Society6 Submission for the "US AND THEM" Collaboration: They Have Weapons

I just recently started putting some drawings on Society6. They have a pretty awesome setup for selling your art. They produce it high quality, and ship it for you. They also do some art collaborations based on themes, and put together some sort of zine. The current one is titled "Us and Them".  My interpretation is a humorous take on the myth that elephants are afraid of mice. From the elephants' perspectives (us) there is real reason to be afraid...because the mice (them) have some serious weapons!

Bichon Topiary

I had a few ideas for some dog illustrations. Here is the first: a bichon frise next to a topiary. The similarities make me chuckle.

The Goose on the Corner

This is the goose that lives at a neighbor's house down the street. They rehabbed it, and now it won't leave. Sometimes the man and son hit golf balls around in the yard and the goose is right there with them. Or they throw the football around and he's right there. I think that he must love the humans he lives with.

Studio/Art Room/Drawing Room/Place Where Magic Happens

This weekend I went crazy in the 2nd bedroom that is a nothing room and turned it into hopefully what will be an inspiring space to create awesome artwork and illustrations. It still needs some work, but clutter has been removed and everything is better organized. Shelves line both left and right walls with books, boxes of art supplies and materials, and openness...which is really nice. The blue futon is under the front window. Nothing is under the side window, which is also nice. The last thing needed is a round table to work on. I think round will work best because it's such a small room; Having to walk around something big in the middle of the room is stressful when there are sharp corners. Seriously. It's the reason I hate coffee tables. My shins start whimpering every time I'm near a low rectangular one...

I'm not sure if the futon is going to stay or not. It's a nice place for the dogs to hang out, but it's so large and kind of a waste of space. A large comfy, single person chair would probably work better. But I think it can stay a while. Priority is the table. Right now I'm working on a high bar table we used to have in the kitchen before it was remodeled. I'm sitting on a cheap plastic stool from IKEA, which is highly uncomfortable for the tush and back.

Painting is also in order this winter. Maybe one wall at a time. With our house, you just can't move things around without moving everything else around to make room.

After painting...maybe shelves. I kind of like not having anything on the walls right now because it helps the space not feel so cluttered. But being a studio-art-drawing-place-where-magic-happens-creative room, it seems wrong to not have things displayed. We shall see...

I'm very excited to start using the space and hunker down drawing more. I need to draw more. Draw draw draw draw.........

Society6

I now have a little store on Society6.com to sell prints and art on some other things like iPhone and iPad skins and canvas. I hope to get a little more exposure there, but need to figure out how to promote it.

Please check out the store!!  There is also a link over to the right that shows different items randomly, and takes you to the store.

http://society6.com/StephanieSmith

Illustration Friday: Scattered

Illustration Friday: Boundaries

Illustration Friday: Mysterious

Technical difficulties left me unable to scan. So here is a crappy iPhone photo, adjusted in PhotoShop. I'll update when I figure out how to make my scanner work again.

I would like to explore minimal color with more drawings.

Illustration Friday: Disguise

Snapdragons

The Illustration Friday topic is Influence. I had a more true-to-illustration topic idea I was going to draw, but got side-tracked with drawing these snapdragons...which still fit the subject, but only from a personal level. Growing up, my best friend and I would pick from my mom's snapdragons and make them talk. If you squeeze the sides, the flower opens and it looks like a mouth. Turned one way, they look happy. Turned the other, they look more dragon-like and angry. It's a simple memory, but has a great influence on me.

Illustration Friday: Swell

For Illustration Friday: Topic is "swell".

5.5" x 8.5" India ink pen, digital color

At the Gym 2

There are so many interesting people at my gym. I have seen this woman a bit, always in the same outfit. She is older, wears weight gloves while spinning, and wears a lot of perfume.

24 Hours of LeMons poster

We won the Index of Effluency a couple of weekends ago at the 24 Hours of LeMons in South Haven, Michigan's GingerMan Raceway.  A delicious celebratory cookout has been had. There is only one trophy for everyone to wish they had ;) so I decided to make a celebratory poster of our accomplishment!

Might change the top a bit, but in general I'm working on getting it printed for everyone now. Shhh it's a surprise!

Happy Birthday Max!

Our friends' dog turns one today. I made him (them) a card to celebrate his youthfulness and his approach to chasing balls. He starts with a run...and then right before the ball, there is a terrific pouncing form he adopts before getting the ball. It makes us laugh. Happy Birthday Max! You're a great dog!

Front

Back

At the Gym

The amount of hair this woman had wrapped up on her head was amazing. Everything about her was so visually interesting, from her bandanna on her dark hair to her powder blue sweat pants. But what on earth could the fanny-pack be for?

A Maxident

My friends' dog Max is still finding his way through the world...chewing up video games and controllers, mysteriously disposing of batteries, shredding books, and consuming entire boxes of nice expensive treats. His owners call these events "Maxidents".  He's such a cutie and a very very nice dog. And as a bonus, he's so very inspirational for drawings!

Today at the Allergist...

This is the first time I've ever drawn someone live. I was sitting across from this guy at the allergist and he struck me funny. First, he ran into the building. But there is no hurry at the allergist...you sit and wait, get your shots, and wait some more. (Or if you're like me you just leave.) He was busy-fingers on his phone while he waited, with occasional glances up around the room. I had to make sure it wasn't obvious I was drawing him. He looked like he could go golfing at any moment's notice.

A Visual Running Log

It's been too long. I haven't been drawing as much as I'd like to. I am trying to fit it in my days like I fit in running into my days...which made me think. What if I drew a little "entry" of what I did as a workout every day? Then the two would go hand in hand and maybe I'd draw more consistently! So, that's what I'm going to try to do. A simple pen and ink sketch with some hopefully fun copy explaining what I did. Definitely a different approach to the running blog, and hopefully a good exercise in some quick drawing.

Here are the first two days. And a link to my running blog where I'll be posting them. Perhaps I'll only post the more interesting ones here. Or maybe, on my rest days, I can draw something completely different and that will be posted here.

Chevette Postcards

Here is a series of illustrations I did for a friend who helped out greatly with the remodeling of our kitchen...giving up a few weekend afternoons for holding, leveling and drilling fun!

He has three Chevettes and is a fan. One is a '76 burnt orange one, which is the star of these drawings. On the backs of the pictures, I have small descriptions like postcards do, as well as a stamp indicia area. Rather than showing all backs, I've put the copy in the caption under each photo. I'm giving them to him tonight, in some sort of envelope I guess, deemed as postcards. I hope he finds them entertaining!!

The Chevy Chevette. A low-cost, lightweight, and readily available compact.
It'll drive you happy. (Straight from the old ad campaign.)

The Chevy Chevette at Easter Island. It's not a myth. Or made out of volcanic ash.

The Chevy Chevette at the Great Pyramids of Giza. It's all about scale.

The Chevy Chevette at the Great Wall of China.
At 43 MPG highway/wallway, the Chevette will
only use 90 gallons of gas to travel the 3,889.5
miles of wall. Economical fortification.

The Chevy Chevette at Niagara Falls. During the summer months,
100,000 cubic feet per second of water actually traverses the falls, some
.01% of which is not water but the Chevy Chevette.

The Chevy Chevette at the Chandelier
Drive-thru Tree. Inspiration found among the
Avenue of Giants.

The Chevy Chevette at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Lightly salted and flat out.

The Chevy Chevette at Stonehenge. Monumental. Megalithic. Chevy-rific.