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| © Jane Smith • Nutcracker Christmas |
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Monday, December 21, 2015
ChrisINKmas: Day 21, 22, 23, 24 & 25
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| © Jane Smith • Mistletoe Lovebirds XO |
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| © Jane Smith • Rocking Horse Holiday XO |
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| © Jane Smith • Penguin Friends XO |
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| © Jane Smith • Silent Night, Candlelight XO |
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| © Jane Smith • Bells & Holly XO |
Friday, December 18, 2015
ChrisINKmas: Day 18, 19 & 20
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| © Jane Smith • Keeping It Cozy Hat & Mittens XO |
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| © Jane Smith • Holiday Wreath XO |
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| © Jane Smith • Critter Christmas Fun XO |
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
Monday, December 14, 2015
Saturday, December 12, 2015
ChrisINKmas: Day 11, 12, 13
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| © Jane Smith • Gift It Elf XO |
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| © Jane Smith • Friendly Snowman XO |
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| © Jane Smith • Cozy Cocoa XO |
Thursday, December 10, 2015
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Monday, December 7, 2015
Saturday, December 5, 2015
Friday, December 4, 2015
Thursday, December 3, 2015
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
ChrisINKmas: Day 1
Hello, hello! Lately I've been inspired by all the talented folks who participated in INKtober, a month-long challenge to create a quick black & white ink drawing every day during the month of October. With so much going on during October, I missed participating, but am making up for it NOW by creating my own drawing challenge for December, ChrisINKmas!! I'm aiming to create one quick black & white ink drawing doodle everyday this month leading up to Christmas and I'll be sharing the results along the way here at Bird Meets Worm, of course! Follow along and enjoy! Or if you're game, join in and participate in ChrisINKmas, too, because after all, the more the merrier, right?! Happy Holidays! XO
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| © Jane Smith • Oh, sweet Christmas tree! XO |
Super Star Interviews: Sarah Ehlinger
Welcome to my
monthly interview feature! I’m so excited to be interviewing all the fabulous
artists, illustrators and designers I’ve meet over the years (both personally
and virtually!) and sharing their artwork and experiences here on Bird Meets
Worm. Look for a new interview on the first Tuesday of every month.
This
month I’m happy to be catching up with the sophisticated, ever-lovely Designer/Illustrator/Artist,
Sarah Ehlinger (aka Very Sarie)! I had the absolute pleasure of being her booth
neighbor at Surtex awhile back and am in love with her gorgeous work. (Plus she’s
a fellow SoCali girl! Very yay!) Sarah’s work has spanned
branding, packaging, in-store retail campaigns, and can be seen on greeting
cards, stationery, wallpaper, kitchen tiles and ceramics. She has years of
design agency experience working as a Graphic Designer, Creative Director and
Creative Strategist with big name brands. She happily brings that experience to
her current work—except now, she gets to do it in yoga pants instead of heels. You can view more of her artwork here!
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| Flowering succulents are a desert beauty!! |
Q:
Your beautiful artwork has a distinctly Southern California esthetic (which I
totally ADORE!). Tell us a bit about how living in Los Angeles has shaped you
as an artist from trends to colors to subject matter and everything in-between.
A: It definitely has influenced my
work. I'm originally from Iowa, and I lived in Minneapolis for 12 years, so I
do think there is part of me that gravitates to things that are distinctly
Southern California because it's a (relatively) new experience for me—in particular,
the desert life. I've found that my favorite weekend getaways around here are
to the desert: Palm Springs, Joshua Tree, Ojai. The colors in the desert
landscape just blow me away—so many subtleties.
And certainly there is a strong
mid-century influence in my work, but that started a long time ago while living
in Minneapolis. LA just magnified it for me, because there is such a strong
mid-century vibe here.
Also, my grandparents spent a
considerable amount of time in Arizona when I was a child, and my Grandmother
had little cactus plants all around her house. I was mesmerized by
them. Nobody else I knew in Iowa had cactus plants in their houses! So I guess
in a weird way, filling my house with, and painting a lot of succulents
and cacti reminds me of my childhood. The first time I visited LA, I felt very
at home, and I think that shows up in my work.
 |
| Fabulous beetle buddy!! |
Q:
Dish with us about your MOST favorite illustration projects: one from the past
& one from the present.
A: I don't think a lot of people
realize this, but I haven't actually been doing illustration for very long!
