Renee Rivas

Happy Holidays!!

2011-12-19T22:46:00.000-05:00

Just licked my last Christmas card envelope of the season! Below is this year's card design.

Originally, I had wanted to screenprint the design and use some white ink, but

my lifework got really fine and I ended up running it through my inkjet printer. I still

like these colors though!

Monster Party

2011-09-24T12:18:00.000-04:00

It's been a while since I last posted. I've busy at work learning to be an artist in a corporate setting. However, I still have found some time to do some freelance work. I did this piece for a children's picture book a while back --- can't wait for Halloween!

Cat Pattern Crazy

2011-02-17T01:29:00.000-05:00

Learned a new way of creating patterns today. Thought I would try my hand at some Adobe Illustrator doodling and practice!

Hollywood style

2011-01-10T13:15:00.003-05:00

Trying something a little different. Trading in some pixels for a paintbrush. I combined my line art with some watercolors in a sketch that combines some Hollywood-kid style.

Pep in my step...

2011-01-07T22:16:00.002-05:00

I am not a fan of Winter-- too many layers of clothes plus I always seem to still be cold! But one of the things I look forward to each day is my cup of warm coffee that perks me up and starts my day off right. I did a little doodle of my cup 'o joe de jour, my Trader Joe's brand Peppermint coffee. The kick of peppermint gives me an extra jolt on those cold winter a.m.'s.

Taking a look in the mirror - 2011

2011-01-05T00:16:00.000-05:00

Just did a quick sketch of a young girl as a sample for a potential client. While working, I was thinking about the beginning of 2011. Things are extremely busy right now, and today has turned out to be a very productive day. I hope this trend continues too. I like being busy drawing pictures and developing new designs! I look forward to all the good things to come with this new year!

It's the Elephants' Picnic - Available Now!

2010-12-31T16:21:00.002-05:00

The children's picture book I recently illustrated, It's the Elephants' Picnic by Ronit Elk, has just been published and is now available at the AuthorHouse Bookstore. It's a beautiful story about a young boy, Cyrus, as he gets an up-close view when the circus comes to town and learns about how elephants eat. It will also be available on Amazon.com sometime in the new year.

Here is a sneak peak at a few of the illustrations...

Needless to say, I am very excited to see the book in print!

Blackbird Pie

2010-12-21T21:25:00.000-05:00

May your holidays be merry and bright!

2010-12-17T22:03:00.003-05:00

To all you Zom-boys and Ghouls...

2010-10-30T21:57:00.005-04:00

Candy

2010-10-21T19:41:00.000-04:00

I love the bright colors of candy!

SCBWI wik'10 Conference

2010-10-18T13:14:00.001-04:00

Just got back from the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Southern Breeze chapter's Writing and Illustrating for Kids conference held every year in Birmingham, Alabama. I attended last year, and was so excited about some of the tips and people I met at the last conference, that I was anxiously awaiting this year's event.

Darcy Pattison was the keynote speaker for the event, and she kicked off the day of learning and fun with an inspiration speech about her career in kid lit. One things she mentioned that really stuck with me was "Don't become addicted to mediocrity." This is a tough business, and as an artist (or writer), one has to keep shooting for the stars. I thought she put this very well.

I attended three different workshops at the conference, the first being with illustrator Elizabeth Dulemba, one of my favorite illustrators and one who is always so giving with her knowledge of the biz. She spoke about online marketing, and what she does. "You only have to be one page ahead in the manual to be an expert," she reminded us. Again, she stressed the importance of keeping up with technology and talked about her ideas on promotion and how they have worked for her. I took three pages of notes; my head was spinning when I left!

Kerry Martin from Clarion held the next two workshops I attended. She spoke more about marketing, and what makes good portfolios and promo mailers. There was a pre-conference assignment that most of the illustrators at the conference participated in. The task was to thumbnail the story of the Blue Corn Maiden for a 32-page picture book. We showed and spoke about our work, and Ms. Martin gave us some comments, and also shared some of the projects that Clarion was working on. The above image was a character rendering of the title character that I did also for the workshop.

It was another great conference, and I met a lot of great writers and artists who I hope to keep in touch with! Thanks for SCBWI Southern Breeze for another great event!

Library of the Early Mind

2010-10-17T12:37:00.000-04:00

I just got back from a SCBWI conference, so thought this would be an appropriate find!

"Library of the Early Mind" is a documentary exploring children's literature and featuring interviews with authors and illustrators like Chris Van Allsburg, R.L. Stine, Mo Willems, etc. It doesn't seem to be showing at a lot of venues yet, and all mostly around the New England area. Can we get this in Georgia please?

Tiny Tooth Designs is now on Etsy!

2010-09-26T00:03:00.001-04:00

Order custom Cross Stitch Tooth Fairy Pillows online at:

www.etsy.com/shop/TinyToothDesigns

Tiny Tooth Business Cards

2010-09-14T07:39:00.000-04:00

Just finished these really cute square business cards for Tiny Tooth Designs. The back of the business card features a picture of the products that will soon be in their Etsy store. They are going to be printed 2" square with UV coating on the back. The design used for the front of the business card will also be used as a sticker for bags.

Always in Season!

2010-09-11T23:57:00.000-04:00

Illustrators' Day 2010: Something to Sing About

2010-09-07T15:55:00.000-04:00

On Friday, September 3rd was a workshop I had been looking forward to for a while-- the annual Illustrators' Day in Decatur, GA held at the Decatur Public Library and hosted by the regional chapter of SCBWI, Southern Breeze. I attended last year and got a lot out of the event, but I was really excited to learn that this year's event was extended to include a whole day's worth of activities centered around the craft and business of illustrating for kids!

The event kicked off with a discussion with two amazing, award-winning illustrators, Rick Lovell (a professor of mine at SCAD!) and Bill Mayer. They spoke about their experiences working within the children's book market, tips for navigating freelance business, pros and cons of working with an agent, tips for promotion, and copyright issues. These illustrators have so much experience between them, and every time I hear them speak I gain some new piece of knowledge about the illustration business.

Loraine Joyner, Art Director for Peachtree Publishers, spoke next about the grabbing an Art Director's attention with promotional material. She brought in a flood of mailers she had received over the past month, which ranged from the amazing to the not so amazing. It was interesting to hear about what grabbed her eye. She also gave some suggestions for resources to help develop our craft. Lastly, she went through a manuscript and discussed how an illustrator could interpret text and turn it into intriguing and memorable pictures.

New South Books' Brian Seidman spoke about book cover design and the opportunities for artists within that avenue. They hire both a designer and an illustrator to work on their books. New South had some really outstanding cover illustrations, and it was interesting to hear about the process of how they are developed.

Published illustrator Shandra Stickland, whose new picture book A Place Where Hurricanes Happen was recently released attended the event and reviewed portfolios and spoke a little about her work. Elizabeth Dulemba, organized the event, and also had some great tips about putting together a print portfolio.

Mark Braught was awesome enough to help the first 25 people who signed up for the workshop, and act as an Art Director/mentor while developing an image for the topic "Something to Sing About". This assignment was great fun -- I thoroughly enjoyed playing (and singing along to) my favorite musicals while I worked in the studio. Mark was extremely generous with his time in reviewing my work every step of the way. He had some great tips that I will use when developing my work in the future. Below are some of my developmental sketches that Mark helped me with.

Sketch #2/Color Comp

Sketch #1

Initial thumbnail

Having just finished the art for my first picture book, this was a great event to attend and get me pumped for getting back to producing some new work. All of these illustrators in one place was very inspiring, and it is always wonderful meeting new artists and see their amazing work. It also set a great tone for the Decatur Book Festival the next day! I feel refreshed going forward, and now I can't wait for the Wik '10 conference in Birmingham, AL next month...

