Marketing and Dreaming of Dreamweaver...

A note before I get into this weeks topic:
THE PAWS AND CLAWS GALA WEBSITE is up!
Scroll down to see the developing piece I'm working on.

Making "the list"...

A very important part of being an illustrator that can actually survive off of the jobs they obtain requires marketing. While I did do a limited amount of marketing last year, I've taken it upon myself to up my antics this year. As I hope to be a full time freelancing illustrator again by summer (for those of you who don't know, my husband went back to school for 3D animation and modelling last fall and with the pressure of supporting us both on one income I took up a part time job and leapt into as many local craft markets as I could to sell my work face-to-face) I'll need to be exposing myself to the biggest audience I can.

Here's a list of things I'd like to accomplish marketing-wise in 2008:

1) Update website by taking dreamweaver/flash classes
2) Get my portfolio on children's illustrators.com
3) Do another postcard run
4) Enter contests (commarts,applied arts, ACE awards)
5) Become involved in charity auctions with my art (down for 3 this year already)
6) Reasearch other ways to reach clients in children's illustraton market (European emphasis while dollar is strong)
7) Update portfolio for my agent, Maggie on a monthly basis (min)
8) Do group art show for fine art exposure
9) Sign up for more arts/craft markets

Creating a list can be a good place to look at what your marketing plans are going to cost and what you can afford to do/not do. Keep in mind that while your business is new, as mine is, shying away from marketing that looks expensive may keep your business hidden as well.

Here's the update on "Barnes Garden" (see original post here)

You Made My Day Award

I was so excited when Mike R Baker told me that I'd "Made his day" via my blog. This is a great compliment as I frequent his blogs myself. He is a fantastic illustrator and always surprises me with his illustration friday contributions which are often completed in gouache at lightening speed! Mike also designed this wonderful new logo for the award which I find adorable (I couldn't resist passing it on...)

So, here I am passing the award on to five wonderful people who's blogs I check everyday (I'm not kidding, I'm rather addicted). Thank you to:

• Dani Draws (this blog is incredible. Dani is talented and has detailed tutorials... so CHECK IT OUT!)
• Amanda Woodward (A tremendous source of inspiration both from her life and her art. I consider her a good friend and am lucky to have met her - she's from my home town as well. Actually, to be perfectly honest, Amanda helped inspire me to quit my full time job to illustrate for a living and I've never looked back!)
•Chrissy Fanslau (Her perseverance and dedication is ultra inspiring!)
• The Daily Coyote (Just check it out, it's awesome!)
• CutewithChris.com (um, yeah, Cute with Chris is so darn funny)

In Edmonton this Saturday?

This Saturday there's going to be an aid benefit for Louisianna at St. Joseph College Newman Centre in Edmonton. (Refreshments start at 7:30 pm. The Silent Auction closes at 10:00 pm. Tickets: $10.00 in advance/$15.00 at the door. Contact Chelsey, for more details).

I created this ink drawing which will be sold at their silent auction. I'm just so in love with drawing insects, flowers and silly women these days!

Paws & Claws Gala

Last year I had an idea to raise funds for the Edmonton Humane Society (they are building a new shelter for their animals, called the Margaret Chapelle Centre for Animal Care, named after an Edmonton Artist who gave the largest dontation in history to a Canadian Animal Shelter). I thought: "What if I could gather a group of artists that would create art featuring shelter animals and hold a gala which people could come and bid on said art?"

Well, after much planning and hoping, the gala is going to happen! Held at the beautiful Mayfield Inn in Edmonton on April 12, 2008. It's going to be in conjunction with Coventry Homes for Hounds and the seats are are going to sell out fast. To purchase tickets please contact Leslie or Kara. Please keep in mind that you'll have to pay via cheque or cash (made out to Homes for Hounds).

These fine artists & illustrators have been invited to participate:
Michelle Schwengler, Amanda Woodward, Igor Woroniuk, Nicola Pringle, Rachelle Miller, Suzanne Stevens, Marcus Cutler, Drury Stratiy, Amie Kerman, Danielle Inglesias and Michelle McBride.

I've chosen a rather fluffy black and white cat called Barnes and have already started painting his portrait (I forgot he didn't have a tail so when I went in to photograph him again I was quite surprised... needless to say I'll be painting his tail out of the picture, poor chap!).



Here's the real guy! So shy, but so big and fluffy and huggable!

Calendar Winners Announced!

