The finished ad!

Completed! The client loved it (thank God!), and it should be featured in Pittsburgh Fashion Magazine in the coming month!

Met with Cora from Spoiled Chics today--she's scaling down her project a bit due to finances, which is understandable. I'll keep you updated on the results!

To tide you over until the project is complete...

Here's a drawing I did awhile ago of some annoying kids my friend Emily and her sister Bess observed at the Carnegie Science Center during the science-y food presentation. (In honor of Em lending me her scanner. :D)

Still without a scanner...

What am I good for?

Despite my lack of hardware, my art career has been somewhat booming in my tiny town. My interior designer job with "No Good Riding Hood" has been moving along nicely. Here's a first look at the little mock-up I made for her of a business card-sized ad she wants for (the very new) Pittsburgh Fashion Magazine:

Obviously Little Red is NOT going to be a 10-second Photoshop Blob. :P I just placed it there to fill the space for effect. Both the "Good" and "by April Meredith" will be hand-lettered--again, the type is just for show. (I would never actually use that Curlz-esque font. /artschoolpretense)

After seeing this (and the black version of the mock-up), April chose--awesomely--to chat with another boutique in town, Spoiled Chics, and mentioned my name. She called to tell me that they were interested in using me for a few ads of their own, so I went in and introduced myself. We talked about some stuff they wanted me to do regarding ads, and that went well.

But, even better, when the owner Cora sent me an e-mail today with jpgs of their logo to use, she had CC'd me on an e-mail to Pittsburgh Fashion Magazine, recommending me and my work to them! I'm not sure how I'm going to juggle all of this with my full-time job at the restaurant, but I'll make it work! What I REALLY need is a scanner...

In personal news, my Mom got married! We're all really psyched, although the house has been an absolute labyrinth from her new husband moving in--he has more stuff than I thought one person could accumulate!

More soon--maybe I can get Mom to get me an interim scanner while she's at work tomorrow. Keep your eyes peeled!

-A.

WELL IT'S BEEN AWHILE

But I'm alive. And engaged! :D



John proposed at the beginning of June, and we're very excited. :) Since we're currently living in different cities, we've chosen to hold off on making definitive wedding plans until we're living in the same state (go figure :P). I'm hoping to save up some money here to make it out to New Jersey by the beginning of next year. I've started a few engagement/marriage musings of my own over here. Check it out.

As far as art, I recently started working with an interior designer named April Meredith who just opened a boutique in my town called "No Good Riding Hood", and she's asked me to design and illustrate a full-color, full-page ad to be run in Cue Magazine next month--she has a monthly deal with them, so this could definitely indicate more work in the future. I'm excited! I've made about twenty thumbnails so far--which are way too tiny and impossible to understand (unless you're me) to post them here. But once April looks over them and I can draw up a few complete sketches, I'll post them.

There is also a loose plan to start making Baby Gaga more of a presence...maybe t-shirts?

Otherwise, I've been working about 30 hours a week selling expensive designer clothing to very wealthy women, and will soon be joining up at a restaurant. Gotta fund this wedding somehow.

-A.

Graduated and happy.

Hi everybody! I'm home and graduated. Can you believe it?!

Unfortunately I'm out-of-range of a scanner or card-reader, but I'll post some photos of my grad show soon. It came together really nicely, and it was wonderful to work together with everyone to bring together such a successful show.

I have to say, I really lucked out with my space. I was honored to share an awesome room with Annie Wu, Babs Tarr, Alex Gracey, Bonnie Bladen, Jen Mussari, Michael Clayton, Lindsay Bolin, and Alyssa Nassner. They're all intensely talented, and I'm so glad to be counted among them as graduated from the 2010 MICA Illustration program!

As for me, I'm back in Sewickley, enjoying some down time while I search for jobs and unpack. Next week will be spent with John--I'm going to New Jersey for his graduation party. We're both very happy MICA graduates (although a long-distance relationship isn't our favorite thing), and we're looking forward to what the future holds!

The best of luck to the class of 2010!

The End of the MICA Chapter

Classes and finals are (essentially) over for me!

My plans for the next few days are:

-Hang the commencement show.
-Start packing.
-Attend a super-fun Victorian tea party.
-Go to a wedding! As a bridesmaid!
-GRADUATE!

I had my interview with Sarah Vinas, the art director of Glamour magazine, yesterday. Overall I think it went well! I was a little intimidated at first, but she proved to be really personable (but professional), and she offered some good advice--some which I'd heard from others, but that's normal. My biggest concern (and don't I know it)is settling on a style/media/vision. I need to focus myself. This summer will be an excellent time to explore that, so I'm looking forward to it. :) So, Sarah offered to e-mail me with a few references for people/places that could potentially be interested it my work, and offered to be a contact for me (which was very generous). Successful, I think!

Oh my gosh, here comes real life!

Old People are Cute, Part Two

Here are the finished pieces for my final! My professor for this class says these drawings are a real breakthrough for me. Yay!




(These pieces have to be posted at 72 dpi--they won't post correctly at full size! Sorry!)