The elephants are coming...

2010-08-15T12:18:00.000-04:00

Been kinda quiet these last couple months as I've been working on a picture book entitled It's the Elephant Picnic. I am really close to being done, and looking at the dynamic, colorful pages all together has been very exciting. Can't wait to see it in print!

Tooth poem

2010-08-14T00:34:00.000-04:00

I have been working on this hand lettered poem. It'll be on a card that is going to be die-cut in a tooth shape. It's part of the branding for the company I did the tooth fairy logo for.

PJ and the Queen

2010-07-25T10:28:00.000-04:00

I love to travel. Been doing it mostly through pictures lately... I did this image for a contest last month with the themes of children's book and travel. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Print and Pattern

2010-07-23T10:55:00.001-04:00

My sunglasses pattern was mentioned today on my favorite blog, Print and Pattern! Direct link here.

Tooth Fairy magic

2010-07-19T10:41:00.000-04:00

This is a logo I just finished designing for a client who creates and sells beautifully designed tooth-fairy pillows for kids.

New Patterns! Yippee!

2010-07-08T11:04:00.000-04:00

Just updated my website with new patterns!

Illustration Friday: Slither

2010-06-11T22:25:00.000-04:00

I started this for Illustration Friday last week, but didn't get a chance to finish it until now. Wasn't feeling the topic, so I came up with something goofy to fit what I wanted to draw: something a lil' western.

Society of Illustrators and New York trip 2010

2010-05-13T11:21:00.000-04:00

Just got back from New York this week. Took the trip to celebrate and see my piece in the Society of Illustrators' Student Scholarship Competition. The opening reception to the show was jam packed. Students, professors, industry professionals had all traveled across the country to see the new crop of illustrators joining the field. There were so many incredible pieces on the wall. The competition was tough: out of 6,205 submissions, only 194 were selected for this year’s Exhibition (that's an acceptance rate of 3.12%!). I still can't believe a piece of mine was chosen to be a part of this show; it is truly incredible honor.

The Society of Illustrators is such an incredible place. I had been a few times before, but had never been upstairs, where they have an absolutely amazing art collection on the walls, including a Norman Rockwell painting above a beautiful wooden bar area. I could tell many great illustrators have sat and discussed their craft over a brew. You could feel the history in that room. Made me love the place even more!

The next day, Pat and I set out to enjoy more of the city. Both of us had lived in Manhattan at different points in our life, but neither of us had ever walked on the Brooklyn Bridge until this trip.

We also got rush tickets to a very interesting, interactive show called Fuerza Bruta. I can't explain it very well other to say it's a completely fun, exciting experience, and a very unique take on theater. You'll have to watch the video and see their website. We highly recommend!!

...and no trip to New York is complete without a stop to one of my favorite book stores, Books of Wonder, a children's book store that is so beautiful. Lots of signed books, great author and illustrator events, a gallery of children's book art on display, and a section of rare and antique editions. On this visit I noticed that they even have a great collection of graphic novels-- I spotted Chris Schweitzer's Crogran books!

Pat and I had a great time visiting the Big Apple. Thanks also to wonderful friends, some of whom made trips from various Northern places such as Boston and Philadelphia, to visit with us. I can't tell you how wonderful it was to see and catch up with y'all (southern slang intentional). I miss you!

Now time to get back to drawing! I have to keep working hard so someday I can have another piece at the Society!

I dream of elephants...

2010-04-18T11:54:00.000-04:00

CROSSINGS, my thesis show had a wonderful reception this past Thursday, and I wanted to share photos from the event. It was a lot of fun seeing everyone, and catching up with friends! I was also very happy that my family came into town for the event to see what I have been working on these last couple months.

My family in town from Tampa, FL!

The show featured work from Elephant Picnic, the children's picture book I am illustrating. The book is written by Ronit Elk, and will be published in the Fall by AuthorHouse. Here is a peek at one of the pictures...

Elephant Picnic is Ronit and my second book together. The first was a chapter book entitled A Surprise at Dancing Fields available online here.

The show also featured amazing artwork from Killamari and Fernando Vazquez. Take a look at their websites, and check out the SCAD-ATL Illustration blog for more photos from the show.

Society of Illustrators!

2010-04-17T23:55:00.000-04:00

Can't believe one of my pieces was selected for the very prestigious student show at the Society of Illustrators! I am very excited to be going up to New York for the opening reception.

For friends of mine who would like to visit the Society of Illustrators, info on where/when the show is can be found here.

Crossings: A Gallery Show - Atlanta, GA

2010-04-02T23:19:00.000-04:00

"Crossings" will feature the work of Killamari, Renee Rivas (me!), and Fernando Vazquez, three SCAD-Atlanta Illustration M.F.A. students. The show runs from April 12th-17th at StudioPlex, with an opening reception Thursday, April 15th 6-9pm.

On display I will have several illustrations from the children's picture book Elephant Picnic, written by Ronit Elk, to be published this Fall.

Here is a little more about the show from our press release....

CROSSINGS marks the culmination of the journeys taken by SCAD-Atlanta Illustration MFA students Killamari, Renee Rivas, and Ferni Vázquez. Each of their distinctive voices permeate through their art, as they bring us works both personal and professional. CROSSINGS represents the place where these artists' journeys come together before taking on to more journeys of their own.

"Songs My Enemies Taught Me" is a body of work illustrated by Killamari, that explores the fall of the Cambodian culture and the country's current struggle to revive it. Mainly focusing on the tragedies that occurred between 1975 through supposedly 1979 under the Pol Pot regime, these works tell stories through a series of illustrations and paper crafts. There are many overlooked tragedies that occurred during this time, and the aftermath still cripples the Cambodian culture today. Cambodia has a story to tell, and 'Songs My Enemies Taught Me' seeks to make these stories heard.

"Elephant Picnic" is a children's picture book that tells the story of a young boy who attends a picnic for elephants put on by the circus. Renee Rivas, who is illustrating the 32-page story, will have on display several of the artworks from the book before it's published in this fall.

"New World Gospel", by Fernando Vazquez examines the ongoing story of what happens when two cultures collide. Being born in Puerto Rico, the artist shares blood and culture links with Spaniards, Africans, and the aboriginal Taino indians. In this series, the culture clash is expressed through a visual syncretism of religious art and symbols from Spanish Catholicism and the Taino's Zemi religion. It seeks to portray similarities between the two, to see the other from one's own eyes, and to reconcile two of the cultures that laid the foundation of Puerto Rican society.

The show runs from April 12th-17th at StudioPlex, located at 659 Auburn Avenue, Suite 143 in Atlanta, GA 30312. There will be a reception held Thursday, April 15th 6-9pm. Gallery hours are 1:00-5:00 pm April 12th-17th.

Hope to see you there!

StudioPlex - Suite 143
659 Auburn Avenue
Atlanta, GA 30312

Fruit is in Bloom!

2010-03-22T23:39:00.000-04:00

Now for something a little different.....

Been working a lot using Adobe Illustrator lately, but this recent project had me working a little with traditional media. I just finished a design and illustration job for a company specializing in edible landscape gardening and design. Created the logo, fruit illustration, and some print collateral.

Think it would be awesome to have your own blueberry or strawberry bushes in your own backyard? If you are in the Tampa Bay area, check Fruit of the Bloom out on the web or this coming weekend during Green Fest at the beautiful University of Tampa.

SCAD-Atlanta: Illustrated Map

2010-03-11T22:40:00.000-05:00

I am going to have to put this piece down for a bit before finishing, but I wanted to post it because I like the direction it was heading. The last assignment was to do an illustrated map, and I chose my very own Home Sweet School to draw-- very appropriate to do a map of SCAD as my last assignment in my last class in grad school. (Oh, don't worry...still have my thesis to do--not done yet!)

