I had the pleasure of having an illustration featured in STEPHEN magazine. It’s was for an article on unconventional theatre set ups.

Other than that, just been busy working on other freelance projects and enjoying my first summer in Vancouver. Like I said, I did add a LOT to the gallery, so you should really check it out. That’s all for now!

I’ve been mostly preoccupied with settling down into my new home, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been doing some kind of art. I’ve been doing a lot of playing with techniques as well as doing a lot of promotional works — working on my second portfolio book, promotional postcards, some client work — so I’ve managed to keep myself busy when I’m not running around getting things for my new apartment or applying for jobs.

Anyway, here’s some fun stuff I thought I’d share. First, just a collection of lighting tests I did. The subject matter is very boring — random girl’s faces OMG — but the purpose of the exercise was to play with mediums and lighting, not have some brilliant concept. These are very quick studies, about 30 each.

The next is a little treat — a preview of the cover of my new portfolio. It’ll be done by the end of this month, so check back later!

So here’s an update. I worked at the local art gallery all summer, which (I must reassert) is the best job ever. My mural team and I painted nearly 40 canvases that make up a total area of 11 x 36 FEET. Yes, my friends, it was a big job indeed. It’s still incomplete, and I must still do some touch ups as they were damaged in transit, and at the moment, I don’t even want to think about painting. Woe!

Beyond that, I’m still working at the gallery, and will until my planned move to Vancouver at the end of March. I’m teaching art classes in addition to retouching our pieces for the mural, so at the moment I am still quite busy (who knew there was going to be such a demand for my classes?!) but I hope — hope — that once everything evens out I’ll have a drive to work on my own projects, as well as start marketing myself to clients.

In addition to beginning a freelance career, I would like to fix up my website a bit more. And when I put my portfolio book in the Summer Show at the gallery I had several requests to purchase it and to make more. Seeing as my current portfolio was $150 (a bit pricey!), I think I may make a miniature version through Lulu.

I’ll post again soon, and this time with a few sketches that I managed to do in my down time.

However, I am always proven wrong. This last month has been so busy! In addition to my full-time job at the Dawson Creek Art Gallery, I’ve also been busy with side projects (like organizing the local film festival) and family. I can’t even keep up with the Illustration Fridays. It seems like every time I turn around its Friday again!

May is particularly “bad” for being preoccupied with family, because the entire month is filled with birthdays of cousins, uncles, aunts, siblings and even my own! I turned 22 on the 29th. And fortunately, for a joint birthday-graduation gift, my family purchased me a lovely SLR camera of my own!

So, I’m in the process of learning the ropes of using such a camera, which is a total upgrade from my dinky, cheap, point-and-shoot. So you may get to see some of that work in the future, though right now my cat has been the only and unfortunate subject of my attention while trying to teach myself. But I’m not so arrogant to believe that simply owning an expensive camera would make me a “photographer” but I would appreciate having the skill to photograph my own work, as well as my surroundings. So practice it is!

The other projects on my plate are:
- Designing and assembling floats for the Tourism and Art Gallery for the annual parades
- Designing additions and touch ups for two current murals
- Designing an enormous (and daunting!) mural for the new Events Centre
- Doing work for the Summer Exhibition
…in addition to several other, smaller side projects.

I’ve been a busy, busy girl with stuff I can’t exactly… scan. But hopefully, with the aide of my new camera, I can at least photograph what I’ve been up to. Soon.

My outfit is a funny thing — I went out with Tanya, intending to buy dress pants and she intended to buy a pencil skirt. However, we did the opposite: I bought the pencil skirt, she got the dress pants! I’m very pleased with my outfit though and I stayed in my budget.

In other, more interesting news, I added more work to the gallery. I’ve had a few comments about how surprisingly dark my work is (I guess I don’t show a lot of people, outside of school, my darker stuff?) so I felt I needed to reinforce the fact that I do lots of cutesy things too. This is one of them.

It was for one of my final projects for school — to come up with a concept/concept art for a commercial, for any product of our choice. I chose a higher-end cat food, and had it set in a very fancy cat boutique. The concept was that the Owner (below, right) brings her spoiled kitty (below, center) to the shop to buy him something indulgent. The Sales Assistant (below, left) then proceeds to show her increasingly extravagant cat toys, peaking at an enormous, golden cat tower.

The cat is delighted by all these ridiculous, over-the-top goods, but the owner just doesn’t think its good enough. Then she spots something — the Cat Food. She returns to the cat, bearing the bag of food, and the cat is just as excited about the food as the silly golden cat tower. It was fun to do! I really like playing with this style, I may try doing it non-digitally once I get some more time.

I wanted it to have a really illustrator feel. I wanted it to show that yes, I muck about with ink, and paint and all these other materials. I didn’t want it to be shiny and sleek, but I did still want it to be clean. I think I’ve come up with a good medium. Now its a matter of completely avoiding the front end of the site so I don’t get sick of it and itch to change it.

I have 6 days till I am done school. And that is making me freak the hell out. I have spent the last 16 years of my life in school. And now I have to go out and earn a living and act like an adult. Well, at least, earn a living. Its facing the rest of my life that makes me both both anxious and happy that I’ve chosen to be an illustrator.

Anyway, the purpose of this blog, the sketchblog, will be to keep you up to date on my continued evolution of skill and art. Plus some other work related information — scheduling, inspiration, jobs and shows — and maybe some pictures of Pancakes.

Until then, I’m off to continue to freak out about the impending graduation. Mergh.