Cat lady strikes again

My sister who works with a cat rescue in Taiwan made these coasters out of some illustrations I did for her.  She's selling it at an event tomorrow to raise funds for her charity.  Can you tell we love cats...

It's Raining Cats

Fashion cat has a fashion family.  My sister who fundraises for a cat rescue in Taiwan asked me to do a family of cats that will go on shirts and eco-bags.

Commenced finally...

These are going to be the death of me...

Manly men

More mens illustrations work in progress.

Guy Illustration

Working on some mens illustrations.  Somehow they always look like anime.

Fashion Cat

Finally finishing/continuing this guy.

Dusty Workspace

It's been so long since I broke out the paints, it's all dusty.  I could get used to this.

Long Beach Aquarium

I'm late at posting this. About a month ago I was at the Long Beach Aquarium and took some of these photos which strangely captured all the astonishing colors and textures that underwater has to offer.

More life drawing

I'm always my own worst critic.  I've been taking some life drawing workshops in downtown which is helping me define my style.  Some things I didn't like about my work: the composition of the side by side poses and the foreshortening on the feet, and the awkward shading.  I had some fun playing around with different techniques, using copic markers and sharpie to draw in the shadow.  I see lots of room for improvement. >_<

Sketching

Been neglecting my drawing skills lately.  Trying to get my groove back by sketching a little everyday and taking model drawing workshops.  Here's a recent doodle off memory.

Napa Valley Bikeride

I participated in Tour De Cure ride, a fundraising ride benefitting the American Diabetes Association in Napa Valley this weekend.  It was such a surprisingly breathtaking ride, looping around Yountville vineyards.  I highly recommend this route to anyone interested in a tour.  It was such a sweet reward for raising funds for this cause.  The event was really well-planned out and encourage anyone of all levels to check it out here.

Moca large scale sculpture project

Today I participated in a sculpture installation at the Moca Geffen Contemporary in Little Tokyo.  They gave us simple instructions and a lot of clay.  This was the work of possibly hundreds od participants over the course of one week.  Today was their last day.  It was interesting to walk through a scene of some bazaar and some interesting pieces.  I took my seat in front of a wall of houses.

Napa in May

This May 5th I'm going to Napa to ride in Tour de Cure.  This is my first time fundraising for a worthy cause (American Diabetes Association) so I'm pimping out all the avenues.  I hope you'll join me by donating in my name by clicking here.  Diabetes suck.  We can beat it.

Felt Orchid

There's nothing like a conversation with someone who is just trying to be their own best person that makes you look deeper into yourself.  My friend who is a beautiful person inside and out outshines me. It makes me wonder who I am that makes me proud.  Lately there weren't very many things.  Then I remembered I had this:

Mentoring Amanda

I've been working with this 8 year old girl for the past few Saturdays showing her how to draw comics. I've never really done comics before, and working with this girl has been a lot of fun, as we learn together. Today we did a project where I drew the first few scenes of the comic and she did the next few. We would take turns back and forth.

I got matched with this girl through a non-profit organization called CoachArt, their outpatient mentorships.  You can read about their mission here.

Here's our work:

Cool Graphics

Happy Tuesday!  It's been a few months since I last posted, as a result of loss of job and looking for work.  Here are some inspirational graphics in my research that I thought were cool.  My favorite quote is "Top hits are like cheap cigarettes.  They burn through quick and leave addicts sick."  LOL.  Enjoy.

Backstage

I'm digging these back view girls, for an illustration commission.  It's like being backstage at a fashion show.

Mattel

I did a project for Mattel a few weeks ago for their super cute fashion doll line Monster High.  It would have been a great job, had they picked me.  When I turned this in, I thought, "Crap, I forgot all the toy accessories!"  **Sigh**  I designed so many outfits and still couldn't pick one that really captures her.  Guess I should stick to designing for people.  Oh well, it was fun illustrating her anyway.  This is Draculaura, Dracula's 1600 year old daughter.

New project

When one looks for full-time employment in fashion, often times one has to do a project for prospective employer.  Here's a sneak peak at the project I'm working on now.  I'll post the finished product once I've turned it in, which is supposed to be Monday, today.  Also, here's the mood board I created for this mini-collection.

Little ones

I have what some people would call "restless design energy syndrome"...I can't just design one category over my career, I have to dabble in everything.  Here's an example of that, some graphics I did for kids line "Coral&PolyP".  So cute!

More Smartthreads, 1=1, Sneak Peak

You want to see more Smartthreads?  Alright, here it is...shhh, now don't go sharing all my great ideas!  Lol, I jest, but I serious...

