Catalog work

I often do sketching for retail companies, such as Target or Kohl's, and my friends ask, "Yes, but what do you DO???"

Well, I sketch! Those circulars, or mini-catalogs that fall out of the back of the Sunday paper, the ones that have all the photos of goodies that you need to buy, SOMEBODY has to do the preliminary sketches of all the products. Otherwise, how would the photographer know what to do or how to photograph all the merchandise that is brought to the photo studio?

Here are some sketches from the kid's toy circulars from previous years. I just love drawing kids and toys, it makes me feel like I am seven years old again!

Birthday Fashionista

Do you know someone who is going to be celebrating a birthday? Here's the illustration that I began a while ago, available as a card from my Etsy online shop here.

Millenium Park

Nothing like getting spit on when it's a hot day in downtown Chicago! I visited my friend Marilyn over the weekend, and we toured Millenium Park, complete with this fun and popular wading pool. The rotating projected images are of the citizens of Chicago, and they are not static images..every so many minutes, they blink their eyes, or purse their lips and spit a fountain of cool water over the delighted kids.

Lorraine Fox

I am fascinated with the mid-century fashion illustrators, and Lorraine Fox is one of my favorites. She was one of very few women in a male dominated field, and she was very bold and experimental in her approach to illustration. When I look at this illustration from a Women's Day magazine dated October 1956, her figures look as if they could have been illustrated today, especially the older couple standing at the top. You can click on the image to see a larger version.

Adoring cat

Here's a little detail of an illustration I will soon post, an adoring cat. As a former cat owner, I can agree with that old saying, "Dogs have owners, cats have staff."

July Birthdays

I have so many friends that have birthdays in July - including me! Here's a page from my sketchbook, a future Fashionista birthday girl. I'll post the finished version, when I finish it! Rembrandt and I were born on the same day in July, a trivial fact that I relish. Who do you share a birthday with?

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY - Gesture

Whatever happened to that nice gesture of tipping hats to the ladies? It probably went the way of the dinosaurs when the gents stopped wearing hats and the ladies stopped wearing white gloves.

This is from a pattern design I created for Sleepyheads.com.

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY - Stay

I'm just going to the store. I'll be right back. Really. STAY!!!!

Retro Summertime

Summer is here and the living is....HOT! I thought I'd share some illustrations from a past fabric design in which the motif was fifties fashion. There is really nothing new under the sun..... these vintage style swim suits are popping up in current fashion catalogs, which just goes to show ya, what's old is new again!

Oh my, it's been SO long since I've posted - I'm working on a project that I'll add to my blog in a bit. But for now, I thought I'd share some sketches for an upcoming children's book about a little Pomeranian who has a love of Opera. It's odd, but this is the second project in 4 months with the theme of the Opera. (here's a look at the other.) Maybe that's because my great-grandmother was a Parisian opera singer, and I'm carrying on the legacy. If I can't sing in the Opera, at least I can illustrate it!

New Cover Illustration

I was fortunate to work again with Janna Netland-Lover of Local Design Group on the May cover of Minnesota Medicine Magazine. The theme for this issue's cover was the subject of organ transplants. Organ transplants are now able to be used on a much wider base of the population for a wider variety of situations than in the past. Janna envisioned an illustration of silhouettes and organs - so I got out my trusty Wacom pen tool and tablet, and away I went.

First I sent her the following three sketches, using the magazines template to position the elements to work with the type and label.


Version One: Patterned background, organs, which are illustrated in pen & ink style are highlighted in rectangular solid shapes.


Version Two: Plain painterly background, organs depicted in realistic medical illustration style, no backgrounds to highlight them.


Version Three: Another painterly background, but in warm colors, and organs are highlighted by rectangles.

Janna chose the patterned background, but preferred the organs without highlighting shapes behind them. So I went to work on tweaking the figures, completely changing a few, and here's how they came out:






I'll post the finished cover tomorrow.

Happy Earth Day, Happy Spring!

First a howling blizzard woke us,
Then the rain came down to soak us,
And now before the eye can focus -
Crocus.
-Lilja Rogers

LET'S GIVE A BIG HAND FOR SPRING!

Illustration Friday - "Bottled"

Nothing says "Happy Birthday" like a bottle rocket shooting out of the cake!

Monday Morning Men

Now the question is, are they running to work, or away from work? This is a doodle from my sketchbook.

Workout Miss

Every spring I make the same horrible discovery - I CAN'T FIT INTO MY CLOTHES! Every spring I say, "How did this happen?" I'm sure my clothes shrank from too many washings over the winter (roll the eyes), but I guess it wouldn't hurt to ramp up the exercise regime.

Paper Dolls

I loved paper dolls as a kid, so it was really fun to do a grown up version while creating concepts in an ad agency. The art director needed different outfits to present to his client, and this was the barbecue outfit. The final version, which I don't have, was in full color.

Sketches for the Retro Fair

Here's a sketchbook page for another fabric pattern. The theme was that of a country fair with the roller coaster, big slides, cotton candy, fortune teller and "Guess your Weight" scale. Sometimes the sketches have a loose lively look to them that compensates for the lack of color.

Farmer's Breakfast Print

This was a fun novelty pattern to make for fabric, entitled "Farmer's Breakfast". I don't know what I like painting more, animals or food. Both are so comforting!

Retro Gloves & Purse

Why wait until you are crowned Queen of Everything to to put on your long white gloves? You will need them to carry around your cute little beaded purse when you go to pick up your dog from the groomers, etc.

Illustration Friday - "Stir"

Oh, those 50's ladies, they could bake a cake in pearls and high heels!