Animals in Space: The Stationary Set

2010-02-24T00:51:00.000-05:00

Just finished a set of stationary. I have been wanting to work again with the characters I have created for a nesting doll set a couple months ago. This was a super fun project. I love when I can create an illustration, and pick out different elements to create an overall concept and design a package around it. Below is a layout of all three pages of stationary (down the line I would like to do a fourth, which I already have an idea for).

At this point, I have really gotten pretty comfortable working within Illustrator, which has been a huge victory for me.

Illustration Friday: Adrift

2010-02-13T23:59:00.001-05:00

To my Navy man, Pat. Happy Valentine's Day!

Illustration Arts Forum 2010!

2010-02-12T17:19:00.000-05:00

This weekend was the Arts Forum here at SCAD-Atlanta--something I look forward to all year! Because of Snowmeggedon, one of the presenters, Jon Foster was unable to make it, but one of my absolute favorite artists, Helen Dardik made it in from Canada just in time for our "beach-like" weather. Helen has worked on a variety of projects from animation to editorial to surface illustration (like some of the recent products she has done for Blue Q). Her style has a hand-done, clean, and quirky look influenced by Scandinavian design. Her work is instantly recognizable as her own not only through her style but by her signature jewel-like palate which makes her work so much fun to look at and moon over.

On Friday she gave an incredible demo on creating patterns in Adobe Illustrator. This is something I had done a couple times before, without much ease or great results, so I was a little incredulous going into the demo. But with Helen's method, it was so simple and fun! This is definitely a skill I will use again soon for pattern making, which I have really enjoyed thus far. She also gave great tips for designing. Then we had a chance to try our hand at creating some patterns ourselves (see above pattern inspired by a recent project I have taken on-- more on that in another post though).

Also, Bill Mayer, Decatur native and recent Society of Illustrator gold medal winner, braved the snow and joined the Forum last minute. He showed us some of his work, including some pieces from his children's book The Monster Who Did My Math Homework, one of my favorites, and his very loose stamp sketches, one of which won him recent honors. These sort of projects are particularly inspiring-- illustration doesn't have to be highly rendered pieces, but can be simple, beautifully designed "doodles" from your sketchbook. He also shared a special and very personal project he was working on, which was a real treat for us.

I was kind of bummed that the Forum got cut short (I had signed up for a portfolio review on Saturday, but because of weather conditions the school as well as local transit had shut down). All in all though it was a really fun weekend! Both Helen and Bill were so generous with divulging their "insider secrets," and were really awesome to talk to. We were extremely lucky to have them visit us at SCAD-Atlanta!

For more about this year's Art Forum (with photos), visit the SCAD-ATL Illustration Department blog.

Illustration Friday: Muddy

2010-02-05T15:44:00.000-05:00

I have been working very tight lately, with a lot of more realistic proportions. I wanted to try something really quirky and fun, without all the over analyzing. I doodled this today during Illustration Asylum (the illustration dept's club), and inked over it when I got home.

Illustration Friday: Clumsy

2010-01-28T20:35:00.000-05:00

Two Threadless submissions: Vote purty PLEASE!!

2010-01-21T21:22:00.000-05:00

I've known about the Threadless T-shirt company for a while now, and never really looked into submitting a design for whatever reason, so I was glad that the opportunity came up in my Vector Art class to work on a design submission. I came up with two ideas I was really connected to and worked on them both, even though I only was required to do one.

The first design I did was based off the nesting doll set I did of Animals in Space. I had this kind of disgruntled octopus character, and thought about setting him in space fixing a satellite and losing track of tools from one of his tentacles.

Clumsy Space Octopus!

Made of Butterflies

This next design was created for the "Threadless Loves" challenge in which the theme is to create a new trend for 2010 (jeez, could they think of anything more difficult to conceptualize for a T-shirt design??). This is a special challenge with a specific theme that I think they do monthly. There is a greater cash prize available for their selection of the best design. The additional caveat of the assignment (for class) was to do a two color design. (EEek! Color limitations!!) Which is actually something to be mindful of, since I read that Threadless tees have an 8 color limit to print.

The sketch for this design started out much different. My initial idea was to have the woman in a disappearing dress that faded into butterflies, but as I started working this one out a little more, i started to like the fact that in the drawing it looked like the woman herself was breaking apart into butterflies, so I went with that instead.

My experience creating entire pieces in Adobe Illustrator has been limited up until this point. I am slowly exploring more of the tools, and learning more about what the program can do. I can see so clearly how piece will turn out when I use Adobe Photoshop--I've adopted my own methods for working within a certain style, and I can visualize when I sketch out an idea how the piece will look finished. I don't feel that comfortable yet in Illustrator--the entire time I am drawing, I feel held back, thinking to myself, "How would I do this?" which leads me to making some different drawing choices, since I feel like I have limitations in the program. Through these different pieces I feel like I have expanded my ideas on what is possible in the program (especially through the second piece--I never knew I could get a weighted line in a single stroke!), and I look forward to making more new discoveries.

Anyways, long story short, please vote for my work (Clumsy Space Octopus and Made of Butterflies) to be printed on a T-shirt! You can create an account at Threadless and vote on other designs too, or submit some of your own designs. You make decent $bank$ if you design is chosen for print. I've really gotten into this site, and hope I can submit something another design soon.

Billboard!

2009-12-19T21:18:00.000-05:00

I snapped these pics over by the IKEA in Atlanta, GA (near Atlantic Station, on 17th Street). That's my illustration towards the right on the hang tag!

Read all about the making of this illustration --which I did in 19 hours!-- and view it full sized here.

Little Princess

2009-12-19T02:54:00.000-05:00

I have a character I am working on in a picture book with lots of curls--it's a boy about the age of six. Curls are such a challenge! This was a doodle of mine of a little girl that I took to the ink stage, half for fun, half to get myself accustomed to inking some locks for the boy character.

Holiday Promo Card

2009-12-16T03:58:00.000-05:00

Dancing Fields Book Signing

2009-12-06T18:57:00.001-05:00

Illustrator and author together! Me and author Ronit Elk

This afternoon I attended a signing event for the book I recently illustrated, A Surprise at Dancing Fields, at author Ronit Elk's community. The community, where her story takes place is a co-housing community. Co-housing is an interesting concept that features car-free neighborhoods and community areas. Ronit's community is a particularly beautiful place that was very inspirational to me when I was designing the images for Dancing Fields.

The event began with a reading of two chapters by author Ronit, with the help of Blaise, the girl of who the character Tali is based on. All the kids of the community sat up front to hear the story, and were captivated.

The whole community came out, it was great to see some of the Dancing Fields characters I illustrated. Some of them I felt like I knew even though we had never met!

Isn't this a great cake?! It features the book cover in yummy icing.

Here is a little bit more about A Surprise at Dancing Fields:

Who is the book for? This is a chapter book (children can read themselves) for children aged 7-12. Each chapter has a wonderful illustration (by me!)

What is the book about?
"Dancing Fields is a special place to live, where doors are never locked, toys are left outside and cars are not allowed wherever children play. All the kids who live there know each other. But even through it's a really cool place to live, things don't always go so perfectly. In A Surprise at Dancing Fields, you'll read about the adventures of four friends, Tali, Andrea, Jennifer and Sand, and a newer resident- Katarina- a shy, ten year old year old girl adopted from Russia. The friends are inseparable, even though Jennifer has a real "mean streak!" One day while playing, the girls discover a turtle laying eggs and promise to protect the eggs until they hatch. And protect they do, from the neighborhood cat to neighborhood boys to flying potatoes (you'll have to read about that!)

