Create quirky repeating patterns tutorial

I am enjoying trying out tutorials on the Digital Arts site. I found this little gem today in search of something I would like to learn. The artist that walks you through this lesson is Andrew Groves. He does quirky, imaginative illustration like you see below. I wanted to put my own spin on it so I added a fox, bear, and deer. I also like going camping so I added a little tent with a camp fire. I had a lot of fun making the pattern, but sadly the only thing I learned was that you can't make a pattern swatch (Object > Pattern > Make) with shapes that already have a pattern in them. So what you see is a manual shift > click > drag. If you would like to learn the basics of making patterns in Adobe illustrator, click on this link.

Silent Spring Tutorial

Today I decided to do some professional development and do a tutorial. I was recommended by a coworker to do a tutorial on a ad called Silent Spring that appeared in Faar magazine originally created by Vesna Pesic. If you are interested in looking at the steps click on this link. I was given all the pictures, but I masked them and color corrected them. I traced the lettering from her sketch and applied effects to it for a 3D effect. I also made the milky ceramic effect on her eye and arm. That part I practiced my painting skills to make it look real. I had a lot of fun on this project and it was good to practice my Photoshop skills. If you want to do it too just click the link above.

Below is Vesna's aka Beca:

My version:

Christmas Poster for School Improvement Network

The Holiday season was crazy for me this past year and I am finally posting something from Christmas. I was asked by my work to create a poster to promote the company Christmas Party and gave me artistic freedom. So I decided to so something classic looking to fit the semi-formal dress as well as the style of the hotel the party is at. Originally I made the poster with gold and black. The client did not like the black and wanted to have it more "Christmasy" or "wintery." I first changed the text from gold to blue to make it look more like snow, but it was still too dark for the client. 

I really wanted to keep the black and changed the text to glitter. I really loved the black and glitter because I thought it looked classic. But the black was not cutting it. I changed it to the green that you see in the first image, which achieved the classic look I wanted and the festive Christmas look the client wanted. 

Letters to Sarah: See you in Japan!

This is the last letter I will be able to write my sister while she is serving an LDS mission in Japan. I am so proud of her giving selfless service to the people in the Kobe area as well as working on her own spirituality. At the end of the month, I am going with my parents and husband to pick her up from her mission. I am so excited to see her, so I drew this illustration of us in Japan. See you soon Sarah!

Letters to Sarah: Robin

This month in the illustration community is known as #inktober (an ink drawing a day for a month). So I am hitting two birds with one stone (pun intended) and making a card for my sister and an ink drawing for day 3. I wanted to draw a robin today and gave it a huge eye for extra cuteness :)

Happy Birthday

This past Friday was my wonderful friend's birthday. For my birthday she always makes the cutest handmade cards and in turn I make her hand lettered cards. She absolutely loved it!

Letters to Sarah: Work Hard

This week is a two-for-one! The first quote is for my sister and the second is for her companion, Sister Hamilton, who asked to have a drawing too. I decided to play with the calligraphy style this week and I am pretty happy with both of my pieces. Of course I still have a lot to learn, like being original in my calligraphy, but first I need to learn how to do it. If you'd like your very own hand letter quote, let me know and I'd be happy to make one for you!