21 Day Creative Challenge: Day 6 BARKLEY!

If I'm truly going to challenge myself I have to go out of my comfort zone. Usually, this involves creating things on the computer. For today's challenge I used illustrator (and only illustrator) to create my newest creature. Thank you again so much for the comments as they have kept me going these last six days!

Once again: Viewer challenge is to be the first to name my creature (thanks for the great and wonderfully appropriate names thus far!)

Today's creature: He's elusive and careful but a tad on the nutty side: while he will eat peanut butter he will only eat it on potato chips with a side of guacamole! His biggest fear is alien invasion and yes, his fur is naturally orange.

21 Day Creative Challenge: Day 5 VERONICA!

It's been great getting back into my moleskin. I did this creature yesterday while at the Royal Bison Art & Craft Fair (which was very enjoyable: I connected with come people who had bought from me at a previous fair and traded my goodies for some very lovely products!).

Here's two quick facts about yesterday's creture: 1) She loves wearing layers (so she can enjoy her two favorite shirts at the same time) and 2) She often wakes up near midnight to jot down her dreams in vivid details.


I also had time to do a self portrait (crystal style): I find it fascinating that the one face you look at every day is the hardest to get "right"... then again, it might have helped to have a mirror.

21 Day Creative Challenge: Day 4 MAGGIE!

Today I sketched my creature in pen and realized very quickly how much I love this medium. I'm afraid 15 minutes is all I have been able to squeeze into my drawings thus far, which I do hope to increase as I go. This is a very important exercise!

Alright: Today's creature (also up for "naming") is the first female I've drawn. She's currently contemplating her day, as she often does after school by a pond near her home. She's madly in love with the boy who sits two rows ahead of her (and one to the left) and wonders if she needs a new hair cut in order to get noticed by him. Her favorite thing in the world to do is to stretch out on a blanket in the grass and read comic books in the sun (she prefers books about Jughead and never, ever buys or reads comics about Veronica).

21 Day Creative Challenge: Day 3 Joey

Today's "creative creature" was captured during a moment of shame. As it turns out, his father caught him moments earlier pulling his sisters tail. However, on moments that aren't filled with shame, this little one spends many giddy moments jumping in puddles with his bare feet and often tries to bring humans home as pets (his mother doesn't allow such ridiculous creatures in her home as they are far too loud). His favorite meal consists of baked polenta with tomatoes and cheese (grated extra fine and melted until brown).

Art & Craft Fairs 2008...

Last year I experimented by selling my art/prints at craft and art fairs. I personally love going to these events. They're packed with local small business owners (as small as business's can come) who not only create their products but package, transport, sell and market everything about themselves). It's beautiful and it's so traditional. These tiny business's are directly linked to their owners and therefore are fully responsible for the quality of their products (the product is also a "face" and a personality). I adore also (and maybe especially, having grown up on a farm) farmers markets where you can smell sweet freshly baked bread and walk by rows of organic and locally grown potatoes and carrots, beautifully washed and glowing. Necklaces shining in the sun and jars of homemade mustard that make your mouth water as you pass. I don't even mind (some people scoff at such things) older women who sit together, knitting needles clacking as they chat behind rows of perfect mittens and quilts.

Becoming a vendor, however, made me aware of the true work that being a "craft fair" person entails (besides, obviously, creating your products). Fairs are costly: often I rarely earn much of a profit for my business and what little profit is earned is usually spent at the various booths who buddy up with my table (a carton of free range duck eggs here, a pair of fair trade earrings there...). The hours I put into packaging artwork, cards and making sure they don't fly away in the wind has been known to exhaust me. But with that said, fairs can also be addictive. I can't describe how wonderful it is to have real live feedback about your art to an illustrator who usually sits at home (alone) handing in illustrations via the internet. The connections I make and exposure that I gave myself are priceless (plus it gives me the opportunity to educate the public on what illustration is and to quite frankly create whatever the heck I want to try to sell). While the early morning running around (ahhhh... where's my calculator!... geee I forgot to get change again!) and long days hoping for more foot-traffic were nice to escape for a couple months I've decided to do a few more this year, because heck, these fairs and beautiful.