Over the summer, adventures turn into serious misadventure and Katarina comes to the rescue. Thanks to her bravery, she is hailed as a hero. We find out the reasons for Jennifer's meanness and watch as she changes for the better. A Surprise at Dancing Fields is all about new beginnings: of hurtful ways replaced with kindness, of acceptance, friendship, gratefulness and (of course!) of the cutest little baby turtles. Join the Dancing Fields friends in this reading adventure."

How do I order? Copies may be obtained for a reduced rate of $9.99 (+ shipping) through the author. ($1 of this will go to a charity of your choice.) Email author Ronit Elk at elk.ronit123@gmail.com

--or--

order through the AuthorHouse Bookstore

What does the book cost? The book will be available at regular bookstores and on Amazon.com in January. The price will be $10.49 Prices directly from the author are a DISCOUNTED $9.99 (+ shipping).

Buy One Get One Free AND Free Shipping on Zazzle Today!

2009-12-05T13:52:00.000-05:00

Warm Wishes Cabin Mug by Renee Rivas

I love a good deal, and am very excited about today's great ones on Zazzle: Buy one mug, get one free, AND free shipping! (See site for coupon codes.) I am also obsessed with mugs, so this is a good one for me. If you aren't familiar with Zazzle, it's a marketplace for designers to put their images on different products on pretty reasonably priced products at low quantities. I have opened up a store, so take a look at some of my products, peruse the marketplace for other designs, or create your own!

Happiness Is... my work on the cover of Atlanta INtown!

2009-11-22T12:25:00.000-05:00

I found out a couple weeks ago that the illustration that I completed for one of the challenges at SCAD-ATL's "Generate" event was chosen for cover of Atlanta INtown's "Best of the Holidays 2009" issue, and I have been bursting with excitement for the big reveal since! (See this post about the creation of the art). Last night was finally the day--the cover art revealing was held at Atlantic Station's Christmas Tree Lighting. The Lighting events at Atlantic Station were magical: there was snow, bubble balloons shaped as stars and snowflakes, Christmas carols sang by a choir, and Santa Claus...I am officially in the holiday spirit.

My mom, Pat, dad, me, and sister Reghan holding the framed cover

What even made the night more special was that my family surprised me and drove up from Tampa to be there at the event. I have been so looking forward to seeing them over the break and seeing them a few days earlier made me so happy!

That's my picture on the cover!! How cool is that?!

To the wonderful people I met last night from Atlanta INtown, Wendy and Elizabeth--thanks for choosing my art! They gave me a framed picture of the cover to put up in my studio, which looks really awesome!

Me holding a mini version of the billboard-- my illustration is on the right side near where my finger is pointing.

The "Best of the Holidays" issue comes out next week, so Atlantans, look out for it! The illustration is also going to be on part of a billboard advertising The Holiday Shops in Atlantic Station. It will be up starting next week over near the IKEA at Atlantic Station, so look out for it if you are driving around or through Atlanta.

A Surprise at Dancing Fields is on sale!

2009-11-18T23:16:00.000-05:00

The children's chapter book I illustrated, A Surprise at Dancing Fields is now available for sale!! The book is beautifully written by Ronit Elk-- the story follows four girls during their adventure-filled summer in a very special neighborhood.

Stay tuned for the book's listings on Amazon.com and BN.com coming soon.

Camera Patterns!

2009-11-14T00:45:00.000-05:00

Which color do you like?

Well, I have decided to get in the habit of making Friday my personal challenge day. Today's challenge has been to design a photo binder using Zazzle (yup, it's for another contest!). I wanted to additionally use a pattern in the creation of the binder. I was originally going to make a couple different variations on the design, but kinda ran out of daylight hours, so a future post may hold some of my other camera pattern ideas.

Click here for my binder with all the text and customizable photos.

I went with the blue because I figure a lot of people like blue...and Pat didn't like the purple. A painting professor of mine in undergrad always said the two colors that never sell are green and orange--that has always stuck in my head, so I try to avoid those colors when creating art.

For the contest, I decided it might be a good play to have a photo as the cover OR my illustrated image. People get the opportunity to choose, whereas on some of the other designs if you don't want to put your image on the front, you are left with a gaping hole in the design. On the other hand, I guess if you are designing on Zazzle then you will want to put your photos on everything.

One thing I really wish I could have done with the design was create a custom shape cut-out for the photos to fit into, instead of them being full size square images. I know there is a way to do that using the Zazzle tools, but I could not figure it out or find the right "Help" post to guide me in doing that.

Oh, and by the way, I opened a Zazzle store a couple weeks ago. Check it out: My Zazzle Store

UPDATE: Whoa, just learned something new: PNGs have transparency capabilities! I thought only GIFs did. SO I revised my photo binder design entry. Here it is.

Birthday Her Way

2009-11-07T01:13:00.000-05:00

This was my personal challenge of the day, to create a birthday card geared toward women. It's my entry for an online contest. I recently found out that I was finalist of sorts for the previous card contest I entered in September, so I was encouraged, and wanted to enter something again. I've become quite the contest junkie lately...

Anyways, I am still working on coming up with some clever interior text (so hard!). But it will probably be along the lines of "Relax and soak it in! Happy Birthday."

Logo Design

2009-11-02T11:46:00.000-05:00

This is a logo design for an upstart illustration club I have recently become a part of here in Atlanta, made up of SCAD-Atlanta illustration students. The logo design is a contest, and the deadline hasn't been announced yet, so it may change--I think I could actually even make this more crazy looking-- but I am overall happy with this attempt. I had in mind the art of Ralph Steadman. I abandoned my usual inking tool of the Micron, and used a croquil to get the line quality I wanted. Making the ink splotches and scratchy letters are just so much fun, and I love the tactile line marks the croquil makes on the page.

Promo Mailer

2009-10-28T13:44:00.000-04:00

I just dropped in the post box some promotional mailers. This one features an image from the chapter book I recently finished illustrating, A Surprise at Dancing Fields, written by Ronit Elk. The book itself isn't out quite yet--I am so anxiously awaiting its publishing!

Also, I have recently joined Linked In, and JacketFlap. If you are a part of these web communities, add me as a friend. I would love to keep up with you through them!

Halloween Memories

2009-10-22T00:42:00.000-04:00

Seeing all the Halloween candy in the grocery store makes me nostalgic. I used to love going trick or treating in my neighborhood each year with my sister and cousins. We were so excited when we were finally old enough to go to the "Candy Man's" house (rumored to be a former Brach candy company employee)-- he'd give out the mother load of all candy stashes! My mom made such awesome costumes when I was a kid too: Minnie Mouse, a senorita. When I wanted to be a scarecrow, she even found a place to get hay for the stuffing. Ah, the good ol' days...

Writing and Illustrating for Kids (wik) Conference

2009-10-18T12:07:00.000-04:00

Pat and I looking especially chipper in the Spain Park High cafeteria,
where the break activities for the conference occured.
There was a bookstore set up, snacks to munch on, and artwork set up.

As a new SCBWI member, and one who was anxious to learn all I can for a career in childrens' illustration, I decided to attend SCBWI Southern Breeze region's annual fall conference, wik (Writing and Illustrating for Kids) in Birmingham, AL this past Saturday. The conference was only one day long, but packed with workshops, time to network with other artists and writers, get critiques, and meet publishers.

The conference was held at Spain Park High School. Upon arriving at about 7:45am, I signed in, got a name badge and set out my portfolio and promo materials on a long table with other artists, and dashed over to the auditorium to hear the Keynote speaker, Diane Z. Shore.

