Posts Tagged ‘tara swiger’
Felicitations
Thursday, January 23rd, 2014
Felicitations, a Star Trek parody comic
by Amy Crook for Tara Swiger
This commission was so fun! Tara Swiger came to me wanting a Trekkie birthday card with a Tara sort of twist, and we passed ideas back and forth via email until this finally gelled.
Spock’s holding a gift in what I think of as Tara colors, though really her pink is usually even brighter, and Picard’s got his usual “make it so” hand gesture going on. It was kind of fun mixing eras, too (though technically Spock did show up on Next Generation, he wasn’t in his TOS uniform). A little logic, a little illogic, and a lot of fangirl glee went into the image!
After Tara got her original in the mail, she sent me this fun little quote to share with you:
Hoorah! I just got my custom illustration in the mail (Amy sent the ORIGINAL! So fancy!) and it is so perfect!
I requested a customer birthday card, something funny + sweet to send Captains on their birthday. Amy helped me come up with the perfect idea, because I was a bit foggy about what I wanted.
I love that she got the geekery and she’s clever enough to make it funny.Amy’s super-easy to work with (this is my second custom order!) and I’ve been nervous (I have NO idea what’s involved), but she makes it easy!
If you’d like an illustration of your very own, just email me to get started!
Categories: Card Design, Completed Commissions, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: all rights reserved, birthday, commission, copic marker, nfs, pen and ink, picard, spock, star trek, tara swiger
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Words Wednesday: Interview with Tara Swiger
Wednesday, August 7th, 2013
Tara Swiger is an author, maker, and Starship Captain. She leads explorations into your mission, your marketing, and your enthusiasm…for teeny tiny art-y businesses (like mine!). Currently she’s putting together a very cool course called Explore You to help you boldly go.
Tara’s gotten two very different illustration projects from me, and she’s agreed to tell you how it went and what she’s doing with her art.
Q: Why did you decide to get commissioned art?
A: I think my first piece of commissioned art was the Starship*…and I got it because I wanted something to symbolize the space I was creating. A custom illustration made it seem so much more real (and professional!)
The second piece was a map for my Map Making Guide. I knew I wanted something really nice but don’t have the skills to create one myself! I wanted to create a better product, so I needed to bring in someone with better skills!
Q: How do you incorporate these illustrations into your business?
A: I use the Starship in the header of the actual Starship (a community site/forum), in my emails, and in a few ads!
The map illustration is part of the actual product of the map-making guide…so my customers use them to create maps of their goals!
Q: What did you hope an illustration would add to your projects?
A: My business is metaphor-friendly, but when those metaphors represent actual things (the community, the Guide) I need something other than words — I need the pictures to illustrate what I’m talking about! I felt that custom images would make it more professional and “put together” than anything I could make.
Q: How did the process work from your end?
A: It was so easy! I gave Amy a few ideas and she got it right away! I was so surprised, because I was super-nervous, but Amy made it easy!
Q: Have you had any unexpected awesome from your art?
A: Amy sent the original sketch of the Starship and it hangs in my hallway with all my favorite pictures! I love what it stands for (this amazing community of support I’ve created) and that I’m reminded of it every day!
Thanks for taking the time to share, Tara!
If you’re interested in commissioning an illustration for your own business, you can check out the details here.
*Starship Craftybiz by Amy Crook for Tara Swiger, all rights reserved
Stylin’ on her wall at home with her Instagrammed life!
Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art, Words Words Words
Tags: all rights reserved, commission, tara swiger, words
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
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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 »
