Line it up!

Line work can be extremely tedious... and some days I'm just not in the tedious work mode. I've kind of been working on this piece periodically throughout the day. It's hard to be patient when all the fun blending stuff comes after this step. I guess today my mood suited more of an oil painting kind of day... but alas, I'm kind of committed to seeing this one through. We'll see what sort of mood I'm in tomorrow. 

Call me crazy...

Today, amidst all the madness of the final weeks of the semester, I decided to start a new illustration. Yes – call me crazy. I may have, in fact, actually lost my marbles this time. But I'm going to roll with it (or them I guess... I would hope I have more than one measly little marble up there ;) So behold, I present to you my crazy idea: my original line work done in graphite. If this state of craziness continues I'm planning to scan it and then take it into illustrator and photoshop to colour it digitally. This impulse to construct a new illustration was in part inspired by someone's (I forget whose) wise words "Past sketches and doodles aren't done for nothing. You can always use/draw inspiration from them." So remembering a few doodles I had done in first year that had images intertwined within each other, I thought I'd create an illustration that combined imagery of a late summer night. And here I am. Almost 4 o'clock on Tuesday, with a lot of other projects needing attention, starting something entirely brand new. Well... when the mood strikes right? (I think that's what they say...)

A little bit about me and my illustration style

(Click twice on the image to magnify enough to read the text)

Go Play - direct mail

(click on image to enlarge)

I'm in a great mood despite the weather outside. How often does a great artist like Kiff Holland say that he would have bought my painting? Not everyday! Now that's a compliment. Plus I got a great review on all of my portfolio illustrations (this one included). Life is good! I can't believe how many illustrations I've produced since January. Hard work really does pay off!

With a little spring in my step

I wish this pic had audio attached so you could
hear the birds chirping in the forest in my backyard

Happy spring-time to all of my followers and fellow artists out there! One season closer to my favorite time of the year. Perhaps all that extra vitamin D is getting to my head – I feel all happy and energized. It's a weird feeling... lol. Well today I am working on a direct mail piece for parks & rec so of course I'm dreaming about summer road trips and tailgate parties, bonfires and sunsets. Not that that has anything to do with what they offer for summer activites... but could you imagine? :D Hopefully I can get this illustration perfected and entered into the 3x3 student competition (deadline tomorrow). So it may be a long night. I'm also going on campus this afternoon to meet/listen to Claire from RepArt. Should be a good day!

Wow what a load of...

It's crazy to think that such a small amount of materials could actually cost so much money. I recently received this portfolio book/cover in the mail. I love it – I just wish it didn't cost so much $$$. Oh well, 'cest la vie. I've also included a picture of all of the revisions and some of the sketches for an ongoing project I'm working on. I don't feel overly "talkative" today despite the two extra large mugs of caffeine I've inhaled. I'm also suffering from illustrator's wrist today... it's hard to type and keep my wrist on the heating pad, so I'll keep this post on the shorter side. One thing I've learned this week – a lot of money, and a lot of hard work goes into making a great industry ready portfolio. But it'll all be worth it... right?  Stay optimistic and happy drawing! Till next time.

New work for your tastebuds

Oil paintings for "Through the Looking Glass" series

As I was writing that title I was wondering if that made any sense at all? Is it possible to have visual tastebuds? Well if it is – then you have them :) So feast your eyes.... ah see: "feast your eyes"... Okay so we can assume there are visual tastebuds. Moving on... Here are my latest oil paintings. Some days I wish I could just concentrate on oil painting all day long. Unfortunately though I need to focus on developing my professional illustration portfolio as well. Here's to multitasking!

To post pics or not to post pics? That is the question

Greetings fellow bloggers and followers. I apologize for my absence. I've put myself under house arrest for the last couple days in order to get a lot of work done. Thankfully (and you'll notice this is a reoccurring theme) I had caffeine and tunes to keep me company. I got a lot done, entered some illustration and photography competitions, and finished up some oil paintings for a Fine Art Publisher. Talk about a productive week! Now in order to keep this blog interesting to all of you out there I'm inclined to post some pictures of my progress and current artworks. However, this is where things get a little tricky. I really can't stop anyone from taking a screenshot of my work. And just fyi, if you want to make it your desktop background - go right ahead! I'm honored.
Okay... back to the point I was trying to get at before I got all sidetracked by all my fans... right :) IF you are posting images of your work remember to customize the metadata. This can be done in Adobe Bridge or in Photoshop itself. This way you can link back to your site, enter the copyright info and most importantly add your name as the creator.

well I wasn't gonna leave you with no picture to click on.
What would be the fun in that?

Now for those pictures... well I like to keep a little bit of intrigue so you'll all come out to my upcoming show @ the Harbour Centre downtown Vancouver. You can find a sneak peek of images at http://www.viviangerber.com/