I was reflecting recently on my work and my career. I have dedicated a great deal of time to creating a portfolio, and improving my work so that I may become a published illustrator. I am also a freelance graphic designer and enjoy that job thoroughly. I would like to do both, but I notice that it is difficult to wear so many hats, marketing graphic design and illustration are very different things, both which are very time consuming.
My graphic design is picking up, while I'm just hearing crickets over on the illustration side. I'm not quite ready to give it up. I'm not a quitter! I know someone will see potential in my work and will value my dedication and passion. In the mean time, I just need to figure out how to manage the constant chaos of trying to do it all!
I was looking at the illustrations from the beginning of the year until now and I do see tremendous growth! That is great, right? Except that it makes for an inconsistent portfolio. I’ve gone from acrylics to digital and from static to more dynamic work; my characters have also evolved. The eyes are not the same (At some point I was experimenting with dots for eyes). I haven’t deliberately been trying to develop a style. I’ve been pushing myself to become better at what I do, which in turns has affected the look of my work…I believe that the style comes out naturally while you are going through this process.
Although I’m not published yet, I can tell that my work is the best when I’m comfortable with it, and that only happens if I draw what is more natural and comfortable to me, but I only know what that is if I experiment and try new things. I guess for me it’s a dance of balance between these two…familiarity and stretching your limits.
Anyway, my point is that I’m now once again re-touching my portfolio. I am thinking about going to the SCBWI Winter conference in NY and really would need to have a solid portfolio before I can even consider going. By the way, are any of you going?
I’m also busy with my design work, which I also enjoy so much, and is the reason why I don’t have as much time to visit other blogs as I used to. I have some friends that talk about going off grid when it comes to social media networks and Internet. These things can really consume you and take up so much of your time! I wonder myself, would I have more time to do the things I need to do if I did not have a blog and was on twitter and Facebook? Do you wonder the same sometimes? How do you do it?
As a side note, I wanted to invite you all to vote for my son @ GAP’s Casting Call http://family.go.com/gapcastingcall/entries/edrianthomidis/717418724/
Have a great week!
A mother’s love is infinite!
This week I’m posting a sketch that I hope to color, but I’m not sure if I’ll get the chance. Ever since the kids went back to school and I’ve been promoting my graphic design and illustration services, I’ve been progressively getting busy, which is great! This week, I was bombarded with stuff! Mostly graphic/web design related, and all with serious deadlines, so my playtime is really minimal at best.
Well, this sketch was inspired by the book “Runaway Bunny”, which I’m sure many of you’ve read or heard of. While on the subject of children’s books…have you ever read “Love You Forever” by Robert Musch? I always get teary eyed when I read it to my kids. It’s probably one of my favorite books as an adult. Do you have a children's book that makes you cry?
Lastly, I wanted to mention that I took my kids to see Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and absolutely loved the characters and the graphics. It was eye candy all the way through! Highly recommend it!
Have a fantastic weekend! and thanks for all your comments!!!
I wanted to post a few spot illustrations I worked on the past few days. It seems we are finally getting into our new routine, and I’m able to experience how productive I can be while the kids are in school.
Another interesting announcement in my world is that I will be starting a figure drawing class tomorrow. I am so excited! I haven’t been in front of a live model in over 10 years! So this will be great! I really hope to meet new people and improve my skills. No matter how good you think you are, there’s always room for improvement!
I am also waiting for all my pieces to come back from the printers so that I can assemble my mailer and send them out. Hopefully that will happen this week.
I am very excited about the possibilities my new schedule presents!
I’m posting an oldie again. I have a ton of sketches, but no time to scan them or color them in yet. School started this week and my schedule has been turned upside down! I am still making little progress on my mailer, but I hope that will change next week. Happy weekend everyone! And thanks for your visits and comments. I really appreciate them. I should start visiting blogs again in a week or so. Sorry, I’ve been so disconnected!
Last week I realized that all of the materials in my mailer needed to be designed, so that they would be coherent at the very least. I then began to re-think my entire identity for promotional materials.
I guess you could say that I’ve reached an identity crisis! Am I a designer or am I an illustrator? Do I promote my business name or my personal name? I’ve thought about this issue for quite some time and at first, I just combined my business name (TENENGO) with my name (art, illustration and graphic design by…). But as I started to design the promotional materials, I disliked it more and more. It went against everything I know about branding…. A clear consistent message and a memorable image! It was more like a confusing mess. Someone once suggested that it seemed as Tenengo was representing me.
So I put on my designer hat and tried to approach it as if I were a client and not think of it in personal terms. The solution: Two sets of materials. One set with emphasis on illustration but still mentioning graphic design and promoting my name. On legal documents it will say ‘A Division of Tenengo Design, Inc, and the other just promoting Tenengo and will have more of a Design feel. I will eventually separate the web sites, but for now, they will work together.
Here is a sample of some of some of the new materials with the new logo. I'm really happy with the outcome. I have sent everything to the printers. I used PsPrint.com, which has a great promotion going on right now. I have used them in the past and have been very happy. I’ll post the final package when it’s ready…
On a separate note, I’m so excited to have one of my illustrations featured in the ‘illustrator’s corner of my local SCBWI newsletter.