I've only begun CALLING myself an illustrator this past year. I have a bachelor
of Fine Arts degree, but after school, ultimately became a graphic design, art
director and creative director for years. I was actually the one on the other
side of the table hiring & pitching illustrators for campaigns and projects—never
dreaming in a million years it was something I would get into myself! Even when
I went to Surtex a couple of years ago, I was still approaching much of my work
from more of a graphic design—not illustration—perspective. Looking back, I
realize that I was injecting illustration into my projects where I could (even
if I didn't recognize it at the time.) I recall a store campaign I worked on
for Target—it was all of the signage for Easter. We had to use these little
plush chicks, and I created an illustrated landscape of painted grass for them
to live in. The end result was a combination of illustration and photography
and it looked stunning in store. Recently, I did a poster project for SPAM that
was a lot of fun. I had to illustrate a poster combining SPAM brand and Los
Angeles life. It was a great client, because they mostly let me do my own thing—and
that doesn't happen a lot with freelance work.
Q:
You are a big embracer of approaching marketing & self-promotion as a
creative endeavor. What are your top 5 must-do-creative-marketing habits?
A: Great question!
1) First and foremost is consistency.
Whatever you do, you have to be sure to keep at it and be consistent. There
isn't going to be one blog post, one email newsletter, or one instagram photo
that is magically going to turn things around for you. It's the collected,
consistent work of doing it all on a daily & weekly basis that will
"magically" turn things around. Everyone thinks people suddenly burst
onto the scene, (I know I'm guilty of it) but that almost never happens. The
overnight successes are usually the people who have been plugging away forever,
and are just now being recognized. Consistency is hands down the most important
thing you can do- it's a marathon, not a sprint.
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| What a delightful little potted fern!! |
2) Don't do everything. Seriously. You
can't. Most of us are a one-person operation, and there just isn't time. I tell
everyone to give up all but one of their social media channels for awhile and
see how it goes. Pick the one that you enjoy the most, and pour yourself into
it. Learn everything about it, and focus your efforts in growing just that one
channel. After you have that one on autopilot, THEN add in another one. I
pretty much have stopped using twitter and facebook this past year for my
business, and guess what? Nothing happened. Nobody died. I don't feel like I
missed out on some big opportunity or anything. What did happen, is I was able
to put all of my efforts into Instagram—which I love using—and by the end of
the year, I will have grown by almost 10K followers, and I'm seeing great
opportunities and partnership come out of it. That never would have happened
had I been diluting my time and energy on social media marketing that I didn't
love or care about. Seriously, the only reason why I still push my Instagram
posts to my business page on Facebook is because I have family members who love
to see what I'm doing, but refuse to get on Instagram. (True story!) But
because of that, at this point, I have no plans to do anything more with FB—the
metrics just don't merit it compared to instagram—for me—for others Facebook
could totally be the answer. The key is picking that one thing, and rocking it!
3) Start an email newsletter. The
sooner the better. Just get that list going. Honestly, I don't see a ton of
conversions from my list yet, but I do know that these are my most loyal
people, and I treat them as such. And over time I know that most of my business
will come from there. I send an update out at least every other week, and I can
see my numbers slowly growing. In the long run, nothing will be as valuable to
you as your email list, because it's yours—not instagram's, or Facebook's, or
Twitter's. And your list peeps have a much bigger chance of hearing and being
receptive to your marketing messages in their inboxes vs. in a social media
feed, where they may be passes over or never seen at all. (Hint: most of the
time I use my social media marketing to get people onto my email list.) Your
email list will also be a valuable asset when creating new work or new products—these
are the people who's opinions will matter the most to you + they are the most
likely to give it!
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| "Tweet! Tweet! Chirp!" said the sweet bird! |
5) Create a project that people can
follow along with. Every time I've done this, I've seen massive engagement. My
followers grow, and my email list grows. As an added bonus, the public
accountability of posting on social media helps me stick with it. It's also an
easy way to come up with content to share on a daily basis when you're feeling
less than inspired. (Remember that consistency thing I mentioned earlier??)
Q:
Let’s chat a bit about your creative process! How does yours begin—set the
stage for us: workspace, materials, habits, inspiration? How do you approach
sketches? Finished color art? Do you mostly create standalone images or do you
develop collections?
