Some Organizing

One of my goals for this month is to do some studio/office organizing.  And happily it seems I am not alone!  A bunch of people have mentioned on their blogs or goal lists similar desires for a more sparkly work space.  Here are some of the posts I’ve been looking at for both inspiration and commiseration. hah.

• Over at Mint, Ellie and her friend Margot, from Pitch, have begun a series about starting to work from home.  I’ve been working at home for years, but am sorry to say I still find myself falling into the “why-bother-getting-dressed?” and “my-house-is-a-perpetual-mess” pitfalls that often accompany having a home office.  So it’s always good to hear other’s comparable stories and tips for coping.  Find their Howdy Do It posts every Monday at Mint and Pitch.

• When starting to organize my office, I found this post from Uniform Studio chock full of helpful bits.

• If you need some inspiration look no further than Lovely Design’s studio tours– old and new!  Not only does every item seem to have its place, but the colors!  Really gorgeous.

• There’s also the Modish Flickr Pool– Handmade Spaces.  Always fun to troll through…

In related news, both my site and blog got a bit of dusting off these last couple of days.  See the newly organized sidebar to the left!  The portfolio and the homepage menu have been updated, and I decided to add in some pencil sketches from upcoming projects.  (Remember the image above from it’s pencil sketch posted a bit ago?)  Let me know what you think of the new work.

My physical workspace may still be a bit of a mess, but now my digital (er, virtual?) one isn’t!

Oh Leia, My Halloween Girl Crush

Are you a costume person?  Do you have your Halloween outfit all picked out and ready to go?  Over the last few years I haven’t done much dressing up.  But this year I feel inspired.

I threw out a bunch of ideas because they were too expensive, or too cold, or too involved, but then hit upon one that involves all the magic elements: layers for warmth, boots, a belt, and braids:  Princess Leia, a la Return of the Jedi.  Think more tie dyed ponchos and less metallic bikinis:

My all time favorite outfit of hers is the white snowsuit, with the vest, the gloves and the crazy blue boots in the Empire Strikes Back.

I think she’s in that jumpsuit (ahem, spacesuit?) almost the whole movie…

Anyhow doing some research for the fast approaching holiday I came across all these gorgeous Carrie Fisher as Leia photos.

This one is my favorite:

You’re welcome.

All photos from The Padawan’s Guide to Star Wars Costumes.

Marketing is Fun!

I’m making  alright head way on my to-do list for the month.  I’ve started work on my fall mailer,  have made a list of items to bring to the workshop, organizing the office/studio has begun, and changes to my site are underway.  Yay!  Anyhow one of the items on my list for September was to list reasons “why marketing is fun.”  –Because more than half the time I forget that.  So here’s my list.  Any additions would be most appreciated!

1.  An excuse to do some drawings just for me.  Well, for a mailer.  But the client is basically me.

2. Holding my work in postcard form is pretty fun.

3.  Adding to my list of prospective clients can be exciting.  Just imagine all the cool potential projects possibly now headed my way.

4.  Even weeding through my mailing list can be rewarding if I think about it in terms of getting clearer about what kind of people/companies I want to work for.  Aim high.

5.  As the holidays are fast approaching, it will be nice to send out a little something extra to the people you really really want to impress.  I have a few idea rolling around, and this is a good excuse to actually make them happen.

6.  Making a list of blogs to contact is fun– hello you get to look through blogs and feel like you’re actually doing something, as opposed to frittering away time.

7.  Contacting, or really, hearing back from bloggers is wonderful.  Making new friends…

8.  Every new sale, blog write-up, and new client is a cause for a celebration.  Which probably means a yummy dinner in my case.

Basically it seems like marketing is fun if you think of it in terms of goals.  It’s an opportunity to continually be checking in and honing both your long and short term goals.  If you can do it with your eyes open, instead of squeezed shut just trying to get through it, ahem, it’s a process that can keep you on track.

Any thoughts on this?  How do you make it fun or rewarding?

PS. The above photo is how I spent my weekend: rowing in the Head of the Charles Regatta!  That’s me, fourth from the back.  Click on the photo if you’d like to see more.

Ezra Jack Keats Tribute in NYC

Are you going to be in New York October 24th?  If so get your tickets to see Symphony Space’s Just Kidding tribute to Ezra Jack Keats.  – The creator of some of my favorite children’s books.  There are going to be live readings, projections of his illustrations, and even some Keats inspired music!

