Blog — bootcamp

Another recap!  It's the end of the MATS Assignment Bootcamp unfortunately, and our last assignment was an editorial illustration.  We were given an article about digital nomad-ism and it felt pretty close to home. I am definitely a digital nomad.  I spend lots of my time traveling back and forth from Germany to the U.S., but also to other parts of the European continent while still maintaining contact with clients and working on personal projects.  I related so much to the advice in the article... it's all about wi-fi and connectivity. Traveling has been a constant in our lives, but...

I decided to get painterly again! And it was fun. For those process-lovers... I started out with marker and quick-sketched lots of different concepts.  Here are my faves: At first, I started drawing in Illustrator, but most people in the MATS Bootcamp were going digital right away, and I couldn't get the kind of texture in the marks that I wanted.  And I felt like I couldn't really get that kind of energy using just vector imaging.  So, I went painterly.  I was so happy to get painting!  I adjoined 4 square canvases and painted them as if they were...

As a member of 2015's MATS Bootcamp, I've met lots of lovely people.  Some of them wanted to do a blog-share type thing as many of them are just starting blogs, re-booting their careers, and/or starting new careers.  I'm re-booting my illustration work, and thought it would be a nice thing to do.  I was nominated by Melissa Iwai for a Liebster Award which functions as a kind of internet chain letter, but with the intention of spreading the word on small blogs and the people behind them.  The Liebster Award asks that the recipient share 11 random facts about...

Wow, this month has been huge! We're well over halfway through February, and I feel like there's just so much creative juice burstin' out of me with these assignments.  It didn't happen instantly, though.  Our mini assignment was to create a scenic plate.  I had lots of ideas for plates and analyzed the given inspirational plates to see what it was about them that I liked.  I drew lots that I'd love to see on holiday plates or a breakfast bowl of some kind. And then, sleight of hand, Lilla and her team of magicians turned that mini into the...

This piece was a competition piece for MATS (make art that sells) mantra.  The goal was to encompass the feeling you get when you're taking a MATS course.  And, although I didn't win the big prize, I was able to use Illustrator in a new way for me. See, I've been trying to nail down my style, and I absolutely love working digitally, but it lacks the grittiness and texture of my hand-illustrated and painted work.  So I've been trying to merge the two elements somehow (flat color + texture). Here is what I came up with: And this is how...