Snail Trail EXPRESS, cheesy I know, but that is what my new project is called. For me, the name came from the idea of snail mail (obviously) and that like a snail, I am DRAGGING MY TAIL with promoting me and my art. Just thought I could use this SNAIL MAIL to leave my TRAIL express-like! (haha, I crack myself up) Here I go! This is ME coming OUT of my FUNK!
Goals: I have been looking for a way out of my ongoing funk to be creative outside my work projects and I was inspired by a current project (Wandering Poste) by Amanda Wallace, a former art colleague from uni days. She has been illustrating postcards as a way to keep herself sketching and also a way to express her current ideas/feelings in life with possible use in future projects. I LOVE IT! So…I am finding inspiration from the wisdom of those who came before me and I am appropriating the idea…
- Draw a little every day to keep the creative juices flowin’
- Share what I do with others
- Brainstorming what could possibly influence future projects
- Creative outlet apart from work
Specs: Each stationary item will have:
- A one of a kind illustration on some kind of stationary item: postcard, greeting card, etc.
- Be stamped with a custom Snail Trail EXPRESS stamp
- Be dated, signed, and numbered.
- Customized message written by yours truly…
Project Guidelines
- To begin August 1, 2011 until… ?
- In theory, weekly an item will be drawn
- Drawings can be from any genre I deem worthy of drawing or writing
- I will post an image of each item drawn on this blog as part of the documentation process
- Items will be mailed after being thoroughly documented and photographed
- Those who are on my Snail Trail EPRESS Fan Club address list will receive a postcard or some kind of stationary item at some point in time. Send me an email to idrawprettypictures@gmail.com with your name & address to be added to the list.
- Art may be replicated or sold by it’s owner “Art by Amber Rose” at any future date.
A big part of this project is YOU! The readers, family, friends, the unknowners, or whoever… so take part!
Check back in August for the first item!
To view ALL STExpress posts, click HERE.
#01:Postcard
Title:
Keepin’ it Fresh
Date:
August 15, 2011
Mailed to:
Sally Mitchell
Where:
Wilton, CT
#02:Belated Birthday Card
Title:
Skinny Bitches
Date:
October 25, 2011
Mailed to:
Gill Moxham
Where:
Montrose, Victoria AUSTRALIA
Project: Illustration of a series of Easy Reader Children’s Books
Author: Charlotte Lozano-Blackmore
Publisher: Publish America
ISBN: 978-1-4560-1541-1 (Jeanettie Learns About Teasing)
978-1-4560-1483-4 (Jeanettie Is Called Retard)
Storyline: The books are centered around a 7 year old girl named Jeanettie who has mental handicaps and her mother (also the author) who has Cerebral Palsy. All the stories/characters are based off Jeanettie’s real family with her actual experiences in dealing with handicaps and people in society who don’t understand how to react to her handicaps. The series of 6 Children’s Books are to help create awareness about handicapped children, and to teach non-handicapped children to not tease nor stare at people who do have handicaps.
- 2 of the 6 books have been published by Publish America in 2010
- We are currently awaiting publication for books 3-6.
- Books are available for purchase at: Amazon , Barnes & Noble, & Publish America
Specs:
- In total, 6 books and 120 illustrations.
“Jeanettie Is Called Retard”, 8.5″x8.5″, 34 pages and 25 illustrations
“Jeanettie Learns About Teasing”, 8.5″x9″, 26 pages and 20 illustrations - I designed the Logotype “Jeanettie” using the character’s braids as inspiration.
- Books were drawn by hand with micron technical pens, then scanned and colored in Photoshop.
- Unfortunately I did not do the book layout , the publisher did that.
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Well, this last week I went to Bologna, Italy for a Illustrator’s Children’s Book Fair. There I encountered thousands of people from EVERYWHERE around the globe; illustrators, writers, professionals, amateurs and of course thousands of publishers ripe for the picking 
I was able to promote myself, flash the ‘ol portfolio, and come to the realization that it is a cut throat world out there and if I want to enter into the industry I need to step it up a notch. So for the next few months I will be upgrading my portfolio and working on some solo projects to get into ship shape! Thank you Bologna for this incredibly eye opening experience. Hopefully we can visit again next year and document my progress.
