About portfolios

I am 5 months into my 1 year timeline of being ready to send out my work to publishers etc. I think I am making great progress and know I will be ready, (my one big dilemma for next year is  whether or not I will really have the time to dive into projects with my current family obligations...humm?) 

I am planning on attending the Miami conference in January to get feedback on my portfolio, but I first need to make enough WOW pieces to assemble it. Since the holiday season is starting to ramp up, I know I won't have much time at the end of the year. I have been doing some research on how to assemble a portfolio and what to include etc.

I wanted to share some links I found that may be helpful to others in a similar situation. Also, if you are a professional illustrator reading this and want to share some of your thoughts about assembly, or anecdotal experience, please leave a post below.

Some of the articles below were written recently and some a few years back, but I found that most had many similarities. Most agreed on showing small portfolios, dividing the work by styles if you show different styles, creating a logo for yourself, showing no more than 15 pieces, and the most important element....only show your best work!

I am also on the market for a good small portfolio case, if you have any suggestions please let me know! - What do you think of leather cases vs. aluminum cases?

• Heather Castles - How to build an illustration portfolio
  
• How to be a Children's Book Illustrator - Blog
• Art and Illustration Community  Creating a Portfolio by Ingmar Zahorsky
• Self-Promotion for Illustrators by Phyllis Pollema
  

Illustration Friday: Sugary

I worked on this drawing a little while ago and I thought the boys 'sugary smile' was perfect for this week. Happy October!!

IF update and portfolio

I had some time last weekend and played around with my original illustration to see if I could get it to a point where I was happy with it without changing it completely. My basic problem was that the main characters (the ants) were a little lost. (see previous post) There seemed to be a lot more going on around them. I wasn't sure if the problem was the color or the overall composition. I used someone's suggestion about making the flower green, and it was a bit better, but the overall foliage still overpowered the ants. I brightened up the ants, but the big cupcake was still a major visual point, and I did not want to make the cupcake darker or more dull because, well, it's a cupcake, it needs to look yummy!

My final change was to crop the image focusing in on the ants, and I think this is a stronger piece than the original. I am still not sure if I will add it to my portfolio.

Speaking of portfolios, I have been thinking about mine quite a bit lately.  I have been thinking about how to assemble it and what pieces to put in it. Do people still use leather cases? I also think I need some good black and white or graphite pencil pieces in there.  I have read the artist portfolio 101 and think I have a little bit of everything.  However, if you have any suggestions or links please share them here.

IF: PACKED

FINAL UPDATE:

Here it is... my animal bunch eating some packed lunches. I thought I wasn't going to finish it. My kids have been sick and I have bronchitis :( , but what a great feeling to be able to post it finished and then move on to other stuff... like decorating my house for Halloween! 

Oh, I so agree with your comments, those kids did look kinda stressed out! I am much happier with these animals.

"Kids eating packed lunches"

Work in progress....

Sketch

Color Study

I'm still working on colors and composition and will post the finished product later this week.

Thanks for visiting!

UPDATE: I guess this is what happens when you see the process... I completely changed my mind! These little animal creatures kept popping up in my head and I kept thinking that it would be so much fun to draw them. The overall composition is the same, but I think this looks more fun! I still have to paint it on illustration board, but here is the general idea:

Star Light, Star Bright

Star light, star bright,

The first star I see tonight,

I wish I may, I wish I might,

Have the wish I wish tonight.
-by Alfred Bester,

I didn't participate in this week's IF, because I was busy finishing this piece. I wanted to add a piece to my portfolio that illustrated one of my favorite nursery rhymes, and I wanted to stay congruent with my style. I thought this charming and simple nursery rhyme was the best choice.

I'm happy with the outcome. I welcome any comments. 

Just for Fun!

I started these paintings a few months ago and just got around to finishing them this weekend. They are small 10"x 10", colorful, fun paintings (for sale. If you are interested contact me). I won't have time to create anything this week for IF, so I thought I'd share these. Have a great week every one!

SWEETEST BLOG AWARD EVER!

I was surprised this week by my very talented blogging friend Diana Evans who gave me this Sweet and scrumptious award! This award is so beautiful and colorful, it makes me want to eat a cupcake! Be sure to check out her work!

In her own words:

"I am giving this award to all the wonderful people that I visit almost every day....they have inspired me and shared their wonderful lives with all of us....
I only ask that you nominate some of the wonderful people you visit each and every day...."

And the award goes to.......

• Nicole Merkens
• Bella Sinclair
• Tom Barret
• Krisztina Maros 
• Kathleen Rietz
• Ms. Froggie
• Nina Seven
• Deborah Mori
• Claudine Hellmuth

IF: Island UPDATE

Here's my finished version of the 'Island' theme for Illustration Friday. I started painting and half way through it I lost my steam. Even though I did the color study at first, I just wasn't feeling it! Has this happened to anyone? Where you start a painting or illustration and half way you think it's all wrong? I liked the sketch, but once I added color it seemed that too much was going on. I finished it anyway hoping in the end it would work out, but I'm still unsure, so I played with it in Photoshop and created the black and white version below, which I like better. What do you think? 

illustration Friday: Island

"Stranded on a Cup Cake Island"

(Diana- I love your cupcakes, and I thought of you when I was doing this. Hope you like mine!)

