Strike a Pose

New commission illustration! Its a gift for a women opening a ballet school. A lot going on including a really cool chalk project I did for MTV's holiday party for Music and Logo. It was a really awesome gig with amazing concepts and interesting spaces. I completely get why people go into the party planning and entertainment business its got so many interesting minds! Don't get me wrong, I overheard some really amazing conversations the likes of which I have only heard on Gossip Girl and Ugly Betty....I never knew people were sooo openly catty in real life.

Being invisible had its perks though it meant I was entertained while I drew squirrels, win and win! I hope I get to do more things of that nature.

Off to work on the children's book that consumes all my extra time. 

December Blues and greens and yellows

I have been neglecting the duties of writing for the duties of actually working. Sometimes I wish I could just post videos of myself working and give some context for my silence.

What has been going on:

Two weddings that took all my free time. They were lovely, but I lost some serious work time.

Directly following said weddings I had a two week fellowship at VST while the world was going to crap with the hurricane. It was an amazing time I still have some pictures to post. I met amazing people and while there produced the image above. The art above is a subway car overtaken by plants and animals. I am planning to submit it to the MTA, although they do not take submissions, but who cares. It was a good project and allowed me to do a week of solid work.

Another cool thing is this project I am doing this week for MTV. It involves chalk, walls, and 5 hours of doodling. I am not sure what it will produce, but I will take lots of pictures of the process. I think no matter what it will be super cool.

And finally, I am working on a book. Yes, a book with an author and I was actually hired. The project will span the next 4 months and I am already deeply entrenched in the world of the characters. If the book gets published I will be super excited, but either way I was officially hired to work on a book. I can say I did my first book at 30....or at least started it. I always wanted to be a published children's book author in my 20s so I could be on those lists of successful artists in their 20s, but it does not really mean anything. I don't know why this was a goal. I blame communication arts magazine as their glossy pages seem to say, "if you're not in here then you have not actually made it." They sometimes have profiles of artists in different age brackets. Anyway, the point is I am working and can now say that I have a 50/50 split between art and coffee.

I have a few freelance gigs lined up over the next few weeks too, but really want to focus on the greeting cards. I am trying to research companies that might want to licence greeting card rights. I looked into Trader Joe's, for example, but they have an exclusive contract with a company that does their cards. Its a shame because I think their greeting card line is a little lacking in some ways. This should be the job of my agent, but I have not heard anything from her so I thought I would do some independent research. I have some other companies in mind, but once again need to do research.

oh right, we are moving. Again. And again it will probably happen a few days before or after xmas so I am once again going to lose myself to moving. We are moving 3 blocks away if the board approves us and if not we will be living out of a box somewhere in park slope or maybe we can pitch tents in prospect park. Its all rather vague at this point, but we have 5 weeks to get this done or JJ might have an aneurism.

This is a quick update on all things going on. More to come as I actually have time to produce work...probably in January.

oy.

Postcards from Brazil

Brazil 2012

Postcards

Hand Type Logo

Another possible logo scenario. I am working on a bunch of possible options.

Story Land

Breakfast of champions

It has been this kind of week. I had my mother in town, we looked a million open houses, our ac bill was over 260 dollars and we live in 450 square feet....and I was throwing up yesterday after a 7.3 mile run (this is disheartening because we run 10-14 miles every week and I have never gotten sick like this). I am also having a hard time making any progress on big projects. Its like the summer inertia is paralyzing me, but the only difference between summer and fall is that there is a weather change. It does make me sad I am not a kid anymore. There are so many things that suck about being a kid, but the one thing that is awesome is having vacations that are long and predetermined. I guess if I were a teacher this would be the same. Its not like I can handle having nothing to do, but at least when the vacation is predetermined you figure out how to fill it.
Speaking of which, our next weekend plans fell through so we have to figure out how to make our weekend in the city feel like the country. Anyone got a country estate they want to invite us to?

Win, lose, or draw

In college I was really obsessed with a little world I created and I was totally immersed in it. When I felt lonely, sad, or bad about myself I went to place and drew my little characters and it made me feel good. It reminded me a little of when I was a little kid and played with my little ponies. They were the most important thing to me and I can still remember the feeling of joy and escape. So, here we are many years later and I have not drawn a comic consistently for more than one page. I drew this the other day and while I think coloring in panels is not sustainable if I plan to continue it it nice to find a new world. The old one was more college kids awkwardly trying to navigate relationships, being gay, and also being self destructive. It was funny and self deprecating. I want to go back there sometimes and pick up where I left off, but I am not in the same place. When I look at something like this is feels more my speedish. I am older and will be an aging hipster with the potential of child or at least having my friends kids around me. I think I want to explore the dynamics of parent and child and parents in general. The couple in this family is not married, but they have a kid and are basically a modern family with the same age old issues. Its unclear where this is going, but writing children's books seems to be going nowhere right now so a comic might just be a little more liberating. I cannot seem to crack the publishing world even with connections....its rather frustrating. So onward and upward and maybe eventually my agent will return my emails. In the mean time here's Winne.