Bookplate Design

So I'm going to begin moving my services and business more toward graphic design, primarily for advertising...so business cards, letterhead, brochures, flyers, mailers, that kind of thing. It's like a repackaging of myself. That being said, I need to create some examples of this stuff, and here's my first shot at something, a bookplate! :-D. Bookplates can be really complex or really simple, so I went for the more simple approach, with some vintagey finishes and colors. Bookplates are normally black and white, but why not make some fun stuff in color? The nice thing about this little morning project, too, is that it is all vectors, so it's doing double-duty as an example on my website and also a stock illustration on my vector site. It's all about building that portfolio, right? :-D

Quincineras

This weekend I attended a Qincineras and it was awesome.

Why I Love My Job...

Gathering reference and having fun at the same time! I visited the Northern California Renaissance Faire this past weekend (AKA Casa de Renfaire), and guested with St. Bride's, a guild who had commissioned me to paint the guildleader's wife and prettylittle baby.

For the first time this faire season I got to walk around, shop, and enjoy the faire. I actually bought stuff, which is a rare occurance for me, but I was so enchanted with the totally different things that this faire had to offer that you just don't see at the others.

I also got to chat with the Knights of Avalon, and look through their photographer's proofbooks and pick out beautiful photographs to work up their paintings from. I also took some of my own, and was all set to actually get to go out on the field o' battle with them to shoot reference, but the proofs I looked at were way better than anything I could have shot, so I ended up staying off the stomping grounds, though now I'm sortof wishing I'd had that experience of being on the field with five knights :-).

All in all, a really nice day, and I even got to wear a new dress, tee hee :-).

And who can argue with this guy? I mean, really!

A Little Painty Painty

Just a practice painting. I didn't use my usual oil-painting brush on this one, just a round brush with pressure sensitivity. It's all about the lamp...that lamp gives it some kind of impressionist feel...but it's too overworked to be impressionist. I should work on that....