illustration friday 10/15/10~spooky

here is my contribution to this week's i.f. theme of "spooky". this is alex and his friend andy dressed up and ready to do some tricking...and obviously a whole lot of treating;)

i love cute little halloween illustrations. i always said i wanted the first book i ever illustrated to be a halloween book. just something about cute little kids in cute little costumes...just LOVE it:)

NEW NURSERY ART WEBSITE

i FINALLY got around to finishing up my website devoted just to my custom nursery art. please take a look when you get a minute. i would appreciate any and all feedback! thank you:)
www.nicolesnurseryart.blogspot.com

illustration friday 9/24/10~old fashioned

this is my contribution to this week's i.f theme of 'old fashioned'. it's called 'sneakin' a peek'.
i can't help but remember being a little kid and sneaking downstairs with my brother EARLY on christmas morning (like we actually slept right?;)) and taking a peek to see what santa claus had bought us. the excitment, joy, anticipation and pure delight at the thought of all our toys that would hopefully be waiting for us underneath of our tree. the tree that my mom and dad used to decorate with those BIG GAUDY colored bulbs (as you can see today i prefer white lights;))! bobby (although today he prefers 'rob') and i used to wear those pj's with the feet and pretend to 'skate' around on our kitchen floors...much to my parent's dismay;)
ahhh...those were the good old days...

LET IT SNOW!!! LET IT SNOW!!! LET IT SNOW!!!

i am SUPER EXCITED to be working on my first series of rubber stamps!!! i have been working with a great lady who has her own rubber stamp company out of canada. she approached me for some fall designs earlier in the summer but due to my surgery, we kind of missed the production cut off for this fall. so...next up some winter stamps to be released this november (yay!!!). as everyone who knows me knows already, WINTER is my FAVORITE season so i couldn't have been more elated to sketch out some cute little winter designs. these are the finished inked designs. HAND-INKED...bec i'm 'old school' like that;)
more info. to follow as far as the release date...

meet alex and andy...

they are out to do a little bit of tricking...and a whole lot of treating!;) this is a sketch for a little halloween illustration i am working on this week. i LOVE LOVE LOVE cute little halloween characters. as a matter of fact, i always wanted my first picture book to be a halloween book (yeah, i'm getting there;)). i think sometimes little kids can be scared of halloween so i always wanted to do a cute take on it:)
i'm also working on some sketches this week for a line of winter rubber stamps for a great little company. stay tuned for those...and the finished painting of "trick and treat":)

self-promo fall 2010 mailer~PROOFS

well, i decided to go with vistaprint http://vistaprint.com for my self-promotional postcard/mailer. i just placed the order after receiving my proofs (above pic). delivery is slated for 2 weeks. i'm actually pleased with the way these came out. can't wait to see the printed piece...and get to mailing them to art directors!!! not too bad for my first "mailer";) SUPER EXCITED!!!

fall mailer 2010...pick me!!! pick me!!!

here it is...my fall 2010 promo piece for art directors! i love this piece (ok, i'm biased). it's ME and my tiny self a top some mighty large pumpkins:) i love fall and pumpkins and halloween and this whole time of year...especially the cool air!
next up is playing with some type/text in photoshop that will read "pick me!!! pick me!!!" i think it's appropriate for a few reasons...1)i'm in a pumpkin patch and what does one do in a pumpkin patch...pick pumpkins of course;) and reason #2) i want art directors to "pick me" for upcoming illustration jobs for kids publications.
i have always been a fan of self-promo postcards bec they are easy, accessible and pretty much a one-stop shop for your art work. it just hits them right in the face when they receive it...no envelopes to mess with. don't get me wrong, i also intend to send out tear sheets of some of my work along with a cover letter to a certain publishers. but the postcard is quick and an easy way to promote yourself:)
i'll be posting the finished piece (with text) as soon as i'm done which will be SOON so i can get started on having them printed. i think i'm going with vistaprint http://www.vistaprint.com/ this time...a good amount of postcards for a good price!