Revisiting Old Drawings & Working on New Stuff

A few months ago, I got really into drawing food with colored pencils. It's a really fun process for me and I've always been much stronger with dry media than wet (i.e. paint). Lately, I've been working on sorta figuring out my drawing style. It had been a really long time since I just drew what I like. So naturally, when I started drawing again, a lot of my stuff looked a little bit like the artists I admire. And I was obsessing too much about how I was drawing and what I was drawing. Being in the graphic design world for a little too long, I had forgotten what it's like to work loosely. 

Once I got back into the groove of things, I realized that the food I had drawn a few months earlier don't really fit the style of my work. They mostly looked like studies that you were draw for a drawing class. So I revisited them and found that all they really needed were faces. 

This week I had a breakthrough in how I draw people. For a while, I was obsessing over the texture of hair. Don't get me wrong, when I really focus I'm pretty darn good at drawing hair! But what I found was in my attempt to give hair shape, I was making it look really flat. So I thought, "If it's going to look flat anyways, I might as well make it a whole shape!" That then opened up my mind to the possibility of infinite shapes for hair. Everything from something natural to something that looks like it's from another dimension (or a dream!)

Something else I ended up liking from just playing around: working with just two colors. What I like about working this way is it's a constraint that makes me have to figure out how to make something work. So after a drew a few heads, I challenged myself to figure out how to make this work with a body.

As you can see, I'm slowing working my way up to doing full figure drawings and eventually whole scenes. This is also my way of prepping myself for the Art Walk I'm participating in next month at The Community in Anaheim. I'll be doing live drawing during the event.

Thanks for following along! I'll be posting more works in progress soon!

Changes

I've been talking about this for quite some time now, and at the end of this year it's going happen. On January 1st, 2015 I'm going to shut down my Etsy shop. That doesn't mean I'm going to stop knitting just yet. It just means the shop is moving off Etsy. I'm tired of a lot of the changes Etsy's been making to the site and also (as I mentioned before) their fees. Last December, my Etsy bill was nearly $300 for the month. And most months, my bill ranges from $20-60 depending on how much I sell. That's a pretty hefty chunk of money that could've been used to grow my business or pay bills. I only pay Big Cartel a flat rate of $9.95/month regardless of how much I sell. Since being featured by Frankie, I've been getting a decent number of orders through Big Cartel. That gave me the confidence I needed to grow my business without Etsy. Starting bookmarking it now, because soon the knits will only be available HERE.

Knitting isn't the only thing I'm doing for a living; I've been trying to focus on my illustration career. When I'm not knitting, I'm drawing. It's a much scarier path than graphic design, but it's so much more satisfying to me. I love the challenge & excitement of the unknown. I'm currently trying to work on new pieces and prints to get ready for Renegade Craft's Winter Shows. The application period starts in September and it's only open for a week this year. So I really got to get it together! In the meantime, you can see what's currently available HERE.

Kevin and I decided to skip the Summer shows this year because it's too much work & stress on me for very little profit. Every year, he has to go to Comic Con for work so it leaves me working alone on the Summer shows. It's just too much work on one person. So we've been changing up the shows we do as well as researching some smaller ones to try. I'll be participating in the July Art Walk at The Community in Anaheim. (more about that later). In a couple months, I'll announce the Holiday show schedule so you know where you can find me at a show near you! Til next time!

New One-Offs

I've been working on some small one-off items to keep my hands working while I think up some new stuff for the shop. A while back I found a pack of 50 cards & envelopes at Big Lots. The price was so cheap I couldn't pass it up. I've been thinking of what I could do with them ever since. The quality of the cards are standard card stock, but the envelopes are definitely on the thinner side. Since I'm sorta in a lull right now, I thought the cards would be great for quick little one-of-a-kind cards. These are hand-drawn with colored pencils and are one-of-a-kind, never to be reproduced. These are the two that were released this past week, but more are on the way! You can find them in the shop!

Happy Apple Card

Pizza Face Card

My Life is Kinda Complete

Last week, I was featured in the fashion section of Frankie Magazine's blog.  I was super excited and extremely honored to be featured by them. They're my favorite art & lifestyle magazine from Australia. It's currently Autumn there, so my hats are perfect for the weather.

For the past couple of years, my friend Janie from Janie XY would joke that I'm famous in Australia because I get a good amount of orders from down under. Well, now I am actually kinda famous in Australia! I'm also super stoked about this because in the past, Frankie has featured quite a few of my friends. So at the start of 2014, one of my goals was to eventually make it into Frankie. Although, I didn't get published in the actual magazine, this is pretty darn close!

You can check out the feature here.

NEW Goodies in the Shop!

I've been working on some new items for summer. Here's what's new and currently available. More are on the way!

Get them here!

Doggie Wonderland

Join me this Saturday May 10th at Doggie Wonderland: An Art Benefit for Ken-Mar Rescue, presented by Leanna Lin's Wonderland & Supahcute.