Diane told about her trials and tribulations of becoming a published children's book writer. She stressed the importance of continual learning about the craft: She read countless books on writing and rhyme, particiapated in SCBWI critique groups, all the while receiveing those early rejection letters. All her hard work and determination paid off, as she's written for several children's publications such as Highlights and Cricket, as well as written several picture books, such as Bus-a-Saurus Bop (below). Her speech was full of funny antedotes, some her beautiful early poetry, and some motivational advice for emerging professionals in the industry, such as this quote from Thomas Edison: "Many of life's failures are men who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." The speech was outstanding and I think it really got everyone motivated for the long day of learning ahead.

Click image to view Amazon.com page.

The conference had small workshops set up, in which speakers led lectures on different topics as pertaining to the industry. The first one I attended was "Publishing with Eerdmans," led by Art Director Gayle Brown. She gave an overview about the company, and talked about the submission process and what they would like to see. She also had a collection of recently published books spread out of the floor, which we all looked through. The picture below doesn't do them justice, but the books were all so colorful, they looked like little jewels! Eerdman's publishes a beautiful variety of children's books, not sticking with one particular illustration style.

My eye kept on being drawn to this book. Eerdmans has done several biographies on artists for children. The illustrations in this book, I Am Marc Chagall by Bimba Landmann were particularly stunning, in my opinion.
Click image to view Amazon.com page.

Next I attended "Picture Books in a Challenging Market," with Lynne Polvino, Editor of Clarion Books. She broke down some of their sucesses, and descibed the elements that made the books a sucess. She stressed the importance of knowing the market, and what's out there.

Another book with exceptional illustrations, Two at the Zoo, by Danna Smith, illustrations by Valeria Petrone. Published February 2009 by Clarion. Click image to view Amazon.com page.

Diane Z. Shore's "A Picture Books is Worth 100 Words or Less" lecture had me frantically writing down notes the entire time! So much useful information! She described some pitfalls of unsuccessful childrens genre writing, and sent us on our way with tremendous resources. I aspire to someday write as well as illustrate picture books. She said that illustrators have a leg up because of their visual thinking, which was encouraging to hear!

Pat got a lot out of the conference as well. He met Calista Brill, Editor at First Second Books, which publishes graphic novels for children (and all ages too), and learned a little more through her workshops about what kind of submissions they would like to see. I am sure he will be blog ging about his experiences at the conference too, so, I won't take up too much room here.

In summary it was a great day. It ended at about 5:30pm, and, boy, was I wiped! I enjoyed meeting a variety of people, and learning. Attending seems to have just been the beginning step--I have a lot of notes to look over, and websites and blog resources to check out. I have a clearer understanding of the marketplace, and how to promote my work, as well as insights on several publishers. I had a wonderful time, the conference met all my expectations. I am looking forward to attending the annual spring conference, Springmingle, in Atlanta in February!

Southern Breeze Portfolio Workshop

2009-10-09T15:56:00.000-04:00

Eager to network and learn more about the industry, I joined the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators a few weeks ago. I thought that by joining it would help in my research I had begun on my thesis project, a 32-page picture book that I am illustrating for a client. I just wanted to write and mention how pleased I am with the resources thus far through SCBWI. I am looking forward to participating in some upcoming conferences put on by the local chapter, Southern Breeze too. After joining, I received in the mail a "Publication Guide" with information about publishers and the submission process, as well as a copy of SCBWI's super informative newsletter. I definitely recommend to anyone interested in the children's illustration market to join.

On a high from my new membership, I went, toting my portfolio, to the portfolio workshop last weekend, hosted by Southern Breeze. They had two great speakers, Donna German of Sylvan Dell Publishing and Mark Braught, freelance illustrator. Sylvan Dell is a company that produces children's books with a focus in math and science. Donna spoke about submissions she receives, things she likes to see in a potential illustrator for her books, and necessities about starting out (importance of a website, other professionalisms, etc.). Mark, who gave a super pastel demo at SCAD a couple quarters ago, gave insight on promoting one's work, pricing, and the importance of a good portfolio. The actual portfolio review portion of the event was short, but I felt like the information from the speakers and networking were very beneficial.

The impetus for the portfolio workshop was to prepare for wik09 (Writing and Illustrating for Kids '09), their annual Fall conference in Birmingham, AL. Pat and I registered to go. I think I got him eager to find out about graphic novels in the children's market, which is going to be a workshop at the conference, given by Calista Brill, Editor of FirstSecond Books. I am going to some workshops, which I hope will help with not only insight ino the industry and meeting some children's illustrators and writers (and maybe some publishers too!), but also will aid in my thesis. I also signed up for a portfolio review, and look forward to the feedback I'll recieve on my work at the conference.

I'll follow up this blog with some notes and photos from the Birmingham conference in case it might interest some of my fellow illustrator friends!

Speaking of other illustrator friends, you all might like this:
I heard through this event last weekend of a great resource new to Southern Breeze illustrators, the Illustrators' Corner. It is a place to post works for critque, to both give and get feedback. I look forward to posting something in the near future.

P.s. I won my category at the Generate event! I got a copy of Adobe CS4 for my Christmas cover design for Atlanta Intown! Yay! I saw the other entries, and they were all AWESOME. I have no idea how I won, I was just happy to finish.

24 Hours....(well...close enough!)

2009-10-03T20:09:00.000-04:00

I had a great time at SCAD-Atlanta's annual event, Generate, a 24 straight hour art challenge. It was wonderful to have the opportunity to work AND socialize with fellow students, and even those outside my department of Illustration.

I accepted the challenge of creating a holiday 2009 cover for the paper, Atlanta Intown. Below was what I did with about 19 hours. I stuck it out until 5am, but I had to catch some shut eye, as I was going to a children's book portfolio workshop at 1pm. I am pretty happy with how it came out. It was gratifying to finish (which I didn't do last year)!

There were so many great pieces that came out of the event. The most exciting challenge for me to see come to fruition was the character designs for a non-profit's children's book. Wish I could have done that challenge too!! For more artwork (animation, maquette design, comics, graphic design, etc.), check out the blog: Generate!

IT LOOKS GOOD!!

2009-09-19T16:55:00.000-04:00

I was determined not to let another contest I wanted to participate in pass me by! So, I carved out a chunk of time to create a greeting card image geared towards men (thanks for sending me the link, Katie!). The contest stated that they wanted the card to be clever inside and out: the inside of the card reads "IT LOOKS GOOD!! Happy Birthday." It was fun to get back into practice inking and digitally coloring, after a long summer of painting exclusively with watercolors.

A Surprise at Dancing Fields

2009-08-04T03:01:00.000-04:00

Yay! I just finished illustrating my first children's book! It's a wonderful chapter book called A Surprise at Dancing Fields by Ronit Elk that follows five girls' summer and takes place in a very special neighborhood. I illustrated a little over 11 images, and below is a sampling of a couple of the images that will be in it.

I will update soon on when the book will come out, and where it can be purchased!

Alaska! The Cruise

2009-08-03T23:45:00.000-04:00

Some of my favorite "Kodak moments" from a recent cruise with the family to Alaska and Canada.

My Young Blood Gallery and Boutique Young Bunny T-Shirt and Packaging

2009-05-29T09:49:00.000-04:00

For the final project in my Retail Markets class, we were assigned to do a screen printed T-shirt, and packaging for the client of Young Blood Gallery and Boutique here in Atlanta (Note: The gallery was not actually involved in the project, it was named as a fictitious client).

I had a couple different ideas, but none of them seemed right for the market. My mind kept drifting back to this vectorized bunny doodle (above) that i did almost a year ago, and had no idea what to do with. I had always wanted to make it into a pattern, but just didn't know how. Professor Mike Lowery taught us how in class to use Photoshop to create patterns as part of one of his lectures. He himself makes incredible, really cute patterns, and they get bought by various companies and applied to different products such as journals, cards, etc. I was very inspired not only by his pattern work, but also by Julia Rothman, an artist Mike introduced us students to during the trip we took this quarter to the Surtex (surface design/pattern convention) in New York (more about this trip later in another post!).

