There's a Pattern Forming

Hey there. A while back this article about making patterns was brought to my attention: Welcome Julia and How to Make a Repeat Pattern. Ever since then, I had been wanting an excuse to try it out. To my luck, Threadless.com recently had a pattern contest, so I considered that my chance. I chose sea creatures for my subject because, well, I love sea creatures, but also I think they work well since their positions are so free flowing underwater. It's not too far of a stretch to have them freely swimming all over a shirt. Here is the submission at Threadless: Sea Pattern. And here are some images of the steps I took:

Pencil sketch of first group.

 

Cut it in half. Separate. Then cut it in half the other way. Separate again.

 

Pencil sketch of second group. Fill in the blank areas.

 

Ink the first group in Photoshop.

 

Ink the second group in Photoshop.

 

Put it together.

 

Repeat it all over the shirt.

 Like it? I'd love it if you gave it a good score and maybe a comment over at Threadless here: Sea Pattern

Thanks for stopping by!

Build Your Own Bento Items #13 - #17 and Etsy Update

All of my Build Your Own Bento paintings and frames are now available on Etsy! Please check them out here.

Bento - 2 Items

 

Bento - 3 Items

Bento - 4 Items

Ham

 

Durian

Rice Chicken

Ramen

Rice Penguin

Build Your Own Bento Items #7 - #12

Strawberry

Rice Panda

Shrimp Tempura

Edamame

Rice Pig

 

Octopus Tempura

Build Your Own Bento Items #1 - #6

Sukoshicon is coming up in less than a month and I've been busy preparing for it. I'd like to keep you updated on the items I'm going to "serve" in my Build Your Own Bento project. Each one is on a 2.75" x 2.75" mini canvas and can be put in a hand-made "bento" frame. There will be 20 items to choose from. I've completed six designs, and each time I finish another, I'll try to quickly post it here to keep you updated. Here are the first six. Stay tuned for more! :)

Hot Dog Octo

Shrimp Nigiri

Boiled Egg

Tuna

Broccoli

 

Fried Rice

The Debut of "The Art of Dogs and Food"

For the past three months I've been feverishly painting and getting prints made of my food-inspired dog pieces. This past Saturday all of that finally came to fruition at the Fountain City Arts Festival in Prattville, Alabama. Other than some bad weather, I'd say it was a success. Thank you to everyone who came out! The dogs were very well received, and I got to make some great connections. This was sort of an experiment of mine to see if this would be something I'd like to continue. I am confirmed now that I will be. Throughout this year, I'll be hunting for more show opportunities as well as adding more breeds to the collection. Right now there are eight, but I'm looking forward to adding to that.

I'd also love to take this opportunity to announce that the first set of "The Art of Dogs and Food" series is now available in my new Etsy store! Please stop by and visit them there. :)

I'll leave you now with some pics from the show:

Bento Box Project

I'm excited to announce a new opportunity to branch out. I've reserved an artist table at Sukoshicon, an anime convention that is touring all over Alabama this year. I will be at their Montgomery event Saturday, May 14th. It took me awhile to make this decision because other than my recent "Dogs and Food" acrylic project, my portfolio consists of digital tshirt designs, not tangible, sellable products. I chose to overcome that by expanding what I have to offer. I came up with an idea that fits me and is something I think (and hope) people will enjoy. I have a passion for unique food. When I look at a menu, most likely I'll look for either the weirdest thing, or something I have never tried and base my decision off of that. So I started with that passion, combined it with my acrylic resources, and it evolved into a project called "Build Your Own Bento."

In their real, edible form, bento boxes are extremely artful, so for me it was an easy transition from that concept into a more permanent art form used for decoration rather than eating. I know it's sad that you won't be able to eat these, but at least you'll get to look at them longer, right? :) I found very small canvases (2.75" X 2.75") and thought it would be great to use them for individual components in a bento box, like this octodog and shrimp nigiri.

Then I constructed a frame that mimics the idea of a bento box, but functions as an art frame. With hardware on the back and decorative ribbon, you can either hang it on a wall or simply just let it sit pretty on your desk or coffee table. The individual painting components can be interchangeable and there will be many, many different food characters to choose from. There will also be different color and size options for the frames.

I will be including these paintings and frames in my Flickr portfolio. I'll also be keeping you updated about them on my Facebook page and Twitter feed.

I'm hoping I'll get to feature my other new project, "Dogs and Food" in a local art show and in an Etsy shop soon. I'll definitely let you know. Thanks for stopping by!

2011: Branching Out

Towards the end of last year, I was struck with inspiration to try other things besides tshirts. That's when I offered some of my designs as prints and opened up the shop. I enjoyed it enough to want to keep going and do more. This year I will still do tshirts, but my new goal is to branch out and try my luck with paintings at local arts and craft fairs and conventions. I'm going to start with an acrylic painting series all about dogs and food. This little guy was part of that inspiration. Here is "I'm, Alas, a Salami" on an 8" x 8" canvas. :)

In related news, 8" X 10" prints of this are now available at my shop. Free stickers with every purchase! :)

Happy New Year!