Doggie Wonderland “Fun Adventures with Your Best Friend” is a “cash and carry” show with artwork and products all priced at $100 and lower. The show will open with a reception at Leanna Lin’s Wonderland on Saturday, May 10 (6-10pm). All proceeds from this group art exhibition and benefit will be donated to Ken-Mar Rescue, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit small dog rescue.

You can also check out the facebook event page for more info.

Donating Artists and Designers:

Adrianna Bamber / Allison Koberstein / Allison Revilla / Angela Song / Ann Shen / Andrea Kang / Audrey Miller / Atiliay / Aurora Lady / Azul Piñeiro / Bored Inc. / Bubi Au Yeung / Bunny (Pamela Barbieri) / Camilo Bejarano / catmandru! / CJ Metzger / Clara Grisanegra / Coney / Crowded Teeth / Cuddly Rigor Mortis / Doubleparlour / Em & Sprout / Emma Goo / Enkyskulls / Erica Sirotich / Eva Sowinski / Flat Bonnie / Genevieve Santos / Goreilla + Moemoe / Greg Ham / Jackie Williams / Jaclyn Ashley (Shlii) / Jared Andrew Schorr / Jenipher Lyn / Jeremiah Ketner / Jerrod Maruyama / Joey Chou / Kevin Chan / Kelley Frisby / Kristen “Hapa” Lau / Laura Berger / Luli Bunny / Lisa Aileen Dragani / Liz Adams / Locketship / Marie Dolphin / Michael Fleming / My Zoetrope / Natalie Naito / Nellie Le / Nicole Piar / Oscar Rosales / Orbital Ox / Oubly / Raymond Sanchez / Rhodora Jacob / Sharodactyl / Simone Listiak / Teddy Bear Republic / This Paper Ship / Unicorn Crafts / Vanessa Ramirez / Varinya Nunez / Vitamin Cats / Yumiko Kayukawa / Yummy Pancake + more!

Here's a sneak peek at the piece I contributed to the show:

Dog Meets Dog

Weekly Want: Yelapita Polka Dot Bag by Scout & Catalogue

Like most women, I'm obsessed with handbags. I've been a fan of Scout & Catalogue for a couple years now and own one of their denim galaxy clutches. But with their recent collection, they're expanding upon their leather offerings that we got a taste of last season. What I love most about their leather collection is there's an understated cool about it that I absolutely love. I've been into smaller bags lately as a way to force myself to only carry the essentials. When I was carrying a tote bag (or a larger purse), I had this bad habit of carrying two cameras, a sketchbook, art supplies…it just got way out of hand. Now I only carry those things with me when I'm *really* doing work. This bag is just the right size to carry a wallet, phone, keys…the only things I really need. And what I also love about it is the strap is detachable so it can be carried like a clutch, although the straps are so beautiful I would part with them for a second.

*image from Scout & Catalogue

Available from Scout & Catalogue for $180

Recap: LA Cake Club April Meetup

This past Saturday, I went to my first ever LA Cake Club at littlemeatsLA. LA Cake Club is a monthly meetup started by my gal pal, Sara Tso of Matchbox Kitchen, where a bunch of dessert lovers get together and just eat a bunch of deliciousness. The only criteria for attending is that you must bring a homemade dessert (no store-bought here!). For me, it was a super fun reason to try out new recipes.

Kevin's mom recently bought a puff pancake pan from her coworker for a fundraiser, so I took this as an opportunity to put it to work. I found this recipe for ebleskivers (Danish puff pancakes) with lingonberry jam from Serious Eats that totally did the trick.

Everything looked so good that this little dude wanted to join us.

Licorice

This tres leches cake showed up late and I knew I was in trouble. I LOVE TRES LECHES!!! I went back for multiple servings and took quite a bit of it home.

Loquat Cake

A few more cakes at shown up but I was too busy stuffing my face to continue taking photos. I had lots of fun and I'm looking forward to next month's meetup.

Weekly Want: Tiger Scarf by Leah Goren

A little over two weeks ago, Leah Goren announced her new Fall/Winter 2014 scarf collection and it's absolutely gorgeous! There's six different beautifully illustrated scarves to choose from, so there's bound to be one for everyone! Of course, being a tiger lover, I naturally want the Tiger Scarf.

image from Leah Goren

The entire collection is currently available for pre-order (with early September delivery) in her shop.

Lady in the Water

I've just been drawing a lot, trying to create some new work. It's been very challenging for me to just get past the sketching phase and commit to an actual piece. I think a lot of it for me is the fear of failure and the other part is just feeling completely out of practice. It's been a really long time since I've drawn for "art" if that makes any sense. I usually just sketch out ideas for client work, then most of a project will be done and finished on a computer. It's been a very long time since I've created work with analog media. And although I have a digital drawing tablet and a great set of Photoshop preset brushes, I still prefer to work with the physical materials. For me, they're much easier to control but I know for others it's just much faster, easier, and less messy. 

So I honestly don't know where all this is going yet, but you'll just have to keep following along to see where it goes.