Here is a snippet of what I encountered at the fair; the art is from illustrators that entered the competition and won, there are displays from publishers (some boring and some extravagant) and also the bar where the people were eating and making pizza (yum!), also the display boards for illustrators to post their information, authors area where there were interviews and seminars….way cool event. Ill try to go again in the future.
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I just went through all my old work from Junior college in 2002, and I found this video. It was the first class I took in Photoshop, and we had to create an animation with Image Ready. Its hooooorrrible! But I LOVE IT! Hence, I am posting this atrocity to show how far I have come….Enjoy
This project was a fun one. The people of The Guitar Gym in San Luis Obispo, CA have come up with a great way to teach guitar…without notes or reading music! Its brilliant, and patented! So, do’t think you can steal their ingenious! neener neener! Gian and Chris Minardi are the owners of the Guitar Gym and they have a lesson plan for their 7-12 year old students called “Island Rhythm and Blues” where they use an island/travel theme to help the students learn a Blues chord.
When they came to me, their “lesson plan” was a bunch of haphazard papers thrown into a folder. Their ideas are abundant but their knowledge of of design and organization is a little less abundant So,I helped them create a cohesive lesson plan booklet using their methods and my oranization skills.
Project: Island Rhythm & Blues: Guitar workbook
Client: Gian Minardi, The Guitar Gym
Specs:
- 8.5″x11″ workbook. Spiral bound for easy placement on music stands for playing guitar.
- Color coded chapters to help with navigation
- Each lesson chapter intro is an illustrated spread to introduce the new chord (character), and place the names of the chords with faces of children with whom the students can identify.
- Illustrations include: 3 chord characters: Bob, Alex, Ed; The spinner and scroll, passport for lesson completed stamp
- This project was my senior project in college in 2009, it can be viewed HERE
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I thought it was time for a new post. And why not post how I am doing on the Jeanettie books! I know I have already given info on the first two books previously. I am having fun on the last 4. I am trying new things with the compositions, and playing with patterns in photoshop and using more detail to complete the illustrations. The detail is what takes the longest…but its also what makes the illustrations more engaging! Take a look!
Both of these spreads are from “Jeanettie Learns Mommy is Handicapped Too” by Charlotte Blackmore Lozano
Hello all, I have been on an adventuresome hiatus the past few months, and I was not able to post. But I am back in California on the sunny central coast! Man I love it here….I liked New York, but I LOVE California!
After leaving NY, my Spaniard and I covered, by car, the ENTIRE California coastline. He had not been to CA before, or the West Coast for that matter, so we drove from San Diego to Los Angeles first. (SD is gorgeous! I didn’t realize how wonderful it is! I would definitely live there). On our way through LA we HAD to stop at 6 Flags Magic Mountain for a day full of churro deliciousness, action, adventure, adrenaline, and the X2 “unfathomable-amazing-who-thought-that-awesome-ride-up” greatness!)
…..Then we spent some time in my home town region on the central coast.
…..Then we drove up to San Fran to visit with friends and be tourists.
…..Then we drove all the way up into Eugene, Oregon via Highway 101 through the California Redwood National Forest (we saw that poor tree that has a giant hole through the middle for cars to drive through).
…..Then we crossed over the pass into Redmond, Oregon to visit some friends that live there.
…..And after our Oregon adventure we drove back to the central coast to relax…ahhh. Great roadtrip! I saw more of my own state on that trip than I think I have in my own lifetime! Craziness!
Well, thats it for now…I posted pictures below of the trip, enjoy
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This book was a project aimed to use 3 stories in one book; to find the connections between the three different stories, in design and content. To design a book to accommodate all stories using intelligent design and layout.
Project: Culture Connection: Teenagers, Nazis & Feminists
Author: Amber Francis, HIllary Caudle, Christine Marin
Specs:
- One 5″x9″ book
- 3 Stories: Teen subculture in “Rise and Fall of American Bandstand”, Nazi subculture in “Nazi Architecture, Propaganda, and the theory of Ruin Value”, Feminist subculture in “The F-Word”.
- Design: All layout, cover, and text placement
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Here is a collection of a few Editorial and Book pieces that I have done in the past.
Click below on an image to take you to a gallery where you can navigate the images and read project descriptions.