I had a lot of initial trouble creating the right feel for this project, I felt like it kept going in too much of a cutesy direction, and Young Blood has a definite urban, edgy feel. So I did some things, like half-tones, and combined the pink pattern with black, and that definitely helped to reign it in. It still took a lot of tweaking, and many pages of more badly drawn bunnies to create the total project.

So once I had the art done, I did a mock up of the shirt (above). I had never screen printed before, and with the help of Mike, and the rest of the class, I learned how to make a screen, and print in registration for each color. I used five screens, four colors. I decided to wrap part of the text around the shirt, which I did by using two screens, and it worked beautifully to make my hand-made font a cool graphic element. So, here is photos of the finished product:

Finished shirt and box
I made an iron-on label for the inside neck part of the shirt, which included washing information and size.
I attached the hang tags with a pretty prink Kate's Paperie ribbon which I tied in a bow

a view with the stickers I made and included in the hang tag as an "bonus extra" for the buyer of the product

The inside of the box was lined with the pattern i created:
I don't have any shots of the different angles of the box, but here is kind of a lay-out of the box and shirt's different elements:

I learned a lot and took a lot of risks with this project: I had never on such a large scale done lettering by hand to include in my work, which i really enjoyed doing; also, I had never done any screen printing, and had always wanted to, and glad I got the opportunity to learn before leaving school. What I really loved about this class, was the opportunity to create every part of the project: the product, the packaging, right down to the every last detail, for instance, the tags. It combined graphic deisgn sensibilities, as well as illustration. This was something i really enjoyed doing.

Site LAUNCH!: www.ReneeRivas.com

2009-05-25T01:50:00.000-04:00

I launched my website! Check out www.reneerivas.com to view my web gallery, etc.
Special thanks to Pat, aka "Tech Support"

My Web Home: some comps

2009-05-03T12:54:00.000-04:00

I am working on creating a website, and spent the last couple days making some comps for the pages, and wanted to post those for some feedback. I need to research if a Lightbox-type program (I really want to use Fancy Zoom, which is a Lightbox clone) will work with an image map, otherwise my gallery will not work, and have to be redesigned. I think everything else will work fine as an HTML site.

Home Page

Home Page (Rollovers)

Gallery #1: Children's Illustration (inside frames will be thumbs)

Gallery #2

About Me (page) - image is a placeholder, text will be hand-written

Animals in Space, Part II: The Box

2009-05-03T12:48:00.000-04:00

The Russian nesting dolls were a two part project, the second part was making a box for the dolls. I finished it last week, and i didn't take a picture of the box before turning it in for grading, but i have the box art file, and thought i would post that until i get a picture of the actual product.

Animals in Space: My Russian Nesting Doll set

2009-04-15T18:10:00.000-04:00

I have a couple more tweaks i want to make (which include sealing this set with a Gloss sealant), but i am pretty much done with my Russian nesting doll set, which was the first assignment in my Retail Markets class. I have to admit i wasn't initially psyched about doing a project geared to the market of Kid Robot, i didn't think that was really my market, but i really got excited about this once i got started, and i think turned out a fairly successful project, in which i learned a lot about working on something 3-dimensionally.

My process for this set started with a series of six thumbnails. Really rough stuff, just brainstorming concept of what i could do with my blank Russian dolls. I came up with six different ideas, inclusing a crazy candy monster kids set, and a murderous Geishas set. I got the class's input, and the general consensus liked this idea best, so i went with it.

Originally, when i came up with the concept, I started doing research on what kind of animals had really been in space. I knew a chimp had gone up, and i read that things like fish, insects, cats, dogs, etc. had all been in space. But, then i just started thinking about what kind of animals did i want to draw/paint, and i soon just started going from there. I just tried to make it fun for myself. Then I started giving the animals personalities. I came up with an angry elephant, aloof mandrill, scared turtle, time-concerned octopus, and nauseous fish.

When i think of Kid Robot, i think of very simplified, flat, vector toys, so i wanted to reflect that in my animals. I worked in Adobe Illustrator to do my color comps, and get a look at what some of the bigger and more complicated animals would look like. I then stretched out my vector art and traced it using some graphite paper, right onto the nesting dolls (as best i could). I decided against the orange you see below, feeling like the animal-nauts should be in their white suits for space.
After getting as far as time would allow on the Illustrator mock-ups, I started drawing the bodies onto the nesting dolls, and painting with acrylic. I used super sculpy for the tiny fish and the ears on the elephant. I epoxied the elephant ears onto the figure.

I was trying to think out of the box, especially with the littlest nesting figure. I remember opening some of these sets when i was younger and marvel at the littlest one, wondering how the artist got the details on such a small tiny object. So, it was really important for that one to be a surprise. I have always been mystified with using resin, and it was actually Pat's idea to suspend the fish in something clear, like he was in water, but i took it and went with it! Using resin wasn't as hard as i thought it would be. But it was really toxic smelling. I wish i would have read the warning on the canister beforehand, and worked outside. I had to breath the fumes while i was working all night.

Now, onto the next project: creating a box design for my nesting dolls...

Fluke: Mini-Comics Show

2009-04-06T17:07:00.000-04:00

So Pat and I took a little journey to Athens, GA this weekend for the Fluke: Mini-Comics show. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but thought it would be a fun, counter-cultural experience that i would enjoy, and it did not disappoint. The event was held at the upstairs at a bar, with the place transformed by about 50 artists to be a trunk show for their wares: mostly mini-comics, but there were also an assortment of graphic novels, stickers, prints, buttons, postcards, and handmade items.

Some of the mini-comics were beautifully made, i marveled at the craftsmanship of some of these tiny little books, the accordion pages pasted together, with a sleeve to encase the little object. Most of the items were priced very low, many artists just seemed excited to get their work out there, and some artists even traded for other's comics. There were also bigger companies like Top Shelf selling graphic novels (I love Blankets)--these of course were more $, but great quality of course. I was very excited to purchase a hard cover copy of Image Comic's Comic Book Tattoo (tales inspired by Tori Amos songs), which i had been wanting for a while, and got it signed by one of the artist and writer teams in it.

It was great to see the broad range of styles, media, and talent all in one place. The show was small, so it wasn't like going to a big con, which was nice. (Although i do have to start preparing myself for the overwhelming-ness that will be Heroes Con, which i think will be a fun thing to go to with Pat.) Everyone was kinda laid-back, and I could really see how close-knit the comics community was, everyone introducing people to each other, and talking about the art.

After a good couple hours of making our way around to different tables at the show and talking to artists, Pat and I did a little Athens sight-seeing...

Me and the two little kids who ruined my picture at UGA campus. (Florida's is better...GO Gators!)

Downtown Athens is Awesome.

The loot (Pat's and mine collectively). We have a lot to read.

After a stop at the awesome art and craft store, Hobby Lobby, which we spent waaay too much time in, Pat and I started on our way back to Atlanta. We had a great trip to Athens and a fun day. If we are still living in Atlanta, we will definitely be back to Fluke next year.

Spraygraphic Poster Show

2009-03-31T20:37:00.000-04:00

I sent the poster i did a couple weeks ago to the Spraygraphic Poster show in Tempe, AZ and they recently posted the pics from the opening. Thought i would share. Check out the link below.

http://www.spraygraphic.com/postershow

What I Did on My Spring Break

2009-03-23T19:44:00.000-04:00

Well, I am really glad i didn't have any travels planned this spring break because I ended up getting very sick with some sort of flu/food poisoning and was very content to spend the better part of the break in my comfy bed and couch. I did have high hopes of getting a lot of work done on a freelance job, which I did get somewhere with, just not as far along as i had hoped.

