Hawaiian Vacation

I'm finally back to working on some new stuff and I'm pretty excited! Here's a little mouse guy I painted tonight. I wish I could just chill out all day just like him.

Sebastian Sunday

I'm not a big fan of Daylight Saving, but hey! who is?! Every time it comes back around, I end up feeling sluggish & lazy for the first week while I adjust. So I'm not doing any work today. Instead, here's what Sebastian is doing today.

Lil Bub

Back in September, I did this little watercolor painting of Lil Bub for the LA Feline Film Festival. It's still available in my shop!

Vegetating

I've been doing some job hunting which has made it really difficult to want to draw anything. I feel like job hunting is like being in limbo; part of you feels really motivated to go to work, but there isn't a job for you to go to yet. It's a lot of time spent looking at job listings and being like "Can I do that?" "Do I want to do that?" Then sending things out and hoping to hear back. I have plenty of things on my to-do list for the print shop, but it's been a challenge to get started.

I have to start thinking about upcoming holidays like Easter and Mother's Day. I'm also waiting for the Designer Con registration to open up. And then there's the bigger things I need to think about like: new products. What new thing am I introducing to the shop this year? What would you like to see in the shop?

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.