finally! a painting!

Here's awork in progress that I was working on today.  Going out for a little coffee break now and will continue working on it later tonight.  I hope to be done with this piece by tomorrow.  :-)

Project Freelance

So, it's been a while! The last few months have been quite a roller coaster for me. My family and I moved to the Quebec just last August! For us, it was quite a big move and a much needed change. We're finally completely unpacked and settled. Yup, it took a while.

I am getting back into my creative groove. I've been working on some illustrations and trying to squeeze in some personal work into my schedule. What I hope to accomplish within a couple of months it to sketch up a couple of character concepts and sculpt them with clay and/or do them up in 3d with Maya. It's been a while since I've done any cg character modeling (since I left Ubisoft Vancouver last August). So I am looking forward to setting some time aside for that.

Anyway, just thought I would share this info to whoever maybe be out there reading this neglected blog. I haven't forgotten about it! :) Life just happens. In my case, life includes a family with 3 beautiful kids... who also love to doodle!

Artists, Blogs,Artists Who Blog, Books and Freelancing

There are so many artsy blogs out there! I've been trying to keep track of my favourites... to learn about their process, what inspires them, etc. There are so many talented people out there who I can learn from and who are willing to share their experience. I am particularly greatful for Holli Conger who shares her journey to becoming a freelance illustrator. You must check it out if you are considering a freelance illustrating career like I am (well,mine will be a super slow journey...I'm starting by moonlighting). I would jump right into it fulltime if I had a couple of years of salary saved up.

A co-worker of mine recommended that I read 'The Boss of You'. After reading some reviews on it and finding out more about it on Amazon I will definitely be reading it! Right now I'm reading My So-Called Freelance Life by Michelle Goodman which I stumbled upon while reading some book reviews. So, ya, my first step was to write down my goals.

My goals are pretty simple:
- create art/things and make a decent living from selling them
- to make enough to be able to stay at home, take my kids to school and be part of their lives when they are not in school and just have more family time.

My problem is I enjoy making all sorts of things from sculpting with clay to felting to digital 3D/2D art and illustration. I need to focus on one thing! After that I can draft out a plan. But like I said... I'm taking my time with this because I need to keep my day job.

IF: Contagious

Silliness can be contagious! I get mine from my kids!!

I'm creating a model in Max at work. Took a teeny break and for little doodle... nothing spectacular but I'm just happy to get the doodle bug out of my system... for now! Okay, back to my Max model!

felting.... la la la

My girls and I bought a lot of wool felts!!! And so far we've made a couple of softies. It's so much fun!! We used a method called dry felting with needles. I will post pictures soon! :)

Super Awesome Family Day!!

We started the day off with a nice big family breakfast with my parents and my brother. Later on we shopped around for all sorts of arts and crafts supplies. We got some great deal on cavass sets at a local shop and some soap stone from another place. It's been a while since we had a full day to spend together. We've all been so busy! We're just taking a break from being out and about... soon we're going to start chipping away at the stones. Hopefully it won't be too cold outside... I don't want to carve inside because it can get very dusty!!

Here's a litte caracature i did last night... I couldn't sleep so I thought I would do something creative. It still needs a lot of work but I think I may abandon this for now.

Trying a cut-out-ish style

Here is my first post after too many months. I have been so busy with my 9 month old baby boy. He's so adorable!! He really does inspire me to make some cute illustrations. Unfortunately, I'm usually so tired by the time I he goes to bed for the night. I'm going to try to squeeze in some art work during his day time naps... unless there's just too much house work to do.

I just love this online art community. I've visited so many blogs of illustrating moms. It's very encouraging to see other moms who are able to balance work and life. A lot of them work from home too! That's what my goal is! I'd like to build an illustration portfolio and get my foot in the door of the freelance illustration world.

here are the sites of a couple of very inspiring illustrating moms.

www.lorijoysmith.com
www.holliconger.com