Windy Wednesday

Hi Friends! It’s been another super busy week around here, so I’m sorry I haven’t checked in sooner. The weather in Oklahoma is legit cray too; it’s been two days of rain. Now that it’s cleared off, we are basically living in a wind tunnel now. We’re getting consistent gusts of 40-50 MPH and it’s just nutty!

I had some time to doodle in my sketchbook last night. Here’s what I made while watching The Order on Netflix (the show is pretty bad - I can’t recommend it).

I’m in the process of taking this into Procreate on my iPad Pro for a final/animated version, so I’m sure I’ll be back to share more about it soon! Hope your week is going swimmingly!

Pssst…me again…you can see the digital version here.

I Did a Thing!

On my march towards opening my Etsy store (coming soon - hopefully), I’ve been in total prep mode. My main focus has been on making sure I have quality content and products for the store. But, to do that, I also needed some tools to aid in making inventory.

I know that part of what I want to do it offer prints, stickers and maybe even vinyl decals. I could order them from a manufacturer directly, but after researching that option, it seemed to be cost prohibitive. I’m just starting out - I can’t (and don’t want to) charge people $10 for a sheet of stickers.

Enter this guy:

Through the beauty of the Facebook Market, I was able to snag a Martha Stewart edition Cricut Express Air 2 for dirt cheap. Someone was given it as a gift, tried it a couple times and realized it wasn’t something they’d use on a regular basis, so they decided to part with it and make a little money back.

I’m still in the very early stages of learning how to use this baby but I’m excited. Thankful for videos like this one from Catherine Kay (aka Katnipp) that soften the learning curve.

How gorg are those golden Martha Stewart edition Cricut tools? Way gorg.

So, I did a thing - that thing specifically. And hopefully it’ll help me bring quality items to customers while keeping prices reasonable.

Travel Oklahoma Series - The Blue Whale

I was born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It’s not a perfect city, but there’s more good than bad. The people are kind, the history is rich and the sky goes on for miles and miles so, even when you’re in the middle of the city, you feel free.

There are so many beautiful, weird and quirky things about this state. I’m working hard behind the scenes to open up an Etsy store soon. Lots of planning, brainstorming and preparing. I’m narrowing down my first few prints I’m going to offer when I launch. It would feel wrong not to include a tribute to the land that grew me.

This is the first illustration from a series I’m working on that will showcase the great state of OK.

The Blue Whale has been greeting locals and travelers on the side of route 66 in Catoosa, Oklahoma since the late 60s. It has a charming history: the whale was purchased as a gift from a husband to his whale-loving wife. (I think that whales are the traditional anniversary gift for year 35.) It soon became a popular local attraction and then a regional landmark.

I’ll give you guys a little sneak peek on what I’ve been working on: turning these illustrations into fine art prints. Let me tell you: it’s way harder (at least at first) than you think. Here’s my first test print of this illustration (taken at night, with minimal lighting in my studio so don’t judge):

On screen, the colors looks sharp and balanced. In print, the pink is too flamingo and the whale is too navy blue; it should be lighter and richer. Granted, this is the second fine art print I’ve ever made myself, so I’m not beating myself up about it. We’ll get there - with some experimentation.

I can’t wait to share the rest of this series with you guys. Soon! I’m off to bed now though. Happy Monday, friends!

Off Planet by Aileen Erin

Guys! I’m pretty excited to share this one with you! I’ve had a couple projects in the works recently that I’ve been DYING to talk about. Here’s one them!

I had the honor of collaborating with the mega-talented USA Today Bestselling author Aileen Erin on creating some promo illustrations in support of her new release, OFF PLANET, coming March 19th.

I’m almost done reading it YOU GUYS...you need to read this book. It’s sooooo good! If you love an immersive world and a strong, relatable heroine...this is your jam.

Also, OFF PLANET was picked for Apple Books’ Best Books of March! How rad is that? 

This is one illustration; I’ll share a few others I made for OFF PLANET as we approach the release date. Thank you for letting me a small part in the launch of your book, Aileen! Can’t wait to see this one top the charts soon!

Working on this was such a treat! I can’t wait to share the other illustrations with you guys soon!

You is Kind

You ever have one of those days where you feel like you can’t win? Today was one of those days for me. Things outside of my control really tried to get me down but I managed to shake it off.

It was a good day; I got a lot done with work. finished up an illustration project that I’m excited about (and will share with you guys soon). This quote from The Help kept popping into my head. (Bee tee dubs can you believe that movie is 8 years old?!) .

Here are the individual drawings, if you’re into that sort of thing. :)

The weekend begins tomorrow, loves! I’m all in for that ish. I have a couple posts in the works for this weekend, so I’ll talk to you soon!

Mac and Cheese

Hi friends! How is your week going so far? Mine has been a little nutty! I’ve been working on something that I’m pretty excited about and I hope to share with you soon. When I get excited about a project, I get hyper-focused, so I haven’t done much personal work the past few days.

I did correct that today and made this piece for someone I love.

This one goes out to my mac. We all have that person; someone who gets us, who supports us, who calls us out our BS. Someone who makes our day a little brighter, even when you’re just talking about how much your day sucked. 😆 I’m declaring today the Unofficial Mac Appreciation Day. Do you have a mac (or macs) in your life? Squeeze em tight.

And, because you know I do, here is an animated version of this illo.

Per the norm, I made this in Procreate on my iPad Pro and then animated it in Photoshop.

I’ll be back soon with more info on this fun project I’ve been drawing my booty off for. Guys, it’s been a dream for me! So excited.