RECYCLE ILLUSTRATION

Here is the recycle illustration in color. I had so much fun coloring this image. I played around with the channels in Photoshop and had a softer effect on the overall image. I'm not sure which one I like better, so I'm posting them both. I'm also not sure about the text. Hmm??? You tell me what you think!

Welcome Fall!

The air has finally turned less hot in S. FL. We don't get real Fall weather down here. While most people are experiencing 50's and 60's, we are thankful to be in the low to mid 80's. It is a welcome cool down and it always gets me in the mood for Fall, which is one of my favorite times of the year.

I am getting ready for Halloween too, and with that comes a new banner and a new look on the blog. Hope you like it....

How's the weather where you live?

IF: PATTERN

It is never too late to start a new pattern of behavior and start helping out our planet!

This is a sketch I’ve been working on. I hope to color it soon. I recently joined an online critique group and I am really enjoying all of the feedback. This is a modified version from the original. The first one had the little girl look too much like I grown up. I think I finally have the proportions right.

IF: INFINITE

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!!!

ILLUSTRATION PROMOTIONAL PACKAGE

I am so pleased to share my latest promotional package. If you've been following my blog, you've read about the amounts of time it took me to put this together. Time will only tell if all my efforts will pay off, but I have faith that they will.

I paid attention to every little detail. I re-designed my logo and stationary to make it more illustration focused. I designed the labels and had a few extra postcards printed to show a variety of work other than the Three Billy Goats Gruff. I also included a SAS post card for feedback, and a short letter introducing myself. All of these materials were put into a pochette envelope which then went into a manila envelope. I chose a bright lemon-yellow color to make sure the envelope stood out from the bunch. Let's hope it works!

My goal was to make a promotional package that was original without being gimmicky and that showcased both my illustration and graphic design talents. I really enjoyed putting this together.

I realized that I can not do this on a regular basis, but perhaps once a year.

What about you, how do you promote yourself? I would love to hear your thoughts...

IF: WELCOME

UPDATE: I tweaked the colors a bit. I think this version works better as it adds emphasis to the right areas...

This cat is cautious as he knows he may not be welcomed.

This is the full illustration I started last week (see post below). I may tweak it a little more, but I'm happy with the overall result.

Have a great weekend and thanks for all your comments.

IF: STRONG

A strong witch can handle anything!

This is a portion of a work in progress. I plan on posting the finished illustration when I'm done.

Summer is over for sure! Have a great Labor Day Weekend!

I am on Facebook and Twitter!

Yes, I've finally gave in and joined the thousands of people on FaceBook and Twitter! I've been on Facebook for a while, but I finally decided to create a fan page. Honestly, I think other than my mom and a few close friends, I'm not sure who'll be a fan. But, I decided to put the page out there hoping to reach those people that stay on Facebook or Twitter and don't blog as much.

This page is directly connected with my Twitter status updates and will focus primarily on anything related to my career. I want to keep my followers informed of my progress in the publishing world and yes some personal stuff as well. Otherwise, where’s the fun?

My twitter updates will update on my fan page and vice versa. Just click the 'become a fan' button on the top right!

Mailer update: I'm still waiting for UPS for my last mailer piece. Hopefully I will have something in the mail tomorrow!

A FEW SPOT ILLUSTRATIONS

I re-worked this one to represent my current style better. See the old one here.

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!

IF: MAGNIFY

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!

NEW ID and SCBWI newsletter

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…

I think it is important for an artist (or anyone trying to be in business for that matter), to have a great logo, and a ‘look’ or brand that is carried all throughout their marketing pieces. I am not going to tell you what branding is, or what a great logo should have, there are plenty of web sites and blogs out there that talk about these subjects. What I will tell you is that your logo and your collateral is the only thing representing you in a mailer and many times the only thing potential customers will see. Don’t have it be something else on the ‘TO DO” list that usually never gets crossed off!

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.

And the Winner is....

I used the random number generator and added double entries for those that commented and started to follow my blog.

The winner is Tom Barrett! Congratulations Tom! I'll be getting this in the mail to you as soon as I can get your mailing address.

Thanks to everyone who participated. I had a lot of fun!

Character Study

Work in progress...

Any comments or feedback are always welcomed...

IF: WRAPPED

This is an oldie, but this week is just too hectic with school about to start and trying to make progress on my mailer.

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!