So when i wasn't spewing my guts out i actually got some reading done! I discovered a GREAT new comic series called The Umbrella Academy by Gerard Way (art by Gabriel Ba, with delicious colors by Dave Stewart) that I zipped through, and became quickly in awe of. I got Pat hooked on it too. It's about super-human orphans who were adopted by this rich genius and crafted into a para-normal sorta ghost and alien fighting team. The characters I immediately fell in love with because they are so quirky. I am failing to really communicate the awesomeness that is this story and art, but it's a great, fun, beautiful read.

I also read the newest Scott Pilgrim, in which SP battled yet another of Ramona Flower's evil ex-boyfriends, coming through unscathed (love it!). And Pat and I finished season 3 of Avatar: The Last Airbender, which left us hungry for more episodes that don't exist (deep sigh, can't wait for the movie...).

On the final day of break, i decided that i should do something fun! So i decided to do something i have been wanting to do for a while. I have been trolling The Temple of Cartoon Mojo, the SCAD-ATL Sequential Art blog (which my bf did the header for!), and always seen the weekly sketch challenges, and wanted to participate. I have also been looking for an opportunity to collaborate with the bf, Pat Bollin, on a project, and thought this was a great time to do that as well. I came up with a concept, and i drew it, then did line art with microns, and Pat digitally colored it (brilliantly, i might add :-) .

The challenge was to draw a character from any graphic novel/comic we were reading, and of course i had to do the Umbrella Academy. I was also making a lot of trips to Panera over break, trying to satisfy my bland, getting-over-being-sick diet with bagels and rolls and 7up, so i drew me and Pat sitting at Panera, reading. I drew him as the character "Spaceboy" and me as "The Rumor," with "Pogo" serving us coffee and soda. Ang, from Avatar is in the background ordering something. I thought it pretty much summed up our spring break, at least the happy end part of our spring break. We had a lot of fun working on it together and think more projects together will be in the future!

All in all, wish i had time to do more, which is always the case with a break, but i am excited about all the assignments and things to come from a new quarter of classes!

Maps of Malta gig poster

2009-03-11T09:36:00.000-04:00

This is a band poster I did for my friend's band, Maps of Malta. They don't have much of an visual image yet, so i had pretty much a free range of imagery to draw from. At the beginning of the project i really had no idea of where to go. Looking at other band posters, I realized just how much free range i had, because the imagery often does not relate AT ALL to the music. SO i tried to come up with some imagery that was quirky, and pop/rock influenced. Ultimately, the band's song titles were the inspiration--they have a couple that reference the morning. So i went with this gross-ish kinda breakfast thing.

The technique was tons of fun. Once i inked it and tweaked it enough to where i was happy with it, I did a variation of the Susan Berghard technique, which involves using distressed laser printed paper. I really enjoyed roughing it up after that too: I scanned in images of coffee stains, ink splatters, and experimented with some drawing with some mulch outside for some other effects to make it a little less pristine.

I hope my buddy Jordan and Maps of Malta like the poster!

Swanky Party - line of party products

2009-02-26T15:50:00.000-05:00

Just finished my latest project, based on the illustration i posted previously of the wine and cheese party. From that party image, I have now created products which include: a set of plates (large and small), napkins (large and small), cups, invitations, a dishtowel, and a wine box.

This was both a frustrating and truly rewarding undertaking. It was frustrating because i had to deal with lots of measurements, and numbers are a weakness for me. But when i saw my products come together, it was really happy, and think i pulled it off fairly well. (I got some good critiquing from my professors, things to think about).

This is my first attempt at anything of this kind, and i will do more lines of products based upon my "fashionista" imagery soon.

Children's Book project part II: Interior Illustration

2009-02-18T22:21:00.000-05:00

Just finished the interior illustration piece for the children's book project that we have been working on in Illustration for Publication class. Previously we designed characters (to go along with a story written by a local children's book author) and decided on a technique to do one illustration of each of the characters in. I blogged about that a couple weeks ago. The second assignment was to do an illustration from the story using our characters. This illustration was, like the characters, done in Payne's gray watercolor (with a tiny bit of Ivory Black watercolor) on a "Aquaboard" surface. I had a lot of fun painting this one. I enjoyed getting lost in all the details of the piece: the leaves, the spots on the turtle, the houses in the background. And I am now motivated to do more with watercolor.

Let's have a swanky party. You bring the cabernet. I'll bring the brie.

2009-02-12T19:08:00.000-05:00

I finished my first project in my Directed Projects class last week, and neglected to blog it right away. Shame on me! So i am posting it now. The projects in this class are up to us to plan. I have been wanting to beef up the surface design part of my portfolio, continuing in the same vein as my winter box design from last quarter, with the skinny fashionistas. I decided, spurred on by a suggestion by my professor, to do a party line of products, and i geared my project to be this sort of wine and cheese party. Project number two will be the products that coincide with this illustration: cups, napkins, a wine box, etc.

I was thinking about some of the parties i went to with friends of mine in New York City. Specifically probably this one party I went to with my friend, Ezra, where the host had this fantastic view, the whole wall was a giant window overlooking some fantastic NYC landmark building (or maybe it was Madison Square Garden). I was also thinking about the view from the roof top bar of 60 Thompson, which is fabulously snazzy, and has a gorgeous view of an ocean of staggered buildings.

I had some problems with the colors in this one, i had a lot going on, and i wanted the the outfits to be individualized and funky and fun. Funky and fun equals lots of color to me, so i had to reel in the palate, and it didn't come out how i had imagined, but i think it ended up being pretty nice. I would go to my party. I always have fun when i put these kind of illustrations together, i think because i partly imagine myself in the scenes. I plan on doing more!

St. Patty's Day Poster Contest: #2....and that ain't bad.

2009-02-12T18:17:00.000-05:00

Our latest assignment in my Illustration for Publication class was to do a St. Patrick's Day poster illustration for Atlanta's St. Patrick's parade (the winning one to use for the actual event, with payment for the use of the design). The contest was confined to the five students in the class. Last year, the contest was open the entire Illustration department, and i was lucky enough to tie for the runner up position with a fellow student. I was surprised and delighted last year. This year I was equally as happy to find out that mine was the runner up again (although this year there was no prize money for the no. 2 spot). This makes me feel good, like i might have a pulse on what the client's needs are.

I wasn't feeling this year's design, originally. I have been experimenting with this dead line and rough coloring technique since last quarter, and i don't feel comfortable in it yet. Sometimes i just think it looks too unfinished. My idea started out as just one kid being lifted by a single shamrock, but then i (with the input of my class too) felt like i wanted to say more about the event, like that it was held in Atlanta, which is a diverse city, and of course i had to work in the peach too, and that it was fun (hence the confetti leading down to the city), so slowly my idea, I felt, got too big. I have been reminded many times before to keep my ideas simple, and i wasn't convinced that this was hitting that mark of simplicity. But i finished and started working on another design, this time in Adobe Illustrator. However, that didn't get done in time. I would like to blame the cross platform use: trying to work on CS3 at school, and CS4 at home destroyed my layer organization and made me frustrated. But honestly, I just don't think i could have gotten it done in time anyway, with being out of town the weekend prior.

Last year's entry:

This celtic-knotted shamrock took absolutely forever to do. I designed the basic knot shape in Illustrator, then imported it into Photoshop for manipulation.

Character concepts for children's story

2009-01-27T16:05:00.001-05:00

I have been working on the above characters for my Illustration for Publication class. I first designed the characters, based on descriptions given in a children's story manuscript, and then did drawings of what they would look like from various angles. The characters themselves are four girls, two older than the others, and they are supposed to be racially diverse (I don't want to give away too much, but that is the gist).

