Global Talent Search 2015

I am currently taking part in the Global Talent Search 2015 by Lilla Rogers’ Studio and recently found out that I was selected as one of the 50 artists to make it to the 2nd round of the competition! I am so happy and honored to be included in this group of amazingly talented artists and illustrators. Check out the entries that made it into the top 50 by clicking here. Below is mine.

For the first assignment we were asked to create a pattern design for a pair(s) of sneakers for a fictional young woman named Antoinette. We were given an outline that fleshed out who Antoinette was, including an introduction to her neighborhood, job and a day in her life to use as a guideline to help us come up with our design/illustration. We had 2 weeks to complete the assignment which gave me time to do plenty of research and sketching. I knew that I was going to create at least 2 shoe designs and that 1 would be a floral pattern. I had a lot of fun taking photographs of all the lovely flowers in full bloom near the tennis court where I meet for a weekly drill. To create the pattern I brought my sketches into Adobe Illustrator and created the shapes that I then exported into Photoshop to paint them. I am still getting a feel for pattern making and spent hours developing a pattern out of all my painted flower shapes. I loved everything about the experience and was over the moon when I found out that I had made it into the top 50. I am now busy working on my 2nd round assignment. Wish me luck! :)

Make Art That Sells Home Decor Course

I recently completed a new course offered by the Lilla Rogers Studio School designed for the Home Decor market called Creating Collections for Home Décor. It was team taught by top art agent Lilla Rogers & Margo Tantau the Creative Director @ Midwest-CBK.

The course was an intensive 5 weeks with one assignment per week using a different substrate to create a comprehensive home decor collection. For each assignment we were asked to create pieces featuring products made from metal, fabric, glass, ceramics and wood/MDF.

I have taken a few of the Make Art that Sells Courses and this course may have been my favorite. Below are the 5 collections that I created.

In creating these collections we were asked to choose a mood board made exclusively for the class as inspiration, in regards to color, texture, lushness etc. I chose the Field Flower board, mainly because I was attracted to the color palette selected for that board. 

As the course developed it became more apparent that the icongraphy overlapped with the previous weeks so that by the final week we had a varied yet cohesive collection.

Although the work load was intense I thoroughly enjoyed the class and was very pleased with the direction that my work took. I realized that I loved to draw and in creating work for this class, I was able to develop a digital painting technique that is probably the most aligned to my aesthetic and drawing style. That was one of the most exciting things that I took away from the class.

In the 5 short weeks, I learned so much about the home decor market and how to present my work and ideas. Thanks to both Lilla and Margo! And to the Facebook community of amazing and talented artists that make the class fun and dynamic and great place to share and learn!  

Could use your vote!

Here is the artwork I entered for Round 2 of the Lilla Roger's Global Talent Search. For the brief we had to create an animal character for a child's tee.

I would really appreciate it if you could vote for my bear and share this link!! Thank you for your time and support. This is an amazing opportunity for me to get a major boost for my illustration career.

Click here to vote: http://lillarogers.com/wp-content/plugins/lilla-rogers-gts/viewimg.php?img_id=2090&post_id=18132

Voting ends Friday.

Submitted

How nerve wracking and exciting at the same time, pressing the SUBMIT button for my round 2 entry to Lilla Rogers Global Talent Search. So many amazing artists and illustrators entered the competition this year and I feeling so thrilled to have made it into the top 50 out of 999 entries. 

I so loved the theme for both this round (which I can’t reveal at this time) and the first round which was "mini terrariums". I have always been intrigued by Secret Gardens, Private Little Worlds and the terrarium theme gave me a chance to visit that childhood intrigue. After researching terrarium jar shapes and materials, I decided that a lone mason jar would take center stage in a nocturnal setting with light hitting a lone orchid and ladybug inside and light reflecting on the outside of the jar would define that intrigue.  

The image was created in Photoshop from a sketch and painted using custom brushes.

This experience has been a wonderful, a wonder to me, just like my memory of the long, hot summer nights growing up in St. Louis MO, catching fireflies.

Highlights from MATS class

Wall Art (limited color palette)

Include Favorite Beverage

Wall Art 

Holiday Card

Bavarian Themed Party Paper

Scrapbooking Page

Editorial (map of the town I live in)

Assignment Bootcamp

I recently enrolled in another class from the fabulous http://lillarogers.com and our first project was to design/illustrate a phone cover based on a Cuckoo Clock theme. I have so enjoyed working on this project from the sketching and concepting stage all the way up to the presentation stage. I got a little carried away and worked up four different images. They all represent me but stylistically are a bit divergent. I feel that the image with the fox and moon probably best represents my style, but I can sometimes get carried away by the process and I never know quite where it might lead me. Not sure if this is good or bad yet.

Here are my covers:

MATS Blog Tour 2013

After too many years of standing still in both my professional and personal life I have recently made the decision to get proactive and make the changes to market my work better and extend myself more to make a difference in my community. In the past, I would have just day dreamed about taking those big steps but now I am acting on those day dreams.

Recently, I have become a BIG SISTER (through the Big Brother and Sister program in my community) to a beautiful 10 year old girl, who is super bright and sooooo creative. A favorite outing for us is to go to the public library, find a fun space and get out our pencils and paper and start to draw. I am so glad I made this connection. I really appreciate how hard this agency works to match up folks and I definitely see a mini me, in my little sister. I hope that my mentoring will make a difference in her life, I know it definitely will in mine.

Creatively, I have made big changes too, after years of freelance work that never fully utilized my illustration and art skills, I decided to make a concentrated effort to market myself better and strengthen my illustration skills as well. 

I feel that I am off to a great start. After reading a friend's FaceBook post spotlighting her friend and amazing artist/illustrator Emily Balsley's journey to making it into the top 6 of the Lilla Rogers Global Talent Search 2013, I was instantly intrigued and had to visit Lilla's website to check things out.  Almost immediately, I signed up for her e-course MAKE ART THAT SELLS (Part A) and I am so-so glad that I did. I have not only gained new insights into current markets and opportunities for the creative entrepreneur but I learned to see and think differently about my art in a much better way. 

A huge bonus to the course is the amazing community of talented creatives, MATS (Part A) alums, that have connected through the course and have stayed connected through the course FaceBook page. We post our success stories, questions regarding projects, creative pursuits and more. It has been so wonderful to find this community, that from day one has been so inspiring and supportive.

Today I am participating in the MATS Blog tour along fellow alumni Andrea van Dalen and Ohn Mar Win.    

Ohn Mar Win

Andrea van Dalen

Check out their blog posts and also check out the Blogs of my other classmates listed in the sidebar to the right. :)

Oh yeah, I just wanted to share my excitement over a recent edition to my backyard, my NEW Studio! It was a long time coming but so worth the wait. I can't wait to set up my work space inside and "Get Crackin".