Week of October 24, 2016: Final Galaxy paintings and a Clipart product!

Hello my friend, and Happy Hallowe'en!!

This past week has been just nuts for me and mine, what with preparing for Hallowe'en, finishing my galaxy series paintings, and my new job! But we made it to the other side without too many casualties so I call that a win. I have a few accomplishments to show you from this week, I made up 3 more galaxy paintings in the Fall/Hallowe'en theme, and I finished setting up my first clipart product and it is now available in my Etsy store!!

Galaxy Paintings:

I finished three more galaxy/nebula paintings which completes the series I think. For each one I tried to push myself and the image just a little more to see where this style could go. Quite a number of the six images received more attention than I expected, the maple leaf especially, so I might have to see about getting them up as products on Etsy. In fact I've already got a buyer for three of the originals (Yay!!)!

A galaxy bat. I really liked the idea of a night creature encompassing the night sky in its body. So cool.

A galaxy maple leaf. This goes more along with the fall theme and I wanted to give this image a more 3D element by adding a shadow. The galaxy/nebula also has a few extra elements. This was a very popular image in my Facebook group!

A galaxy crow. I tried to make this a scary looking crow but that's a bit difficult when you're working in silhouette, and the galaxy/nebula I chose is much larger than previous ones, with a lot more colour. There's so much more going on in this image than in the previous ones.

New Clipart Product on Etsy:

As promised I now have my first clipart product available in my Etsy store! These are the images that you will download instantly upon purchase. Click this link for more details.

Baby elephants clipart set available now in my Etsy store!

While you're in my store feel free to take a look at the few products I have available right now, but also please favourite my shop and share the love!

Coming Up:

This week I have a new challenge: I signed up for a 6 week online course through Newcastle University in Australia titled "Drawing Nature, Science and Culture: Natural History Illustration 101" and it starts this week. I'm very excited to take this course as it will be my first introduction to science illustration. I've done plenty of scientific drawings in my Biology courses but they were for lab purposes, I'm curious to see how different these will be from my experience. And of course I will be sharing what I do with you here and through my social media channels.

I think that's everything I have to share this week. I hope your Hallowe'en is safe and full of fun and laughter!

Until next time,

Mandy

If you'd like to see more of my work or keep up with me day-to-day you can follow me on Instagram or Facebook.

If you're interested in commissioning me, click here to be taken to my Contact page to send me an email or message me from my social media links above, I'd be happy to answer any questions :)

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Week of September 12, 2016

Hello again, I'm so happy you're here reading this today! How was your week? Mine was more hectic than I like, and less productive than I'd hoped for. It was my oldest's birthday this past weekend so planning and whatnot did take some of my time (yes I overthink and it gets very distracting!!). I don't have too much to tell you this week. I only managed to add one new product to my Etsy shop, but I also signed up for a character design course that I want to tell you more about, and I'm thinking it might be time for another challenge!

New Product:

My latest product is a card design from an image I drew about a year ago of a line of chickadees on a wire. It is a printable product so it's instantly sent to your email after purchase! If you're interested in purchasing this card click here to be taken directly to the post in my shop.

My new Chickadees blank greeting card printable. You can purchase this directly from my Etsy shop :)

I can think of a dozen places this little image could be used on. I'm considering adding it to a few products in my Society 6 shop as well, mugs, towels, etc. What do you think?

Character Design Course:

I got a pop-up advertisement in my Facebook feed recently. Normally I just glance at them quickly and move on, but I was inspired to click on this one because it seemed to be a possible solution to my MATS B map problem.

Aaron Blaise is a former Disney artist and animator and has a collection of courses for character design and animation. The specific one I thought might help me is his Figure Drawing and Character Design Bundle, you can click here to read more about it.

I've only spent a few days watching the videos and I can tell you that this guy knows what he's talking about! If you want to draw in a more illustrative style (less realistic), I recommend taking a look at his site. He also offers some free information that I found valuable as well, so it's worth taking a look.

