an update on what I've been doing

I apologize for lagging in the blog department; it's been difficult trying to juggle a full time job on top of trying to find a "real" job that deals with illustration. I've been sending out samples of my work left and right, but so far no bites. It's pretty frustrating... and embarrassing. I'm not sure if it's because people don't understand/like my art or if it really is this difficult to find a job in illustration - I'm really hoping it's the latter. I'm starting to think the best route for me is to create my own greeting card "line" to sell independently. I've been sketching up a few ideas and really have to get the ball rolling if I want something to come out in time for Christmas (and by getting the ball rolling I really mean by this weekend). I lost the pen to my wacom tablet during my move which set me back a few weeks but I finally gave up looking for it and bought a new pen the other day. I can't wait for it to come in the mail - hopefully it'll be waiting for me after work tomorrow.

Fear not, my dear followers for I haven't completely given up yet! I've been participating in a monthly local art shows organized by Dave Kaule which have been always been super fun. The last show was held on October 31 at the OTB Bicycle Bar in the South Side and there was a great turn out. It was a sugar skull themed Halloween/costume party and everyone who participated had to incorporate their sugar skull design onto a paper mache skull. I reconstructed a Barbie styling bust using paint, fake flowers and a LOT of hot glue. It turned out a little kitschy, but everyone seemed to enjoy it. Check out some of the pictures...

This was taken the night I finished it (at work, of course)...

my best friend and I on our way to the art show... we had to ride the bus all bloody - haha! (P.S. - we did our own makeup)

My sugar skull with some of the other participants...

I'm glad someone took pictures because I left my camera at home :(

I really can't wait to start next month's project. I heard it's either going to be toilet seat themed for skateboard deck themed - both of which are pretty awesome. I PROMISE I'll keep you guys updated (you know, the one or two people who actually follow my blog). Until next time...

Pittsburgh!

I feel like I'm somewhat slacking in the blogging department because I'm pretty much copying and pasting what I wrote on my website. I don't really have anything too exciting going on right now. I finally moved back to Pittsburgh and am (slowly) getting myself settled in. I recently got a great job that gives me the freedom to work on my art as well as take up illustration jobs that might cross my path. Right now, I am working on portraits of my friends like the one you see below of my friend, Nicole.


Other than that, I'm just trying to get back into the swing of things. I plan on posting more pictures of my friends sometime in the near future. Until then...

And the job search begins!

This past weekend, I graduated AND moved back home to Pittsburgh so things have been kinda crazy in the world of Nicole. I've barely had time to stop and catch my breath! I already have a job lined up at a local office for myself which I will most likely begin within the next two weeks. It's very close to my parents house which is awesome. It has nothing to do with illustration :( , but it has many perks! I can make my own schedule and even bring artwork to my desk during any downtime or any of the breaks that I get. The flexibility I have with this job is a definite plus for me - I want to accept any art-related jobs I can get on the side so that I can build on my resume as well as my portfolio. I'm taking baby steps, people! I WILL put my degree to good use though - I can promise you that! Oh yeah, my graduation ceremony was on May 8th. The picture above is of myself and one of my best friends, Amber after commencement. Check her blog and website out - her stuff is awesome! I'll probably miss her the most out of anybody else at PCAD. I want to try and work on a few illustrations of us sometime soon. Until then...

FINALLY!

Another chapter of my life has come to a close (and I finally have time to write in here again)! I finished mounting and hanging my work at school earlier this afternoon - I still can't believe it! I'm so used to being up long hours and constantly out running to take care of things it's almost like, "Now what?". I've been working so hard the past couple of weeks, it's kind of weird to just stop after being in that every day routine. After graduation, I will be moving back home to Pittsburgh and with my new - well deserved - free time, I definitely want to get back into working on my personal stuff again. Hopefully my portfolio will catch someone's eye and I'll find a great job shortly after that (HOPEFULLY). I just want to thank everybody who has helped me come this far and bring everything together - even those of you who thought I might not make it. If you haven't read my website, I will be showcasing all sixteen of my greeting cards at my school's senior show on May 1st. Click here for more information on it. Hope to see you there!

17 days and counting...

There are approximately 17 days left until the last day of the semester. Wow the days sure have been flying by! I received my tattoos about three days after I ordered them and they look absolutely amazing - I would definitely recommend Straytats.com to anybody looking for their services. As for the post cards, I went with Overnightprints.com. Most of my classmates went with that site and their stuff looks pretty good. I went to the Portfolio Boot Camp mentioned in my earlier post and was pretty surprised that most of the reviewers had positive things to say about my work. I've made a few connections with other designers from the DC area and was instructed to make a Linkedin page to keep in touch with them. I'm still not sure what you can or cannot do with the site, but I was told it was similar to facebook for professionals. Here is the link to my profile feel free to add me!

Well, that's it for now; I have a lot of work I have to get done tonight!

