw, no?? ;)

New piece - Mehndi

A new piece I did, inspired not by a specific goddess but by the art of mehndi or henna designs.



The figure is based on old, voluptuous Indian sculptures and I hope I successfully captured the 'rasa' as Vilayanur Ramachandran might say ;)

New Piece - Mechanical

Another piece finished this week. I'm updating my portfolio (again) and figured I'd stick with whimsical, line-based, fantasy style.

The ink drawing:


Coloured piece:


A detail:

Benzaiten- New piece and Step-by-Step progress

I've created a piece to enter in a contest on an art forum. I was interested mainly for the possibility of a few entries to be included in an artbook. The theme was 'Ethnique- Women of Legend', so it was about choosing a female mythological or legendary figure from various cultures. Of course, I only found out about the competition 2 days before the deadline, but I do draw well under pressure ;)

As subject, I chose Benzaiten: The Japanese/Shinto equivalent to the Hindu goddess Saraswati, Benzaiten represents music, language, knowledge, poetry and speech.

Old Japanese prints were a big inspiration for style. The water and fishes represent the flowing nature of words and songs and the fact that both Saraswati and Benzaiten are associated with rivers. I've used chiefly tones of muted blues, orange and pink to represent the peaceful and feminine nature of the goddess. She is supported above the water by a moonfish (akamanbo) and accompanied by goldfishes: Both kind of fishes represent good luck, indicating her status of protector goddess and bestower of fortune.

Step 1- Pencil sketch (crappy digital picture, because I was too lazy to scan the large drawing in 2 pieces):


Step 2- Inking:


Step 3- A limited insight on the colouring process:


The finished piece!


A few closeups of details:


I've been wanting to draw a moonfish for a while now: I think they just look so gorgeous (and they're huge! Probably large enough for a dainty goddess to ride on, too!). Fishes in general are lots of fun to draw.


It would be awesome to be included in some anthology, but I'm quite happy with this one as a new portfolio piece, if nothing else. It was very enjoyable to create.

Cedar Waxwing- Birthday Gift

It was my mother's birthday a few days back, so we had a nice picnic to celebrate the occasion today.

Since she loves birds/nature (already having a lovely Robert Bateman limited print featuring a barn owl in her living room), I was inspired by my recent comments on the animals book and Cedar Waxwing birds. So I made a piece featuring that pretty bird (the whole thing is about 5.5" x 7.5") for her:


The artwork is in three layers, with the watercolour bird on smoother paper, the branch on slightly coarser paper and a heavily textured paper as background. I was quite happy with the frame I found, with the glass creating a 'floating' effect:



Now I gotta lay down and digest a pile of mini-sandwiches and chocolate cake...

World Animals Part 2 (Decisions!!)

I'm really trying to get this out ASAP. So after a bit of procrastinating, I'm working out some kinks in the final book organization and layout...

My initial idea put the emphasis on the world map and geographical areas, but I'm now wanting to showcase the animals more prominently. It's tricky in terms of space. The bigger the animals, the less space I have for text. So I'm thinking of downsizing a bit and featuring a maximum of 3 animals per region/continent (instead of 4). Problem is, that means leaving some cute beasties aside and, well, it makes me a bit :(

Some changes are easier to justify:



I initially had the Arctic Fox in North America, but found out it was better suited for Iceland (being its only native mammal). I had intended to replace it with the Bison (seen here not coloured yet) but I will drop it altogether for the 3-animals limit. I like the Racoon and Beaver designs best.

The Hummingbird will be changed to a Cedar Waxwing, which is more exclusive to N-America (I have yet to finish it). I will have to find another use for him!



The Caribbeans page doesn't look so crowded (partly because the land-mass isn't taking much space) but I want to try keeping the layout consistent. I love the Green Woodepecker, but I think I prefer making the other guys bigger (besides, there is another woodpecker in the Korea area... that makes it okay. ...right? I'll put you to good use somewhere, Woody; I SWEAR!!):



I justify my downsizing with Europe (BTW the texts here are still bogus filler text, obviously). With all the countries, it leaves the four animals just competing with the text for space. The Salamander is staying for sure because I want to include reptiles/non-furry-feathery animals. The Ibex is truly endemic. So the Pine Marten is probably going to get the pink slip... as if I don't feel like a jerk enough already...





I get a bit too personal with my art, sometimes...

Alright! Five regions left to finish!

My Disney rant, in context...

After my initial, rather snarky post on my impressions of the upcoming movie 'Tangled', I saw several other blogs, videos and articles on the same topic. The opinions were fierce on both sides: Those who were underwhelmed by what they saw, and the ones who felt the former were acerbic cynics raining on a perfectly fine-looking flick's parade.

I actually don't like to be some big bad wolf, putting down the hard work of skilled 3D artists, so I figured an honest opinion in the proper context is wiser than a few snarky remarks in a vacuum.

If I did NOT love Disney and its contribution to animation, I wouldn't be bothered enough to voice criticism about their recent output.

