Interview with Cut Out + Keep

I recently did this guest art piece for Cut Out + Keep's Superhero Sunday. You can read the full interview here.

Yiynova Test Drive

Kevin's co-worker recently bought himself a Wacom Cintiq Companion so he let us borrow his 19in Yiynova. For those of you who haven’t heard of it, Yiynova is one of the most popular alternatives to a Wacom Cintiq (drawing tablet monitor). It costs a fraction of the price at just under $600 vs. $1800 for a Cintiq. I did this quick little doodle of my cat, and I like it so far. I’m just too used to drawing on the actual surface of whatever I’m working on, so I’ve struggled with using an Intuos. I think having one of these could definitely improve my workflow too. Now I just have to save up some money for one!

Retiring My Knitting Needles

I've been thinking about this for sometime now and I've decided to make a decision: the Quiet Tiger knit shop is closing. There isn't a definite date as to when it's closing, but I'm currently trying to get rid of as much yarn as possible. Everything is currently on sale without the need of a coupon code and I'll be listing a bunch of one-of-a-kind items soon.

I came to this decision because the constant knitting is taking a toll on my hands…and I'm not even 30 yet! And being a designer & illustrator by profession, I need to keep my hands intact. I've also been doing this knitting thing for nine years and it's gotten to the point where I don't enjoy it at all anymore. I just feel ready to move on to something else.

Thanks to everyone for the support over the years. I couldn't have done it without you! If there's anything you've always wanted me to make for you, now's the time to ask!

Please update your links!

Hey Peeps,

This year, I'm working on a lot of what I refer to as "restructuring". I'm reorganizing and re-prioritizing all my side projects and social media outlets. In some ways, I'm also rebranding myself as part of a change in the direction of my career. This blog isn't going anywhere, it's staying right here. But I just deactivated my custom domain, so please update your links to: http://nelliele.blogspot.com

Also, if you want more spur of the moment/work-in-progress type posts, please visit my Tumblr.

Practice, Practice, Practice

This week, I've been focusing on getting better at painting in Photoshop. I have a degree in graphic design, but I mostly worked with making illustrations out of shapes…never actually painting freehand digitally. I've been wanting to get better at painting digitally for a while. The biggest hurdle for me has mostly been getting used to drawing with a Wacom tablet. My hands haven't quite gotten used to the sorta disconnect that comes with trying to coordinate what your hands are doing on with tablet with what's happening on the screen. But this is on my list of goals for 2015 and I'm determined to get better at it. I believe that if I can nail this, my workflow would be so much more efficient and the actual work may even get better. So here are a few things I doodled from the past couple of days.

New Stuff in the Shop this Week!

I recently added a few pieces of original art to the shop.

FREE SHIPPING for the Holidays

Get free shipping on all orders of $5 or more with code: FREESHIP14
Perfect for any last minute Christmas gifts, offer valid until December 21st. But order before December 18th if you want it before Christmas! Head over to the shop!

The Best Thing I Ate: République

On Sunday, I finally got a chance to try République after weeks of seeing everyone's gorgeous photos on Instagram. And I can honestly say, the food tastes just as amazing as it looks.

Behold the Croque Madame, which is a Croque Monsieur with an egg on top. To some, a Croque Monsieur is just a glorified grilled ham & cheese sandwich. But I would argue that when it's done right, it's so much more. Being a lover of sandwiches, I'll order a Croque Monsieur or Croque Madame every chance I get. Luckily, in LA I've been able to get one at a handful of places.

Croque Madame

At République, the Croque Madame is served open-faced. The bread, perfect with crunchy crust and soft, chewy insides. The ham was something from another world. It was thinly sliced with an almost shredded appearance. It was tender and had the right balance of flavor. I never thought I could ever describe ham as being "melt-in-your-mouth". Prior to this experience, I associated ham with being tough and briny. Now I just want to hunt down that ham and make all sorts of sandwiches with it!

I love black sesame things and I think there's never enough goodies being made with black sesame. Like black sesame ice cream—YUM! But not a lot of places make/serve it. So when I saw a black sesame croissant, I HAD to have it! I couldn't even wait until after I took the photo to take a bite out of it.

Black Sesame Croissant

République had plenty more delicious pastries where that came from, but silly me; I was too in awe to bother to take a photo of their pastry case. And that's what second trips are for! I was hanging out with Keiko of Small Adventure, and she let me have a bite of her canelé and it was perfection. I have a feeling I'll be making another trip there soon, and this time I'll take a tip from Keiko and take home a whole box of pastries for myself!

Skipping Along

I released a new print this week & it's now in the shop!

This skipping CD player is for the upcoming 90s Nostalgia show hosted by A Little Known Shop. I will have a table at the event along with some great local artists. I hope to see you there!

In other news, I think I'm going to be shifting the focus of this blog to be more about my personal life and everyday things. For all art/work related things, please check out my Tumblr.

More Mini Paintings!

I've been adding some original mini paintings to the shop. The best thing about them is since they're small, they're also really affordable at $20 each. Here are the two in the shop right now. More are being added every week. Check them out in the shop!