Thanks to everyone who entered my January Blog Contest (calendar giveaway with secret prize...). I used a random number generator to pick the two winners who are (drum roll please) Chickengirl and Jenna! If you didn't receive my emails girls give me a shout back with your addy's. Cheers!

And for interests sake, here's a map of my recent visitors. This is a free service provided by statcounter.com

Retrospection

I spent a bit of today looking through old sketchbooks and had a good laugh. Take a look at a sketch I completed in 1989:


From 1997:


And some from 2002 (I was a student at Grant MacEwan College):



Evolution is a wonderful thing!

*there's only one more day until my blog contest ends! Scroll down for more information.

Sweet Moleskin

Sandra, originally uploaded by crystal driedger.

I bought a moleskin shortly after I spied my friend Amanda's at a market I was working last summer. It's been such a treasure. It's exactly the right size and weight (can be carried with me at all times for creative moments that come out of the blue), is flexible and so so soft!

No matter what situation I'm in and no matter how hectic my schedule, if I find the time to sketch during my day it brings me great peace. While this is not always the case with client work, where there is always pressure to create something better and more lively, sketching for myself has been a very effective way to test different styles and techniques and an even better way to just clear my head of nonesense.

I like to go back into my sketchbook months afterwards and add colour to the cross hatching I first did with my pen in front of the tv. For some reason I don't like just sitting and watching tv... I enjoy doing something creative while I do this. Perhaps it lessens the guilt factor of being a movie nutt.

* Just a reminder: There's only 6 days left until I draw for those two free calendars and secret prize...

2008 Calendar Giveaway Contest!

I have two copies of my 2008 calendar to give away to two different blog visitors (plus a surprise gift!). Here's the rules: Post a comment on the following topic and I'll draw from the names of people who comment on or before January 31st for the prize. Then once I've contacted the winner you'll be sent the prize (please don't leave your address in the blog comment section but rather leave a website or blog address/email where I can get this from you privately)!

Here's the topic:

"Green Illustration & Design" (what are you doing to make your illustrations and office more environmentally friendly? Any links to good office crafts out or recycled goodies? And if you're not an illustrator or designer what are you doing to make your home more eco-friendly?)

Illustration Friday: "Plain Jane"

Plain Jane, originally uploaded by crystal driedger.

Oh poor Jane
Don't feel so plain!
Your dress might not sparkle
But your smile always will.

Illustration completed exclusively for Illustration Friday. :)

tea time sketch

tea time sketch, originally uploaded by crystal driedger.

I'm going to embark on a new artistic journey soon... I'm going to try my hand at linocuts. And, using only the internet as my teacher, we'll see how good I'll be at this craft. I'm sure the first will probably be full of mistakes but then, isn't that the same as life?

Holly's Castle

This is another illustration I've completed in the efforts of building more samples of children in my portfolio. This was much faster than the "Summer Fun" image I completed early January and was tremendous fun as well. Looks like I'm in for a great month!

Opportunity to Use a variety of styles

If there's one wonderful aspect having a part-time job, it would be the ability to diversify yourself. While it's nice to be able to see people other than your family on a 24 - 7 basis, this is not the biggest benefit I've discovered by working at the Royal Alberta Museum. While my job is primarily graphic design in nature I have been able to complete the odd illustration here and there. To top off this bunch of pure goodness, it's usually different stylistically than I do during my business hours as an illustrator. This really gives me the chance to experiment, which is very needed in this business of illustration.

The bears above were for a board game that the education department uses to educate children about grizzlies and black bears. It's more of a simple, sihouette approach and yet I found it fun (sort of like a puzzle).

A Painting for Maggie

For those of you who don't already know, I have an agent. We've been working together to resolve some issues with the way I draw kids. This is the first painting that I've managed to finish for her and it's taken me months to find the time to finish. You might remember the progress of this painting from a previous post made in October. This just goes to show how busy I've been in the last few months. My goal is to load up my portfolio in the next couple of months with kids doing fun things. As I adore painting, this shouldn't be an undesirable task!

ps: This picture is big enough to be a desktop image so please feel free to use it as your wallpaper. :)

Almost back from Holidays

I had a fantastic time at home this year for Christmas sledding, hiking in snow and catching up with my family. While I'm not back in my studio I'll be back at my part-time job this week painting more mammoths and wishing that the holidays could have been savoured just that little bit more.

