I'm Faster Than A Bear

I'm suddenly wishing I lived in Cleveland, just so I could watch this news team in action. Hardcore.

The Unfastened Fart

You know how sometimes you get an assignment and you just aren't feeling it? I'm working through a "meh" phase right now. I think it'll be okay in the end... but man, it's a book cover for a depressing book that's all dainty and shit, and... well, meh!

This was my first work up of what "the elders" liked... blah blah blah. It's too froo froo.

This little workup was of what I guess I'll be doing the final of... maybe I can make some cute patterns on the teacups or something? But in all honesty... THIS is the ONLY thing I feel like drawing right now. (I guess the girl in the book ends up in a wheelchair? Woo.)

Calling Doctor Craze

I've been a total sickie the last couple of days, so between watching episodes of American Pickers, napping, and wiping snot, I've been ogling Etsy. It's all related to the healing process, right? Check out these gorgeous pieces of jewelry made from concrete, glass, and metal, all from DrCraze- I love how they turn rougher elements into solid, sturdy, well-crafted pieces. They're cool and feminine without being lame and dainty.

Drunk and Drew

On Friday I attended my first (and hopefully not last) Drink & Draw event in Milwaukee with some friends from school. If you're wondering what exactly a Drink & Draw event is... well, it's pretty much what it sounds like. We sit around and draw according to a few chosen themes and then hang them on a wall, all while consuming alcohol. September's themes were Old School, Fall, and what I'm pretty sure was everyone's favorite: Underwear!

Um, of course I drew a cat.

Pants party! Bonus points if you can identify all the topless ladies.

You can see all the drawings from that night in Milwaukee's Drink & Draw Facebook Album. :)

More Logo Funness

Just messing around with more logos- now roughs with type. I'm going with Juice Kitty as my final one (woo! a decision!) but the type isn't settled at all, nor have I started the final art for it. >.>

This last one is pretty darn adorable though, if I do say so myself. It's definitely going to stick around, I'll find a use for it somewhere.

Hear Piggy Piggy

I was browsing the interwebs for piggy pictures (I'm working on some awesome tapeworm life cycle illustrations) and discovered these cute-butt pig earbuds! My ears would be so happy to wear these, especially since the earbuds I'm using right now have the gummy soft bit scraped off because it melted in my backpack over the summer.

Pics from here and here.

Swim Away, Swim Away!

We had a project designing a fictional spread for Ranger Rick illustrating fourteen specific animals in Monterey Bay, California. It was fun, like a puzzle we had to figure out- everything had to fit in and be accurate, not to mention look pretty.

The full spread. (To those that care, that side tentacle right on the edge is not going to stay that way, that's just the way the screen cap came out. Promise!)

One of my favorite faces on the spread- Duane the California Sheephead. (Yes, I named them all. Officially.)

My California Sea Lion looks a little snooty to me... but mostly I just want to draw in a little ball for him to be balancing on his nose.

Cats, Cats, Cats, Cats, Snake.

Here are some of the rough color work ups I was playing with for my logos. At this stage I was still pretty torn between a few of them (juice box kitty, keyhole/tie kitty, and ice cream cat) but now that I've been dinking around with type I think I have a winner. You'll get to see those later.

This one earned points for its graphic nature- the dark vs. light really stuck out as a clear image, but it doesn't look a ton like my typical work.

Juice box kitteh! And look, I can even add undies and nipples if I want!

My fear with this one is that it would end up looking too much like San-x food-kitties. The dots on the fur/ice cream are supposed to be sprinkle markings-- on a later version I took the outlines off and they became a lot clearer (if you look closely now you can see there are actually a few colored jimmies under there!)

Herding Cats

100 cats left to roam free in IKEA overnight for an ad campaign? Um, why wasn't I invited?!

Logo Kitties

We've been working toward creating "identities" for ourselves in my professional practice class, aka making logos for our business cards, mailers, stationary, etc. So, basically, make something that you like or suffer for the rest of the semester. It's nerve-wracking, to say the least. Here are the five I have it down to. As for now, the book snake is just in there because I couldn't have all five involving kitties.

Crowded House for Crowded House

Last Sunday night I was lucky enough to see the New Zealand band Crowded House at the House of Blues in Chicago with the aunts & Chuck. I really wish I had some pictures of what the inside looked like before the lights dimmed- each location is filled with folk arty goodness and hand painted wonders... had I known I would be hard stretched to find a single good photograph of the decor online I would have brought my camera!

(Pictures from Crowded House's website.)

A Happy Belated Birthday To Me

This is the second to last batch of pictures I'm posting before we get to the fun stuff: the wedding! Of course, I still have to upload and edit those pictures, but I'm hoping to get around to that tomorrow. These are some of the highlights from my birthday celebration with the fam, including my birthday loot (not pictured are me going to see Crowded House last Sunday at the House of Blues in Chicago :) ).

My mom always makes the best cakes- this one was frilly (get it? tu-tu, two-two?) and the inside was pink and strawberry flavored. I just finished the last piece last night.

The side read "HIP HIP HEERAY!"

Mom telling Dad that he is going to ruin the blender if he fills it full with ice and frozen strawberries and then expects it to blend.

Twenty-two candles... on a cake... on a Lazy Susan... we're lucky we didn't burn the house down.

A jewelry box from the 1920's from my parents. Look at the tiny deer!

All sorts of goodies from the aunts (and Chuck). An old letter A for my name wall, an Avon bottle in the shape of a cupcake, a few different editions of Alice in Wonderland, and the thing I'm most excited to complete and put up in my room: a Home Sweet Home embroidery kit from the '70s. (It's under the sewing magazine with the kitties.)

Steampunkerella

If I thought I had a lot of photos to post last week... I was sadly mistaken. Chris and Jamie (or Chris [backwards ampersand] Jaime, if you're Best Western) got married on Saturday! I have a bazillion pictures of them... as well as a bazillion pictures of barns and clouds and birds and stuff, because Marisa hijacked my camera. Here are some from a week or two ago, when we headed off to a "Victorian Steampunk Ball" at Club Hyde in Milwaukee.

I absolutely love Chelsey's hair with those goggles.

Marisa and me, with her earlier "Do I look too much like a pirate?" costume.

Dirty Liz. :)

A small taste of the awesomeness that was there- mechanical wings. (Photo from here.)

The club itself was very neat with lots of wood and leather furnishings, as well as a neat birch tree set up behind one of the bars- perfect for a steampunk ball. Not quite as perfect for the Lady Gaga event they were hosting there a couple days later... (Photo from here.)

Summer Foray with the Gang

Well, not a foray exactly... but whatever, it sounded good. A couple weeks ago we had a fun little get together at my place involving the impossible to track-down Tracey! (I hadn't seen her in two years, can you believe it?) Not to mention Kat drove all the way from her new home in Illinois and... well, Ashley drove from the other side of Mukwonago! Yay!

It's really hard to fit all of us in the frame! And, well, we're too giggly to stand still long enough for my self timer to work, haha.