and it's done.

here's the finished product -- the lollipop girl with the candy cane arms and legs. i would have liked to have done more to it, and tied more of the color from the lollipop into her body, but i hit the deadline. i hope you enjoy it!

progress -- lollipop girl

just wanted to post my progress on the lollipop girl illustration. i still have to make her body, complete with candy cane arms and legs. =D


just wanted to post my progress on the lollipop girl illustration.

current inspiration

my illustration assignment right now is a private commission, but it's for an original children's story that the author wrote for her daughter. it's actually quite tricky -- i have to draw/paint a lollipop girl! how to make the rainbow stripes in the lollipop work for her face? tough work.

so here is some of my major inspiration at the moment, the greatest source being david shannon's "a bad case of stripes."

first sketch for new illo

i'm doing an illustration for a child's story. it's a private commission. but i thought i would post the progress on here.

so above is the first sketch of a little girl's face. she will soon become a lollipop girl!

work for free? not even for google.

apparently, google recently requested from a number of well-known illustrators that they do a piece for their web browser. they would obviously get great exposure. the caveat? they would have to contribute to this for free.

and for this, my fellow artists, i salute you.

all too often, illustration and other artwork is looked upon as a free commodity. as though we just work for fun, not for pay. you will hear this from the illustration community over and over again. and it's the sad truth. and of course, as joe ciardiello is quoted as saying in the ny times article, google is worth billions of dollars. and a company like that can't even bother paying for work? come on.

on the list of over a dozen artists who refused this request are gary taxali, melinda beck, and the aforementioned joe ciardiello. according to google, however, there are dozens more that accepted the request.

well, google, you didn't ask me. so i didn't have the privilege of turning you down. i may not be melinda beck, but even i'm worth more than nothing.

not living up to my commitments!

in a discussion on the HOWforums, i realized that i'm not keeping up with my drawing and illustration the way i wanted to. especially since i created this blog as a portal for my illustrations to be done once a week. ugh! life with a new baby is a lot more busy than i envisioned -- especially since my gorgeous girl doesn't like to sleep during the day. there are so many exciting things in the world for her to stay up for!

anyway, i'm putting it out there that i'm going to try harder. i miss my artwork.