Posts Tagged ‘commission’
Mapping Your Thing
Wednesday, July 27th, 2011
Fairytale Path by Amy Crook, for Tara Swiger’s Map-Making Guide
I have to admit I was utterly thrilled when Tara Swiger.* asked me to paint a path for her latest awesome product, the Map-Making Guide*. After some back-and-forth discussion, she ended up commissioning the path itself, and a page of fairytale-related dingbats to go with it. The purple fuzzy monster is even a bit weeble-y, so when he wanted to be posted on a Wednesday, I went with it.
I sketched up the path itself, and then after her enthusiastic approval, painted in the wandering curve, leaving plenty of white space around it for writing, and playing. Then I had fun drawing all the things I could think of to decorate it, most of which you can see here. The extra curve of path is for those whose ambitions sometimes require a detour, for instance, and there’s a dragon and fuzzy monster to represent the scary obstacles along the way. A pot of gold awaits those for whom that’s part of the goal, as well as a castle.
I had a lot of fun printing off a sample page and cutting out all the bits to play with, though I have to admit that I haven’t made it all the way through making my own Map yet. I’m thinking of making myself a page of pennants and banners to act as mile-markers, though I’m also tempted to get some of those Post-It flags for the same purpose. I’ve always wanted an excuse to buy some!
If you’ve got a goal and you’re a bit fuzzy on how to get from Point A to Point B, think about giving Tara’s Map-Making Guide* a try! Just doing Step 1 (spoiler: it’s “define Point A & Point B”) has been a great help in focusing my efforts.
“Working on the map with Amy was fantastic. I came to her while the idea was still just an unformed thought. Not only did she totally NAIL what I only vaguely described, she also helped me think it through. She turned my ideas into actual, visual products and delighted me beyond belief.”
-Tara Swiger
If you’re interested in working with me on an illustration, just drop me a line and I’ll be happy to give you a price quote and timeline estimate.
*Disclosure: I’m using affiliate links! If you buy it, I will get a few dollars. This will make us all happy.
Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
Tags: commission, dragon, monster, tara swiger, watercolor
1 Comment »
Sketch Sale Wrapup
Saturday, June 25th, 2011
The last two sketches from my May sketch sale are of people rather than characters.
Happy Father's Day sketch by Amy Crook, all rights reserved
Jennifer Hoesing wanted a sketch of her husband and their new baby to commemorate their first Father’s Day.
Nathan Briggs sketch by Amy Crook, all rights reserved
And Nathan Briggs wanted to see a cartoon of himself.
I think I ought to do a cartoon of me in this style, or the refined version thereof anyway, so I can add it to the Be a Cartoon page options.
Thanks again to everyone who participated in the sale!
Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces
Tags: all rights reserved, cartoon, commission, nathan briggs, nfs, pen and ink
Delight Gremlin
Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011
Delight Gremlin by Amy Crook, all rights reserved
The charming Chris Anthony is has recently re-branded his business as The Delightworks! As part of his new thing, he’s planning to sneak in some easter eggs throughout the site, so he asked me to do a cartoon for him. Instead of drawing him, which I’ve already done, he asked me to draw what I imagined his little gremlin might look like from the front. If you’re not sure where the original is, it’s hiding out on his home page, just keep looking.
He’s not quite a weeble, but I figured he was cute enough for a Wednesday, anyway.
Want a cartoon of your own? Get one here.
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Completed Commissions, Daily Art
Tags: all rights reserved, cartoon, commission, copic marker, nfs, pen and ink
Nefarious Parent
Wednesday, June 8th, 2011
Nefarious Parent by Amy Crook
When my friend Bkwyrm approached me to ask about doing a logo for her new forum for parents with an occult bent, Parentes Nefarii, we tossed back and forth a couple of ideas. In the end, we decided that her budget and needs were best suited to a cartoon — but not of her. This weeble cultist (yep, Weeble Wednesday is back!) is carrying a rather dubious-looking baby, from tentacles to horns.
The innocent baby-blonde curl of hair really makes it for me, especially contrasted with the bald cultist and his bluer-than-blue eyes.
Nefarious Parent, 7″x5″ pen and ink and Copic Marker on watercolor paper, not for sale (commission). This, and all my other commissions, aren’t for free use per the Creative Commons license below — all rights are reserved for the commissioner*.
*And the Commissioner always has Batman on his/her side.
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Completed Commissions, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Tentacles
Tags: all rights reserved, cartoon, commission, copic marker, cultist, nfs, pen and ink, tentacle, weeble
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 »
Work in Progress: Dragon Skin
Monday, May 23rd, 2011
Dragon, commission in progress, by Amy Crook
Just a little work in progress today, a teaser of the textured skin on Molly’s oil-painted dragon. It’s taken ages to get even this far, since I have to let the thick scales dry between painting sessions or I just smear them when I’m working elsewhere, and I still have his hoard, the details on the forest, and even his face to finish. Or is it a her, in the rich warm purples and blues? The paint I’m using is iridescent, which makes the whole dragon shine on the canvas, especially with the extra physical texture of the impasto.
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Works In Progress
Tags: commission, iridescent, nfs, oil painting, wip
4 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 »
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