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!

Here’s how I did on my October Goals:

1. Fall mailer. ERgh.  I worked on one for weeks, before deciding it just wasn’t right.  So I’ve decided to just make a holiday/winter one and send it out late November.
2. Make list of items to bring to the book workshop.
3. Three new kid illustrations for site.
4. Update site– add in new work, do new homepage. Adding in the new work today!
5. Make list of children’s publishers to contact.
6. Get a wholesale account for Magnetic Kids. Still working on it.
7. Work on organizing my office/studio.

And now for November!

1. Finish and mail out holiday mailer.

2.  Get everything ready for the workshop.  This is a big one, and it all has to happen this week.  Yikes.

3. Set up a time to organize and clean up my studio every day.  I think if I do this on a daily basis the clutter will be more manageable.  Seems like a good habit to get into.

4. Continue looking for a wholesale account for Magnetic Kids.

5. Contact publishers with new work.

6.  After the workshop, make a plan of action based on what I learned there.  Hopefully I’ll make some good connections!

7. Sign up for the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators Conference in New York.

8.  Participate in illustration online communities more.  I realized the other day that the great majority of the blogs I read have to do with cooking, fashion, or crafting.  They are super pretty and fun to look at, but I’m not taking advantage of the whole illustration community out there.

9. Organize and make special holiday gifts for clients.

10. Make a list of things to do during our week in Vermont!

It’s my first magazine cover!:

I actually didn’t realize those little guys we’re going to be on the cover, so it was a nice surprise! (I drew the birds, bees and flowers.)  Plus I have this full page illustration on the inside:

Quite fitting as I was a nanny myself for years.  Oh how I miss those girls in Brooklyn!

Thanks Time Out New York Kids!  What a fun job…

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.

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.

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.

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.

Alrighty, just a little late, ahem.

1. Fall mailer. Probably Thanksgiving themed, as I pretty much missed Halloween. Darn.
2. Make list of items to bring to the book workshop.
3. Three new kid illustrations for site.
4. Update site– add in new work, do new homepage.
5. Make list of children’s publishers to contact.
6. Get a wholesale account for Magnetic Kids.
7. Work on organizing my office/studio.

That should keep me busy!

The sketch above is from some more work I did for Time Out NY Kids.   They wanted the birds to almost look Disney-esque…

PS. Canine family member update: We are meeting a pup this weekend. I think. Very exciting!

So at first glance my goals for September didn’t go so well.  But I think it was more of a matter of changing priorities and focus, as opposed to slacking off. I’m ok with that.

1.  Make a list of all the reasons marketing is fun. I made a list.  I should post it here so you guys can add to it.

2. Finish drawing Fall Mailer and send it off to get printed. Ergh.  This one did fall by the wayside and now I’m seriously behind.  Not good.

3.  Get a wholesale account for Magnetic Kids. Still working on it.

4.  Make a list of blogs, and then contact 3 each week for both Magnetic Kids, and Other Such Things shop. This felt like to much to bite off in the end.  I did make a list, but contacting three a week is too much for me right now.

5. Be brave and buy an expensive printer.  It will be worth it. Nope.

6.  Use said printer and put some prints in Other Such Things!  Nope.

7.  Make a letter mobile.  Or two. List in Other Such Things shop.  Nope.

8.  Research holiday guides. I did a bit of research.

9.  Go. to. the. beach. Yes and it was lovely!

10.  Get a dog.  yup, I dare me. We are working on it!

10. Think about updating portfolio site. Have some more changes to make, but did make some serious headway on this one.

Anyhow I’ve decided to really focus on pursuing children’s illustration.  So I’m going to work on my networking skills to get some advice.  I want to start contacting book publishers as well as magazines.  I’m hoping the book workshop will be helpful will all of this.

I think this means not selling prints for right now.  Maybe I’ll change my mind, but it seems like too much at the moment.  So that fancy new printer will have to wait.  Sad.

But it does mean updating my site with new kid’s work. I’ve been working on a few new pieces, and I just finished up an illustration for Time Out NY Kids.  Exciting!  And perfect timing.

Btw, the photo above is a plaque on a historic house in Wickford, RI.   I love the colors and the little icon above the name.  Providence doesn’t have any icons on it’s historic plaques…

Drawing has been so fun lately.  Sometimes it feels very hard, but this little lady was such a breeze.

Now I’m working on coloring.

Yum.