We had to do one drawing of each character fully rendered in the medium we would do full black and white (no color :-( illustrations in, if we were chosen to fully illustrate the manuscript. I would have done the illustrations in a digital medium, but given the story's sort of outdoorsy nature, I wanted to stick to a media that was more organic. Not that this can't be achieved digitally, maybe i just wanted the additional challenge of something non-digital. I dunno.

I decided to render the characters in graphite first, to get a feel for how i would render them in gray tones. Then I chose to do one character each in Payne's Gray watercolor. (The characters with the shadows underneath them have been rendered in watercolor, with some blacks added in Micron pen.) I used a surface that was new to me, Aquaboard, which is a clayboard meant for watercolors. I actually really liked it. I got relatively clean gradations, and was able to work with the brush in a way similar to my Prismacolor colored pencils.

Let me know what you think!

ArRrRRrr-tist Statement writing

2009-01-14T14:53:00.000-05:00

For the beginning of my Directed Projects class I needed to write an artist statement. This is something I have had to do for other classes, maybe about two times prior, but I always felt like they were terrible attempts at trying to encapsulate who I am and what I do. I drew the above doodle to give me some inspiration and motivation. I taped it to my wall, and whenever i was having a hard time writing, it was nice to know my little fictional character was rooting for me. I ended up coloring it in Photoshop after I was done with the writing process. I feel like I owed the doodle that, and a little spot on my blog :-) As for the artist statement, it was my best attempt yet. Hopefully, I will be able to polish it up for posting on my (coming Summer 2009!) website.

Art Cards

2009-01-13T12:14:00.000-05:00

I have been sending out holiday cards to friends and family for some of the last few holidays. They are a lot of fun to make and it's something I want to do more of both to show off the art I am proud of and also keep in touch. I have plans to add more images, but I wanted to include some pictures of my cards on my blog, just in case you didn't receive one or want a second look!

Colorado

2008-12-28T22:33:00.001-05:00

Colorado is cold. I can't resist staying in the warm lounge, especially since it has unlimited hot chocolate.

Watercolor pencils

Pastels

"God Bless Us Every One!"

2008-12-19T15:23:00.000-05:00

As part of our effort to get some Atlanta culture, Pat and I joined Liz and Chris Schwitzer and went to the Shakespeare Tavern to watch the performance of “A Christmas Carol.” The theater itself is quite spectacular. Inside it I was instantly transported back in time to Elizabethan London. The theater even has two levels and made beautifully out of wood, reminiscent of original Globe theater. The performance was truly enjoyable and would have made Dickens proud. It even included some singing of ye ole Christmas favorites, which softened even my inner Scrooge.

Not only did they put on a wonderful show, but at the Tavern there is also the opportunity to enjoy some wonderful foods. On the menu for this performance were some traditional holiday favorites, and I partook of some yummy Shepherd’s Pie before the performance, and some gingerbread and hot apple cider for dessert at intermission. Pat had the Cassoulet (which I have no idea what it was) but looked tasty too.

I look forward to maybe seeing some other upcoming performances. Shakespearean classics like "Romeo and Juliet" and "Hamlet" are playing in early 2009.

It was nice to hang out with fun people and I would highly recommend the Shakespeare Tavern to any other ATL peeps!

I give the Shakespeare Tavern four and a half out of five Renee ratings of AWESOME-ness

Adobe Power!

2008-12-03T17:13:00.000-05:00

With the premiere of the newest version of the Abode suite of programs, CS4, came a drastic drop in prices. Even the student rates were reduced, making the Adobe programs only moderately outrageous. (I shouldn't complain though, the software does basically everything short of backflips...) So, finally, i purchased my first piece of legal software. It is a long time coming too. I have been using CS1 and Dreamweaver 8 at home, but mostly going to school to use the more up to date programs. The files were especially tricky in Illustrator, working from one version to the next, if i chose to work partly at home.

I am anxious to try it out, but i need to get my laptop fixed before i install (and i may try to upgrade the operating system), so i am holding off for what probably will be a week or so. However, i did learn some about the new programs through the Adobe presentation at SCAD-Atlanta toward the end of the quarter. The suite is even more fantastic than the last go-around, CS3, (no surprise!). In Photoshop CS4 the 3D upgrades were pretty impressive, (although i doubt i would use them). The program also has the ability to rotate your image canvas while working now. There are also advances in the automerging/photomereging that were demo-ed (so awesome!). All this made me very excited, and i will probably blog later about all the other cool things i find out about the programs, but, all in all, I am just happy to be current! Yay!

Final Projects

2008-12-02T20:23:00.000-05:00

Concepts and Composition: Create surface designs to apply to a box in a christmas/holiday theme.

Box #1: I created this pattern in Illustrator. I tried to use Argyle as an inspiration for a playful Christmas pattern.

Box#2: This is the artwork I created to wrap around the below box. This was definitely another experimental piece. I drew the image in pieces, inked each with a thin Micron, and then brought the images in Photoshop to assemble and color in a messy style. The messy style of coloring originated when i was creating a quick color comp in the computer. I liked the way I was coloring outside the lines-- I was concentrating on just getting a sense of how the colors interacted together at this point-- and thought it went well with the rough sort of inking i did. I decided to carry it through into the final image.

I cut glass, and made a sort of shadow box for the lid.

Drawing for Sequential Art: create at least 5 images that illustrate a story of a character stealing something from another character. A struggle will ensue. Must demonstrate 2 examples of each of the three types of perspective, at least one panel of dramatic lighting, contain an animal, be set in a specific city, etc.

For this project, i tried the same coloring style as i did with Box#2. I had a lot of fun coloring it. Once i was done drawing the images, i basically reverted back to my childhood and colored it without being mindful of the lines i had carefully created.

Refelections at the end of another Quarter...

2008-12-02T19:03:00.001-05:00

Another quarter has ended. It was a good quarter, all in all. I never feel like it is long enough to accomplish everything i want. Ten weeks go by quickly, and no matter how hard i plan ahead, it always seems like there is a mad dash at the end of the quarter to get all finals completed (er, "mad dash" = many sleepless nights and many shared pepperoni and sausage pizzas with Pat).

I took two classes this quarter, one being Drawing for Sequential Art. My goals in taking this class were to learn new ways of approaching the figure, and learning human anatomy...and i have always been intrigued at learning techniques used by comic artists, such as inking techniques, so i am glad those things were covered as well. I think i made much improvements with the gesture, what we focused on most in class, and what can be the trickiest to capture. I was also overloaded with anatomy, and while i think i made a lot of good observations and improvements, i still have a lot of work to do to get better at it. I also learned a lot about applying line weights, and I am still practicing that, and hope to get better with it.

One of the things we did in this class were ink studies of the live models. These were done at home from our studies of the figure that we did in class.I think this was somewhat a break-through quarter for me in my other class, Concepts and Composition, as i tried out some new things with my work, style-wise. I have known for a long time, that i am not really a precision artist, and i kinda went with that notion this quarter and experimented. During the first part of the quarter, Julie, the instructor, had us focus on concepting and thumbnailing. She explained that if we keep our ideas small (more to the size of our actual thumbnail, bc i had been getting increasingly large in this stage), great things can come from that kind of freeness, and, boy, was she right. I think this let me get a little looser, and then i started liking the quirkiness of the images i was coming up with this way. It worked, and more importantly, they were more ME.

These were the images i created for the first assignments. They were illustrating scenes from the story of Baba Yaga . I stuck pretty close to the "doodles" I did in the thumbnailing stage because i was fond of the imperfect shapes that were created. Then, in the final stages of the finished Photoshop versions, I added some textures and patterns, from things like lace, and scrapbooking paper found at Michael's, fabric, and patterns i created in Adobe Illustrator.