Smash book - updated

    Sometime ago, when I got my first Smash Book (the green one pictured here) by K & Company, I started adding in as many things in as many ways as I could that inspired me, which is what the Smash Book series were originally created for as far as I can tell.  Because this book can be whatever I want it to be, it doesn't matter how messy or pretty or ugly or whatever each page turns out.  And while I try to keep mine as nice and inspirational as I can, they don't always end up as something pretty to look at.  Regardless, I've found they are great for keeping inspiration at your fingertips and have even been debating on creating one (the pink one) into a planner of sorts.  But that will be another post.  The black Smash Book is for my Halloween, Thanksgiving and fall related items, as that is my favorite time of the year and is the most inspirational to me.  I went through and pulled out just a few of the pages or elements I've added in so far to share with you guys since my last post.  (Sorry for any repeat pages.  These are at least better quality then the ones before so you should be able to actually see them this time.)  Hope you guys enjoy!

 Most of the pages are compiled of stickers I've collected, pictures I've printed or found or random other things I simply liked and wanted to keep.

 I really love my kawaii / cute sticker pages.  Can you see the bright pink fishy stamp I handcarved in there, too?

 I haven't put a lot of my own art in this book, but I will occasionally add a few things in, such as the partial flower picture above and the lettering shown.

I also created what's shown on these two pages.  The girl and her pet dog were hand cut and crafted from paper while the lettering was doodled on some old paper, then cute out and added in.  The black and white photo of the girl standing on a head was doodled on sticker paper with permanent markers.

 
 

I love adding in as much as I can to this book, especially anything colorful and bright.  

These pages below are from my latest book about autumn and fall, specifically Halloween so far.

Sketchdump

Just a sketchdump of all the weird things I've been creating with a new digital brush.

Happy Early Halloween!

October and Halloween are my favorite times of the year, but I haven't really got to enjoy it so far this year. :/ And I've had pretty much no time to draw anything for days or weeks now, but somehow I managed to create these little creatures during one small snippet of an afternoon. Thought I would share them with you guys. :) Happy Halloween to those who celebrate it and happy fall to those who don't. <3 br="">

 I wanted to add a background thing to the original set of these characters that I made, so I decided to make up a circular photo frame thingy. I really liked how it turned out. Hope you guys enjoy it, too.

 

A variation of the halloween square spider I created. Just playing around with layouts, color, etc.

Silly pumpkin

Just a silly pumpkin practice piece. ;)

Another new header!

Since fall is coming, I've decided to make another header. ;) Here's the sketch I drew out for it.

And here's the finished project, which I drew in photoshop, over the original sketch. ;)

Not sure I'm completely satisfied with it, but it will be a nice change anyway, so I'm going to try and put it up as the new header for awhile. Hope you guys like it! ;D

Pumpkin patch fencerow

Phew, have been busy, but I'm finally getting somewhat back into the groove of making art, so thought I would post a new pic for you to celebrate the coming of autumn. ;) I know, it's still a ways off, but I just love autumn! ;D

So, here's a little pumpkin I did. ;) Hope you enjoy it! Drew it with my wacom tablet, which I haven't used in ages either. Definately felt good to have that pen back in my hand once again. :)

Graffiti Overload!

More graffiti, I know. But these are so cute! I just love the bear! :D I hope you enjoy them!

Quote of the Week

"The woods are full of fairies;

the sea is full of fish;

the trees are full of golden leaves;

let's make an autumn wish."

~Anon

It's all over....

So, Halloween is over. The candy is dwindling, the costumes are put away and forgotten, the decorations look limp and lifeless in the yard, and the thrill of being a little scared is gone. At least for me. My favorite holiday of the year has come and gone. Now what?

Thanksgiving! And Christmas! They're both coming now, and I'm so excited! :D I love this time of the year. I don't know if it's because I'm ready for some cold air after the hot summer we had, or if it's the warm, loving feelings I get from the holidays, but either way, it's wonderful. So while Halloween is gone, there's even more good things to look forward to. :) So, Happy early holidays!

Family Birthdays

I have 2 family birthdays coming up that both fall on the same day. No, it wasn't a coincidence either. :) My dad was born at the end of September, so my brother and his wife had a planned c-section on his birthday with their daughter, my neice. Therefore, they both have the same birthday. For it, I thought to post some pics of birthday drawings I have, but I don't think I have any scanned so far. I'll have to scan some and put them on here.

Autumn

Fall is my absolute favorite time of the year, and since the first day of Autumn is coming (Sept. 22/23) I thought I would post the one picture that I have scanned that reminds me of Autumn. This is of a girl who misses summer and her time to relax, hence the words 'relax' in the pic. I colored this one with colored pencils only, no markers. This is the one that showed me it wasn't so bad to use colored pencils only. I could actually get brighter colors without the streaks and dry outs that markers have.

SCBWI

All right, here's another SCBWI newsletter with my work in it. I've only got one pic in this one, but it's one of my favorites. :) I love halloween, so one of my pics for the fall issue was a cemetary with ghosts and a haunted house. It's at the end of the issue, so you'll have to scroll down to find it. Here's the link for you to enjoy it. :)

http://www.scbwi-midsouth.org/FALL2007borderlines.pdf

My Sketch book

I love looking at other peoples' sketch books because they always look as if the ideas just flow from their heads onto the paper. Mine hardly ever looks that good when I do sketches. Normally the rough draft I do becomes the final piece and there really isn't much sketching done in between. However, I got a new sketch book the other day and have been fiddling around on the first page for the past couple of nights, so I thought I would share my own page. I wrote several words on it as I tried out different styles of my handwriting, so don't pay any attention to some of the words. Some are labels and others are just doodles of the words of the songs I was listening to at the time. I really like my pictures on here though. Especially the elf and the crocodile hunter. :) The witch is an early idea for a poem I'm working on. This sketch actually gave me a new idea for the poem, so maybe sketching is more helpful to me than I think it is. :)

It's a small world, after all...

Well, I figured I'd add some images, since I keep saying I love to draw and make pictures. I just have to warn you that all images are copyrighted, so don't even think about taking them!

If you would like to see more of my work or would like to buy some artwork or contact me for a job or whatever, just leave me a comment with your email address or a way to get in touch with you and I will contact you.

Otherwise, just sit back and enjoy the view! Life's too short to waste it! :)