Brittney Lee

Its Time to Play the Music...

2011-12-10T16:50:00.003-05:00

I'm so happy to be able to show you all my contribution to "The Lovers, the Dreamers, and Me", the Jim Henson Tribute show that opens tonight at Gallery Nucleus. My piece is titled "Its Time to Light the Lights", and I thought it would be fun to show Bunson and Beaker getting into some trouble. Poor Beaker never seems to benefit from Bunson's experiments.

Here is some more information about the show:

Jim Henson's accomplishments have left a widespread and enduring impression on generations of admirers since his first endeavors in the late 1950s. From his iconic and colorful cast on Sesame Street to the groundbreaking fantasy Dark Crystal, Henson's imagination and ingenuity have ignited a path that many others have since followed.

Timed with the release of Disney's The Muppets motion picture and news on a forthcoming Henson biopic, Nucleus has invited more than 30 artists to pay homage to this universally beloved visionary whose inspiring concepts and characters have impacted our culture in a monumental way. The collection will showcase a variety of mediums from a roster of professionals who are also genuine fans.

Opening Night Highlights:

• Hourly Raffle Prizes
• Meet exhibiting artists
• Live Holiday & Henson Tunes by Kwortet
• Complimentary cupcakes by Chwa Cupcakery
• Complimentary refreshments
• Celebrate the season with fellow art lovers
• Shop unique gifts for those on your gift list

Exhibiting Artists Include:
*Artists attending reception

Alberto Cerriteno
Anna Chambers
Becky Dreistadt
Brittney Lee
Cat Rabbit
Chuck Groenink
Colin Jack
Felt Mistress
Graham Annable
Helen Musselwhite
*Ian Abando
Isobel Knowles
Israel Sanchez
Jackie Huang
*Jared Andrew Schorr
Jeni Yang
*Julia Sonmi
Lorelay Bové
Lorena Alvarez
MaricorMaricar
Mark Facey
Meg Hunt
*Michelle Thies
*Mike Mitchell
*Mike Peraza
Naoshi
Olivier Tossan
Scott C
Sean Chao
Sebastien Mesnard
TADO
Wool Buddy
Xavier Collette

I will be there tonight as well, so come on down if you can! I hope to see you there!

Morning Fog

2011-11-25T19:52:00.004-05:00

Sometimes the quiet moments are the most memorable:)

CTN-X was a huge success! Thank you to all who came to say hello! This was one of the new pieces I made for the show, and I just had a chance to add it to the shop right here. I will share a few other pieces that I finished for CTN-X very soon, as well as some work created for upcoming gallery shows. So stay tuned!

And lastly, happy Thanksgiving to all of you in the U.S.! I hope you are all spending the weekend with family and friends, enjoying good food and good company. There is just so much to be thankful for:)

Until next time!

XOXO

My Favorite Part of Neverland

2011-11-09T00:32:00.003-05:00

I know I have a problem. Okay, an obsession.

But when I was recently asked to create a new piece for a Disney Fine Art event a few weeks ago, the mermaid lagoon scene from Peter Pan was all I could think about. I thought it would probably be best to go ahead and get it out of my system before things got out of hand.

10" x 24" paper collage and gouache

I have been keeping busy working on several projects and getting ready for CTN-X next week! If you happen to be going to the show, you can find me at Table 56 right next to my good friend and fellow mermaid enthusiast, Liana Hee! I should have more updates before the show, but until then have a lovely week!

It's A Small World After All!

2011-09-07T23:02:00.006-04:00

Well it has certainly been too long!

First of all, Comic-Con was awesome! Thank you so much to all who came out and said hello!

While I have tried to spend the better part of the last month enjoying what is left of the Southern California summer, I did find some time to work on this piece for the upcoming It's a Small World tribute show at Gallery Nucleus. Here is the info about the show from the gallery:

It's a Small World

Timed with the release of illustrator Joey Chou's latest children's book from Disney Press, a select group of talent will contribute work paying homage to this beloved and enduring theme of global peace. The book features Chou's illustrations interpreting the Sherman Brothers classic song written for the popular Disney park attraction.

This is an all-ages event. Meet some of the artists including Joey Chou who will be on hand signing copies of the new release.

Exhibiting Artists Include:

Joey Chou
Lorelay Bové
Patrick Awa
Brittney Lee
Becky Dreistadt
Patrick Hruby
Michelle Romo
Eric Diaz
Michael Fleming
Grace Lee
Brendan Wenzel
Justin Parpan
Israel Sanchez
Seb Mesnard
Griselda Sastrawinata
Rad Sechrist
Nellie Le
Pete Oswald
Mark Sperber
Winnie Ho
Olga Stern
Christian Robinson
Victoria Ying
Ryan Kramer
Alex Chechik
Kevin Chan
Sean Sullivan
Ryuku Uratsuji
Chris Turnham
Josh Parpan
Jesse Tise
Elizabeth Ito
Jing Wei
Ben Butcher
Brigette Barrager
Chris Sasaki
Claire Keane

Uwe Heidschoetter

Oliver Akuin
Edward Juan
Linda Kim
Jackie Huang
Patrick Raines
Eren Blanquet
Drake Brodahl

I am so thankful to Joey and Gallery Nucleus for inviting me to be a part of this show! This piece is one of the deepest and most intricate that I have ever made, and it was so much fun to figure out! I cannot wait to see all of the other pieces from all of the incredible artists in this exhibit. Here are a few more detail shots of my piece, titled Aloha! Bienvenue! Welcome!:

Lastly, for those of you who couldn't make it to Comic-Con, I now have copies of Confetti up in the shop! I will also be taking them on the road to APE and CTN-x this fall - I hope to see some of you there!

More updates soon! Have a lovely week!

Confetti at Comic Con!

2011-07-20T04:30:00.003-04:00

What a whirlwind month it has been! This week is the infamous SDCC, and for the first time I will have a table in the Small Press area (SP O-15), so I am very excited for the show. Not only that, but for the very first time I will be selling my own little art book! Confetti, a 68-page collection of various works, will be making its debut tomorrow in San Diego! I will also have the usual haul of prints, bookmarks, some originals and special edition books (with bookplates) on hand so please stop by if you are in the neighborhood! And for everyone who cannot make it to Comic Con, I will be selling the book online shortly after I return from the show. Have a wonderful week, and I hope to see you in San Diego!

Harry Potter Tribute Show: Expecto Patronum

2011-07-07T23:02:00.003-04:00

The second of my two Potter pieces - Harry defending Ron and Hermione from Dementors with the use of his Patronus charm. His stag patronus is just so cool, I couldn't help myself.

Both of my Harry Potter pieces (as well as many others) will be on display starting this Saturday, July 9th, at Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra, CA. The opening reception is going to be awesome, so be sure to stop by if you can!

Also, my Introduction to the Owlry piece is part of an online auction for the Harry Potter tribute show. You can view and bid on 11 of the pieces in the show right here. Have a wonderful weekend, and I hope to see you at the show!

Harry Potter Tribute Show: Introduction to the Owlry

2011-07-05T23:36:00.004-04:00

I am definitely a Potter fan. When the nice folks at Gallery Nucleus asked me if I would be interested in participating in a Harry Potter Tribute Show that would take place one week before the final film opened, I must confess that I had to suppress a squeal of joy. It was really difficult for me to choose what to illustrate, but in the end there were two moments that I decided to try to capture.

This first piece is my take on little Harry introducing his Snowy Owl, Hedwig, to the Owlry at Hogwarts. I thought it would be fun to illustrate these two unlikely friends, as well as all of the different owl personalities that shuttle messages to and from Hogwarts.

The Harry Potter Tribute Show opens this Saturday, July 9th at 7pm at Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra, CA. You can see all of the crazy show details right here!

I have one more Potter piece that I will post before the show. Have a great week, and I hope to see you on Saturday!

Baker's Dozen at Gallery Nucleus!

2011-06-09T00:27:00.006-04:00

I was recently asked to contribute to a group show that is opening this Saturday at Gallery Nucleus. The title of the show is "Baker's Dozen",with the idea that all of the contributing artists illustrate popular idioms.

For my first piece, I chose the phrase "Drink Like a Fish". Why shouldn't sea creatures enjoy a nice cocktail party once in a while?

And for my second piece, I decided on "An Elephant in the Room". A circus seemed like the appropriate venue for such an expression.

Here is all of the show information from the gallery:

Baker's Dozen - Illustrated Idioms
June 11, 2011 - July 4, 2011
Opening Reception / Jun 11, 7:00PM - 11:00PM

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a few words can make a delightfully pretty picture. This exhibit has 13 diverse, and notable artists visually exploring their favorite idiom.

A range of aesthetics and mediums will be on display in this playful exhibit that includes drawings, paintings, lithographs, paper-cuts and more!

Featured Artists:

Ming Ong
You Byun
Brittney Lee
Matte Stephans
Dadu Shin
Catia Chien
Miki Sato
Nicole Gustafsson
Lorena Alverez
Ahren Hertel
Nico Duffaut
Daniela Volpari

AND if that isn't enough, the totally awesome Nate Wragg is also opening a solo show at Gallery Nucleus on the same night! Stop by and say hello if you can!

More updates soon! Have a great week everyone!

Edward Scissorhands Tribute: The First Snow

2011-04-13T23:00:00.004-04:00

I love the film Edward Scissorhands, and I am so happy and honored to be a part this 20th anniversary tribute show! Sebastien Mesnard has done an excellent job of organizing this event, and I cannot thank him enough for asking me to be a part of it!

If you are in LA this weekend, you should definitely check out the opening on Saturday night! Added bonus: there will be an Adventure Time show opening in the upper gallery as well. It will be a great time for sure - I hope to see you there!