A: Lately, my creative process has been
all about establishing a practice to create something first thing in
the morning, every morning, even if it's just sitting down to paint for 30
minutes. This daily practice has amped up my productivity and creativity immensely—even
on the days I don't want to do it. (Actually, those are the days I find I
create something I like the most.) If I wait for inspiration to strike, I'll
end up with nothing. I find that inspiration comes after you've sat down
for a few moments and shaken a few cobwebs loose. I always pour myself a cup of
tea before beginning, and my material of choice as of late has been watercolor.
I used to make lots of separate pieces that I would draw and then ink, and then
turn into vector art, which would get colorized. I've fallen in love with
painting so much though, that I'm trying to use original painted art as much as
I can now—which is completely changing my workflow! Lots more time in photoshop
vs. illustrator, and I'm learning some best practices to start saving me more
time. Also, creating patterns in photoshop vs. illustrator is a whole different
thing for me, but I'm slowing becoming more confident with it. In the past, I
always approached my work as collections, but I find myself creating more
stand-alone work now. I'm sure I will be revisiting most of it and turning it
into collections eventually, but I'm really enjoying just seeing where this is
all going for now, and letting myself play and explore.
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| What luminous colors!! Don'tcha just love it?! |
Q:
What advice would you give to fellow illustrators looking to break into art
licensing? What advice do you wish someone had given you when you first started
out?
A: I feel like there is a lot of
misinformation about art licensing out there. Most of the time, when other
artists and illustrators ask me how to get into it, they think it's going to be
great because they'll be able to sell the same artwork over and over again—thinking
it will be nice, easy passive income. While that certainly can be the case in
some instances, generally it isn't. In my experience, art licensing is far from
passive. I actually get quite a few requests to create things vs. using
existing art- clients like a certain style, but want a different subject matter
for instance. I also don't think people realize just how vigilant you have to
be at following up and establishing relationships with prospective clients.
Sometimes (actually most of the time) it will take a year or more of
consistently following up with someone every 6-8 weeks before you even get a
response. A lot of times, manufacturers will like your work, but there is just
no way for them to slot you in immediately, so you have to figure out ways to
stay top of mind. When it comes to art licensing, art is only about 10%. The
rest is follow up, relationship building, and learning how to handle rejection
with grace (because there will be a lot of it).
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| Imagine tea and cake on this succulent topped table—so lovely!! |
A: If I can wake up before my guy and
the dogs and the house is still quiet, time for meditation, journaling or
reading would be first. Then, a trip to the flea market for sure. Follow that
with a very long, lazy brunch- preferably someplace new that I've
been dying to check out. Then, in the afternoon, head back home to tinker about
on projects or the house or the garden- homebody type of stuff, ha! Evenings, I
love to make dinner and open a bottle of wine- especially on Sundays because I
have more time, so it's usually something a little more complex than what I
would make on a weekday night. Then my favorite thing about Sunday nights is
ending it with one of my shows: Game of Thrones or Walking Dead—they're both so
good!!
Super Star Interviews: Christopher Lyles
Welcome to my
monthly interview feature! I’m so excited to be interviewing all the fabulous
artists, illustrators and designers I’ve meet over the years (both personally
and virtually!) and sharing their artwork and experiences here on Bird Meets
Worm. Look for a new interview on the first Tuesday of every month.
This
month I’m pleased as punch to be catching up with the delightfully talented
Illustrator & Fine Artist, Christopher Lyles. I have long
admired his artwork and am honored to be a fellow Tugeau2 artist alongside him. Christopher earned his MFA in
Illustration and works in a variety of media. His artwork has appeared in
children’s books & publications, greeting cards, editorial media and
galleries. You can view more of Christopher’s artwork here.
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| Let's go on an ADVENTURE!! |
Q:
I’m a BIG fan of your fabulous mixed media style! (Collage is near and dear to
my heart – in case ya’ll had never noticed!) Dish with us about your process:
how you find your materials, how you decide whether to invite paint or pencil
to the party, how much sketching do you do, how do you know when you’re
finished—you know, all the good stuff!
A: Thank you,
Jane! Every assignment is unique, and
as an illustrator, it’s my job to decide what medium or combination of
materials will work best. For me, I am always looking for ways to mix things
up. Maybe because I work with children all day and see the way they move from
one thing to the next with bewilderment and excitement. It’s that energy that I
try to harness with each assignment while striving to convey a sense of
playfulness in all of my work.
