Giveaway

Okay, here's the deal. Doing this Sketchbook thingy has just about wiped out my brain. I have sort of come to a creative dead-end, so to speak. Or maybe it's just that I'm tired, and Secret Agent Man has been out of town all week doing Secret Agent things and I'm just out of my routine. I don't know.
But whatever it is, I'm drawing a blank (pun definitely intended) as to where to go next with this. I realize I don't have to have 40 pages of art, but I'd like to have more than 14.

Anyway...here's what I'm thinking: I'm going to have a contest. Submit to me your idea for an illustration and if I like it and I pick it I will send you a numbered and signed print of the drawing. (Numbered because at some point I'm going to offer some of them as a limited edition of prints, I think.)

Please keep in mind that
1) my theme is "Submersibles and Dirigibles";
2) nothing naughty, please;
and 3) it needs to be able to fit into a 5.5 in by 8.5 in drawing space.

Um....let's see - deadline 1 week from today, so Nov 5th. How's that sound?

Moondream

My new favorite song is "Moon and Moon" by Bat for Lashes (sorry I couldn't find a better video...)

This song inspired this latest illo for the Sketchbook Project:

Moondream

Dreams More Beautiful...

...than this are something I can only hope for.

Dreams More Beautiful

And Now For Something Completely Different

Well, okay, not "completely"...it's still art stuff.

I thought I'd share a little project I did for the lovely lady blogger over at Under the Roof of a Great House.
She wanted a portrait for her younger daughter's birthday, so working from a photo she sent me:

It was fun and challenging all at the same time (getting faces to actually look like a "real" somebody is hard!), but she had great input and eventually we got to this:

I hope she likes it, and that she had a really happy birthday!

Mouse Takes a Vacation

But he'll send you a letter real soon!



I thought I was doing pretty good with my illustrations, until I counted them up today and realized I only have 12! There are 40 pages in this book!!!

Birds On a Wire

Don't Be Scared

Last week Illustration Friday did "Spooky" as their theme. As you know, I've been working a lot on the Sketchbook Project, so I'm a little behind the 8-ball for IF. But I'm getting my spooky out there for Halloween anyway.
A while back (June? July?) I posted these little guys:

Fear of Broken Hearts

Fear of Spiders

I had also done these two, which for some reason I never got around to posting, so I'll post them for "Spooky" even though I'm late.

Fear of Ghosts

Fear of Cats

Happy Little Puffer-Sub

For the Sketchbook Project.

Wind Dancers

The first from the "Dirigible" part of the Sketchbook.

...and then we found the jellies

Transportation

For Illustration Friday.

Whale Song

For the Sketchbook Project.

Most Awesomest Etsy Treasury Ever

Well, okay, I might be a little biased, but really, it is awfully awesome!

Zombigurumi (whose shop is also pretty awesome) made a B-Movie treasury, just in time for Halloween! I love B-Movies. Especially ones like this:

(Army of Darkness, in case you didn't already know)

and this:



and this:



Okay, I guess I have a thing for Bruce Campbell. But really, who doesn't?

Anyway, here's Zombigurumi's B-Movie treasury. Go check it out. (Did you notice who's first?!)

Award-sies

One of my very favorite kinds of recognition is from other artists. Especially ones I admire. This morning I found that Leen Christens, who I recently "discovered" through Illustration Friday, left me a wonderful award at her blog.


Apparently, the way this works is that now I have to list 15 of my favorite "lovely" blogs. This is actually a great way to introduce those who are interested to several fantastic artists, so I have no problem with taking a little time to do so! Go check out Leen's blog as well as Jenny's, Enchanted Moon Illustration, who gave this award to Leen before she passed it on!
She has a list of very talented artists, too. I could spend all day looking from list to list if only I didn't have to work! Arg...

So here's my list to pass on, just in case you haven't already checked out my reading list over there. You don't have to pass it on if you don't want to. And if I didn't mention you, don't worry, I still love you, but it would take all day to post all my favorites!

Diana Evans

Abigail Halpin - Illustration

Bella Sinclair Doodlespot

Beth's Artworx

cori dantini makes...

dori the giant

Ice-Cream Monster Toon Cafe

kathy hare illustration

Lisa Snellings

Rebekah Leigh

Sandygrafik

Shirley's Illustrations

The Crooked Stamper

Woodstock Lily

white octopus illustration

Enjoy!

Turtle Sundae

So these guys -
are currently advertising something called a Turtle Sundae in our area. They say it's soft serve ice cream, caramel, fudge, and salted pecans. Meh. I'm not much for pecans.


Anyway, when I saw the sign at an A&W near my house my instant reaction was this:





I like mine better.

Octopus Tango