An Afternoon at Gallery Nucleus!

2011-04-08T03:03:00.004-04:00

Lots of things are happening! One of the neatest things I have to share is that the awesome people at Motivarti and Gallery Nucleus have asked me to spend an afternoon lecturing and demoing for anyone who might be interested. If you happen to be in LA on Sunday, April 17th, I would be honored if you would stop by! Here are the details:

An Afternoon with Brittney Lee

Sunday, April 17th, 2011
1:00 – 4:30 pm
at Gallery Nucleus (210 East Main St. Alhambra, CA 91801)

The afternoon includes:

- a one-hour lecture with Q&A, with topics including Brittney’s development as an artist, techniques for creating a fan base, and advice for making the transition to a career in the entertainment industry

- a two-hour, open-format paper demo, in which Brittney will craft an original paper work while explaining her process and techniques

- an artist meet-and-greet, with print and book signing following the paper demo

- a raffle of the original paper artwork created during Brittney’s demo; you’ll receive 3 free raffle tickets for attending, with more tickets available for purchase at the event

-an opportunity to purchase a limited-run, numbered and signed print which Brittney has created exclusively for Gallery Nucleus and Motivarti for this event

Tickets
Pre-purchase: $20 (click here)
At the door: $25

Get three free raffle tickets when you purchase an event ticket. Plus, college students show their I.D. at the door for an additional five free raffle tickets!

More information can be found here.

The painting at the top of this post is the print I made just for the workshop. I am not sure how many Motivarti/Gallery Nucleus are planning to make, but I do know that they will be exclusive to Gallery Nucleus (i.e. I won't be able to sell them in my shop.) I really hope to see you all there!

Now to finish my piece for this show. Back to work- more updates soon!

A Commission and a Con

2011-03-02T01:15:00.004-05:00

With so much going on, I really haven't had much time to do commission work since I made my way down to Los Angeles. This was the last piece that I was able to work on, and I just realized that I had never posted photos of it. So here you go! It was a lot of fun to work on, especially the leaf/ornamental detail in the back.

I do love me some birds.

And just for kicks, I held the finished piece up to a back light. It got the inspirational wheels turning. Perhaps some lampshade designs in my future?

Perhaps.

I also wanted to let everybody know that I will be spending this coming weekend in Seattle at the Emerald City Comic Con! Miss Liana Hee and I are sharing booth #1004, and it is going to be a good time. Please come say hello if you can!

M is for Market!

2011-02-09T23:26:00.004-05:00

A few months ago I was asked to contribute to an Alphabet Book project that Tools for Schools Africa is putting together for Ghanian school children. Each artist was assigned a letter and asked to create an illustration based on people, places, and things that the children of Ghana can recognize. I was given the letter M and asked to depict a market scene with a mango tree! It was so much fun to work on!

You can read more about this project (and see the other wonderful contributions) here. A big "Thank You!" to Mike Boldt for including me in this great project. Thanks for thinking of me, Mike!

And also thank you to everyone who visits this blog and leaves me comments. It really does mean so much to me. I have had a lot of requests for a paper tutorial, so I will try to work one of those up in the next few weeks. More to come soon!

Part of that...

2011-01-12T03:16:00.004-05:00

A few months ago, artists at the studio were given canvases and asked to create a piece of artwork based on any one of the 50 Disney animated features that inspires us. Once finished, these canvases will be sold at a charity auction later this year. I will pass along the details as soon as I have them, but for now I thought I would post a few photos of my finished piece:)

My inspirational film of choice is (of course) The Little Mermaid. I knew that I wanted to work with paper for this piece, but I also wanted to utilize the large (18"x36") canvas that was given to me. After a little experimentation, I decided to cut the canvas to be the top foreground elements while its wooden frame serves as a perfect support for the inner layers of paper. The construction was tricky, but in the end I think everything turned out okay (and should stay in place)!

When I make original artwork for gallery shows, I am often asked if it is difficult for me to part with it. My answer is almost always the same: if I know going into the making of a piece that it will be sold, I don't have a problem letting go of it when the time comes.

Well, this one may be the exception.

Have a lovely week, everyone! More updates soon!

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-19T15:07:00.005-05:00

I wish everyone out there a safe and happy holiday, whoever and wherever you may be!

To celebrate the season, here are a few photos of some pieces I had made for the Unique LA Holiday Show!

Some of these scuplts are currently available in the shop, and I've also added this year's holiday cards and the Lagoon piece to Etsy as well. If you are interested in gifts for the holidays, today is the last day to order for pieces to be shipped before Christmas. I will be taking some time to spend with my family, and I wish you all the same! See you in the New Year!

Super Big Micro Show and Unique LA!

2010-12-11T11:44:00.003-05:00

Hey Everybody!

There are so many exciting things happening around the holidays and this weekend is no exception! First up, I will be exhibiting at Unique LA in downtown LA today and tomorrow. I've never been before but it looks like it will be a fabulous good time! You can find out the all of the details here. If you do stop by, come see me at booth #138 and say hello!

Next up, the Super Big Micro Show at Gallery Nucleus! These are the four pieces I made for the show, all based on the seasons of the year. All of the pieces in the show are teeny tiny, but there are SO MANY wonderful little gems that you certainly shouldn't miss it if you are in town. And they are going to be raffling off a beautiful Mike Gabriel original!

The Super Big Micro Show opens tonight at Gallery Nucleus. Hope to see you there!

Lagoon Love

2010-11-17T00:27:00.004-05:00

Ah, yes - the return of the mermaids:) I have been working on this piece in my spare moments for quite some time now, so I'm happy to finally be able to share it! I will have prints of this piece with me at CTN-X this weekend and they will also go up in the shop early next week.

This weekend's show is going to be completely packed with incredible talent, so if you can make it I highly recommend it! You can find me at Table 13 in the main hall, but if you are there you should go say hi to all of the other animation legends first. I will be around all weekend:)

I hope to see you there!

'Tis The Season!

2010-11-04T23:25:00.003-04:00

A new holiday card design for 2010! I will have these with me both at CTN-X and Unique LA.

I'm working away on having lots of fun, new stuff for these shows! CTN-X is coming up on November 19-21 at the Burbank Marriott and Convention Center, and will be jam-packed with animation industry goodness. Last year was a fantastic time, and this year can only be better! If you are interested in attending and have not yet gotten a pass, you can receive a 10% discount on any 1 or 3 day general pass by using this discount code as my guest: LEBRX10. You can register for the show here.

I hope to see you all there!

Tangled: A Dazzling Day!

2010-10-24T23:16:00.005-04:00

I am so excited to tell you about this project! About six months ago I was asked to illustrate a picture book based on the film Tangled, and I couldn't have been more thrilled! Tangled: A Dazzling Day is 24 pages about a day in the life of Rapunzel and Flynn, and was beautifully written by Devin Ann Wooster. It was a joy to work on, so I hope you like it!

Lots of things are coming up, including CTN-X in November and Unique LA in December! I'll post more on these shows as they get closer, but if you get the chance to be at either one, please stop by and say hello!

Just Can't Wait!

2010-09-15T00:10:00.005-04:00

Some of my coworkers and I were recently asked to contribute to a collection of artwork for Disney Fine Art Galleries. The idea is for us to create our own artistic interpretations of our favorite moments from Disney films. Considering that I spent a large part of my life trying to figure out how to make a living doing EXACTLY this, I jumped at the chance!

First up is "I Just Can't Wait to be King!" in paper! I don't know about anyone else, but I'm fairly certain that I listened to The Lion King soundtrack cassette on a nonstop loop for the entire summer of 1994. My mother (who patiently listened along with me in the car) can attest to my obsession. Thank you for putting up with me, Mom. This one's for you:)

I have quite a few things to update on soon, so stay tuned! Until then, have a great week, everybody!

Peck'n'paw at Gallery Nucleus!

2010-08-07T12:21:00.006-04:00

I am a little late to post about this, but Peck'n'paw and the Black Mirror is making a one-night only appearance at Gallery Nucleus tonight! Contributing artists will be there to sign books, and there will be lots of original artwork both from and inspired by the book for sale! Admission is free, and there will be raffles and prizes and all sorts of fun stuff going on. If you are in the area you should certainly stop by to say hello!

Since my piece from the book was digital, I decided to work on a couple of pieces inspired by the book for the show.

"Pretty in Pink" detail

"Spinning Dreams"

They were so much fun to work on, and I'm really looking forward to seeing them in the gallery with all of the other artists' beautiful work. It should be a wonderful evening and I hope to see some of you there!

Peck'n'paw!

2010-07-13T23:57:00.005-04:00

Comic Con is just around the corner, and the Visual Development Department at Disney has put together a beautiful book for the show called Pecknpaw and the Black Mirror. Each artist was encouraged to submit pieces based on that single-line theme, and the resulting book is lovely!

I was thrilled to be asked to contribute to the book, and this is my piece!

We have also been working on bookplates that will be sold with special editions of the book at the Con - Here is a little snapshot of a few that I was able to do:

Pecknpaw and the Black Mirror can be found at booth 4819 at Comic Con! We will have books, bookplates, and some prints from the book on hand. I will be bringing prints of my piece, and any left over after the show will go up in the shop! If you are going to the con, be sure to stop by the booth and say hello!

And don't worry, out-of-towners - the nice folks at Gallery Nucleus are currently taking pre-orders on the book. You can reserve a copy here.

Have a lovely week, everyone! I hope to see you all in San Diego!

Paper Banner

2010-06-01T01:59:00.006-04:00

Life has been more busy than ever, and I look forward to updating on all of the things I've been working on recently very soon! For now, though, here is a piece I made a while back. Yes, another peacock piece. I promise I will give the peacocks a break for a while :) I was toying with the idea of a paper header for the blog - what do you think?