New Illustrations for sale (cards & prints at the fairs only, email me if interested in the originals):
Holly's Castle, Summer Fun, Animal Party, Barnes Garden (with proceeds going towards the Edmonton Humane Society) & Garden Stroll (all © 2008)

Royal Bison(THIS SUNDAY ONLY - from 10am - 5pm)
8426 - Gateway Blvd (Cosmopolitan Music Society Building, Edmonton AB)

Stop & Shop (Highly Recommended: The last show was amazing! On May 16: 5pm - 9pm, May 17: 10am - 6pm, May 18: 12 - 5pm)
10330 - 84 ave (Trans Alta Arts Buidling, Edmonton AB)

Down Town Farmers Market Not to be confused with the indoor Strathcona Market!
Various Saturdays 9am - 3pm (I'll keep you posted when these are, I'm "cutting back" this year)

For those of you who missed my BIG NEWS,

The Big News (in case you missed it)

21 Day Creative Challenge: Day 2 FRED!

I had so much fun reading the comments about my last creature (thank you everyone!) that I wanted to see what you would make of the next one.

Here's his stats:
This guy is friends with Stan (believe it or not). In fact, they've worked in the same building for four years this upcoming tuesday. He enjoys eatting pickled corn and root of huginoba (a dark red fruit found in his land) while listening to his favorite radio show (which features local blues bands and interviews with select groups of human rights activists). He's had a bad day, which explains the rather sad illustration of him right now (he was forced to do the CEO's laundry and it was extra gross this time around)

21 Day Creative Challenge: Day 1 STAN

I've decided to join the 21 Day Creative Challenge... started by amazing illustrator Gina Perry. Here was her inspiration:

"During Laurie Halse Anderson's keynote at the 2008 NESCBWI conference last weekend, she gave us a challenge. Think you don't have time? She does. At least 15 minutes. Pick a time of day and mark it in your dayplanner or calender. She mentioned that it takes 21 days to form a new habit. Also, pick a buddy or two to help you stay focused and on track. I challenge all of you who read this to join me."
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Jannie Ho was how I found out about the challenge: it's her first day too! Check out Gina and Jannie's blogs for more info.

Here's my personal challenge: To create a different character each day (non-human, non-animal). The first creature I'd like the "bloggers" out there to name... Any suggestions?

He's a bit of a nice guy and enjoys peppermint tea and granola with chopped up banana's (cut just so). Each morning he walks to his office and on his way feeds expired meters with spare change from his pocket. One thing he hates is socks, which he avoids at all costs.

New Work Released!

Work from 2003 - 2006 is finally available for all you lovely internet friends & clients to view! This is the big secret I told you about last week and yet I've suddenly become so busy that I don't forsee my website update getting finished too soon. You may either enjoy the slideshow or browse at your own speed in my newly created flickr 2003 - 2006 collection.

9 worst foods you can eat

I have a fantastic announcement coming as soon as my new website is published (almost there)! There's going to be so many new samples it will drive you hog wild!... just you see...

For now, my mind is obsessing over nutrition. I am involved in a publication for the Royal Alberta Museum called the "Wit n Word" whose current theme is food. I've taken the top 9 worst foods from Nutrition by Natalie in her video "Top 10 Worst Foods" and turned it into a quirky illustration. I still have to do her List of Top 10 Foods...

Paws and Claws Gala comes to a close

A huge thank you to the artists who created pieces of art for the first ever Paws and Claws Gala to raise funds for the Edmonton Humane Society last weekend!

• paws and claws gala website
• the painting I donated
• the edmonton humane society

Susan Stevens & Amie Kerman
Igor Woroniuk (pictured with his wife, Gillian) Michelle Schwengler, Marcus Cutler, Drury Straity & Nicola Marie Pringle
Above: Setting up required tying almost 400 bows on chairs... very pretty results.
the art of animals that once lived at the Edmonton Humane Society:
And to those who could not make it to the event, thank you for the donation and/or long hours put into your pieces (Danielle Inglesias, Rachelle Miller & Michelle McBride)!

(pictured: myself, on the way to the gala. photo by my husband).

To see picture of the art donated, please visit the paws and claws gala . I'm going to update it in the next week with the rest of the art and photos of the event.

Spring

It's been a long winter. I've hardly had any time to pick up my paint brush or to think about sketching in the last few weeks. The biggest reason for this is unfortunetly financial but I've been doing lots of creative things. I'm still a graphic designer at the Royal Alberta Museum (see some of my design work on the CKUA concert series poster for example) and am student recruiting for Grant MacEwan's Design Program (the program hosts five majors: Photography, Illustration, Digital Media, Motion Image and Exhibit Presentation: I took the Illustration program in 2000 and graduated in 03) which will mean I'm going to see lots of the province (I'll post some images) as well the Paws and Claws Gala is only days away (I've been organizing an art show for a local animal shelter) I have lots on the horizon (some very cool projects may be coming this summer) and will update you as often as I can manage. Stay Tuned! Oh and yes, this is a self portrait.