Kritik

Kritik clothing was a casual cut&sew knits line that continued where Juicy Couture's tracksuits left off.  As seen on celebrities, Kritik is comfy, fashionable, sexy clothing that is the best thing you can live in while traveling, lounging around, doing yoga, and just about anything where stretchy clothes is the uniform.  Here are some of the CADs.  [Click on the images for bigger view]

Panda

I can draw non-people too.  This was for the same owner of Queenie4Ever.  She wanted another character, this time of an Asian-inspired panda.  Isn't she adorable?

Hollister Girls

This was a project I did for Hollister not long after they just started the brand (around '04).  As you know, Hollister is owned by Abercrombie and Fitch, and is the west coast, younger version of the label.  These illustrations were done in adobe illustrator.  The inspiration is "American Scrapbook, greetings from Venice, CA".  I took inspiration from Venice in the early 80s mixed with pretty vintage florals, sunwashed denim, and retro photographs like a scrapbook made in the past.

Smartthreads, 1=1 Sneak Peak

As I've mentioned in an earlier post, I work for a clothing company called Smartthreads, 1=1, a college-licensed lifestyle collection.  One-part profit, one-part donation.  Honorable cause? Yes.  Sustainable business model? Questionable.

Here's a page from one of our linesheets for 2013.  Smartthreads is going through some sales re-direction, and these styles may not be available to bookstores as previous seasons.  If all goes as planned they will be available at [big] retail chains **crosses fingers**.

We'll see.  On this page, my favorite is the fur-lined denim fleece jacket (below, left), and the "C" bear oversize crew top with embellishment (below, center).  The "C" is embellished with assorted plastic and metal hardware, reminiscent of this owl shirt by Burberry.

Fall '13 Mood Board

For those who aren't in fashion: Mood boards are what designers create through inspirational images and details that explain the story of what our next collection is based upon.

Here's the mood board we did for one of Smartthreads, Fall '13 collections.  The story is "Championship" [click image to zoom in] and follows vintage sport-inspired graphic layouts mixed with fashion-conscious details such as custom stripes and burnout houndstooth.  More images of this mood board can be found here.

Me

Character design I did for my portfolio website.  I had fringe bangs back then and if I had a store, that's what it would look like.  A framed image of Lucy Ricardo is on the wall.

Pitch! Press Character design

Here's another character design I did years ago for a marketing company called Pitch! Press.  The co-owners were these lovely fashionable ladies each with their own style, and hired me to create this illustration of them.  I have a pretty good knack for capturing a person's "look".  I met with them once and they told me in detail their individual styles, down to their preference in nail color.  So I took what they said and created this illustration for their website and other promo material.  They were thrilled with the character designs.

 

I Love Lucy

And who doesn't?  The outrageous redhead who was the first major female comedienne of her time was so inspiring to me, I had to do a project based on her character.  These fashion illustrations were so much fun to create, not to mention the allover Lucy prints that she's wearing.  Click on the image to view in large detail.  Notice the allover striped Lucy lining (middle sketch), the Lucy-head and text crop pant (4th sketch), and the coversational Lucy mixed printed skirt (last sketch).

I LOVE Lucy.

Queenie

Character design is an extension of my fashion illustrations.  I really enjoy coming up with these and stylizing the characters.  This was a series of character designs I did for a client.  Her idea was to illustrate a girl named Queenie, who is the modern 50's-esque Audrey Hepburn.  She has a toy poodle and loves everything girly.  My client was very specific about the details: her tiara, her ruffled pouf dress, her rose bracelet, the bows on the poodle's ears, and their matching chokers.

College-Licensed Fall'13 Lookbook

Here's a lookbook we shot a few months back for designs I did for our college-licensed Smartthreads' Fall'13 collection.  This is the 3rd delivery we did for Smartthreads, and so far the best.  Eastbay is one of our big accounts and will be selling some of these in their catalog and online come this July.  (Photography by Freeman Mcfadden, Layout by Lynne-Anne Aleine, Styling by Susie Yang, Models: Carleigh Shae and Tyler Ritchie.)

Thanksgiving flyer

This is from a while ago, so excuse the lateness.  We had a Thanksgiving celebration at our loft and here's the flyer I made for it.

College-licensed graphics

Designing licensed product may seem like a task of un-creativity.  With the right attitude, you will find that designing for licensing is just like designing for anything else, except with a more straight-forward marketing plan--to sell to existing fans.  Luckily, licensing means that there is already a fan base, which makes it that much more enjoyable to design.

For our newest 2013 delivery, I did these graphic mock-ups inspired by a road trip along the coast of California.  You can view the mood board I put together, posted here.

For the boys, Arizona State Sun Devils

For the girls, Iowa Hawkeyes