New addition to the studio...

So I haven't been much of a blogger lately and I'm quite ok with this decision. I feel that summer time should be dedicated to long walks and gardening (or whatever may be your pleasure)... besides... I got a dog. My husband and I rescued Leppard from SCARS (second chance animal rescue society) last Saturday.

She's been so good and patient with my cat, Monte, and is learning when I need to work in high gear (no playing with her ball while I'm working, etc) and when it's time to go hog wild in the back yard. It's been wonderful to have an excuse to go for long walks - I feel that she's my new gym pass and I've never had more motivation to keep up with my running and to enjoy the outdoors, something I haven't been able to convince my cat to do yet.

Oh! And I almost forgot - I was awarded an "I love your blog" award by Chrissy Fanslau. Thanks Chrissy. It's so nice to know that people read and love my blog, even when it gets neglected.

Here's the 7 people I shall pass the award to:
Gina, Elizabeth, Heather, Abigail, Rachelle, Paige, Jannie

While I have a list of dozens of illustrators blogs that I visit on at least a weekly basis, these blogs are beautiful, honest and addictive (be warned!)

Vector Trials

I told you a couple months ago about a big project I'm working on. I had to do a vector test to give the client an idea of the level of realism/stylization that they could expect. The first is from a photo of myself and the second from a drawing I did of one of the characters. Because the project has evolved so much I feel safe showing you some of the preliminary work. I'll show you lots more once the project has been published but until then... here's a teaser.

click on images to see in detail

No time like a deadline

This may be a dreadfully silly post but I'm swamped. I'm right at this moment only a few hours away from a flood of tears due to exhaustion and stress and thought there would be no better place to admit it than this. Honestly I debated if I should post about this for many days now because I fear the bad karma of venting about having too much illustration work (it does sound quite like a terrible complaint, doesn't it?) but have decided that I need to. I've received many emails from illustrators just starting out and it's not fair to them to leave out pieces about the business that can be frustrating and hard (it's just like me to hand out rose coloured glasses).

As a freelancer I always feel like I'm on a roller coaster. One day I'll be chugging along uphill rather slowly, enjoying my climb but wondering if I'll ever get somewhere and then before I know it I'll be speeding along in a loop ready to puke my guts out and crying for the ride to stop.

I am thankful everyday for having work even when I'm ready to cry and I am thankful also because I can see that this push has helped improve my skills and has allowed me to live my dream that much more. Still, when weeks on end my days stretch on through the hours of 8am - 2am (ahem... or later the last couple days) I have these horrid thoughts of giving it all up and becoming a monk.

What I'd LOVE to know is if any of my readers have gone through what I have. Is anyone else out there taking a wee break out of their busy day to read my blog? Have I officially scared off several potential young illustrators? Or did the inevitable happen - someone wants to digitally slap me in the face for complaining about having too much work? Let's hear your comments.