It's like a concert tour but with sketchbooks!

This year I am participating in something called The Sketchbook Project! I am very excited about it and just got my sketchbook in the mail today! My theme is "Happy Thoughts"!!!!

 I am pretty excited, I have done two pages so far. I had artists block and wasnt really sure what to draw, but I decided I only had till January so I needed to just jump in! I figured with my theme "Happy Thoughts" I will just do whatever makes me smile.

What makes you smile?

Artist for Hire Contest

Paper Dragon Ink is an awesome site that provides all kinds of entertainment and resources for creative people! The post art, news, and reviews on alot of great stuff.

I joined there first contest(or at least the first on I heard of) about a year ago on myspace, and now they are having another one on facebook!

I highly encourage everyone to go and check out the artists. My favorite part about this contest is all of the contestants had to fill out a questionnaire....

Example:

Q) When the zombies take over the world where will you be? I will be underground in the only surviving city of the living ,with a bucket of make-up, painting over the anti-zombie warriors to make them look undead, therefore helping the resistance to infiltrate the legion of undead and claim our world back! Viva la revolution!

Ha! Yep, that was my answer to that question. Read my entire survey HERE or go HERE to click on all the artists and read each ones survey. We all had the same questions.

While I would love it if you would vote for me, it is by no mean necessary, just vote for your favorite! You vote by commenting under the piece of artwork you like best, go HERE to visit the album on their facebook!

FYI, this is my piece they posted on facebook.

ArtWorks: Eau Gallie Fine Arts Festival

This year I am volunteering for Artworks, the festival is a 'plein-air' show in Melbourne, FL which takes place in the historic district of Eau Gallie. You can read all about them at their website.

Part of my volunteer efforts includes social networking, so I encourage everyone to check out the below social sites and follow/fan/friend any that your a member of.

Other than that, I will be taking part in two other activities. My second act of a volunteer, I will be hanging around the festival, perhaps watching an artists booth while they eat lunch or selling water. Whatever really needs done.

However, its the second part that I am SUPER excited about! Saturday, November 20th From 8:00am to 2:00pm I will have my very own square to illustrate sidewalk chalk! I havn't done this since high school, so I am a bit nervous, but still excited because I loved doing it (and I wasn't too shabby either). Now I just have to figure out what to draw! I would love if anyone in the area could come check out myself, and the festival. It is always sure to be a great time!

My Time Scraps

I just teamed up with Brooke from My Time Scraps and she is going to be selling some of my digital artwork on her digi-scrap site. What happens is I illustrate something, then send it over to her to color it in different variations, then she lists it for sale.

She has alot of great stuff on her site, all sorts of clip art and kits for the beginner to novice digi-scrapper!

Click here to go check it out

New Project, Blog, and Giveaway!

I have decided to start a new project. I have been seeing a lot of ACEO’s (Art Cards, Editions and Originals) lately and it has inspired me! This project consists of me illustrating a new original ACEO each day for an entire year, so 365 in total! At first I was going to get a few back ups done, but the purpose of this project is to challenge myself, so that would be cheating. Each day I will be illustrating a new piece, posting it on my new blog, and offering it for sale or giveaway. Each original will only be $5.00, and I will be giving away at least one ACEO each month!

Check out my new blog: Project 365

On it, I am having my very first giveaway! There will be a new ACEO giveaway every Monday, along with announcing the winner from the previous week! Go here to enter.

Family Circle

Just got back from my much needed vacation to New York! It was tons of fun seeing the big city, so inspiring. Before leaving I finished a huge family portrait, which I couldnt post until now because if was a gift for a 50th Anniversary!

This piece was pretty large, and definatly included the largest number of people I have ever done on one portrait, with 22 all together.

Shampoo that Rocks and Conditioner that Rolls!

I buy a decent amount of stuff via my favorite site, Etsy, and I decided to start reviewing some of my more recent (and favorite stuff).

Shampoo that Rocks and Conditioner that Rolls is a sample/travel pack of bar hair products that I bought a few weeks ago. My sister is a hair stylist and always yelling at me for using cheap shampoo/conditioner, so I folded and bought one of her expensive salon products. Well it just wasn’t right to for me; didn’t lather, I went through it more quickly and it left my hair feeling strange… That’s when I decided to try something that was hand made and good for the environment, so after doing some asking around to other etsy buyers, I found GetLathered. She offers a wide variety of products, but since I am headed on vacation I figured I might as well start small and get the travel pack. I am not flying to NY, but if I were this would be great since you cant bring liquids on a plane. I wish I had bought ti last year for my honeymoon to Puerto Rico. The shampoo on the island of Culebra was so expensive that I just washed my hair with body soap and water all week, lol.

