Illustration Friday: Kernel

When an Elephant Flies a Kite

Retro Spring.

Society6 Submission for the "US AND THEM" Collaboration: They Have Weapons

I just recently started putting some drawings on Society6. They have a pretty awesome setup for selling your art. They produce it high quality, and ship it for you. They also do some art collaborations based on themes, and put together some sort of zine. The current one is titled "Us and Them".  My interpretation is a humorous take on the myth that elephants are afraid of mice. From the elephants' perspectives (us) there is real reason to be afraid...because the mice (them) have some serious weapons!

Bichon Topiary

I had a few ideas for some dog illustrations. Here is the first: a bichon frise next to a topiary. The similarities make me chuckle.

The Goose on the Corner

This is the goose that lives at a neighbor's house down the street. They rehabbed it, and now it won't leave. Sometimes the man and son hit golf balls around in the yard and the goose is right there with them. Or they throw the football around and he's right there. I think that he must love the humans he lives with.

Studio/Art Room/Drawing Room/Place Where Magic Happens

This weekend I went crazy in the 2nd bedroom that is a nothing room and turned it into hopefully what will be an inspiring space to create awesome artwork and illustrations. It still needs some work, but clutter has been removed and everything is better organized. Shelves line both left and right walls with books, boxes of art supplies and materials, and openness...which is really nice. The blue futon is under the front window. Nothing is under the side window, which is also nice. The last thing needed is a round table to work on. I think round will work best because it's such a small room; Having to walk around something big in the middle of the room is stressful when there are sharp corners. Seriously. It's the reason I hate coffee tables. My shins start whimpering every time I'm near a low rectangular one...

I'm not sure if the futon is going to stay or not. It's a nice place for the dogs to hang out, but it's so large and kind of a waste of space. A large comfy, single person chair would probably work better. But I think it can stay a while. Priority is the table. Right now I'm working on a high bar table we used to have in the kitchen before it was remodeled. I'm sitting on a cheap plastic stool from IKEA, which is highly uncomfortable for the tush and back.

Painting is also in order this winter. Maybe one wall at a time. With our house, you just can't move things around without moving everything else around to make room.

After painting...maybe shelves. I kind of like not having anything on the walls right now because it helps the space not feel so cluttered. But being a studio-art-drawing-place-where-magic-happens-creative room, it seems wrong to not have things displayed. We shall see...

I'm very excited to start using the space and hunker down drawing more. I need to draw more. Draw draw draw draw.........

Society6

I now have a little store on Society6.com to sell prints and art on some other things like iPhone and iPad skins and canvas. I hope to get a little more exposure there, but need to figure out how to promote it.

Please check out the store!!  There is also a link over to the right that shows different items randomly, and takes you to the store.

http://society6.com/StephanieSmith

Illustration Friday: Scattered

Illustration Friday: Boundaries

Illustration Friday: Mysterious

Technical difficulties left me unable to scan. So here is a crappy iPhone photo, adjusted in PhotoShop. I'll update when I figure out how to make my scanner work again.

I would like to explore minimal color with more drawings.

Illustration Friday: Disguise

Snapdragons

The Illustration Friday topic is Influence. I had a more true-to-illustration topic idea I was going to draw, but got side-tracked with drawing these snapdragons...which still fit the subject, but only from a personal level. Growing up, my best friend and I would pick from my mom's snapdragons and make them talk. If you squeeze the sides, the flower opens and it looks like a mouth. Turned one way, they look happy. Turned the other, they look more dragon-like and angry. It's a simple memory, but has a great influence on me.

Illustration Friday: Swell

For Illustration Friday: Topic is "swell".

5.5" x 8.5" India ink pen, digital color

At the Gym 2

There are so many interesting people at my gym. I have seen this woman a bit, always in the same outfit. She is older, wears weight gloves while spinning, and wears a lot of perfume.