Posts Tagged ‘all rights reserved’
Starship Craftybiz 01A
Monday, June 6th, 2011
Starship Craftybiz 01A by Amy Crook (commission)
I couldn’t help but be excited when Tara Swiger, one of my favorite smart people on the internet, asked me to help draw up a starship to help represent her awesome new thing. We talked a little bit about what she was going for, and since she wanted to use it for a bunch of smallish stuff on the internet (like the button below), we decided to go for a combination of coloring book and technical drawing — not too much detail, but with a definite “drawing board” feeling that works with her program.
I got an Early Boarding Pass to the Craftybiz Starship Adventure because I’d taken a lot of her classes and found them really helpful to me, as I’ve begun to build my own business (and especially my Etsy shop). She concentrates on things like figuring out your pricing, where and what to sell, and who to sell it to (hint: it’s people who want your unique thing and have money for it), and leaves the technical business details for others. And yes, all these snazzy links are affiliate links, which means I get a percentage, but I’d give her a glowing review anyway — Tara’s just that cool.
Also, she was an amazing client to work with, clear on what she wanted and good at conveying it, and enthusiastic over the results. A win for everyone!
“Working with Amy was so much easier than I could have hoped for. I was nervous, because this she’s the first illustrator I’ve ever hired. But the process was simple, her illustration was spot on what I had requested, and she made me feel comfortable through the entire thing. Oh, and it was speedy! I had a short window and Amy didn’t leave me waiting.
“Thanks Amy, for making this adventure full of ease and downright fun, I’ll definitely be back for more!”
-Tara Swiger
Here’s the most excellent button she made out of her starship (see how well it shrunk?), and yes, yet another affiliate link:
Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art
Tags: all rights reserved, commission, nfs, pen and ink, pencil, starship, tara swiger
6 Comments »
Stork Family
Monday, May 16th, 2011
Stork Family by Amy Crook
When Maribeth Doerr decided to get her website done with Wendy Cholbi’s Bonanza Package, she got not only her cartoon, but a custom header. We talked a little about what images would work for StorkNet Family, and decided to go away from the classic “stork with a bundle” clip art and do something classier. I went looking for photos of baby storks, and found a great one of a mama stork standing protectively over her two babies. I translated that into a nest and just mama’s legs, with three babies for visual balance. From the sketch I did two versions, and this watercolor was the one we both ended up preferring.
Her header, miniaturized below, continues the watercolor feel with a wash of blue across the top of the page. For the site itself we stuck to complementary colors sampled from the header, a nice baby-blanket peach and blue framing the clean white pages.
Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art
Tags: all rights reserved, commission, nfs, watercolor
1 Comment »
Weeble Wednesday: Maribeth Doerr
Wednesday, May 11th, 2011
Maribeth Doerr cartoon by Amy Crook
I actually finished Maribeth’s cartoon months ago, and just haven’t gotten around to posting it, oops.
She got her cartoon as part of with her WordPress Bonanza Package with me & Wendy Cholbi — I’ll be posting her header art next week. I had a lot of fun drawing her weeble self, the warm grin and giant pink bag, along with her very appropriate “Delightfully Silly” t-shirt. I always enjoy drawing ponytails, too, I think it’s the same urge that makes me draw dozens of spirally swishy tentacles.
Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces
Tags: all rights reserved, cartoon, copic marker, nfs, pen and ink, weeble
Yarr! Bonus Michael
Friday, March 25th, 2011
Yarr! Bonus Michael by Amy Crook
I turned Michael into a cartoon a while back, and since he’s been a completely awesome programmer for me, I couldn’t resist tossing this little 10-minute bonus doodle into his package. I’m reliably informed he doesn’t actually have a wooden leg, he just wanted his avatar to be more piratey.