And Time Out New York Kids is giving away two family packs of tickets!  Click here by October 20th to enter to win.

Congratulations!

I meant to say this yesterday, but a huge CONGRATULATIONS to June, and her team, for completing the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer this past weekend!   They walked 26.2 miles on Saturday, and 13.1 miles more on Sunday!  –The 4000 participants raised over 9.5 million dollars, making it the largest Avon walk of the year!

We are so proud of you guys.  And most grateful for all your hard work for such a good cause!

If you’d like, you can still donate money here.

Edit:  I just noticed Etsy’s blog, The Storque, has a post listing Etsy sellers who are donating a portion, or all, of their sales to breast cancer awareness organizations.  Check it out.

Pikaland: “Good To Know” issue #5

Pikaland is a blog about all things illustration and, not surprisingly, it’s one of my favorites.  It’s founder Amy says:

Pikaland is a blog about living the illustrated life — an art and illustration blog that’s a collection of beautiful things and inspirations that I stumble upon on the internet that’s made/designed by illustrators and artists, and is updated almost daily.

She also organizes the PikaPackage project (a fun promo and marketing tool containing a bundle of prints, limited editions and other goodies from artists and illustrators, that’s for sale seasonally,) and the Good to Know project— “a zine filled with advice + inspiration from illustrators, artists and designers.”

Right now the 5th issue of Good to Know is available in print and in download form, and explores the topic of Art School:  ”Do you think that artists need to have degrees/qualifications from art school in order to be one? Did you study art? Does it matter?”

Always helpful and gorgeous to boot, get yours here!

Ooh almost forgot the giveaway: ” 2 random winners will win a copy of the zine when they leave a comment at the blog.”

Moleskine Exchange 2

Some images from the Moleskine Exchange, week 2:

I’ve been musing about doing a portrait series of houses in my neighborhood.   The area is called The Armory because its adjacent to what used to be a huge armory built in the early 1900s, complete with ten acres of “marching grounds”– now a park.

The houses surrounding it are mostly incredible “3 family” victorians.

Anyhow I started playing around with that idea here…  ( Above you can see a bit of Nicole’s star on the left side…I should have taken pictures of the other images in the book.  Darn.)

Though I should note these houses aren’t in my neighborhood, just random ones.

“To be a country or a city mouse…”

Ah yes.  My eternal dilemma.

Lemon Cucumbers and Wise Words

I was reading the blog over at Lilla Rogers Studio (–an amazing illustration agency, whose roster of artists is truly impressive and always inspirational, and of course I would die to be among them, but I’m getting off subject–) and I came across this post about Lisa Congdon’s  promo card.  This sentence caught my eye:

 Here’s how it works: really good artists have lots of styles and media because they have so much talent and a delicious greed to try everything. Then, over time, the styles often morph together to become one’s own distinctive style.

That’s a breath of fresh air to me.  I feel like I definitely have those tendencies–ooh look at that, let’s try this… but as I read the post I realized I  tend to reign in my experimenting.  Like I’m getting off topic.  Or my because style isn’t cohesive enough.  This is a good reminder that experimenting is a good thing.  And that styles are evolving creatures.  And that at some point, I guess when it’s supposed to, it will all come together.  

Coming from an animation world, where you’re supposed to be able to draw anything in whatever style they throw at you, its been particularly confusing for me to find my own one style.  I feel like I’m coming into it, but it can be a little scary.  Anyhow, thank you Ms Rogers for the encouragement.

Monday Goodie

Packaging

I’m finishing up getting some packaging already for a new{ish} project.  I’ve been working hard on coming up with something that is sourced from local materials, biodegradable or recycled, is easy for me to work with, is cost effective, can function for both online as well as in brick and mortar stores, and of course looks really great and describes the item well AND appeals to potential customers.  

Phew.  Its a lot to think about. And to balance. 

But what should I find today but an article on all this over at Mint!  Ellie interviews 3 different business owners about their packaging.  ”All three take packaging seriously, putting extra effort into making the outside look as pretty as the inside.”  Thanks for another wonderful and timely article! Go check it out.

ps. the package above held the invitation for my friend’s wedding this past April.