As far
as which materials to use, it really depends on the overall feel of the
story. Sometimes it can be as
simple as loose line work paired with washes of watercolor. Other times, I might combine collage,
paint, pencil, and printmaking techniques. There is always a fine balance of
knowing how much to employ in any given piece, but for me it’s always about maintaining
a handmade quality. That is really important to me. I want the viewer to be
engaged on every level and to want to touch and feel every texture. Besides,
working in this way never gets old!
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| Ooo! Can you say adorable Hanukkah present?! |
Q:
You are having a superstar picture book year!! Give us the scoop on your latest
titles: Meg Goldberg on Parade
(October 2015), Lucy and Lila (March
2016), and what is coming next!
A: So far this has been a great year. I have been fortunate
enough to have illustrated two picture books for two wonderful publishers. Each
of them has been created in a different style and both were a lot of fun to
work on.
Meg Goldberg on Parade is a wonderful story about a
little girl who imagines herself taking part in NYC’s annual Israel Day Parade. It was written by Andria
Warmflash Rosenbaum, and she has created great rhyming verse and depicts the
spirit of the
event in a most authentic way. I
love New York City, and I spent a lot of time visiting the locations described,
getting a sense of perspective. I decided to use collage for this book because of all the tactile elements of the
city as well as depicting a playful quality to support the text. Besides, I’m a
sucker for scissors, glue, and paper.
Lucy and Lila came about completely
unexpected. I had drawn a little
elephant character for my newborn niece and my wonderful agent, Nicole Tugeau
(who we both share) used it to promote my work. It was soon after that Little Bee Books expressed interest
in building a
story around that character.
I was shocked! The story is about a little girl named Lucy and her drawings of
a pink elephant named Lila. It stresses the importance of having your own
vision and encourages thinking outside the box. It supports all of my beliefs
and I was able to work from a very personal point of view. I used colored
pencils for the illustrations because of the soft delicate way they illustrate
the emotional
rhythm of the story. You
never know when something will happen like this so I am a big supporter of creating personal
work. No
matter how big or small, it forces you to grow while helping to strengthen your
artistic voice, which is so important in this field.
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| Christopher's studio—also know as "where the magic happens" |
Q:
Let’s talk inspiration! Who, what, where do you draw your inspiration from?
A: That’s a difficult question. There are so many sources in
which I
receive inspiration from. Perhaps
the greatest would be children. I
suppose that I am in a fortunate position working with elementary students all day long. Each of them has such unique
qualities and I always look to them when determining a certain character or personality
trait. They inspire me in so many
ways. Children
have the ability to work from the inside out without judging themselves too harshly. As adults, we can be our own
worst enemies and place a tremendous amount of pressure on ourselves to do things
“right”. It’s as if we forget how to have
fun. Drawing
should be fun and the minute you lose that feeling you are just going through
the motions. Whenever I hit a rut,
I look to
nature to rejuvenate me. A
long walk through the woods can do wonders for the soul!
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| Now THIS is beach beautiful! |
A: Character development is the most exciting part for me when illustrating a
book. I spend
a lot of time exploring line, shape, and form in my sketchbooks until I arrive upon a drawing that I
like. I
always look to capture the character’s spirit in as little as possible and I
suppose that is the biggest challenge for me. To make this process more enjoyable, I use a variety of
tools to experiment with. For
example, I might start sketching a character with an ebony pencil and select
one or two colors
to apply a wash on top. In
this manner, I can keep the looseness and spontaneity of the character without
becoming overly concerned with rendering. The
challenge for me is to keep the consistency throughout 32 pages. Tracing paper and light boxes
are my best friends!
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| What a gorgeous view!! |
Q:
What is your dream project?
A: My dream project would be to have my illustrations appear on
children’s apparel, bedding, wall art, etc. I
love the idea of an illustration having a life outside of the page. Licensing has been a big
inspiration to me and I am beginning to explore that side of the field. Also, I
would love to
create a wordless book. These
types of stories can be translated in so many different ways and it challenges
the illustrator to communicate clearly and precisely.
Q:
Describe your most perfect Sunday.
A: Watching football all day and eating spicy homemade chili.
Thank you for catching up with us here at Bird Meets
Worm, Chris!! It was a hoot!
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