Also, I just updated the shop with the fountain piece ( titled "First Sight") from my last post. you can find it here!

I hope everyone had a lovely Memorial Day weekend, and here's to a great week ahead! More updates to come soon.

A Painting and Peckinpaw!

2010-04-20T00:32:00.005-04:00

Its been quite busy around here! I haven't had much time to paint, but I did manage to work on this piece between projects. My apartment is just down the street from some beautiful fountains, so I thought I might pay homage to them here. Definitely love at first sight:)

And in other news, I'm really honored to be a part of a new anthology book called PecknPaw and the Black Mirror! The visual development artists at Disney have been working hard to complete an art book for Comic Con this year, and I was extremely lucky to be able to contribute a piece. More details will follow, but in the meantime you can check out the Pecknpaw blog for updates and process posts!

http://www.pecknpaw.blogspot.com/

Lots of exciting things are coming up, but in the meantime have a lovely week!

A Little Bit of History

2010-03-05T02:43:00.004-05:00

Here is a little self- portrait of me circa 20 years ago.

I've spent months trying to come up with the right words to express myself in this post, but I still don't think I can do it justice. Simply put, life is wonderful. If you can dream it, you can do it.
20 years later, that little girl gets to stroll into the Walt Disney Animation Studios every day and walk among giants. It doesn't get much sweeter than that.
I sincerely thank everyone who has ever given me support, and if you are reading this, that includes you. Thank you, thank you, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

I haven't quite gotten settled in the new job yet, so posts might be sparse for a while. I will do my best to keep up, but please forgive me if I am a little slow. I will still be heading out to conventions, including Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle next weekend! If you are in the area you should definitely stop by! And after that I will be back in the Bay for Wondercon! If you have a chance to come to either show, please do. Until then, ta ta for now!

Paper Cuts Gallery Show!

2010-01-31T19:06:00.004-05:00

The ladies above are the three pieces I made for next weekend's "Paper Cuts" show at Terminal 22 Gallery in Oakland. These pieces were inspired by the lovely Carmen Miranda - her costumes and charm were just legendary, and I thought that they would be fun to go over-the-top with in paper:)

PAPER CUTS will show fine art and craft pieces that embrace the possibilities and strengths of paper as a primary media. The show's opening reception is this coming Friday, February 5th from 6-10pm at 2443 Telegraph Ave in Oakland. If you are in the Bay Area next weekend, please stop by! Refreshments and free cupcakes (!) will be provided. I hope to see you there!

Also, I just added the "Dinosaur Party" print and "Sleeping Dragon" paper sculpt to the ol' shop, so feel free to take a look if you are interested! Have a lovely week, everybody.

Colorful Creatures

2010-01-19T00:52:00.004-05:00

Hey, everybody! Happy 2010!

I apologize for my absence from posting. Things have been quite busy around here since my last post at the end of November, but I should be able to get back on schedule now, at least for a while. Lots of exciting things are coming up, so I will have lots to share!

I have wanted to do a dinosaur piece for a very long time, so I decided there would be no better time to do it than to ring in the New Year. These dinosaurs are having a party, but the velociraptors were not invited. You might think that is mean, but they are bullies and have been giving me nightmares since I first saw Jurassic Park in 1993. Consider this payback.

And these photos are of another paper piece I did over the holidays. Peacocks are so much fun to sculpt!

That's all for now - have a lovely week everybody!

CTN-X!

2009-11-20T12:02:00.005-05:00

This post is coming to you this morning from the floor of CTN-X! The convention is just a few hours away, so I thought I would put up some paper work that I made for the occasion! This guys will be on my table this weekend, so if you are in the area you should certainly stop by and say hello! It is going to be a great show!

And here are a few detail shots:

I will also have the Purrrcasso piece (from the previous post) with me at the show! Unfortunately it did not sell in the auction, but hopefully it will find a good home soon and all of the proceeds from it will be donated to the Berkeley East-Bay Humane Society! I hope to see some of you this weekend!

Purrcasso 2009

2009-11-05T20:35:00.005-05:00

Purrcasso is a really great art auction/sale that is put on every year to benefit the Berkeley East-Bay Humane Society, and this year it is happening on Nov. 7th and 8th (this weekend!) in a brand new location on 4th St. in Berkeley. You can find more information on the Purrcasso site, as well as see a fantastic sampling of the artwork that has been donated this year.

As promised, here are a couple photos of my piece (that Billiam was kind enough to take pictures of because I completely forgot to do so myself.):

And just for kicks, here is the sketch that I worked off of to build the piece:

If you are in the area, stop by the auction on Saturday night! Say hello and bid on some artwork for a great cause!

Caged Birds Sing!

2009-11-02T22:07:00.003-05:00

This will be my page in the upcoming CTN-X program/sketchbook. The book will be filled with artwork, bios, tips, and all sorts of other things from the artists who are participating in the expo. It will be a limited edition program and only available at the convention this year, so you should be there to snag one!

In other news, the Purrrcasso Art and Craft Gala is this coming weekend! In all the madness that was last week (with work, Halloween Prep, and more work) I was happy to be able to finish my piece for the show on time....and then I completely forgot to take any photos of it. Luckily, Billiam was kind enough to get some shots, so hopefully I will have those posted before the end of the week. In the meantime, have a great week everyone!

Pegasus Commission and Post-APE Update

2009-10-21T19:41:00.005-04:00

A little while back I was commissioned to do a Pegasus paper sculpt, and here are the final photos. This piece was a blast to work on!

APE was great! Thanks to all who came out to say hello! I apologize to those of you who were waiting for a shop update - Monday was full of deadlines and thus the shop did not get updated until today. All new prints, buttons, and greeting cards are up, and at the time of this posting I still have one paper sculpt (this lovely lady) that is not spoken for. They were a blast to make, so I will certainly try to get more in the shop soon.

Next up for me is CTN-X! I can't wait to see everyone in Burbank!

Paper!

2009-10-16T19:25:00.004-04:00

My last pre- APE post!

I've spent the last few weeks constructing 10 original mini-paper sculpts that I will be bringing with me to APE! Here they are:

Top to Bottom, Left to Right: Snow Owl, Fall Owl, Seahorse, Canary, The Bride, The Dancer, The Good, The Wicked, Fall Fox, and Patisserie

A few detail shots!

They will be with me at tables 286 and 287, and each piece will probably be priced between $50 and $125. I'm going to split them up and have 5 to sell on Saturday and the other 5 to sell on Sunday.

Saturday's Group: Fall Owl, Snow Owl, Fall Fox, the two witches (Good and Wicked)

Sunday's Group: The Bride, The Dancer, Seahorse, Canary, and Patisserie

Any leftovers will go up in the shop on Monday! Actually, there will be a pretty hefty shop update on Monday, so if you can't make it to APE, don't feel to bad. But if you can come out, please do! It should be an awesome time!

Puppy Love

2009-10-13T20:54:00.003-04:00

Here is holiday card #2! My pup is back East and I miss him very much! He looks just like this little guy, only multiplied in size by a factor of 100.

I will have both card designs with me at APE this weekend (with Billiam at tables 286 and 287), along with lots of prints and other things. I will also be posting mini-APE updates on twitter all week as well as during the show, and you can keep up to date with all of that right here. If you are in the Bay Area this weekend, please do come by and say hello!

Stay Warm :)

2009-10-02T22:47:00.002-04:00

I know that its not quite this time of year yet, but I have to design my holiday cards early or they don't get sent:) Plus, they might show up on the table with Billiam and me at APE. They just might...

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Birdies!

2009-09-17T01:17:00.003-04:00

Coming soon to an APE near you:)

Also, Terrible Yellow Eyes show this Saturday! If you happen to be in the LA area, please come out and say hi! It should be an awesome show.

More APE updates coming soon. Ta-ta for now!

Bookworm

2009-09-11T12:57:00.004-04:00

Here is a little peak at a commission piece I worked on last month. The recipient of this paper sculpt apparently loves mermaids and LOVES reading, so I thought I would combine the two into one piece. Mermaids can be bookworms, right?

Detail: paper, cardstock, and gouache.

Full detail of the final framed piece.

In other news, I'm back from Pennsylvania and am jumping right into prep for APE! Bill and I will be back for more this year, so I will have lots of things to post as the show gets closer. I will also be exhibiting at CTN-X in November, so mark your calendars and come say hi if you can! Have a great weekend everybody!

Simply Terrible!

2009-08-28T00:10:00.005-04:00

Last week I found out that I have the honor of being included in the upcoming " Terrible Yellow Eyes" show at Gallery Nucleus! I was so excited that I decided to create a second piece for the show. And here it is!

King Thing - 9"x20" Paper Sculpt

My original TYE contribution will be in the show as well. If you are in LA on September 19th, you should definitely stop by! It should be an awesome time:) Many, many thanks to the fantastic Cory Godbey for putting this project together.

After the Wild Rumpus - 12"x18" Digital Print and Paper collage

More posts to come soon! Have a great weekend everybody!

Lionfish

2009-08-03T16:14:00.005-04:00

After spending last week unwinding from the whirlwind trip that was Comic Con, I spent the weekend working on a new piece for an upcoming Girls Drawing Girls gallery show at Meltdown in LA! Its been a while since I have 1. drawn mermaids and 2. made paper sculptures, so I decided to combine them here. Here is a bit of process:

The initial sketch in my sketchbook.

Early construction.

A few mermaid close-ups

Final (minus glass)

The show opens on August 15th and runs through the 30th. If you are in LA and get a chance, you should stop by! There will be plenty of goodies there from some very talented ladies.

