Artists, Blogs,Artists Who Blog, Books and Freelancing

There are so many artsy blogs out there! I've been trying to keep track of my favourites... to learn about their process, what inspires them, etc. There are so many talented people out there who I can learn from and who are willing to share their experience. I am particularly greatful for Holli Conger who shares her journey to becoming a freelance illustrator. You must check it out if you are considering a freelance illustrating career like I am (well,mine will be a super slow journey...I'm starting by moonlighting). I would jump right into it fulltime if I had a couple of years of salary saved up.

A co-worker of mine recommended that I read 'The Boss of You'. After reading some reviews on it and finding out more about it on Amazon I will definitely be reading it! Right now I'm reading My So-Called Freelance Life by Michelle Goodman which I stumbled upon while reading some book reviews. So, ya, my first step was to write down my goals.

My goals are pretty simple:
- create art/things and make a decent living from selling them
- to make enough to be able to stay at home, take my kids to school and be part of their lives when they are not in school and just have more family time.

My problem is I enjoy making all sorts of things from sculpting with clay to felting to digital 3D/2D art and illustration. I need to focus on one thing! After that I can draft out a plan. But like I said... I'm taking my time with this because I need to keep my day job.

IF: Contagious

Silliness can be contagious! I get mine from my kids!!

I'm creating a model in Max at work. Took a teeny break and for little doodle... nothing spectacular but I'm just happy to get the doodle bug out of my system... for now! Okay, back to my Max model!

felting.... la la la

My girls and I bought a lot of wool felts!!! And so far we've made a couple of softies. It's so much fun!! We used a method called dry felting with needles. I will post pictures soon! :)

Super Awesome Family Day!!

We started the day off with a nice big family breakfast with my parents and my brother. Later on we shopped around for all sorts of arts and crafts supplies. We got some great deal on cavass sets at a local shop and some soap stone from another place. It's been a while since we had a full day to spend together. We've all been so busy! We're just taking a break from being out and about... soon we're going to start chipping away at the stones. Hopefully it won't be too cold outside... I don't want to carve inside because it can get very dusty!!

Here's a litte caracature i did last night... I couldn't sleep so I thought I would do something creative. It still needs a lot of work but I think I may abandon this for now.

Trying a cut-out-ish style

Here is my first post after too many months. I have been so busy with my 9 month old baby boy. He's so adorable!! He really does inspire me to make some cute illustrations. Unfortunately, I'm usually so tired by the time I he goes to bed for the night. I'm going to try to squeeze in some art work during his day time naps... unless there's just too much house work to do.

I just love this online art community. I've visited so many blogs of illustrating moms. It's very encouraging to see other moms who are able to balance work and life. A lot of them work from home too! That's what my goal is! I'd like to build an illustration portfolio and get my foot in the door of the freelance illustration world.

here are the sites of a couple of very inspiring illustrating moms.

www.lorijoysmith.com
www.holliconger.com

Illustration Friday: CRASH

A last minute entry for this topic but here's my CRASH illustration. I was going to skip it but I want to keep up with IF every week... even if it means posting up rough work. Lately I've been having sugar crashes due to co-workers giving me all candies, fudge, and cake. Well worth the sugar crash!! :)

Illustration Friday: SPROUT

Here's my entry for the sprout topic for IF. It was inspired by my friends who are currently expecting and have recently given birth. I'm so happy for them and wish them all well. I have soooo many babies to play with and spoil!!

back to the drawing board

I haven't drawn for quite a while! Below is a doodle I made of one of my co-workers(15min). I made it with PS while waiting for my ride at work. I felt so inspired that when I got home i searched for a Zach Graff reference picture and drew him up in PS. I''m still very rusty but I plan to keep up with my personal art work and attend life drawing sessions as aften as I can. Now I'm just trying to think of what to draw for the current Illustration Friday topic: sprouts.