Promo Packs

There are a lot of exciting things going in my the little world right now, and I have a few updates to share! The first update is that I just sent out my most recent promo pack to a set of hand-picked art directors I would love to work with. I did a lot of research, found art directors I thought might enjoy my work, and sent them a little envelope with a set of illustrated goodies! I’d show you everything that’s inside, but I’d like to keep it a secret for the art directors who received one. Let me know if you’d like to be on the list when the next promo packs go out! Here’s one more little detail:

Refined Processes

I’ve been working lately to try to streamline my illustration process to continually improve and be able to create high-quality illustrations efficiently. One item I’ve been wanting lately that I knew would help to streamline my process was a light box. It makes going through the pencil sketch/refined drawing/inked drawing stages more clean and efficient. So, I finally broke down and bought one last week! Its extremely flat and just the right size for my work. The first project I’m using it on is the wedding invitation pack for a North Carolina wedding that I’ve been working on and blogging about over the past month or so. Each piece is getting really close to being done, and inking these buildings for the painted map is the last task I have to complete in this stage! Below the light box image is a process shot from another piece in this wedding invitation packet, where I hand painted all the typography. Painting the letters was super intricate and kind of intense on my hand muscles actually! But I really love hand-painting typography. I think it’s as personal as you can get, and it gives the piece so much personality, whimsy, and emotion—perfect for a wedding invitation.

Color Test Piece

I’ve had a sheet of watercolor paper for the past year that I test most of my colors on when painting. I don’t ALWAYS use it, but I do more often than not, and with all the painting I’ve been doing lately for clients and personal work, I’m getting close to filling it up! I really like the randomness of it and it’s interesting to see all the colors I’ve used over the course of a year and how they make their own broad color palette. I plan on framing it for my little office when its full!

Oni in South Carolina

And we all know this wouldn’t be a good blog post without a photo of Oni. A few weeks ago we went on vacation to visit family in South Carolina, and Oni had the time of his life. I don’t think he’ll ever be as happy as he was bounding through the woods and pluff mud of South Carolina.