I also just added my Girls of Summer print to the Etsy store, so if you couldn't make it to San Diego you can snag one there:) I have a few weeks of relative down-time before my annual trip home, so hopefully that means I will be posting regularly for a while. Have a great week everybody!

It's That Time Again!

2009-07-22T00:26:00.004-04:00

For Comic Con!

This year I will actually be doing some work and helping the lovely ladies of Girls Drawing Girls with their table - booth #5428. I will be there Thursday, Friday, and Saturday morning (from 10am to noon) as well as Thursday afternoon from 3 to 7pm. I will be helping them sell their brand-spankin' new pin up calendars, playing cards, and lots of other stuffs. I will also have my "Girls of Summer" print for sale at the booth, so stop by and say hello if you are there!

Here are some of the other booths of note that I will be tracking down when I am not hanging out with the GDG girls:

Fleet Street Scandal - Chris and Kevin at booth #1316
Ronnie Del Carmen, Scott Morse, Jeff Pidgeon, and Enrico Casarosa - #4800
Imaginism Studios - #G6 and 7
Corey Godbey and Justin Gerard - #1032
Ghostbot - #4203
Donnachada Daly - #C6

I hope to see you there! If you can't make it, don't worry - I will keep everyone posted on my Comic Con adventures via twitter. Have an awesome week, everybody, and I promise to be back with new artwork soon:)

Girls of Summer!

2009-07-01T00:28:00.003-04:00

I love summer the best. In honor of sunny days, warm weather, and especially water sports, I made this poster. Sometimes I get a little bit homesick for days on the lake, and especially for skiing. There is nothing quite like early mornings on glassy water, and I'm counting down the days until my annual visit home :)

But before that...is Comic Con! This year I have the honor of being part of the Girls Drawin' Girls group and will be selling this print at their table. I'm not exactly sure what booth number it will be yet, but I do know that I will be hanging out there on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday morning of the Con, so if you are there you should stop by!

I will have more updates leading up to the Con, so stay tuned! And if you are in LA, go check out the opening of the Seductive Espionage Book Release on Friday! I'll be in vacation mode next week, but I promise to be back with plenty to post after the 11th.

Yuki 7 At Gallery Nucleus

2009-06-27T10:56:00.005-04:00

Remember my little Yuki 7 fan-art painting from a couple weeks ago? Well, it turns out that she is going to be in the show at Gallery Nucleus next Friday! I am honored and humbled to be in such good company. The show is going to be great and I'm so sad that I won't be able to make it down there to see it:(

Here she is in her frame right before I sent her off to Nucleus. She seemed like she needed some pink paper fire, so I threw a little bit of that in there as a finishing touch. How will she escape? Tune in to find out:)

I'm busy working on a print for Comic Con, which should be done this weekend. As soon as I have something ready, I'll post a sneak peak. Have a lovely weekend!

After the Wild Rumpus!

2009-06-12T11:38:00.004-04:00

All of that rumpusing can wear you out:)

This is my contribution to Cory Godbey's tribute blog to Maurice Sendak: Terrible Yellow Eyes. I have been inspired by Cory's work for years now, so I jumped at the chance when he invited me to be part of his project!
It was a lot of fun to rediscover Where the Wild Things Are. Picking up the actual hard-bound copy with the beautiful Caldecott Medal on the cover instantly took me back to story time on the carpet in kindergarten. At that age, no career could have been more glamorous than being a children's book author and illustrator. If you had that golden seal, however, it meant you were... well...a rockstar. So thank you to Mr. Sendak - we all hope you enjoy this project and that you keep on rockin'!

And just for kicks, here is my original sketch. Usually my sketches look like nothing but chicken-scratch, so the fact that this mildly resembles the finished painting is quite remarkable. So remarkable, in fact, that I decided it was both scan and blog worthy. Ball-point pen scribbles on scratch paper.

I will have more exciting things to share soon! Have a lovely weekend!

The Awesomeness that is Yuki 7

2009-06-03T02:30:00.004-04:00

I couldn't help it, I had to join the fan-art wagon.

I try not to geek out too much about other artists on here, but I really must thank Kevin Dart for being such an inspiration. With the release of his new book, the trailer for the book (co-directed by Stephane Coedel), and planning the gallery show for the book's release, you would think that he has his hands full. Somehow, though, Kevin found time to write 3 fantastic blog posts on his process with Yuki 7 - from her first initial concepts to now. For someone like me who would like to tackle a book project in the future, these posts are pure gold!

For anyone who is interested, the show is happening at Gallery Nucleus in LA on July 3rd. I am really bummed that I cannot attend the show, but I thought I would use the blog to show my support instead. Way to go, Kevin!

New Love

2009-05-29T20:22:00.005-04:00

I have some good news and some bad news.

The good news is that I have a new-found love in paper art. I mean, I have always been inspired by awesome folks like Megan Brain, Kevin Kidney, and Ben Butcher, but I haven't actually tried working with scissors and glue and construction paper since...4th grade? It has definitely been a while.

It all started as I was trying to prepare some things for Maker Fair. I had bought a few pretty lanterns and I wanted to make something neat with them. At first I tried painting on the glass, but that didn't work very well at all. Excited by the thought of trying something new, this is what happened:

The birdies from my new banner were good test subjects. And look how they glow in the dark!

So the bad news is this: In my attempt to learn how to create paper sculptures, I didn't leave time to make more than this one lantern before Maker Faire. While it is very tempting to take this one with me tomorrow, I think I will try to make a few more before officially presenting them to the world. I mean, in a "for sale" kinda way. I'm sure I will have more to show soon. And more paintings , too. I promise.

Lastly, I decided to try out this Twitter thing. Its all the rage, ya know? You can follow my adventures here. Have a wonderful weekend!

Up, Up and Away!

2009-05-23T15:19:00.005-04:00

So, I saw this:

And then I was tempted to do this:

But then I decided that painting the picture was a safer choice. Much less chance that I would have my eyes clawed out by a certain orange cat who shall remain anonymous.

All joking aside, Up is absolutely wonderful. Congratulations to everyone at Pixar for doing such an amazing job! Go see it on Friday!

I know I have been slacking - I am trying to find the balance between work-work and personal-work (oh, and life, too) and I just haven't gotten it all figured out yet. The good news is that this weekend is all about getting ready for Maker Faire, so I should meet my 2 post quota for the first time in months! If you are in the Bay Area, you should stop by and say hello next weekend! After you go see Up, of course.

Quickie Sketch and Character Design!

2009-04-26T03:31:00.003-04:00

A Saturday evening sketch for everyone out there. I saw a woman wearing a similar coat a few months ago, and I loved it because the ruffles in the back reminded me of flower petals.

In other news: Yours truly has an interview up on the Character Design blog! Woohoo! You should go check it out if you have the chance. Be sure to read some of the other incredible interviews as well. I am humbled to be in such good company :)

I will try to get something up tomorrow to make my quota for the week. Ta ta for now!

Busy Busy Bee

2009-04-19T14:22:00.003-04:00

Image Copyright Huckleberry Toys

So here's the scoop:
For just over the last month, I have been toiling away on a personal project. I still haven't decided whether or not I will post that artwork on this blog, but for the time being I think I will keep it under wraps. The rest of my time has been spent working on a couple of freelance projects, and the image above is part of one of them. Yay for cherry blossoms!

Now that said personal project is completed, I should have time for more fun blog/Etsy shop artwork! And that is good, because I am going to need new pieces for Maker Faire! Billiam and I will have a table in the Bazaar Bizarre section, and I can't wait! I have never been to Maker Faire before, but I hear it is awesome, and the vendor list for the Bazaar Bizarre is fantastic! If you are in the Bay Area the weekend of May 30th and 31st, I definitely recommend stopping by!

So I am going to try to get back to my 2 posts per week as of today. Hopefully it will work! Have a wonderful Sunday:)

Just a Little Somethin'

2009-04-05T20:19:00.002-04:00

I'm really sorry about the lack of anything exciting here for the last few weeks. I'm working really hard on a few projects and just haven't had time to come up for air. The good news is that I should be back to posting regularly very soon. Until then, here is a plain ol' sketch of some crazy birds. Have a great week!

Work In Progress...

2009-03-20T18:15:00.002-04:00

Home

2009-03-15T18:41:00.003-04:00

This is where I spent my summers growing up, and what I think of as home. That is my sister and me drawing and dreaming on the lawn. Whenever I'm stressed out, I think about being here and it always makes everything better.

The tree that I am leaning against was over 100 years old and had nearly been split in half by lightening before I was born. Cement was poured in the hole for support, but the tree around the cement rotted away long ago. For as long as I can remember there has been a large cement branch jutting out from one side of the tree. I left that part out of the painting for aesthetic reasons :) Anyway, that poor old tree could not make it through another harsh Pennsylvania winter and fell last December. It was truly legendary, and I cannot imagine home without it.

Rain Boots and Best Friends

2009-03-07T17:16:00.004-05:00

Inspired by my golden retriever who I miss so much because he is all the way back in PA.

I did this itty-bitty piece as a mini-print for Wondercon and then I forgot to post it. I remembered about it today after watching the new UP trailer. ("SQUIRREL!" - hahahahah, so true and SO funny.) I cannot WAIT for this movie!
I'm working hard and would like to have some new things to show you in the next few days. Until then, have a lovely weekend!

Post Con Post

2009-03-03T21:27:00.010-05:00

Wondercon flew by, but an awesome time was had by all. I didn't see nearly as much of the floor as I would have liked to, but I managed to sneak away for a few minutes on Sunday morning to snag these beauties:
Patrick Morgan's latest book. He was our booth neighbor across the aisle, and soo nice and extremely talented to boot.
I picked up both of Donnachada Daly's books. I absolutely love his flowing designs and have oggled his work for years. Such a great guy - he even gave me this print:
Oh, how I love it so.