Animation is an important and delightful form of art. I have been fascinated by it since early childhood. I have studied it out of sheer interest. I have a beloved collection of films including Paul Grimault, Soyuzmultfilms, Ivanov Vano, Norsteyn, Miyazaki, Kon... Pixar and Disney films are on the shelf with them.

It has bothered me that, for the past few years, I have no longer been drawn to the Disney flicks (I don't count Pixar as Disney: I did love Finding Nemo, WALL-E and UP, each for reasons I won't get into here).

I was SADDENED that after all the contrived, PC issues and blatant business-driven changes to 'The Princess and the Frog', I had to make myself want to see it. It's not at all how I wanted to feel about the 'revival' of Disney's 2D animation.

It had lots of good potential. The art no doubt was lovely. But it struck me as artificial, not magical; repetitive, not innovative. A familiar recipe: Broadway tunes, a slightly darker-coloured Belle clone, another 'necessary' ubiquitous, Owen Wilson-type love interest that the girl is bound to marry (no matter how utterly mismatched), a Jafar/Scar-type villain.

All I could think was, this is set in the roaring 20's, it's in New Orleans' jazz era, it has VOODOO in it... how can it NOT feel like a mind blowing, refreshing, trippy masterpiece!? The whole thing ought to feel like the 'drunk Dumbo scene' on banned absinthe and swamp gasses, an intoxicating juxtaposition of art-deco sophistication and quietly mysterious bayous...

Basically, I was extremely disappointed in Princess/Frog because I had high expectations. I had this nagging feeling that the idea and premise had ME way more inspired than the writers. This may be too arrogant of me, but we're talking about DISNEY, arguably America's most heavily funded, premier, default animation studio (unless I'm wrong). Mea culpa, I DO expect more of them.

I'm starting to have the same, nagging feeling about 'Tangled'. I'm seeing a pattern: Business-driven, contrived changes (namely the ridiculous name-change to attract male viewership; obviously, the suits at Disney have a low opinion of young boys' intelligence, in spite of desperately pandering to them), the 'necessary' Owen Wilson schmoozing bad boy, a Barbie/Bratz-doll clone... I'm waiting for this one to come out on DVD. My expectations are now lower.

I think I have OUTGROWN Disney movies. I loathe saying this, because I am a firm believer of animation as a great art form for all. But Disney movies are starting to smell more like flashy selling tools for tickets, DVD's, games, toys and plastic tiaras than inspired and passionate stories and works of art.

I finish with the words of Sylvain Chomet, of Les Triplettes de Belleville fame:

Walt Disney invented everything, he absorbed all these guys who came from the eastern countries who brought their rich cultures with them. He found this brilliant way of making money out of a new artform.

[...] The artists have no say any more. The suits decide everything now, and there are so many of them. It is like the dinosaurs, it has got too big and the brain is too small.

Oh me, oh moai...

I upload some of my vector drawings on Istockphoto as stock images. I've noticed that despite the fact that I keep adding more, with various subjects and themes, none of them get downloaded nearly as much as my Easter Island moai pic:



It leaves all the others in the dust. I always thought it would be neat to know where all my stock images get used, but that one is an especially puzzling riddle. Where are all these moai going? (they have no legs!)

One of life's minor mysteries...

New Vector Illos

Some day, I will make a lenghty post about how Inkscape is made of sheer awesome and unicorns. It's gotta be one of the most user-intuitive software I've ever used. It completely sold me on the idea that free doesn't necessarily mean crappy (to the great joy of my militant open source user husband Jacob). Anyways.

Here's my latest batch of vector illustrations. I tend to get into a vector mood and crank two or three in a row, then return to raster or analog for a couple of weeks...

No blog is complete without plushies...

This is getting random already, but 'random' is in the title so...

As people who know me are already aware, I am in fact two entities at the moment (the other being not some parasitic alien but a little girl... with pretty strong fists and feet for a 4-pounder, I must add...). I was feeling crafty a few weeks back and had the urge of making a little plushie as a welcome gift and decoration. It turned out rather well (I did make a small, simpler prototype as practice first).


I used white flannel and I embroidered the details. Of course, I had to pick white so it could get nice and dirty!

The Little Mermaid- Some tests...

Among other things, I am working on a series of illustrations for a few fairy tales, one of them being The Little Mermaid. This story was always one of my very favorite (the original version), partly because the narrative is quite unique, as far as typical fairy tales go. For instance, it features no villains or foes, only unfortunate circumstances and consequences: The witch figure's only crime is giving the little mermaid what she wants, the mermaid's biggest fault is being naive and gambling everything for love and the prince means no harm by falling in love with someone other than the protagonist... It's not black and white. But I digress.

I want the visuals to be more asian-inspired than the european look more common to such tales. Here's a quick test for the mermaid herself and general feel:

The underwater castle still needs experimenting. The prince's palace will be similar to a Chinese temple, but I want something different for the sea palace. I'm trying not to fall into the giant conch pattern. I was inspired by the pattern of a shell made by amoebas, which looks a bit like a filigree egg (a spherical structure would also make a lot of sense under water):

The style on there is all wrong, but I think I'm on to something with the castle design. Needs more work...