IF- Twirl & my life defining moment!

"Twirl my bubbling, boiling brew!"

2012 Graphite, watercolor and digital paint.

I have hit one of those defining moments in my life. After I graduated last year, I contacted some art representatives and several of my favorite artists to get feedback on my portfolio. They had a lot of good things to say, but also pointed out specific concerns that afterward greatly bothered me. From that point on, I set out to resolve their concerns, and my own.

Which leads us to my new illustration in this post! The last few weeks I've given you a glimpse of my recent experiments, and I feel at this point I now have a process that is quick, easy, fun, organic, and professional (and I feel I resolved everyone's concerns, including my own). I completed this illustration in under a week (3-5 days) so I anticipate starting a new portfolio from scratch with this illustration as my cornerstone.

Just as a matter of business I will be very busy in February. First of all my brother requested that I make a cake topper for his wedding in February...and second of all I am a participant of the 2012 Picture Book Marthon (link). The last time I created a cake topper it took me a month straight, working ONLY on it. The picture book marathon requires that I create a new book idea every day in February, or at least so that I end up with 26. The majority of the entrants are writers, but since I'm an illustrator I just need to create a rough draft of what the cover might look like (introducing the characters, settings, etc), but balancing that, starting a new portfolio, and completing the cake topper...should be interesting.