Riva!

Im trying desperately to get back into my tuesday post routine and my work is just piling! So for this week enjoy this cute lil card I made for my friend and amazing graphic designer, Riva Powers.

Art Is Hard

Today I wanted to rant a little about what I do. I remember years ago I felt so hopeless with myself. I was without a style and quite honestly like most artists I wasn't born with a talent superior to any other person. Art is difficult for everyone in all sorts of ways. My roommate's at the time collaged their own little logo that said "art is hard". It amused me to see it everyday. It was reassuring to read it and even more so that my incredibly talented friends struggled as much as I did. Here's a poorly lit photo of it in our sophomore dorm.

Every now and then I do have to remind myself that im supposed to fail and not everything will turn out ok. I've avoided collaging for this reason. I used to have the same problem with watercolor but practicing daily has made me arrogent. I also need to remember that as much as I love watercolor i am no longer a watercolorist. Every illustration I've done is only 75% at most. They all have collage you just gotta look. This past weekend I tried forcing my abilities out with no real luck. Everything seems mediocre, rushed, even sloppy. 

Its funny in a way. I always thought finding your style was the difficult part but in reality I was given a style that is too advanced in what im capable of. Here are a few pieces that hid from me. The spider was a twin piece to my wolf. The very first of their kind when I was a junior in school. The others all done within the year. My friend chris done yesterday.

I'll still be collaging away. I wont be happy about it but I guess it's all a learning experience one way or another.

Dinosaur Studies

Its tuesday again and that means a new post! I will get back into the swing of things. I like having some type of routine. It really helps me push myself. This week I started making dinosaur sketchs to get ideas for another kids mural im painting this summer. I wasn't too sure where to start or if i could even draw dinosaurs. So these are really just studies. The main concept/image will probably change as I go. I still need a better idea of size, subject matter, specific dino's, and color. I tried leaving out the scary dinosaurs just because this is for a toddler and hes just about to hit the nightmare stage. 

New Website

So I know its been a while since I last posted and I never finished my weekly project. Things have been super chaotic. I've accidentally become a member of society with a handful of crazy friends and a multitude of random jobs to get my loans paid. Life is interesting to say the least...

After years of getting my style together and rebuilding my portfolio I thought it was finally time to get my website together. The new one can be seen at heathersisson.com

Oh and here's my new logo! It will probably change a million times in the next year.

Dar 6: Crab Party

Aha! You thought I wasn't going to post today didn't you? Well...it may be the end of the night but it's still soon enough. Thankfully the next one will be the last one for this little project. Even then I still have Tuesdays post to think about. It makes me wonder why I put myself through so much pain...

To get back on the topic, today's post is a painting I finished to go with all my ice cream paintings/sketchs. Its a little weird. A bunch of crabs worshiping ice cream on the beach. Overall I think I like it but I need to put it in the corner and not look at it for a while to really decide. To be a real cheater I thought it also made a great illustration friday. The word is suspend. Technically those crabs are suspending ice cream over flames...

Day 5: The Work Space

So between being sick followed by laziness and self pity I have fallen out of my routine a bit. But I do plan to finish posting for the week! At least seven posts and then starting again with my weekly tuesday one. So I thought for now it would be a better idea to show my workspace while im finishing things up for other posts. I hate to have an unfinished post and even this is killing me!

Let me start by saying I need a desk. I have taken over the dinning room table and no matter how much I clean, things just reappear the following morning. I have also received quite the collection of donated magazines. I have a million under my bed and a bunch I havent even opened yet that are waiting for me. Next week i'll be collaging portraits like a fiend!

Lastly, a photo of all the SCBWI magazines I've managed to collect so far. They have been so helpful in inspiring me to continue the good fight. Some I do need to get rid of so if any book illustrators are interested I can put them aside for you. Just as a warning im totally cutting a few of the covers and keeping them for myself.


My workspace!

Some artwork I have been working on or trying to finish. In a moment of boredom I made two of my friends into paper dolls.

My collections of Magazines!

Day 4: July 4th

I think everyone should have a pretty good guess what todays post will be about. Im always slightly stumped by what to post on independence day. Everything seems so typical I suppose. So i broke it down into things I like. First off I love sparkles, fireworks, BBQ's and desserts! I won't do much today due to recovering from the stomach flu but I do plan on running around on the beach with sparkles all weekend long.

My 4th of july dessert ended up being a quick submission to TDAC. I'm trying very hard to face my difficulties with typography. Still not liking my work very much but I do see baby steps of improvement.

Day 3: Ice Cream Observations

So a few weeks ago I decided to start making ice cream practice paintings. Basically it turned into trying to paint every mr. softy ice cream I could think of. At one point I had to stop and tell myself it was too much! Out of that I attempted to make two different patterns with ice cream and I did a few sketch's. A bit ice cream obsessive but it was great practice.

I do have a illustration to go with these but I wont post it till later this week. It ended up being much larger then planned. Also its a weird concept and im hoping it turns out well.

Day 2: Spaghetti Cow

Another random assignment I gave myself was to make an illustration off of my friends favorite animal, food and hobby. I had to work with cows or penguins, spaghetti, and sewing. Originally I had thought to create a cow with a quilt over her that penguins had sown to keep her warm. I made the quilt with a spaghetti like pattern but the illustration in itself had failed. The cow looks more like a deer and the idea is a bit unclear. So this is the last you'll see of spaghetti cow.

I hadn't realized it till this project but I have never drawn a cow before. So I have a few sketchs to go with the finished piece.

Day 1: Shinny/Secret

So for the last two weeks I tried isolating myself from people and distractions for the sake of getting things done. Not just to get art work done but everything else too. Like reading, exercising, eat healthy and so on. I do have a lot of art to show and I will be posting every day all week. Most things aren't really serious projects. More like thoughts in my head that I just needed to get out to be able to move onto something more serious or important. I know I cheated a bit towards the last week but I think things still proved to be successful and hopefully clearing my head will help me get to places I need to be sooner.

For my first post I decided to put something up that I worked on weeks ago for Illustration Friday. One week the word was shinny and the other it was secret. My concept worked really well with both and for anyone who has a ferret im sure I don't need to explain things. I did rush it a bit because it was sitting around for a while and I got bored of the idea. If I took more time on it id probably hand paint more jewelry in it.