I met an very nice gentleman named Travis Hanson, and he traded me this print for one of my Kane prints. Such detail! Wow.

!!!

Every since Bill Presing posted this beauty on his blog, I have been pining for it. Ofcourse, everything that comes out of him is magic, but for some reason this piece brings me extra joy. Thank you, Bill, for being awesome and making this a print. Now I just need to find some wall space that is worthy of its presence.

And last but not least, what might be THE find of Wondercon. "Wildsville" by Mr. Derek Yaniger:
If you like retro/tiki art, you need this book. And perhaps 1 or maybe 5 of his serigraphs. Such great color and energy! And he even did this drawing for me on the inside cover of my book:
Nothing brings out the warm fuzzies like my very own hula girl drawing. Derek is one cool cat.

A big thank you to everyone who stopped by our booth - you made my weekend for sure. I am sad that Wondercon only comes once a year, but now I have enough inspiration to last me for the next few months. Also, I should note that I just added LOTS of artwork to the shop, so go check it out. I think I have blabbed enough for now ( I talk too much when I'm excited) but I should have new artwork for the blog sometime in the next few days. Thanks for looking, everybody!

WONDERCON!

2009-02-27T03:15:00.006-05:00

The day has arrived! I will be hanging out with Billiam all weekend in the little slice of heaven known as SP13. Come say hello! We each have a bajillion prints, originals, bookmarks, pins, and other goodies to throw your way. I will have all of the pieces I brought with me to APE as well as these newbies:

and possibly a few more. The Sea Dragon piece will be a limited edition of 15, so you might want to show up early if you want one. I will also be listing everything that I have left over in the Etsy shop on Monday, so don't feel bad if you live far, far away and can't make it. I understand how it is :) And now its bedtime - Have a great weekend everybody!

Pretty Bird

2009-02-25T20:40:00.004-05:00

Coming to a Wondercon near you!

I'm late (and lacking) in posts for the last week, but I promise to make it up to you even if I have to bake cookies for all of you. I'm in full prep mode for Wondercon, and I will have plenty of details to hand out in the next 24 hours, but right now all you need to know is that Bill and I will be at Small Press booth 13 (SP13), and you should stop by and say hi!

And for all of you IFers: Exotic birds are instinctively attracted to other pretty feathers. It was a no-brainer for this little guy:)

Sea Dragons!

2009-02-19T15:01:00.004-05:00

Dave and I joined some friends last weekend at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and we had a blast! One of my favorite parts of the aquarium was the Sea Dragon tank. These things are crazy! So crazy, in fact, that they needed to be painted. So here they are. And wouldn't you know it? One of them has a crush on the mer-girl, so he's giving her a flower. Sea dragons are so sweet:)

I'm going to do something a little different with this and turn it into a limited edition print. I'm not sure how limited the run will be yet, but probably no more than 50. I will have this with me at Wondercon next weekend, and any left over will go up in the shop after that. I can't believe it is so soon! I certainly have my work cut out for me. There will be more updates on Wondercon things coming your way this week, but until then I leave you with this commercial that was stuck in my head throughout our trip to Monterey and also the entire time I was working on this painting. Enjoy!

Paris

2009-02-13T11:25:00.003-05:00

Back in July, I was lucky enough to take my very first trip across the Atlantic to visit my brilliant friend, Sean, in Oxford. We spent a day in London, 3 days in Oxford, and 2 whirlwind days in Paris. The weather in the UK was surprisingly sunny and gorgeous, but our time in Paris was spent dodging sudden downpours. I didn't mind - the reflections from the rainwater made the city all the more gorgeous.

The IF topic this week is "Celebrate", and I felt this piece is appropriate because it is a celebration of my short time in Paris with my good friend. This is the second piece that I have made in honor of my trip, (this being the first) and I will be bringing both of them with me in print form to Wondercon. I may do a third of London, so stay tuned for that! Wondercon is two weeks away! Come by and say hi if you can!

Maui

2009-02-09T17:51:00.004-05:00

Maui is a demi-god who is responsible for fishing the Hawaiian islands out of the sea. That makes him awesome.

He is also the last in my series of Hawaiian gods! Now I have to get busy on other exciting things. I missed my post last night, so expect at least two more posts from me before the end of the week. Happy Monday, everyone!

Girlhack Work In Progress

2009-02-05T02:47:00.002-05:00

Girlhack Work in Progress from Brittney Lee on Vimeo.
I just realized that I never posted any of my artwork from this project. My good friend Meg came to me (nearly two years ago now!) with the idea of doing a video podcast for all things geeky, techie, and girlie. She asked me if I would like to animate the opening, and ofcourse I said yes. We have both been super busy since then, but I managed to get the opening for "Girlhack"near completion a while back. Since it is a Flash swf exported as a quicktime movie, there are some dropped frames and compression problems at the moment. But not to worry! I ran in to similar problems while creating the landing page video for Whirled and know what to do to fix these issues, but it is a pretty time consuming process and I just decided that it is fine as is for now. There is also one background missing, so when you see it just pretend that it is a huge shopping mall :)

On a bit of a sad note, I am no longer a Three Rings employee as of yesterday. Times are tough, and even totally awesome game studios are feeling the pinch. I wish all who are still aboard the Nautilus the very best. And hopefully this means that I will be posting more frequently, at least for the time being...

Happy Thursday everyone!

Not Easy Being Green

2009-02-02T02:36:00.004-05:00

As I mentioned in the last post, I saw Wicked for the first time yesterday. I have so much to say about what I saw and how I felt that I just don't think I can do it justice yet. I need to process everything and put it into a well-written post, and I cannot do that this evening. What I can do is post this little sketch. Its not much, and it has its faults, but at least it is something. I think Elphaba is a fascinating character, both in the show and in Gregory Maguire's novel. I have been trying to draw her for years, and have never once come anywhere close to something that I like. This is not quite there yet, but it is a start. You can also expect more Wicked inspired artwork in the future. Have a great week everybody:)

Laka

2009-02-01T15:26:00.002-05:00

Laka is the Hawaiian goddess of forest, plenty, song, and dance - namely the hula. The name "Laka" means gentle, docile, attracted to, and to attract, and thus she is also considered to be the goddess of love. I thought that was appropriate with Valentine's day coming up and all:) She is also the first of two new Hawaiian god prints that I will be bringing with me to Wondercon, so I hope to see you there! And if you can't make it, no worries - she will go up in the Etsy shop post-con as well.

I'm late again this week, but I will definitely have another post later this evening. Yesterday was a landmark day for me, because I FINALLY got myself to a performance of Wicked. Because my collective self is currently a jumbled soup of Wicked geek-outery, all I can say is if you happen to be in the Bay Area, do yourself a favor. Go see it. Now. More to come later.

Sketch

2009-01-26T02:00:00.002-05:00

I'm working hard on my next Hawaiian goddess, but she isn't quite ready yet. I hit a bit of a wall with her this evening, so I took a break and did this quick sketch. Loosely based on Liv Tyler. Loosely:)

I promise to have more exciting posts this week, and Wondercon is coming up! Yay!

Love.

2009-01-25T15:01:00.002-05:00

A little something I worked on this week for a wedding save-the-date. I have been super busy, and thus slacked on getting my first post out. But no worries, I'll get the second one in later today. Happy weekend:)

New Sketchbook + Studies

2009-01-19T01:05:00.004-05:00

Well, this sketchbook isn't all THAT new.

I've had this Fabriano for at least the last six months, but I haven't paid much attention to it. I still have a few pages left to fill in my Fabriano from last year and have been slacking on my figure drawing attendance which is the bulk of what I put in these babies. But today my new one got a shiny new cover/binding! Hooray! Fabrianos typically have pretty flimsy covers, so I took some scrap board and fabric and gave it a little extra protection and style.

And in honor of the new look of the outside of the book, I thought I should probably display a bit of the inside. Here is a little watercolor of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Having the opportunity to paint this remarkable place was really a dream come true.

And here is a teeny-tiny color study I did this evening for my next Hawaiian goddess painting. I would have liked to spend a bit more time on her this weekend, but I have been busy with a few other projects. More on her to come, but until then, have a happy week!

Dance!

2009-01-15T03:05:00.002-05:00

The first mermaids of the New Year. Actually, I think I started sketching her way back in August, but I haven't had a chance to finish painting her until today. I would love to do two more in this series of flamenco-ish sirens, so stay tuned for that. These three, along with my other original mermaid paintings will be coming with me to Wondercon in February if anyone is interested. The goal is to have at least 20-25 of these small originals with me at Wondercon, wo we will see how that goes.

And what the heck, I'll post 'em to IF this week. These watercolors are pretty tiny (about 5x6 inches), so I'd say she is quite contained. Contained, perhaps, but not tame. This one has got some fire in her for sure.

Sketchcrawl #21!

2009-01-12T02:09:00.004-05:00

Dave and I joined a small group in Golden Gate Park yesterday for Sketchcrawl #21 and we had such a great time. I'm almost embarrassed to admit it, but it really was the first time in over two years of living in the Bay Area that I have been able to spend any time in the Haight/Golden Gate Park at all. Such an great area! We spent a good amount of time sketching at "Hippie Hill" before meeting all of the other crawlers at the De Young Museum, and boy were there some fantastic characters to be seen there. Alex (hackey-sacking above and below) was one of us, but everyone else was spotted either on Hippie Hill or the immediately surrounding area and hastily scribbled in my sketchbook:

the original sketchbook drawing of Alex

Hardcore biker dude.
Hippie girl with awesome hair.
Hula hooping chick who was not pleased when she caught me drawing her.I loooved her cut-out shirt.