Spring Break Artist...

I forgot to mention that I'd be at the Royal Alberta Museum as a guest artist yesterday. I taught a little bit about acrylic painting to the kids who showed up (almost 60 kids by the looks of the filled seats). It was the most interesting experience I've done teaching thus far as I've never been trained to teach children... You might have missed it but I also got on the evening news yesterday doing my little lecture. I of course didn't turn on the tube (who likes to see themselves on tv anyway?). Does anyone know if you're supposed to look at the person interviewing you or at the camera? I never know and usually end up looking back and forth!

Happy Belated St. Patricks Day!

I meant to post this yesterday. It's a clip from an ad we couldn't send because of the elections in Alberta this past month. The mammoth is "moe", the Royal Alberta Museums mascot. I've illustrated him about a dozen times now.

Illustrators, Graphic Designers & Artists

Your business cards are needed by a student. Help her collect a couple hundred cards by sending yours to her. I think it's a fun project!

I adore...

Just a note on cool things I discovered today while hunting for a "Moo Egg" (did not find one...).
•Imagine a messanger bag made of painters canvas... see Timbuk2's designs!
•I'd also love to get my paws on one of Lucha Workshop's monster bags (or scarves... boo, it sold the other day!)
•I have a secret love affair with monsters as well as Matty8080's Zombies!...
•Geninne's birds are so elegant (wouldn't her work look great in my bathroom?)

halloween harvest

halloween harvest, originally uploaded by crystal driedger.

A piece for my portfolio and a reminder to vary my poses (see the last entry I made in which the girl is doing pretty much the same thing... sigh...!) Tunnel Vison.

Garden Stroll: Illustration Friday

Garden Stroll (illustration friday: garden), originally uploaded by crystal driedger.

A soft breeze fills Claires skirt with thick puffs of pink
The smell of lavendar tickles her nose
Butterflies pause as Frogs dance on the rich earth
Green leaves and stone tiles absorb the warm of the sun.
The sweet taste of vanilla couldn't be better appreciated
than on a summer garden stroll.

*made just for illustration friday!

Edmonton Sketch Crawl

I heard of an experiment that someone was doing in San Fransisco which they dubbed a "sketchcrawl". The idea is to go out and draw for an entire day everything that you do or things that you see as you go along. I was inspired and intrigued by the idea so I decided to plan one myself! I urge other illustration readers to plan one in their city. It's a great way to meet other aritsts in their community.

EDMONTON SKETCH CRAWL
(18th international)
SAT, MARCH 29th
11am
STANLEY A MILNER LIBRARY, Down town
(in the entrance if it's terrible outside, outside if it's glorious!)

Here's what the founder had to say:

"The basic idea: to record nonstop everything I could around me with my pencil and watercolors. A drawn journal filled with details ranging from the all the coffee I drank to the different buses I took. After a whole day of drawing and walking around the city the name seemed quite fitting: “SketchCrawl” - a drawing marathon. The crawl was more tiring than I imagined but also more fun and exciting than I had thought. Giving yourself this kind of mandate for a full day changes the way you look around you. It makes you stop and see things just a tad longer, just a bit deeper … needless to say I loved it.

I soon figured out it was much more interesting to do the marathon with a group of artists instead of all by myself! And so SketchCrawl turned communal. After a whole day of drawing it proved to be amazingly interesting and inspiring to share and compare other people’s drawings and thoughts. Different takes on our surroundings, different details, different sensibilities.
The next step was making the SketchCrawl a World Wide event: having people from different corners of the world join in a day of sketching and journaling and then, thanks to the Internet, having everyone share the results on an online forum.

Hope to see some of you out there!

The Dark Side of Crystal.

Perhaps it is the snow that never seems to stop coming down from the sky, but lately I've been a bit under the weather emotionally. Sad, for no good reason. This is why I've created these sketches, which are rather darker than my usual style, in the hopes of getting some of the darkness out of my system (yes, even children's illustrators get the blues).

Illustration Friday: Leap

Illustration Friday: Leap, originally uploaded by crystal driedger.

Maybelle, grown tired of her usual persuits, ties a bow round her head, paints some boiled eggs with patterns and leaps into the air with joy. Has she gone mad or has she just become the easter bunny?

(sketched exclusively for illustration friday, what a gosh darn treat!...)