Further Character/Figure drawing:

I spent my Friday in the local library looking up some books that might also help me better understand how to draw figures in a less literal and realistic way. There is a specific style I have in mind, but I feel it's very "in" right now and I'd rather develop my own style than follow a trend that may be gone soon.

Anyway, my search led me to one author by the name of Chris Hart. He has written a good hundred books on the topic of drawing figures and the various ways you can go about it. My library had about a dozen of them on the specific features I'm looking for so I grabbed them all!

I also remembered that I own a book by Stephanie Corfee titled "Creative Illustration & Beyond" which is not only beautifully illustrated, it also has some amazing ideas and exercises for figuring out your style.

(note: I make no commission in mentioning the above products or artist/authors.)

Another Challenge:

With all this information at my fingertips, I'm thinking it might be time to do another daily challenge. My last challenge was to get me painting more so that I could improve my skill and understanding of the medium. I loved it! It was definitely a challenge in the work involved and the pre-planning, but I got a lot out of it! You can read more about my last challenge by clicking here. I know that all the reading in the world isn't going to do a thing to my skill-level, it's the doing that does anything, so I'm seriously considering starting another challenge, this one focusing more on drawing people/figures/faces/poses.

I haven't decided on the length for this one, I can't seem to choose between 30 days or 100 days. What do you think? Have you done a challenge to improve your skills in a specific area? Do you think I would benefit more from a 30 day exercise or 100? I'd love to hear about your experience!

A Sock Doll:

Okay, I know this isn't strictly artsy, but I'm very proud of it and I had to share. For my daughter's birthday I thought it might be nice to make her a sock doll. She's turning 9 and isn't really into dolls per se, so I wanted it to be a little more mature, definitely not a baby doll. After searching the web for a few hours (Pinterest and Google really know how to suck time out of a day!) I found this pattern and tutorial that seemed perfect (click here to see it). With just a few adjustments I customized the doll to look more like my daughter. She seems to really love it!

My latest sewing creation - a sock doll for my 9 year old daughter!

I'm not the worlds best sewer (I don't think that's even a real word), far from it, but I do enjoy breaking out the needle and thread every now and then and making something unique for my family.

That's all I have for you this week. Don't forget to leave me a comment on whether I should do a 30 or 100 day challenge!

I hope your week is good to you and yours. Stay safe and have fun :)

If you'd like to see more of my work or keep up with me day-to-day you can follow me on Instagram or Facebook. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave me a message.

Until next time,

Mandy

If you're interested in commissioning me, click here to be taken to my Contact page to send me an email or message me from my social media links above, I'd be happy to answer any questions :)

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Week of September 5, 2016

It's been a very busy couple of weeks in the Wiklund house! We managed to squeeze in a camping trip (our only one for this summer sadly), I fell on a metal fire pit, my husband got a mild case of poison ivy, we suffered a 48 hour flu, and then it was a quick scurry to get the girls ready for school! They are both very excited and very happy in their respective new classes, which as a mother is quite a relief :)

This past week I spent some time creating some products for sale in my Etsy shop! I'm currently focusing on digital products which to me seem like an amazing deal because not only do you get original artwork, you can print it again and again (because you get the file!), you get to choose the quality of the print job based on where you print and what you print it on, and you get it instantly after purchase! Considering the cost, I think it's an amazing deal and I'm so impressed at how many illustrators and designers do this!

Currently I have four products available, but I'm hoping to make many more. Right now I have 3 cards and one print. My plan is to also include my MATS B scrapbook page as a digital file, I just have to figure out how I want to offer it. I'm open to new ideas so if there's something you had hoped would be available but isn't, feel free to send me a message and I'll see what I can do :)

These are images of what's currently available:

The download is of the card only in 4x6 and 5x7 formats, no envelope. Click here to read more.

Download the files to print in 4x6 or 5x7 format. High quality image. Click here to read the details.

Same as the first two, click here to read more about what is offered.

This picture is only to show what could be done with the print of my red stag. Click here for details.