Well, I just made it for my first week of "two posts a week", and I'm a bit worn out. Tune sometime in the next seven days for two more exciting posts! Until then, have a great week everybody!

Hello 2009!

2009-01-08T04:24:00.004-05:00

After slacking off during the last few weeks of '08, I am now back to the old grindstone. I apologize for my absence!
For the first post of 2009, here is my entry for this week's IF topic - "Resolve". I have a feeling that 2009 is going to be great, and I have lots of resolutions all ready to go, but the main one that pertains to this blog is that I just really want to be drawing and posting more. Lets say twice a week? Sound good? Okay, so this is #1. I've been working on a Can-can dancer at work, and now I just can't get them out of my head. It didn't help that I came home tonight and watched Moulin Rouge (twice) while working on this. Oh, what I would give to be in the chorus/dance team for just one of those numbers. If I had my pick, it would be "El Tango de Roxanne", but really anything would do.
Speaking of Moulin Rouge - did I mention that I was actually there? That I actually visited the Moulin Rouge in Paris? I did! As this new year starts to ramp up, I have to tip my hat to 2008. When all is said and done, I can't complain. I got to visit Las Vegas, London, Oxford, and Paris. I drove down to San Diego and had a blast at my first Comic Con. I spent two weeks at home on the lake. Dave and I adopted the most awesomest cat ever. I was able to be there for my good friends' autumn wedding and was also able to welcome a new commando into the world (yeah, Baby Joe!). I hosted my first convention table at APE and started and Etsy shop! I even embarrassed the heck out of myself at a pole dancing class. Geeze, no wonder I was tired.
There will surely be a lot happening in 2009 as well, and the first thing on my horizon is Wondercon! Yep, Bill and I will be hosting a table in the Small Press area. More details to follow, but I am extremely excited! Have a great week everybody!

Action Shots!

2008-12-05T01:26:00.004-05:00

Caught in the act! Back in late July or early August, David was a bit sneaky and took some pictures of me while I was working. Cheeky monkey. Anyway, the paintings I am seen working on are a series of five watercolors featuring a pink-tailed, anemone-headed mermaid. My goal was to have between 20 and 30 of these little paintings (all of different mermaids) ready for APE, but the Hawaiian Gods and goddesses ended up taking priority. I have still have my list of different themed mermaids that I will get around to sometime in the near future, but for now I will just post these. I realized that I had only posted two of the five when I finished them, so now here are the rest. I hope you enjoy them! And I promise, promise, promise to post new artwork soon.

Oh - I have also posted these in the Etsy shop for anyone interested! Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Party Girl

2008-12-01T03:26:00.003-05:00

Just a doodle I did today to get back into the swing of things after a few days of vacation. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and ate lots of different goodies with wonderful company! Now that Thanksgiving has passed, it is Christmas party time! This gal is all dressed up and ready to go to her first holiday party. Eggnog anyone?

Also, since it is the holiday season and all, I thought it might be a good time to add a few more items to the ol' Etsy shop. I just added a "Multitasking" print (see previous post) as well as a series of 5 small original mermaid paintings to the shop. Check 'em out! They all need good homes. I will be adding some more items throughout the week, so you might want to check back for updates! Happy December, everybody!

"Multitasking"

2008-11-17T02:57:00.005-05:00

This is the second piece I made for this year's Purrr-casso art auction to benefit the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society. It is ink, watercolor, and collage on Canson paper, and measures about 12"x 6".The auction was held last Sunday in Emeryville and was a great success! So many artists donated so many beautiful pieces - it was a really fantastic time. Thanks so much to all of the artists who donated and all of the people who came out to support the Humane Society!

I am still in the process of winding down after APE and last week's auction, but I hope to get some new artwork up in the next week or so. In the meantime, I just added the two mini-prints I had at APE ( "Shhhh" and "The Flower of Lanai") to my Etsy shop. I also added my mermaid Holiday cards sometime last week, so check them out! Thanks for stopping by, and have a happy Monday, everybody!

Whirled Open for Business!

2008-11-11T17:56:00.004-05:00

Whirled Landing Page Video from Brittney Lee on Vimeo.

According to the press releases that went out yesterday, Whirled.com is officially open for business! I have worked on this site for just over two years, and am pretty excited about it. In honor of Whirled being presented to the, uh.....world, I finally decided to get my act together and post this landing page video I made for the site a couple months ago. I directed and animated this little movie in Flash, and the characters are all avatars that you can wear in Whirled. The characters were designed by the talented artists who work here at Three Rings, including my partner in crime Bill Robinson, Jon Demos, Ian McConville, Sean Keaton, and Rick Keagy.

Some animation for a change! Yay! Enjoy!

Prints for Sale!

2008-11-10T03:07:00.003-05:00

I have to apologize for being too busy to post for the last week, but I promise that new updates, photos, and artwork will be coming shortly.

But in the meantime...

If you look to the right, you might notice my new little Etsy shop widget! I have decided to venture into the exciting world of online sales! Yay! Right now I only have the left over prints from APE in the shop, but within the next day or so I plan to get greeting cards and other little bits up there as well. So please take a look and let me know what you think! Also, I promise that I will make this blog look a bit more spiffy soon! Really, I promise. Happy Monday, everybody!

Ku and All Things APE

2008-11-01T03:09:00.009-04:00

Ku is the god of the East and the rising sun, while Hina is the god of the West and the setting sun. It is said that they pass the sun to one another as it makes its way through the sky. Ku completes my series of six Hawaiian gods and goddesses. Just in time!

APE starts tomorrow! Bill Robinson and I will be at table #283 with all sorts of goodies. Here is a map of the hall so you can get an idea of our location:

I will have 13x19 prints of all of the following:

and possibly even a few of this one:

I will also be selling these two mini-prints:

And all of the proceeds from the kitty min-print will go to the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society!

I will have ten small original mermaid paintings available, and two different sets of mermaid greeting cards (see previous posts). On top of all of that, I have bookmarks and buttons, so come by and say hello and grab some stuff!

Oh, and Bill and I will also have some books by the oh-so-talented Stephanie Laberis, so now there is just absolutely no excuse not to stop at our table. Hope to see you all there!

Kaala: The Flower of Lanai

2008-10-29T12:55:00.003-04:00

While she is technically not a god, I found Kaala's legend too beautiful to resist illustrating. Daughter of Chief Oponui of Lanai, she was said to be the most beautiful girl in all the island. Kaala fell in love with Kaaialii, a lieutenant to the king of Hawaii. Oponui hated Kaaialii, and would do anything to keep Kaala from him. After Kaaialii fairly won Kaala's hand in marriage in a battle with another man, Oponui tricked his own daughter into following him to the sea shore, where he trapped her in a spouting cave far below the waves. He intended to tell her new husband that she had died tragically, hoping Kaaialii would then leave the island forever. Kaaialii did not leave, however, but went in search of Kaala. He finally found her in the sunken cave, but it was too late -Kaala died in his hands. Devastated, Kaaialii took his own life so that he could be with Kaala in the cave forever. Legend has it that to this day, the bones of the two lovers can still be found in the murky depths of the cave.

Kaala will be a mini print available at APE this weekend. I still have a bit more to do before then, so I will be posting more details this week. I am also hoping to open an Etsy shop soon for those of you who can't make it to APE, so stay tuned!

Hina

2008-10-26T21:38:00.002-04:00

Hina is the Hawaiian goddess of the moon, death, and rebirth. One particular legend that I enjoy is that Hina lived in the sea and was tired of her toilsome underwater existence, so she left the water and escaped to the moon. Another interesting story about Hina is that she is linked to the God Ku by the sun. Ku is in charge of the rising of the sun and the early hours of the day, and then he passes the sun on to Hina who sets it in the West. Pretty neat, huh?

Print #5 of 6 that will be available at APE next weekend. Ohmygoshihavesomuchtodo! Until next time, enjoy!

Kanaloa

2008-10-22T00:25:00.004-04:00

Kanaloa is the Hawaiian god of the sea, and is a complimentary power to Kane. He is also the god of death and the Underworld, and teacher of magic. Fisherman pray to him for protection, but he cannot always be trusted.

This is #4 of my six Hawaiian gods and goddesses that will be available in print-form at APE next weekend. That's right, November 1st and 2nd... and I still have two more to go! I am most definitely running late...

Purrr-casso

2008-10-21T00:44:00.003-04:00

This is my first piece for Purr-casso - gouche and collage on Canson paper. Artwork is due on Saturday, so I don't know how many more (if any) I will be able to get done before then. I do, however plan to sell mini prints of this piece at APE, and 100% of the proceeds from this print will be donated to the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society! So, you can either get a print at APE or hold out for the original which will go up for auction a week later. Take your pick - its all for a good cause!

Also, I'm posting this to IF this week because it is pretty late for me to be JUST STARTING with this stuff. I was way ahead of the game last year. I have a feeling that I will probably be posting quite a bit to Illustration Friday this week because I feel like everything I am working on right now is late, late, late. More to come soon...

A Few of My Favorite Things...

2008-10-13T01:30:00.003-04:00

Mermaids, small happy fish, and blue paper packages tied up with strings :)

Since this illustration features a present wrapped in strings, and since it is a Holiday card and holidays are some of my favorite things, I think it is an appropriate entry for this week's Illustration Friday. It really is much too early to be thinking about Christmas, but after working on these cards for a week I just can't help it. Now that they are finished, though, I need to focus on more pressing matters...

like what to be for Halloween?!

This is my second and final Holiday card for APE! Off to the printer they go! Have a great week!

Holiday Card #1

2008-10-10T03:13:00.003-04:00

Yep, its another mermaid. Surprised?

Ok, break time is over. Back to work. Happy weekend!

