Illustration Friday – Pattern

I hold this illustration very dear to my heart.  I did it many moons ago for school, basing it off of a book called The Samurai’s Wife.  It was the first time I start playing with pattern, basically in response to my loathing of having to render drapery.   I just got to this point of  “@#$% it!  I hate drawing hanging clothes!”  And my love of collage and pattern began.  It has been an interesting process, this whole collage thingy.  Sometimes the more rational, responsible side of myself says, “y’know, this would be alot easier if you had just painted the gray heel of the socks instead of right now, being on your hands and knees, combing through your carpet looking for a 3mm gray triangle”

Yet still I persevere, collecting insanely small scraps of paper that I will, I WILL, use for a future illustration.

Right?

Illustration Friday – Welcome

An illustration I did for a story I wrote called Grandma and Little Red Have a Plan.  The wolf posed as a “Vakqum Salesman” is most certainly not welcome.

Illustration Friday – Strong

Those baby dolls can be so demanding!  You gotta be strong to keep up with their needs.

Marc Simont

Oh Marc Simont, you’ve stolen my heart!

How this all began…

My 4 year old daughter Lily has been diagnosed (by me) to have an obsessive compulsive disorder regarding dogs. So needless to say, when we venture into the library, she makes a bee-line for the toys with the understanding that I am left to check out every dog themed picture book ever published. Let me be clear- I love my daughter but I do not love dogs. I am not a dog person. I’m a people person. People are funny and fun to draw. Dogs smell and shed excessive amounts of oily hair. So you can understand my lack of enthusiasm when searching through the stacks for yet another Rover, Bozo, Spot, Pancake whatever – dog book. But it seems my luck had changed when I came across The Stray Dog by Marc Simont. It, I think, is as close to a perfect picture book as you can get. It’s a great blend of cute dogginess and amazingly observed people. Simont is great at capturing those moments that seem so often overlooked.
And how could you not love a dog digging in the trash.

Emo Smoothies

I couldn’t help myself.  I had to draw this…

I just couldn’t believe how someone so riddled with teenage angst, facial piercings and heavy eyeliner could see the appeal of working at a perky, sugary sweet smoothie shop.
Maybe he heard that car, insurance, drugstore, shampoo commercial telling us “Times are tough in today’s economy” and figured he should get a job. Maybe it was the appeal of the ear numbing blenders that reminded him so much of his music. Maybe the blender’s blades gave him the thrill of danger he was seeking. What ever the case, Kevin makes a good emo smoothie. With a free apathy boost.

Illustration Friday – Wrapped

An illustration for Family Fun Magazine.  Oh, those bumbling dads and their lack of wrapping skills!

Eloise Wilkin…and my ego

I attended a children’s  illustration panel the other night.  A couple  people  that were on the panel were illustration buddies of mine.  And being the narcissist that I am, when questions were directed to my friends I felt the need to voice my answer, quietly in my head…

“So, Molly, what got you started in illustration?”

Molly Mikela:  “Well, (small chuckle) I don’t know how many of you are familiar with Golden Books but (reflective pause), for me it probably was seeing Eloise Wilkin’s We Like Kindergarten.  The cover of that book was so strange to me, because on one hand, you have this beautifully rendered little girl and on the other hand the girl is holding her crude yet innocent drawing.  It was quite a conundrum!  So….ha…. (smiling at the audience) the contrast between realism and naïveté was an appealing aspect of art to my six year old mind and remains a source of interest to me as a developing artist.”

Speaker: “Tanja, can you tell us about your experience with promoting your book through your various book tours?”

Tanja Mikela: “uh… book? tour?…uh….”

Death is upon our house

O.k.

I give up. 

I am no good with plants and animals.

Even as I write this, I fear for the lives of my children…

It all started with a magazine, and to protect their anonymity their name will not be mentioned, but let’s just say that when you read this magazine, one assumes things are gonna be very easy…so I’m all excited because I find a recipe, which gives me the impression that it’s very easy.  I need a cup of this and tablespoon of that, and oh, of course FRESH herbs!  I fell for it – again!  8 out of 10 times, I never get around to cooking this herb infused concoction, and yet here I am handing over my $2 for a coffin shaped box of fresh herbs.   Sorry Tarragon, the hand of death put you in her fridge to slowly wilt and die underneath the zucchini.

What’s worse is the death of Stevie…

Stevie was part of a co-op my husband and I joined for the enjoyment of our young daughters.  A gecko co-op.  Yes, Stevie was content eating his $.10 crickets in his little plastic cage, until guilt set into my chest.  I wanted him to experience his home even if through the blurred vision of his plastic penitentiary.  Putting him outside in his little greenhouse was not a good idea.  Especially in Arizona.

R.I.P. Tarragon, Thyme, Mint

In Loving Memory Stevie.

sorry, I’m not going to draw a shriveled up gecko.  I don’t do that kind of illustration.

Starbucks is so beautiful…

If you are a coffee drinker, you know the pull of  that seeing that weird green two-tailed mermaid posted by your local Walgreens, Target, Big-O tires and random power  plant.  Yes, fellow coffee drinkers, we are brainless moths attracted to a corporate giant flame, in need of our caffeine fix.  But I’m superior to you Venti triple shot no whip frappicino drinkers.  I only get a tall coffee, whereby I can justify going in 3x as often, which of course monetarily equals one of your snooty drinks.  But I don’t think that when I walk in, all I think is “I woke up today, I deserve this.”

Use Twitter for good, not evil.

Ya’ know, I had my reservations about Twitter when the hubby suggested it, meaning he signed me up and started following a dozen or so people without my knowledge.  But now that I’ve jumped on to the networking bandwagon, I’ve come to the conclusion that you can only do good or evil with this – thing.  I guess what I’m trying to say is there is a lot of, not even politics, but just flat out third grade bragging on this public micro blog.  The best thing about it though, is finding people that don’t have 1000+  followers and have AMAZING work.  Here’s two, just to start…

Sarah Caterisano I’m such a sucker for beautifully rendered people and watercolor washes!

Tea and NPR

Tina Sweep Wonderful still life and anyone that listens to NPR is a friend of mine.

 So, in conclusion, go to your local Twitter and check out other great artists – and be good!