This week's Illustration Friday was gluttony. I've noticed that I've become like the John Woo (see #12) of illustrators. I usually have a bird in every illustration. I don't know why that is?

This week has been a pretty good week for me. I've stuck to my daily to-do list, got an illustration job, mailed out some samples for a potentially BIG illustration job, and worked on creating some more illustration packets. This weekend will consist of antique shopping, designing promotional material for a client, and hopefully the creation of an entry for SCBWI that's due Tuesday (I still haven't come up with anything to do for it yet).

Jenny has inspired me to participate in next month's A Month of Softies. So cute! I can't wait to see everyone else's entries and to find out what next month's theme is.

Have a good weekend!

Shoes On My Feet
Sandals, pumps and highheeled boots,
It really is a treat.
To wear Mom's many pairs of shoes,
Upon my little feet.
Author Unknown

I received an email from Violette today and just now got a chance to explore her site a little deeper. Wow! Wow, wow, wow! I would love the opportunity to just let go and do art like she does. She's even painted her car. She is so artsy. I think her work would be great on Crafters Coast to Coast I don't know why they call them crafters. They're really artists (not that crafter's aren't artists). I guess I just relate crafting to country, hand painted, tea stained nick-knacks (and I have to admit I have a few of them). But maybe that's because I'm in Tennessee.

Inspiration for the week, some girls who create:
Cindy
Elizabeth
Melissa
Angela
Shelley

Here's my interpretation of the theme "The Seasons" for Illustration Friday. The Woog's been sick with a nasty cold this week, so I thought this was appropriate.

It's finally cold again in the southeast and I've struggled to stay warm all day. The First Lady seems to have a great recipe for hot chocolate. The orange zest is an interesting addition.

I've been feverishly planning and thinking big to help promote my illustration and design business. I am in total client acqusition mode. I have tons to do this week before I can do other things next week and this becomes a constant cycle for me. I've decided to make a daily, weekly, and monthly to-do list much like what Ilise Benun suggests in her book The Art of Self Promotion. My base list (which I've allowed myself to add to as needed, but not remove any task) is:

Daily
Find 3 new addresses for promo
Sketch
Blog entry (at least a few days a week)

Weekly
Update Portfolios.com listing
Illustration Friday
One clay or digital illustrtaion (portfolio quality)
Look at freelance job listing sites

Monthly
Press Release
Update portfolio
Creative Latitude article (becoming an illustrator)

I'd be interested to see what others do to promote themselves. Feel free to leave a comment or drop me an email.

Here's my interpretation of balance for Illustration Friday. You can see a larger image here. The eyes are not in my "wide-eyed" style so I might change my eyes before I add it to my portfolio but I'll see. With all the things I have going on it's a challenge to balance everything. I have a full time design job, and freelance design business, a freelance illustration business, my husband and I own a video store, and we have a 9 month old. But I wouldn't change it for anything.

I've added my 7th article for my self promotional journal over at Creative Latitude if you'd like to see what I did last month. You can also see what I've done the past 6 months starting here.

Since it's a new year full of new opportunities I've been putting a lot of though into self promotion. I have so many ideas and lists of things to do but I'm stuggling with where to start. I need to update my portfolio, come up with some type of mailer, and try to promote myself when and where ever possible. Heather has made a great book of creative goals for the year. My goals for the year are obtainable but it will just take hard work. I'm trying to focus on my illustration work, while maintaining my design work. Doing a marketing plan for both businesses has been a challenge. There's so much overlap but I don't want to combine my design and illustration business. I guess my styles are so different between the two that they really don't match and would look odd if promoted together.

I have decided that I'm limiting (and eventually phasing out) my web design jobs. Lately I've been frustrated with it and it seems so temporary yet ongoing. With print work you do it, it's printed and it's done. You're finished. You have a physical piece in your hand. With web, it's an ongoing process with changes and updates and sometimes they can effect the layout of the site and then you have to work around it. It's just getting to be a pain for me. Oh, and the agony of making sure the site looks good in all browsers and all platforms!!

One of my first action items is to come up with an eye-catching, inexpensive (to make and mail) and something easy to reproduce that will be mailed to potiential illustration clients. I've been skimming though the past years' HOW self promotional issues for ideas and haven't been able to come up with anything. If I had a beautiful large format color printer that could print on any stock imaginable then I'd be in buisness, but I don't. I guess that's part of the creative challenge though.

I leave you with some girls who create:
Digital
Collage
Felt
Paint
Watercolor

This week's topic for Illustration Friday was Disaster Relief and here's my interpretation:


I've seen very little on the news regarding the Tsunami simple because of how upsetting it is. The stories are heartbreaking. Since I became a mom, I am much more sensitive to the feelings of parents and children who loose each other. There are many places to donate but here's a place you may not have heard of. The International Mission Board.

Cute things to give your kids here, here, and here.


Cute things to give yourself are Leslie's creations in her store, Robyn's creatures, and handmade goods at blissen.

Since I've been obsessed with all things cute, I'm trying to build up my portfolio with appropriate things for the younger children's market. These are some sketches I will soon be turning into clay illustrations.

I spent most of the morning sketching out ideas and plans, and wasn't coming up with great stuff. Then I received Penelope's newsletter in my inbox and relaxed a little. She had read an article that said to "JUST PLAY. Stop forcing yourself to do good art. Instead try to do really bad art. Stinkers. Stop judging. And just play." This is pretty much the same philosophy that Keri uses. I don't know why I feel like every piece I do, needs to be portfolio quality. I really need to get over that!

Loobylu had announced January's topic for A Month of Softies and last month's are now on display.

I thought I'd ring in the new year with a resolution that I'm actually keeping. I've been wanting to have a blog for quite some time now, and I've finally got it all together. I hope this blog will keep me accountable, force me to be more creative, a maybe supply some folks with great resources. Happy New Year!