TOO... MUCH... TO HANDLE!

I've been swamped with soo much work but I've been finding ways to manage my time wisely and making sure I don't get swept in the ocean of crap that I have to get done by the end of this month. I'm taking a break from designing my post cards to show you guys what they're going to hopefully look like...


I'm so happy with my idea and I really hope they turn out exactly like the way I envision them. I'm still poking around on Google to find good print sites that will get them printed quickly but professionally (and will fit into my budget). I'm leaning towards Overnightprints.com but if I find anywhere else with better prices I might go with them. I have to remember quality over quantity or price or whatever that saying goes, but holy moly is this graduation stuff expensive (speaking of expenses, I got my total for what I owe in student loans. OHHH man does it hurt. I really do hope it pays off in the long run though)! I used my student mentorship project that I have been working on with John Schwegel on the front of the card. That piece will be showcased in my school's main gallery later this month. I've never had my work in a professional gallery before so I'm really excited to see what other people have to say about it.

In other news...

- I got my business cards in the mail. I'm happy with they way they look!

- Another awesome thing I'll have at my senior show is temporary tattoos of my illustration logo. I ordered them from Straytats.com - SUPER anxious to get those in later this week (I even got a big one that matches my dress to wear for the show!).

- I'll be ordering my post cards and personalized stamps later tonight.

- ALSO! This weekend, I'll be attending the AIGA BlueRidge & GFAF Portfolio Bootcamp in Frederick, MD. A group of professionals will be reviewing my work and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I don't leave the Cultural Arts Center in tears. Haha!

I think that's about it with the updates. Sorry this hasn't been entirely too exciting; I'm a busy girl right now!

new developments in "getting myself out there"

I just realized today that this time next month, I will be DAYS away from school being over - that freaks me out to no end! So this afternoon, I tackled a few things on my to-do list: changing the text on my logo, figuring out the images I will be using for my business cards/promo postcards and buying my web domain. I don't have anything on it yet, but my new official website can be found here. You can also check out my new logo in the column over to the right of this post (I made the text more legible). As for my card ideas, I think I'm going to go with my logo but in different color variations as seen here...















I'm really glad that I'm getting this stuff out of the way instead of saving it for the very last minute. The amount of work I have to get done between now and April 27 is slowly widdling down.

mentorship!!!

Another requirement for graduation at my school is that seniors (I'm not sure if it's all departments or just illustration students) have to complete a student/artist mentorship project. I really dragged my feet getting this together since I had a few complications involving my portfolio review last semester. I wasn't sure who I was going to get in contact with and I had been searching high and low for an artist who grabbed my interest the most. I have NO clue how I stumbled upon John Schwegel but I LOVE his work! Here are some of the images from his portfolio that swayed my decision to get in touch with him...

"Maggie"

"Sea Turtle"

"Swamp Snack"


"Brainfreeze"

I love everything about this guy's art - subject matter, the way he draws eyes, his line work, the way he handles color (his light, "sherberty" color palettes really caught my eye). Luckily, John answered my request for the project right away and I am SO excited that he agreed to let me work with him. Since I love drawing myself so much I thought it would be cool to mimic his style and do a self portrait for the main gallery piece I have to submit for the senior show. I definitely want to sample some of the colors he uses in corel and incorporate some other elements that he uses. With my work, it's really simplistic and graphic but I don't think it gets my point across (yet). I like how he can work in a cartoony style but still incorporate little details to give the pieces character (like the little spots he did on the Sea Turtle's head). I've worked out a rough sketch so far and I'm getting mixed feelings about it from some people...


Personally, I like it and I'm excited to hear some of the ideas/input John has for this piece. Hopefully I'll have an update on my progress sometime next week. At least I have one overdue project started and out of the way. What to start next...

back into the swing of things

Today was my first day back from spring break. I have to say I think I may have gotten a little too comfortable because I completely forgot about upcoming projects due for the week. I managed to squeak this one out for tomorrow. We had to create an illustration for a promotional travel coffee mug with a "beach books" theme.


It's somewhat crude, but I kind of like it - let's hope Charlie will think the same. I've been up since way early this morning packing up my car and heading back to Lancaster from Pittsburgh so a (semi) good night's rest is in order. Goodnight!

a preview of what's to come

This weekend, my New York trip was canceled due to the weather - no taping of the Maury Show and no MoMA (which meant no Tim Burton exhibit *tear*). Amber and I have been working to reschedule the trip before the exhibit is over, but it ends before the end of the semester so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Luckily, the heavier snow skipped right over Lancaster City and all we had was just a windy weekend.