Now that all of my Christmas commissions have been opened I can post one more. This one was of someone's two cats... so interesting that I did two cat portraits in one year! The other one, sadly, I gave away in such a rush that I did not make the time photograph it (this is just another thing to add to my personal list of "what was I thinking"?). I invited a friends wife into my studio and completed a series of figure drawing style portraits of her. Perhaps it is best that these portraits will remain personal to this family as I do not need them for my portfolio anyway.

A Christmas Commision

Here's another plywood painting that I completed and it's process (for greater detail click on each picture).


1• Create a confident drawing that will show you how to create your gradients and values (based on a greyscale drawing). Get it approved by your client.

2•For a painting where the texture is important, choose your canvas wisley. I pulled about a round dozen sheets of pokey plywood off the hardware stores shelves before I found just the right "chunk" for this image. Tell the person who cuts out your block of plywood that it's for art and yes, you know canvases are cheap down at the local art store...!

3• Protect Your Painting before it's even started. Give it several good (thick) coatings of Multi Purpose Acylic Polymer so that weird chemicals don't leak into the painting over the years destroying the values you create. THEN! Protect your paint (it doesn't come cheap after all...) by Gessoing your surface. This will give your paint an extra "grip" or "mile" so that you don't have to layer it on really thick. I paint my gesso on in several layers in different directions so that the brush strokes aren't going to create a distracting pattern. Thing to Remember: Your brush strokes on every layer of every painting can help aid your composition!

5• Block in Dark Colours.


6• Think Details and Light. The concept is to have your darker colours in the "Valley" part of the plywood ridges and the light colours on the "peaks". This will really make the texture pop. For details do what you normally do, fill in the valleys and peaks with similar values.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

A great big thank you to everyone (friends, family, clients... and of course fellow bloggers!) for making this year so fabulous! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I'll be taking a needed break from the computer world in general so see you in early 2008!


Here's a sneak peak into the "secret studio"...
I tried my hand at carving (my hand wishes I was a more careful carver but I suspect this will come with time)



and I made some ornaments for my family...

I've been creating paintings for the Royal Alberta Museum's Christmas Card collection (for the next five years you might see my work.)

While there's still many secret goings on in my studio there's one thing I can tell you: I'll be at the Guerilla Boutique this Saturday from 1-8pm at the Artery downtown Edmonton, Alberta. It's on 9535-Jasper Ave.

More of Moe

Here's what I've been up to lately at my part time job at the Royal Alberta Museum (it's often a great way to enhance your job to inject a bit of illustration into your graphic design jobs).

note: The ad with the kids is going to change up a bit in regards to the wording so it's just the kids for you to see right now.

This Friday's Edmonton Journal Ad:


Next Friday's Edmonton Journal Ad:


New Years Ad (in progress):

Many little Secret Things...

I've been itching to tell you about the many secret goings on in my studio... but alas, most must wait until after Christmas (you'll see why once I've posted them). It appears that I've been slacking on the illustration side of my life, however, you'll be pleasantly surprised afterwards by the hoard of crazy images I'm going to post in the new year that I'm hard at work on right now!...

However, I shall give you a few little images to keep you interested (rather than the dull "I'll be here or there peddling my goodies" posts I've been plaguing you with)... I worked the Guerilla Boutique this weekend and as the weather was rather horrid there weren't many shoppers. This left me with loads of time to create wonderful original drawings on my brown shopping bags while I was there (not to mention I traded some goodies for a fantastic necklace!).

Illustration Friday: Little Things

This is from a children's book I worked on this year called Gramma GoGo & the Dustball Fairies... the ladies face in the background is the author, Georgina Prockiw who is an amazing woman. Gramma GoGo is a minaturist who creates dollhouses and dolls and one day discovers two dustball fairies eatting cherry pie in her dollhouse...

I've been tagged

My friend Mike R Baker has tagged me for the “5 things” about myself... and I'm happy to share the information. Thanks for the tag Mike!

1. My first dream career was to become an elasmobranchologist (basically a shark scientist). I have since snorkelled with sharks and plan to one day complete a series of shark paintings for a show.

2. I own a cow and a calf (her name is Emily), one cat and five goldfish.

3. My very first paid illustration was of a worm (who's name was Bailey).

4. I'm left handed.

5. My first oil painting looked like a mud pie (not on purpose). I painted it three years ago and was too frustrated to let it dry. I still have a full set of oil paints that are barely used. If someone really wants them they should stop by my studio and I'll give them to you for free. I'm cursed with inpatience...

I’m tagging michelle mcbride (miss dishy), heather castles, anette heiberg, elisa chavarri and Amanda Woodward! Each of these women are fantastic illustrators so check them out!

The rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.