Thanks for your vote

Wow, I was really up against some really amazing designs for the Spoonflower Art Deco contest. Congrats to the winner!

So I am back on the sketch book and tablet, working on a new pattern. This time I am trying a more hand drawn look. Here is the sketch I worked on last night so far.

Please vote for me on spoonflower.com weekly contest

I have entered this week's design contest at Spoonflower.com

Please vote for me.

The theme is Art Deco. Instead of going the geometric/ cubist look, I went with incorporating the often used Zebra print, during that time, into a somewhat geometric repeating design. It was really fun working on this as it is quite different from my usual style of fluid lines and organic shapes.

Spring?

So the sun came out today. I missed it and almost forgot how the bright circle in the sky affects me. It was still pretty chilly out but, no frost, no snow and most of all no rain. Guess that is why I started thinking about Spring. Wondering if there are little sprouts in my garden. Here is a pattern ( in two colour schemes )  inspired by a wishful early Spring;  Springsprouts.

Surface Pattern obsession

Looks like I am a little obsessed with designing patterns here. I am designing at least one a night. Over the years, I have had made countless images as doodles or experiments. Some just stayed in my sketchbook for years until now. Finally, they get their chances to be ALIVE! Tonight I worked on a larger size format than before (18" x 20") and worked out exactly how I like my image to repeat before uploading to spoonflower. My surface pattern design sample to be sent out is filling up nicely. I am using pretty bright colours I like and not sure how marketable the colour schemes are. Of course as vector files, I can always play with different schemes. Oh the possibilities are just endless. Here is tonight special. I call it Pink Clusters

Poppies

I am getting super charged with pattern design. After a few very useful youtube tutorials, I am ready to play.

Here are some poppies.

Textile Design

I have joined Spoonflower, a fabric design site. Come see what I have so far. They will be available for sale soon.

Here is a design of a pet fish I had long time ago. I was very sad when it died so I drew it out and painted it on our coffee table. Here is my gourami alive again in this fabric design. I am still experimenting with the pattern repeat. Lots to learn and play around with.

Hello 2012

I am returning from a month of sickness, the flu hit the household hard. Now that the older son is back to school and I am feeling at 90% on the health meter, I cracked open my favourite gift from Santa, the Wacom Bamboo Create tablet. Here is my first attempt of designing patterns.

Sisters

Here are two more of my girls.

Lucy

So I have decided to name her Lucy. If my second little boy was a girl, he would have been Lucy with Lucille on the birth certificate. Here is my first Lucy fun doing a cartwheel at the park. Not a final draft, still having so much fun playing around in photoshop.

Cousins

Onces or twice a year, my son gets to see his cousins from Calgary and at parting time, my son will very dramatically burst into tears. I drew this on their last visit in the summer. They will be coming for Christmas so there will be buckets ready.

little girls

These little girls I have been sketching is based on a real little thing I see every week at my son's judo class. She looks a bit more like the less stylized drawing on the right. She's about 2, her dad takes her along to watch her sibling take judo. She is really sweet. What should I name her?

Boo!

Boo is what my older son sometimes calls his little brother, and big brother is excited to share what he has learned about Hallowe'en with this little brother... however someone is not looking too impressed.

Thank you Mr. Jobs

It is a sad day as we say Good Bye to Mr. Steve Jobs of Apple Computer. Thank you for opening my eyes to a new world and teaching me to think outside of the box. Thank you for encouraging me to find my own way instead of following what has been done before. Sending your family prayers at this difficult time. RIP Mr. Apple.

babysitting cat

When I was sketching this one, I was imagining the baby and cat together, then the very next day, this image became a reality. I watched as the baby pulled handful of hair from the cat and then clapped with joy. The cat doesn't seem to mind as he lays there enjoying his grooming. As a second time around mom, I realise that babies do not need lots of costly toys, everyday simple things in life is just as fun.

Granny and her dog

On the way to my hair appointment the other day, I caught a glimpse of an elderly lady standing outside of the bank talking to a security guard. Her hair was silver and she had a little black terrier in her arms. The image stuck in my mind and I knew I had to illustrate it. I loved what she was wearing and her little dog all relaxed resting his head in the crook of her elbow. I had fun illustrating an elderly person.

Night night

Just finished putting my superhero to bed. A quick sketch for further development.

Safari Zoo

Talking to my son about our summer visit to the San Diego safari zoo made me think about some of the animal illustrations I was playing around with. This is the pick of the day.

An octopus' love

I became quite consumed about Octopus after hearing about the 400 new hatchlings at our local aquarium. However, it saddened me when I learned about the octopus' life cycle where the mother dies shortly after the little ones hatch. As a mother, it breaks my heart to think that I won't be able to watch my children grow up, but I guess in the animal kingdom, it is what it is. So I drew this one to express my feelings.

the girl and her ducks

This is a little story I have been working on about a girl and her pet ducks. Instead of figuring about the words, I think I should focus more on the illustrations for now.

Welcome

In the beginning of summer, I wanted to create a blog that is dedicated to my illustrations. I was eager to start but wanted to wait until September, when school starts, to launch it. The waiting was a bit nerve wrecking but it was good to have the time to think, reflect and plan it out. There is a few more days until school actually starts but I just couldn't wait any longer so I created the blog banner and posted it. I did it in one night, but I figure I can update it with new ones along the way. The idea came from one of my daily walks with my dog and the boys, the cat was included because he is part of the gang, he doesn't come for walks with us.