A Break from Ape: The Girls

2008-10-02T02:32:00.003-04:00

This past weekend I was fortunate enough to get to see Spring Awakening for a second time. I saw the show in NYC just after Christmas this year with most of the original cast, and fell head-over-heels in love with it. I must confess, I am a musical theater geek, but this show is different from anything else I have ever seen. It is gritty and honest and beautiful and if you ever have a chance to see it, please do. The national tour of Spring Awakening will be in San Francisco for another week, so if you are in the area please go see it! The only warning I have is that there is a lot of mature content, so you may not want to take young children (or your mom - a painful mistake I have already made once) to see it.

Feeling a bit overwhelmed with APE things and other projects that I should be working on, I decided to take a break and let this sketch out of my head. This is the original cast of girls from Spring Awakening singing "Mama Who Bore Me." Way back when, I had a quite a hard time deciding what my major in college would be. It was a toss-up between musical theater and animation, and animation ultimately won out because it had been my first love, because I thought it would be easier to "make it" in the animation world (hahaha), and because I knew that a career in animation would allow me to both perform and draw. I'm confident I made the right decision, but this show in particular made me miss being on stage. Since I can't be up there with them, I guess the next best thing I can do is draw them. And for all of you IFers out there, this sketched is "packed" with ridiculously talented young women.

Enjoy, and we will return next week with our regularly scheduled APE-in-progress programming :)

Kane

2008-09-27T04:12:00.004-04:00

Here is the third in the Hawaiian gods and goddesses series: Kane. He is the life-giver and creator of forests and trees. I had a really hard time finishing this one, so I'd love to know what you think! Again, this will be one of the prints I'll have at APE, so please come on by if you can.

Oh, and I know its a stretch, but I'm submitting it to IF this week because its "packed" with birdies! Have a great weekend everybody :)

Pele

2008-09-17T02:17:00.003-04:00

The bitter rival of Poliahu. She reigns over Kilauea on the Big Island of Hawaii, and is the goddess of fire, lightning, dance, volcanoes, and violence.

This will be my second print available at APE in November. I am having trouble deciding whether I should post the rest of the prints as they are finished, or wait until after APE to post them all together. In any event, I still have a ton of other things to be working on, so I should still be posting regularly. Again, if you have a chance to come to APE, please do!

Poliahu

2008-09-10T02:26:00.006-04:00

Hooray for good news! Bill and I will have a table at APE (Alternative Press Expo) in November, and thus will be selling our stuffs there. That means that from now until the end of October, neither of us will be getting much sleep in order to make said stuffs. I know it will be a blast though, so I can't wait!

That being said, this will be the first of several prints I will make available at APE. Her name is Poliahu, and she is the Hawaiian goddess of snow-capped mountains. Snow-capped mountains in Hawaii? Yep, namely Mauna Kea - a dormant volcano on the island of Hawaii, which, when measured from its base at the bottom of the sea floor, is the tallest mountain in the world. Poliahu is the bitter rival of Pele, the goddess of fire, and uses her chill to keep Pele confined to Kilauea and Mauna Loa on the southern end of the island.

I have always been fascinated with Hawaii and its culture, so I will be making a series of illustrations of Hawaiian gods and goddesses for APE. If nothing else, it will give me an excuse to do some reading/research. If anybody is looking for something fun to do on November 1st-2nd, please come on out to APE and say hello! Good times will be had by all :)

Update: I added this post to IF because it fits the topic better than my posts normally do. She is an island goddess - perfect fit!

Singing, Sailing, and Swimming

2008-08-11T03:34:00.003-04:00

I spent the weekend doing another five in the series, this bunch being a little different from the last. I've never worked with ink on a brush before, so I wanted to try it out and focus on line quality. These five are also slightly different from the last in that together they create a story. This mermaid is a siren ( are all mermaids supposed to be sirens?) and she lures a sailor into the sea and steals his hat. Hope you enjoy - Have a great week!

Return of the Mermaids

2008-08-04T04:13:00.003-04:00

I've been very good and have not drawn mermaids in a very long time. We're talking months. I'm starting to work on a little project now, however, and it just could not be avoided any longer. So those of you who are angered by the sight of mermaids, I'm sorry. Actually, I think I have to let you know that you are just in the wrong place. Mermaids are (and will continue to be) a pretty regular occurrence 'round here.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy these watercolors. It was nice to pick up real paint again for a little bit. Shown are two of five paintings I was able to finish this weekend, and I plan to do more. If you like them a lot, there is a possibility that they will be available for purchase sometime in the not-too-distant future. I will post more details about that later. For now, have a lovely Monday!

Comic Con!

2008-07-31T00:35:00.012-04:00

I'm back from my first ever trip to Comic Con, and it was awesome! It was a whirlwind of a trip, but totally worth it. Bill, Mayka, Dave, my friend Sean (who flew out from good 'ol PA), and I left for San Diego on Thursday morning and stayed through Sunday. We all saw and did so much that I feel like I am just starting to get back to normal now. Anyway, here are a few pics from the trip:Sean and I Hulkin' out. Doesn't he look like Eric Bana? I think so. Especially when he turns green and rips things apart.

Dave and I gaze whistfully(?!) at the Lego Batman. I don't know why we are whistful. We didn't plan this out very well.

I don't think he meant to stand in the exact same pose as Ironman, but I found it quite amusing.

Upon our arrival in San Diego on Thursday night, Mayka informed me that I had missed Hugh Jackman, who had shown up to promote "Wolverine" during Thursday's convention. HUGH(the Australian love of my life) JACKMAN!?! I was devastated. That is, until I found his Wolverine jacket on the convention floor the next day! Not quite the same, but as you can see, I was still excited. It was probably better this way anyway because if I had known Hugh Jackman was going to be there on Thursday, I would have made everybody leave at 1am to make sure we were there in time to see him. And nobody would have been very happy with me about that.

Oh, and here I am being abducted by a Storm Trooper. Good times.

Spidey savin' the day. I should work on my poses. I'm not nearly as exciting as the rest of the people in these pictures. I guess an elaborate costume would help, too. Maybe next year...

Chris Sanders! I am off to the right distracting Chris with my uber-geeky "I'm such a huge fan!" ramblings while Sean snapped this shot. In my super-excitement over meeting this guy, it never once occured to me to ask to take a picture with him. Someday I'll learn to calm myself down. But it was fantastic to meet him - definitely a highlight of my trip.

Dave's only purchase of the trip, and he couldn't have found a better souvenier. He has been looking for a full-body Kermit puppet for years and I can't accuratley describe how his face lit up when he saw this guy at a used toy booth. It was priceless.

And here is my haul. I just have to say that coming from a small town in PA that is so far removed from any type of industry, you never think that experiences like this are possible. To be surrounded by so many talented people who I have looked up to and been inspired by for years is just awesome. And who knows, maybe someday (when I'm all grown up) I will have a Comic Con booth of my very own. Anyway, I am so inspired from the trip that I hope to have a few more posts of new artwork in the near future, so stay tuned. But for now, thanks for stopping by! I will leave you with this moment of Zen (featuring Dave on lead vocals and myself as" the puppeteer"):

Quickie

2008-07-23T04:21:00.004-04:00

Feeling swamped and overwhelmed, so I decided I needed to do something fast to just get it out there. This was adapted from a sketch I did at the airport a long, long time ago. Enjoy!

Hope to see everybody at Comic Con!

ENOUGH already!

2008-07-19T19:23:00.003-04:00

So, a while back I had decided that I would be producing work and posting it on the blog more regularly. And then I didn't. And then I went to England and France for a week. And then I was exhausted. And THEN I decided I really wanted to do a quick painting of a nifty street in Oxford.

Just a quick one.

That was two weeks ago and I have been working on this almost every day. Needless to say it went beyond the "quick sketch" about 2 minutes in. It was a lot of fun, and if you look closely you might be able to spot me and my BFF Sean, who is studying at Oxford right now because he is a ridiculously brilliant Rhodes Scholar.

England and France were fantastic and I did do some sketching while I was there, so maybe I will post some of those in the near future. This next week will be hectic ( Comic Con, anyone?) but I might be able to put a few more things up before I'm off again.

Enjoy, and have a great weekend everybody!

IF: Hoard

2008-06-23T04:02:00.003-04:00

And suddenly she's back from the dead!

Yes, I know I'm lame and haven't posted in 2 months, but I swear I have good reasons. I've been hard at work on several projects at once, none of which has been fit to post here. Yet. Hopefully I will be able to throw some of the work I've done up here in the near future, but I have other plans for the blog as well. So stay tuned and hopefully I will have more goodies to show shortly.

For my return to Illustration Friday, I decided to post about something that I am guilty of hoarding - fashion magazines and catalogs. This is a habit that I inherited from my mother, and one that I'm pretty sure I will never kick. I love looking at fashion, especially when it is photographed well. I very rarely have time to actually walk into any of the stores I receive catalogs from, and even when I do, I am usually either overwhelmed or intimidated within seconds and end up walking right back out the door. Having catalogs delivered right to my apartment allows me to enjoy all of the pretties from my favorite stores while sparing me the trip. Plus, they are full of so much drawing inspiration! Honestly, that's part of the reason I keep them....even though I hardly ever look through them more than once or twice. But today they are coming in handy! Today I am glad that I hoard them!

These two poses come courtesy of the"White House/Black Market" catalog. Um, I love this place so much. And that dress?! I would live in that dress if I had the money to buy it. And looked like the model. No, seriously, I would.

Daydreaming

2008-04-22T02:24:00.002-04:00

Here is a very primitive self portrait sketch. I guess this is how I've been feeling lately - swamped with things to be working on but still finding time to daydream up new ideas. Now if I could only figure out how to finish something...