I mentioned in my previous post, graduation is RIGHT around the corner. I have about 34 school days left until the end of the semester and I am happy to announce that I'm on top of my workload (with a lot of thanks to the canceled trip this weekend). At my school, seniors are required to work on a thesis that will be presented at the senior art show. This consists of four professional gallery pieces that we may also include in our portfolios. For my thesis, I chose greeting cards since I love working type and text into my art. I also chose this because it is essentially what I want to do after I leave PCAD. The students who chose the path of greeting cards had to work on 16 pieces of art rather than four so that everybody would be faced with an even amount of work (this works in my favor because I'll have more options to put in my portfolio in the end - hopefully I'll use all of them too ;]). With sixteen different cards under my belt, I split them up into different genres: four birthday, four Christmas, four other holiday cards (includes Easter, Valentine's Day, Halloween and St. Patrick's Day) and four special event cards (includes anniversary, wedding, baby and graduation). This week, our first thesis piece is due (in my case, my first four cards). I only have three done so far, but I was so excited to show them off that I couldn't wait to post this. Here they are:




I chose to work in Corel and also used my tablet again - I think it's pretty safe to say that those are my weapons of choice. Another nifty tool that I discovered this weekend is Color Scheme Designer 3. I'm not exactly sure what it's used for, but it definitely helped me resolve color comps and other color related issues I came across. It's an application that helps you find color palettes, complementary colors, triad colors, etc. - you just move the slider around the color wheel. I guess you could just figure that stuff out on your own but anything to make work a little easier ;]. Anyway, the group crit for these pieces is on Thursday. I'll post how it goes (AND I'll post my last card of the bunch) shortly after that.

my first official blog as an illustrator!

Seeing as my graduation is quickly approaching, it was suggested to me that I build a "web presence" as an illustrator. I'm used to blogging about silly things which only hold relevance to myself - like what I did for the day, how big the booger I just picked was or how much I partied the previous weekend. Although I can't exactly promise a certain level of professionalism, I can promise to try and keep this strictly focused on my artwork and the artwork of others that interests me. Wow, I am really starting to sound like a pretentious douche writing about myself like this, lets just move on to the specs for the piece I want to post...

So for my Illustration Concepts class, my instructor Charlie Beyl has based this semester's projects on a fictitious (maybe not so fictitious? I haven't checked... nor do I feel like it so we're just going to go with it being a fake bookstore until proven otherwise) bookstore called Crossroads. This "bookstore" specializes in books, music, coffee, movies and more (or so their logo states). Our second project required us to create an illustration featuring two iconic/well known figures sitting at a table, enjoying coffee with each other and engaging in conversation. This was meant to give customers the idea of how diverse the store is. We got to choose from a list consisting of pairs such as: Brad Pitt and Edgar Allen Poe, Steven Spielberg and William Shakespeare, Kurt Cobain and Truman Capote. The idea was that these people had similar names in which alliteration could be played with in the ad. Naturally, I chose Lady Gaga who was paired with a man named Allen Ginsberg (my ad? "Where Gaga meets Ginsberg"). Having no idea who Allen Ginsberg is (or was - he died in 1997, bummer :[ ), I had to do my research. Wikipedia is looked down upon in schools because it's not reliable - people can add anything they want whether it be a true fact or not - but honestly, I've learned a lot from that website and it kind of bums me out how some people abuse it by uploading fake information (see Encyclopedia Dramatica). Anyway, I checked out his entry in wikipedia and he seemed extremely interesting so I wanted to capture his likeness as well as I could. Google image search is pretty much my best friend (Google in general, actually) and it helped me a lot in figuring out Allen Ginsberg and Lady Gaga's notable characteristics. After flipping through a few pages I found two images that I thought were both fitting and recognizable. The two images that inspired my sketch:



This project came with a rough sketch of what the "client" wanted - two figures sitting at a table in a coffee shop. I don't have a picture of the example but here is what I made from the client's instructions:


Ahh good old mac books and their built in isight... There were a few problems with my sketch - the client wanted the two more engaged; Lady Gaga wasn't looking at Allen at all. One suggestion was to tilt their heads towards each other and maybe find a way for the two to make eye contact (pretty hard with her huge old person sunglasses). There also needed to be some sort of coffee shop/book store background even though text was going to be placed at the top and bottom of the illustration. The solution? BOOKSHELVES! Two weeks later we come to the end result:


I created it in Corel painter using a Wacom tablet and am fairly happy with the finished product. The final isn't due until next week and there are STILL a few more adjustments that need to be made (welcome to the real world of illustration, Nicole!). I was told by one of my classmates that they would like to see more of her eyes. Charlie also suggested that there be some shadows/highlights to create depth. Next class we will be critiquing our pieces as a group and hopefully placing the bookstore's text and logo at the top and bottom of the page. I'll post the FINAL final finished product whenever I get it back.

I really don't know how to close these, I just wanted to show the process of my latest piece. I'll try to keep this updated as often as I can. I have a lot of work stuffed under my belt over the next few weeks so I can't guarantee they will be this long and (overly) detailed. Until then...