June
Wrapping up some stuff & looking for new work!
Howdy!
We’re starting to get into my favorite season! At this point of year it becomes harder for me to focus on anything as I’m always just thinking about how I would rather be spending time outside and going to all the fun stuff happening around the city. Unfortunately I still have to work to survive or whatever, but at least I have a cool job so I don’t feel too bad being stuck at my desk.
My favorite piece I finished this month was for Andrew Solheim’s fantasy card game, For Fame and Glory— I’m sure you’ve seen the card designs in previous posts, but this batch of art included the box design, which for me is always the most exciting part.
My goal was to develop a piece that felt true to my own style while also capturing the spirit of the genre. As with most of the bigger illustrations I’ve worked on, I started with a Pinterest board of references to try to get an idea of the vibe I was going for. This board included medieval illuminated manuscripts, retro DnD art, as well as some contemporary illustration & design. If you’d like you can view the board here.
My other exciting news from this month is that I created a piece for a gallery for the very first time. The organizers reached out to me a couple months ago and asked if I wanted to contribute to Tossed Palettes & Scrambled JPEGS— A Frasier Art Show, and I immediately agreed. I wanted to create a traditional piece, which I don’t do a ton of these days and it caused me quite a bit of frustration to the point where I ended up starting over halfway through. But I somehow got it together in time for the show, and from May 16th-19th it hung in Exhibit A Gallery in LA.
The piece is 11”x17”, mixed media on illustration board. If I’m remembering correctly the materials used include watercolor, ink, charcoal, colored pencil, and acrylic. Unfortunately it didn’t end up selling at the show, but I’ve discounted it and posted it on Etsy so you can now purchase it from anywhere in the world for $450 + shipping. If you know any Frasier fans or art lovers you would be doing me a huge solid by forwarding them the listing!
Lastly, I’ve started a new sketchbook this month. I don’t like to be too precious with my sketchbooks so I’ve been binding them out of scrap paper. I also make them with very few pages, because I get tired of looking at old art and never finish big sketchbooks anyway. This way there’s less waste and I can look back on it as a little time capsule of what kind of art I was making for those couple months or so.
Summer is always slow for me in terms of client work so I’ll probably be spending time working on my portfolio, sending out feelers for new projects and trying to post more online. If anyone is looking for an illustrator in the next couple months my inbox is open!
Love the sketchbook cover and seeing some of the drawings inside!