'mail me art' entry

So, here is my entry for the 'mail me art' contest in the u.k. I'm reasonably pleased with it, although I had to put packing tape on the edges to hold it closed. I made my own envelope out of bristol (because I wanted to paint on it and wanted to be sure that it would hold up), and did all of the painting/pasting etc. BEFORE gluing the envelope closed. It wouldn't stay closed, due to the thickness, multiple layers of thick paper and slight warping (BECAUSE of painting)...alas. Next time I'll know better! It looked even better after the guy at the post office put the postage sticker on and postmarked it. Perhaps I'll get to see what it looks like after its travels?!?! I hope...!

oh, and the final version of that OTHER page...

...ta daaaaah! Also to be entered as part of the series. I have not finished the facing page yet; have yet to make final decisions on which birds to put where, and am re-doing one bird right now.... ah, perfectionism, you are a cruel and yet often ultimately very satisfying mistress....

another book page

So, here it is, another page from this book I keep going on about... This time I have done a more thorough job of documenting its progress from start to finish (I did scan the origami birds before I cut them out, but can't seem to locate the scan- humf...). It's all done by hand, of course, including all of the patterns... I have just entered this (as a part of a series, all taken from the book) into the Communication Arts illustration contest. This year, I will participate in more contests- within the next month, not including this one, there are two more that I plan to enter. But wait! There's more! Not only will I enter contests, I plan to diligently post AS NEWS on various forums that I have finished this and that, that I have updated my site, etc. In a former life, I would not have accepted this as suitable for 'news'- but it seems to be the thing to do. Ah well. It's one of those things... it's hard to get over the vague sense that drawing attention to yourself is somehow distasteful, or not nice, or something... but truly, waiting for people to notice you seems not to be terribly productive, either. I've become familiar with several illustrator's names and work solely through their repeated appearance ON said news sections of various forums.... Shameless self-promotion full steam ahead! I've been reading Holly DeWolf's book, too, which emphasizes without any question the necessity of continuous, ongoing, creative self-promotion. I'm going to write a review of her book for Escape From Illustration Island this weekend. I'll post it here, also....

2 pages of my book pre-final assembly

The two top (red) images are the pages themselves- they are to be facing pages. The red pattern is hand-drawn and painted in gouache on rice paper. The following several bird images I drew separately and painted in gouache; they will be cut out and pasted onto the two pages in something like a composition. Almost finished with these, finally, hurrrrah! This page (pages) has been particularly painstaking. I redrew the girl and her grandfather twice (the first time I was dissatisfied with the colours I chose for the clothing- made background pattern colour choice difficile); also I drew and painted- I just looked at this- four different background patterns before deciding on this one. I am quite pleased with the result though..... I will be sure to post the pages once I place the birds.

The past month has been busy with the usual holiday-type busy-ness. Back to work, goddammit! I am planning to enter two illustration contests towards the end of this month ( I want to enter several pages of my book) and want to complete another page to enter as part of the series (I will also post this one in progress!). I also want to write a review of Holly DeWolf's book (which I received a few weeks ago) and I have to continue with research, research, researching possible clients. I also plan in the near future to utilize a print-on-demand site to make prints of my work available. Ok, that's all for now. More soon!