Awards Time!

I've just been notified about 2 awards my work has recently won! ...I'm so pleased.
My paper illustration for the Oct 2007 Presstime Magazine cover, "World View," is a finalist for an award from the American Society of Business Publication Editors. We won't find out what it wins until the July 24th banquet. That's one of 2 awards that issue has won... congrats to Presstime!


...and my series of clay illustrations has won 1st Place in the 30th Annual Ohio Excellence in Journalism Awards (AKA the Press Club Awards)! This series in the Cleveland Magazine Summer Fun Guide was in the Multiple Illustrations/1 Story category. Thanks, Cleveland Magazine & congrats!

the Evolution of an Etsy Sculpture!

It's not very often that I'm asked to sculpt a dog as unusual as this Chinese Crested, so I thought I might make a little documentary of my process! This little guy's name is Fang, and he was rescued from a bad situation...but lives happily now with his owners in Sydney, Australia.

Step 1: I print out all of the dogs I need to work on, so I can refer to their photos.


I roll out the body. I added all those darker spots individually, then rolled them down so they were nice & flat. A little bit of wire adds strength to the sculpt.


...making some feet.


...attach those feet to the body.


Sculpting the head.


Here I'm adding some eyes. I use Hematite beads for eyes, I like the shine. That's a little polymer clay bowl I've made to keep my beads in.


Adding a mouth.


There! I've got all of his parts put together now. I think he kind of looks like a piglet at this stage.


I'm starting to add that white fur here.


...some shoulder fur.


Ta-da! All finished. Now all I have to do is bake him in the oven.


Onto the next dog on the list!

Published again!

Hey, everyone!
I realize that I haven't posted in a very long time.... I have been busy, though! Sadly, about 95% of what I've been working on for the past 2 weeks I'm not allowed to blog about yet. Some clients need their privacy :~)
I did receive a copy of the Charleston Alumni's magazine in the mail this week! I'll never get tired of seeing my work in print... always a great feeling.
Have a great weekend!

Figure Drawing

Here are some of my sketches from my weekly figure drawing group. I'm pleased with them....but I can definitely tell that I'm very out of practice! Haven't done this since my Junior year at Kent. Yikes!
I've been going every Sunday with my cool artsy illustrator-friend Shannon, and she's inspired me to re-vamp my dusty old website! It's about time. I'll let you know when it's up & running...

The Illustrated Dog

Once in a while I find time to squeeze in a fun piece that isn't aware of deadlines or created to please a client. Usually I find myself working away on a clay illustration at my desk...and I glance at the snoozing dog at my feet and can't help but break out the sketchbook! This sketch happened to make it into Illustrator + Photoshop for some fun with color.
I've recently joined a life drawing group here in Charleston at an awesome art center called Redux; it's been a while! Making my brain flex again... it's good practice.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Once in a while my art table gets a bit out of hand, so some organization was called for today. Some projects that have been completed get recycled back into new ones. One of the great things about polymer clay is that it doesn't dry out!
These were letters for a headline I made recently... ready for reincarnation.

My Dog as a Landscape.

While this isn't really illustration-related, I do love a good photo safari once in a while. I was shooting some sculptures in the light tent today, and Miss Terra conked out on her bed right next to me. (Extra-long walk today.) Some of her details caught my eye, and I already had one of my macro filters on....

A very textured snout.


Leg Landscapes.








...I always liked these spots on her chest/bib. I think it's called 'party mix?'





...and some talons for a finale.

She didn't even know I was taking her picture!