Have a great week everybody :)

Ladies and Gents, I present Whirled.com

2008-04-01T17:52:00.007-04:00

This is what I have been working on for almost 2 years.

Whirled.com is a flash-based virtual whirled/social networking site that just went in to open beta about a week ago. You can chat, play games, make friends, decorate rooms, make stuff and all kinds of other things. I was one of the first artists on the game so it is really neat to see people actually playing in Whirled.I would have posted about it sooner, but one of the coolest features was not available. What is this cool feature? Why, the ability to embed Whirled right onto your blog, ofcourse! If you scroll down to the bottom of my blog (and have the latest flash player) you should see it. You will show up as a little ghost, but you can walk around the room and talk to people. You can even play bingo in the room I embedded below! just click on the tote with the "B" on it to play. If you like it, or if you want to learn more, please go to Whirled.com and sign up! And then come say hi - I'm on most of the time and my username is (big surprise) "Brittney". Hope to see you there!

*UPDATE* I now have a different room embedded below, but if you walk out the door on the left side of this new room, you will find yourself in the room with the bingo bag. You should explore and play! It is a lot of fun :)

Sketchcrawl 18

2008-04-01T15:52:00.007-04:00

Some sketches from Saturday's Sketchcrawl:

My warmup: quick uniball sketches of everyone sketching. Most of the time I would look up and the person I was drawing would be drawing me! A fair trade, I suppose.

A sketch from the park at Fort Mason. Dave fell asleep on the grass while I worked on this. I think he had a nice nap.

This girl in Ghirardell Square knew she was being drawn. She was posing for us.
It was a bit chilly.
Inside Ghirardelli Cafe. I suspect she knew I was drawing her, hence the rather unpleasant look. Other than that, there really is no reason to look unpleasant inside the Ghirardelli Cafe. Ever.

Saturday was certainly a day full of drawing for me! Bill, Dave, and I met up with the San Francisco Sketchcrawlers at Ghirardelli Square at 11am, stayed there until sketchbook swapping was wrapping up at 6, and THEN Bill and I went directly to a single's mixer for the Berkeley Humane society where we volunteered as caricature artists. Neither one of us had ever really done caricatures for people before, so I hope we didn't disappoint. The event was a lot of fun because we were doing portraits of people AND their dogs! So thanks to Piper, Travis, Macgregor, Jack, Brutus, and Sassy Girl (and their owners ofcourse, because I can't possibly be expected to remember people's names) for making it such a fun evening. And thanks to Bill for inviting me to tag along.

"Pet" Peeves

2008-03-26T03:50:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago I found a collection of Chuck Jones animated shorts at Target. The collection included a short about Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, a mongoose who is adopted into a family and risks his life to protect them from two cobras living in the garden. I've loved this short as a little girl and still find it inspiring today.
I originally began this illustration for the IF topic "garden" a few weeks back. Since I've been swamped with all kinds of work lately, I haven't had much time to finish it. I hope it works for the IF topic "Pet Peeves". The way I see it, the cobras (especially Nagina, who is pictured here) are Rikki-Tikki's pet peeves. And he is the family pet. The Pet's Pet Peeves...
Anyhow, enjoy!

And as I mentioned before, stay tuned for some exciting developments later in the week! Have a great Wednesday!

Much too long...

2008-03-21T03:16:00.005-04:00

It has been too long since my last post. Between taking a very short vacation, being extra busy at work, and having a couple freelance projects that are taking up the majority of my free time, I haven't had a lot of time to make fun things to post on my blog. I know, its no excuse, I apologize.
Now here is the good news: in a very, very short time, I will be able to reveal what I have been working on for the last year and a half! Exciting! And I suspect that the 12 of you who read my blog either A. already know what that is because you are Dave, Joe, Jed, Bill, or my sister, or B. will totally want to find out more once I spill the beans! Stay tuned for that...

In other good news, I have to let everybody know how proud I am of Dave for winning the Mytoons.com bumper contest!!!! If you haven't seen "Furnick", please do so now. You will not be disappointed.

And now I leave you with this: treasure I found at Wondercon several weeks ago. "Maile" is one of a limited edition of dolls that Chris Sanders (creator/director of "Lilo and Stitch") created for the 2007 Comic Con. "Maile" (in her skull and crossbones dress) fits right in on my desk at work, where we are all pirates. It was just meant to be.

Aloha for now. I'll be back with new things soon.

IF: Blanket.....of Snow!

2008-02-07T03:02:00.000-05:00

My sister is a budding star snowboarder, so I painted this for her for Christmas. I have never snowboarded, and I think it has been about 14 years since the last time I snow skied (I much prefer warm weather and water skiing), but I'm pretty sure that I do remember that its the most fun when there is a nice thick blanket of powdery snow covering the slopes. I know its a stretch, but that's how I'm tying this one into Illlustration Friday this week. Enjoy!

Weekend Project: Fabriano Sketchbook Makeover

2008-02-01T02:33:00.000-05:00

On January 19th, Dave, Bill, and I joined the SF Bay Area Sketchcrawlers for a day of sketching in Chinatown. At the end of the day everyone who was still around swapped sketchbooks for inspiration, and one thing became very obvious: Fabriano sketchbooks are very popular. So many of them looked so much alike (on the outside) that it was hard to tell them all apart from one another.

Last weekend, Dave suggested that I "customize" my Fabriano so that it would never get lost in a sea of look-a-likes again. Thus, I spent my Sunday afternoon having a grand 'ol time with my sketchbook, some decoupage glue, and a bunch of trader joe's paper bags that I have collected for whenever we happen to forget our canvas ones. Here is the end result!

The "Just Because I Can" part of me even found it necessary to add a little business card holder in the back. This part is probably completely unnecessary, but it is cute and it made me happy to do it nonetheless. The whole project was a lot of fun so I recommend it to anyone with a Fabriano (or any sketchbook or journal for that matter), some paper bags that need recyclin', and some time. Rainy sunday afternoons are probably the best time, but any extra time would probably suffice:)

I leave you with a watercolor figure drawing from last weekend's class. Have a nice weekend everyone!

IF: Tales and Legends

2008-01-31T05:11:00.000-05:00

Rapunzel was one of my favorite fairy tales when I was little. I guess I thought she and I had a lot in common with the super long fair hair and all. Luckily I have never had anyone try to climb on mine. I imagine that would be quite painful.

I have some more wordy posts in the works, but it is late here and I am off to bed. Until next time, have a great Thursday everybody! Enjoy.

SketchCrawl and More Figure Drawings

2008-01-22T03:25:00.000-05:00

Here is my one page of sketches from Saturday's Sketchcrawl through Chinatown. Slow start for me, but a good time none the less. Chinatown is so ornate and beautiful - it is so easy to get lost in all of the little details.

And here are a few more figure drawings! Hopefully I will have some more exciting things to post soon!

Happy 2008!

2008-01-14T02:56:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year everybody! Sorry for the lack of posts lately - I tend to get caught up in Holiday madness and don't settle down until the middle of January. The good news is that even though I haven't been posting, I have been working on a bunch of things over the last month so I will have plenty of posts to start off the new year. Not something that I can say very often.

Recently I started attending a weekly figure drawing class in Berkeley and I must say it feels good to get back into the swing of drawing classes. This particular class is great because everyone comes in with all different types of materials and all sorts of neat things happen. So far I have just been using my good 'ol bic ballpoint pens in my shiny new Fabriano sketchbook, but I might get creative in the coming weeks. Anyway, I thought I would share some sketches from this week's class before getting to bed tonight. Anybody else excited for Sketchcrawl next weekend? I know I am.

Have a great Monday!

CTN Holiday Group Show!

2007-12-02T00:08:00.001-05:00

As I mentioned earlier, a couple of my pieces will be featured in this year's Creative Talent Network Holiday group show at Van Eaton Galleries in Sherman Oaks, CA. If you are in the area, stop by on Thursday, Dec 6th between 6 and 10pm for an evening of holiday cheer, food, and some awesome comic and animation art!
There will also be a selection of original mini canvas ornaments for sale, with 100% of the proceeds from those purchases going to the Starlight Starbright Children's foundation, whose mission is helping seriously ill children and their families cope with their pain, fear, and isolation through entertainment, education, and family activities. But that's not all - there will also be a 10% discount on any item in stock in the West Gallery during the show. Admission is free, so come support a good cause and get some holiday shopping done at the same time!

You can find more information on the show here.

Excess

2007-12-01T03:12:00.000-05:00

This was originally going to be my submission for last week's Illustration Friday topic - "Zoo" - but it unfortunately took longer than I had hoped. Luckily, I think it still works well (maybe even better!) for this week's topic - "Excess".

There is a bit of a back-story for this illustration. Apparently, I look like a lion. Really. I was informed of this in the sweetest way possible by a co-worker's wife one day while standing in the kitchen at work. I was also told that if anyone says otherwise, they are lying. So don't even try, because it won't work. Basically, I have A LOT (i.e. "Excessive"amount) of hair. It looks like a mane. So much so, in fact, that at first glance it might be startling. You might think that a lion is walking around the corner. But really, its just me. So don't worry too much.

Here I am with a lion. We do have quite a few similarities, but I hope this illustration will help you to tell us apart. Thanks for stopping by everybody! Have a great weekend!

Small Scale

2007-11-15T04:35:00.000-05:00

I was asked to paint a 4x4 inch canvas that will serve as a tree ornament at an upcoming gallery show in LA (More information on that to come shortly- I promise!). It has been a looong time since I worked on something at such a small scale, so I thought this might fit nicely with Illustration Friday's topic this week. I tried to make something that might work well with my other two pieces that are in the show which are both - you guessed it - mermaids. I'm kind of ridiculous. Anyhow, enjoy!