And really, who wouldn’t want to be more piratey? Well, aside from Ninjas…
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces
Tags: all rights reserved, cartoon, nfs, pen and ink
Weeble Wednesday: Kristine Beeson
Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011
Kristine Beeson Cartoon by Amy Crook
Kristine Beeson, also known as kadyellebee on Etsy, is a wonderful knitter of shawls and other lovely things. When our paths crossed and she expressed a wistful interest in being made into a Cartoon, I took the opportunity to offer her barter — a shawl for a cartoon! She helped me choose the perfect yarn (a warm, lightweight blackberry-colored cotton), and got right to work so I’d have my shawl while winter was still upon us. I was a bit slower, but I’ve finally finished up her cartoon (alas, I was waiting on marker refills).
She sent me some great photos of herself and her cheeky grin, not to mention her favorite outfit, and despite a bit of a struggle to get my scanner to accept the idea of hot pink, this is a pretty good representation of her and her gorgeous pink-striped hair. She asked for her ubiquitous iPhone, but I couldn’t resist slipping some pink knitting needles into the image, as well.
The pattern she knitted for me is called wren, and you can see her very own wren shawl on her cartoon above, in a soft mossy green that goes great with her eyes. Mine’s a dark purple that’s not quite black, but looks great where it lives on my blue chair, waiting for me to get cold while I’m working. It’s just light enough for me to forget I’m wearing it, but it keeps the cold off my aching shoulders.
Wren Shawl by Kristine Beeson
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces
Tags: all rights reserved, cartoon, copic marker, nfs, pen and ink, weeble
7 Comments »
Naomi’s Ninjas
Tuesday, March 8th, 2011
Naomi's Ninjas by Amy Crook
Naomi Dunford of Ittybiz has ninjas. That’s right, she’s cooler than all of us, and you don’t even know why yet. A while back, I drew up these little weeble ninjas for the exclusive* use of her Ninjas, who have helped me out several times without having to call in Naomi herself.
Today’s Naomi’s birthday! Well, March 8, who knows when you’re reading this.
As a little gift from the internet, we’re all supposed to be posting about how awesome Naomi is, and how she’s helped us along our path to Ittybiz awesomeness.
I’m in a slightly different position than most of the people she’s helped — my day job was already working at home, already freelance. What happened to me was that the recession hurt my biggest client, and that hurt my ability to pay the rent, and then I discovered Naomi and learned a whole lot about marketing in a short period of time. I’d been spoiled by my early success (I went freelance in 1998 and have had steady work from my biggest client the whole time), and having to suddenly market in order to get work was an unpleasant wakeup.
Naomi made that suck a lot less.
She encouraged me to find in-person ways to network. She answered questions, did SpeakEasy lessons on the things that baffled me, and even helped me plan the art sale that paid for me to attend my Mom’s wedding last year. She’s got a no-bullshit attitude about getting off your ass and getting things done, and without her, I’m not sure I’d have stopped making excuses and started up the site you’re reading this on right now.
Happy Birthday, Naomi. Thank you.
*That means they’re not available under Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution, all rights are reserved for the Ninjas.
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: all rights reserved, copic marker, do not steal the ninjas, nfs, ninjas, pen and ink, they will come for you, weeble
6 Comments »
Commission: Winter Octopus
Friday, January 21st, 2011
Winter Octopus Commission for Gretchen by Amy Crook
Aside from my own, I did get to do one other winter card this year as a commission. Gretchen (proud owner of Nugget) saw my Squittens card design and asked me to draw her up a cheerful cephalopod all her own. We decided on cool wintry colors, and having him making snowflakes as a proper activity for a cute little octopus celebrating the season. The hat was a last-minute addition that gave him a bit of extra interest, and really pulled together the whole theme of the piece.
She’s gotten her cards sent and received by now, so I thought I’d give a last bit of holiday cheer by sharing the art with you.
Winter Octopus, 5″x7″ pen and ink and copic markers on watercolor paper, nfs.
Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: all rights reserved, commission, copic marker, nfs, octopus, pen and ink, weeble
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