I have used it three times so far, but I could tell the difference after the first wash! I wish you could actually feel my hair via blogger because it is incredibly soft! I have pretty greasy hair and I dye it often, but right now you couldn’t tell. It also smells great, the scent doesn’t just wash off when I rinse. I got Thai Coconut and Rosemary Mint Essential Oil Blend, they are both powerfully and kind of minty, but great. It was a weird sensation washing my hair with a bar at first, but it lathers nicely and is pretty easy. I will defiantly be a buyer for life =)

Forever & Always

My design for Foldee's Wedding Invitation contest came in second! I am so excited as I have been in a few contests and this is my first time in the winner's circle.

The theme for this contest was "Modern Fairytale" and I actually had two submissions, both of which are actually on sale. Based on this theme I though tattoo's would be perfect, and the swallow is such a classic tattoo element, plus they symbolize love and fidelity - choosing a mate for life and only nesting with that bird and no other.

You can check out their blog to see the other top wedding cards, or just go straight to their main site to see all of the great cards they have available!

Foldees is a small greeting card company located in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia that hosts design competitions in various themes for cards to sell on their site and various retailers. For only $2 each their cards a steal, and totally original and creative! Keep in mind though (for US customers) that shipping can take almost a month, but it is worth it. They are great quality and offer tons of customizable options.

Capturing an Ultrasound

Like the majority of my custom artwork, I found this client in the Alchemy section of Etsy. For those who have never heard of, or used Etsy, it is a wonderful site full of unique artisans who hand make a variety of products and artwork. It is free to use and I highly recommend it. Just be sure to read all of the rules before committing to a purchase or starting up your own shop.

Now, the Alchemy section is one of my favorite sections, it is full of different user’s posting requests for hand made items. So, I don’t have to wait for a client to find me, I can go strait to them! Alchemy is done with “bids”, although the lowest doesn’t always win, quality is very important after all.

Anyways, I created this artwork based on an ultrasound of a 30 week old baby girl. It is the first time I have ever done artwork with nothing but a fuzzy ultrasound for reference; it was truly a unique experience. A lot of it was interpretive, but I think they came out beautifully!

 "Wow! You did an amazing job. It's so crazy how well you did because I can see her resemblance to my sister. She has the family nose. LOL! Thank you so much. I am so glad I chose you to do this for me, I am very happy and I know my sister will be too.”

If I had $100 dollars...

As a graphic artist for The Highland Mint, I also do artwork for our sister company, Westminster Mint. If you recall, last year we created a fake minted trillion dollar bill that I illustrated the reverse and capital building for, Click here to visit that post.

Well this year we have started the replica mint for the $100 Bill! And guess what? I got to do Independence hall! I love doing buildings because of the challenge they provide and its so rewarding when you get a great finished product... Now, the actual bill doesn't release until February 2011, so image the replica wont be on sale till then either.

Company Picnic

I normally make the t-shirt for our annual company picnic, I just never got around to uploading it on here for the world to see. I have been pretty busy at work, due to NHL and NBA ending at the same time, plus all of the side jobs I do. But things are finally starting to wind down just in time for us to move and go on vacation to New York! July/August are sure to be super busy so I thought I would work in a few updates along the way!

Oh! And if you have never heard of The Highland Mint, but are a sports collector be sure to check out our great memorabilia, The Highland Mint

New designs up for scoring!

Foldees has started another contest, and two of my entrys have been accepted into scoring! The great thing about Foldee’s contests for the voters is that after only scoring 17 cards you get a free card coupon! This is a great way to see the excellent quality before purchasing future cards.

Check it out here

Original Sketches for sale!

I have put a bunch of my older sketches up for sale on etsy! Click here to check them out

I have shown a few of my fav's on the left, but there are more in the shop, and more coming! They range in price, but they are all 5x7 (for now) and most are done in pencil, although I do have one colored one up right now.

Foldees Valentines contest!

I designed another card for Foldees! You can check it out directly HERE

But, more importantly, go here and vote on all of the designs! Once you finished rating all the cards you will get a coupon for a free card! Its defiantly worth it, they are great quality and completely adorable!

VOTE NOW!

My art up for scorring for 7 days at Threadless.com!

Go vote on it now and hopefully it will get printed! Just click on the link above or go here: http://www.threadless.com/submission/251537/Dark_Inner_Workings