I'm still working on my map for MATS B, but I've decided that where I'm going wrong with it is that it needs people. Figures in both the adult and child sizes (though that may still change). So I'm doing some research on how I would like to represent people in illustration. I've found a few amazing books at the library that I will be studying, as well as Frannerd (she's just an awesome illustrator!) and my previous attempts at illustrating people, which I will likely show as I go along. I have a few examples of my own images that I quite enjoyed and would like to see if I can push them a little further.

Well, I guess that's it for this week. I have a lot going on between learning and setting up product this week so I hope to have a good report for you next week!

I hope this week is good to you and yours. Stay safe and have fun :)

If you'd like to see more of my work or keep up with me day-to-day you can follow me on Instagram or Facebook. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave me a message.

Until next time,

Mandy

If you're interested in commissioning me, click here to be taken to my Contact page to send me an email or message me from my social media links above, I'd be happy to answer any questions :)

Second week of August

Hello, hello! How is August treating you so far? The last few days here have been very nice, not too hot during the day and just a touch of chill at night. I have a few things to report to you this week, an updated logo and website, my second published illustration, and I applied for a job!!

New Logo!

I've been wanting to make my own logo for some time now. I finally have the skills, the only thing holding me back was all the options available to me. And I've noticed that when it comes to my own projects, deadlines are flexible. I've discovered that a flexible deadline does not make for a very creative output. It turns out, for me at least, that a deadline helps to narrow down the options taking it from "oh, wouldn't it be amazing if I did that?!" to "yes, that would be awesome, but it would take more time than I have, and I'm not 100% sure how to do it right now, so instead let's do this which is also awesome and something I know I can do!". Okay, I realize the second sentence is what I should be thinking anyway but somehow it doesn't work that way, at least not at this stage in my development. I'm hoping that with more hard deadlines I will create a habit of thinking and then meet my own deadlines in the same way.

So what finally prompted me to create a logo? I decided to look for work and I felt that my social media would look more professional with a cohesive look and consistent logo. I also wanted to showcase my skills a little more. If you've been keeping up with me on Facebook or Instagram you will have already seen it, albeit in a small format, so here it is:

MWiklund Studio: Illustration & Design, logo

I really like how it turned out. I love the colours, the watercolour effect background, the illustrated wreath pattern and the hand lettered feel of the text. The only negative I have about it is that it's not the easiest read. Because the background is mid-tone light, it's actually quite difficult to make the lettering stand out without being harsh. I'm happy with this first attempt for now. I'm sure I will come up with a redesign in the future, but for now this works for me.

Lucky 13

You might recall from a previous post (which you can read here) that I was working on an illustration for MAEZA magazines 13th issue. Well that issue is finally out and you can see my work, and the work of many other amazingly talented artists, in all its published glory here. Also, here's the final piece - I'm considering offering it as a print on my Etsy shop, what do you think of that?

My submitted piece for MAEZA issue 13.

Website Updates

I've also done some work on my webpage. I've added a page for my shop information, added an illustration or two, and linked to this blog. I also did some work on my About me page. Click here to take a look. I'd love some feedback on it if you have the time!

My website.

Printable Cat Card

And finally, I want to mention that I have my very first product up on my Etsy shop! It's a printable card with all the design/illustration elements from my Staffordshire-inspired plate assignment for MATS A. I'd love it if you'd take a look and maybe favourite my shop, click here to see it. If you have any thoughts on this card or on any you'd like to see made available, please send me a message, I'd love to hear from you!

My Staffordshire-inspired cat card printable, available in my Etsy shop!

That's it for this week! The girls are home with me this week so work will take a bit of a backseat again. I did manage to get all my icons cut out for my scrapbooking assignment for MATS B, so I'd really like to push through and get that done this week (is this deja vu? I swear I've heard this before!). I also want to get back into my hand lettering practice, I really do miss it.

I hope you have a safe and happy second week of August! If you'd like to see more of my work or keep up with me day-to-day you can follow me on Instagram or Facebook. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave me a message.

Until next time,

Mandy

If you're interested in commissioning me, click on the Contact Me button at the top to send an email, I'd be happy to answer any questions :)