I wanted to share my progress on my first mailer. I found the market survey from the SCBWI web site, (which is made my membership completely worth it!), and I am creating a mailing list with that information using Outlook to do a mail merge later on. This process is tedious and time consuming.
The mailing list was taking so long that I decided to work in batches so that I could still get some packages out this week. I then turned to the items I’m including in the mailer like a reply card, and it dawn on me that I would have to design this card. Well, one thing led to another and I am now in the middle of re-thinking my entire identity, from logo, to letterheads, business cards, etc.
Have you figured out that I am a perfectionist? I want everything to be ‘just right’, and I know that is really impossible, but for my own sanity I couldn’t send something out that I would feel did not represent me properly, like my portfolio. So, back to the drawing board it is… and it looks like these packages will go out in September instead of August. (Grrr….)
Today is the last day for the contest...I'll be posting the winner on Monday!
His impatience to fit in and make friends is scaring the animals away!
This is late for me to post, but if you read my previous post, you’d understand that I’ve been playing catch up for the last few days.
I have been working diligently in preparation for my very first promotional piece. I’ve been talking about this package that I am going to send to publishers, editors, etc… before the end of the summer. Meanwhile, wondering if my work is solid enough, asking myself, am I ready? Sure enough, I look at my entire portfolio and feel like trashing most of it! Not a good way to make progress, but I really think that my work has evolved in the past few months and my work from 6 months ago does not represent me anymore. At the same time, I don’t want to keep reworking and reworking endlessly without sending anything out. So, in an effort to freshen up my portfolio, I have created the piece above. I have another in the works, But that’s it! After that, I’m sending my stuff out! I also updated my web site and took out a bunch of old work. I may take a few more pieces out in the next weeks.
I invite you to take a look at the contest I have going on right now to win a kid’s necklace. The last day to enter is this Friday the 14th.
A few days ago the very talented and humorous illustrator Roberta Baird honored me with two very special awards. I am especially grateful because I really admire and respect Roberta’s work.
This award was created by Ces in honor of another very loved and wonderful blogger Bella Sinclair.
The second award is The Superior Scribbler Award.
Here are the rules for the award
Each Superior Scribbler must, in turn, pass the Award on to 5 most-deserving Bloggy buds.
Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author & the name of the blog from whom he/she has received The Award.
Each Superior Scribbler must display The Award on his/her blog, and link to this post, which explains The Award.
Each Blogger who wins The Superior Scribbler Award must visit this post and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky List (!?) at the Scholastic-Scribe’s blog. That way, we’ll be able to keep up-to-date on everyone who receives this prestigious honor!
Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules on his/her blog.
I am please to pass this to award on to some wonderful blog buddies who have inspired me with their kindness, friendship, dedication and unbelievable talent!
1. Nicole
2. Deborah
3. Froggie
4. Jannie
5. Diana
I was without a computer all week! Last Sunday night the hard drive on my iMac just gave out. My computer is just over a year old, so I was really surprised to see the hard drive error out. I also have a Time Machine back up set up, but it had been giving me many ‘unsuccessful back up’ errors for over a month so I was really nervous about how much work I had potentially lost. My husband, who is gifted with anything related to computers and telecommunications, was able to get the machine up and running for the purpose of verifying the back up.
We had also bought an Apple protection plan when we purchased the machine, so once we verified that the back up had indeed been working, we took the machine to Apple on Tuesday. They had it ready by Friday with a new drive and OS installed. It took my husband over a day to get the back up restored and everything running, but I have to say the back up system was flawless! I have everything just as before and other than the initial ‘freak out’ and loosing a week’s worth of time, it was really painless!!!
My recommendation other than having a back up is … definitely invest on a protection plan or added warranty, you just never know!
Also, BIG thanks to my hubby for taking care of all the technical stuff!!
It’s been a while since I had a contest on my blog, and I thought it was time to have some fun!
What will you win?
The necklace on the picture! It is from a new line of custom beaded necklaces that I have on my Etsy shop. It is made with polymer, stones, and Swarovski crystal beads. I realize the prize is very specific to little girls, but even if you don’t have kids, consider entering… your niece, or cousin or friend’s daughter may appreciate receiving a gift from you. No one has to know you won it!
What do I have to do?
This is a simple contest; All you have to do is leave a comment on this post (make sure I have a way to contact you in case you win). If you want more chances to win, you may 'follow my blog' or ‘heart’ my store on Etsy. The contest will end at midnight on Friday August 14th. The winner will be chosen randomly and announced on this post on Monday August 17th. Good Luck!
This will be my last post for a while. I am taking a much-needed vacation to a far, far away place. All I can say is that I'll be surrounded by history and mythology. I hope to share some pictures when I come back in about three weeks or so. I will miss all of you. I will miss reading my favorite blogs and participating in Illustration Friday.
However, I am looking forward to all the history and ruins and museums and even caves. I am taking my new Moleskines and plan on sketching all of the time. I hope to share some of my drawings when I get back.
So for now, I’m signing out and closing shop!
What are you doing for fun this summer?