This week is another challenging 'time' week. I hope to color this illustration later on this week and update this post. I have some graphic design work, which I hope to share here once I'm further along. I'm still way behind on my blogs... just not enough time!

I also went to the local SCWBI meeting where I am the only illustrator attending, so the feedback was from writers only. However, it was wonderful feedback all around. It was great!

Illustration Friday: Clutter

To this boy this is not clutter, it is the pirate adventure to sail the seven seas!

and the finished 'memories' from last week.

Illustration Friday: Memories

Work in Progress...

This past two weeks I've been reminded that my time is not my own. We are back to school and I am realizing how little time I will have left every week to devote for my art. I enjoyed all of the extra time I had over the summer and had a lot of fun navigating to other blogs and learning about other artists. I am not sure how much time I will have during this school year, but I will try my best to produce one piece a week and to post once a week. I hardly had any time to visit some of my favorite blogs this week. My Google reader is about to explode with 'unread' entries!

Anyway, I didn't get too far this week, but I was experimenting again. New paper (cold press water color paper), gouache and ANIMALS! I was really intimidated trying out animals as main characters. I think last time I really drew an animal with bodies and everything was back in elementary school. I've always been into people mostly. 

I think these characters look cute. I'm not sure if original enough, but my kids really liked  them, and I enjoyed coming up with them. I thought the animal birthday party fit the 'memories' theme for IF.

My daughter has been painting a lot with me, and she wanted me to add her work to my blog, so I now have a corner on the left for my kids' art. Her favorite subject is horses!

I will be away for Labor Day weekend enjoying the family and some nice weather. I hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday weekend, and I hope to catch up a bit with my blogs next week!

Thanks for stopping by!

HELVETICA GIVE AWAY WINNERS!

I really enjoyed this giveaway. It was great to find out that many people had heard or watched the movie already. 

Saturday, I put all the names in a hat, and had each of my kids pick a paper with a name.

(Drum roll, please!) ... and the winners are:

• Luci
• Scott

and Thanks to New Video Digital for giving me the opportunity to have this giveaway!

illustration Friday: ROUTINE

This week we started school and it is always an opportunity to improve or introduce a new routine. My kids are little (3 and 6) and it is always a challenge to get them to do things independently in the morning and at night to get out of the house on time, or get to bed on time. I introduced the idea of a rewards chart when we were potty training my daughter, and it worked well. We used to do a small toy or ice cream at the end of the week, but now that she is older, I want her to understand the value of money. I used the same incentive for my son because even though he is only 3, he wants to do what his sister does. 

It hasn't been a full week yet, but they are doing great! We have made it to school on time every day (which was a huge problem last year) and I haven't had to get upset! 

Anyway, I thought this chart worked perfect for the theme.

On a separate note, I am posting a late IF for detach. I interpreted the topic in two ways; The obvious, the parents and the little boy 'detach' on the first day of school. For the little one and the parents, it's usually a moment filled with uncertainty and worry.

The second meaning is more personal, I 'detached' myself from my usual style and medium to experiment with something new. I recently checked out about 20 or more children's books and have been visiting the children's section at BN quite regularly trying to find books that mimic my current style, and to my surprise, I have not been able to find any that resembles mine. (if you know of one, let me know...I'm curious).
Anyway, that made me think, that perhaps my illustrations are not kid friendly enough, and I should vary my style and try more simple shapes and more flat colors.
I used gouache and watercolors for this one. Any thoughts or comments are welcomed!

And lastly, Fay kept us home for a day, and gave me some extra time.  I decided to paint a sketch I had posted for a character study.

Sorry about the long post...

Happy Weekend Everyone!

Illustration Friday: DETACH and HELVETICA GIVEAWAY!

I know, most of you are probably thinking...WHAAATTT? This is not a children's illustration? and why is Edrian posting a graphic design piece?

I guess I have to go back a decade or so ago, when I was in college studying art, and graphic design...YES, I am a graphic designer too! So there it is! I guess that didn't take too long. I love graphic design and when I think about how much design is around us, it's really amazing to see how much we take it for granted. 

I watched a wonderful documentary about one of the most popular typefaces out there: HELVETICA. If you are curious about how design impacts our culture, or if you love graphic design, I highly recommend this film.  

HELVETICA is a film by Gary Hustwit and is a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. It also features some of the greatest graphic designers of our time! 

GIVEAWAY!!

You could purchase the entire film on iTunes  or you may take your chances and win a FREE download from iTunes here. Just enter a comment for this post from now through August 22nd-noon.  I will then pick TWO winners at random and forward the email addresses to the film's distributor who will then gift the download from iTunes. I will post the winners on Monday Aug 18th. Please make sure to leave an email address where I can contact you if you win.

Helvetica Trailer: http://www.helveticafilm.com/clips.html
Helvetica Art: http://www.plexifilm.com/title.php?id=31