Spring projects are in the air!

The art of becoming, being and continuing to work as a freelance artist is an endeavor that is never to be taken lightly. It is a 7AM-7PM affair and that's just on a good day. I am often tearing myself away from the computer at the pleas of a hungry cat and a hungrier boyfriend while asking myself the same question each time, "...but have I done enough for today?" The answer is always NO! To make it work, I must always muster as much energy and excitement for finding the business, planning the business, writing proposals, scheduling time-lines and invoices as I would for creating the actual artwork itself. It is a true full-time commitment... but you know what? ...I love it!

I have a bunch of new animation, graphic design and illustration projects that I'm really excited about for these up-coming spring months so I should be pretty busy here and I want to keep updating as much as possible. I'm working my way into the 6th full month of working as a completely independent artist and learning so much as I go along. Thus far, I've had as many bouts of bad days/weeks as I've had good days, but recently after securing work with a few newer clients, I'm starting to feel a sense of "this is really happening". I've got a lot of work ahead! Time for more coffee!

The Hello Project

Well, hello to you! A unique on-line social collaboration www.thehelloproject.com makes it fun to say "Hello" and introduce your art to the world with 3x3 post-it note. I love it!

Bulldog Puppy Portrait

I was thinking this afternoon about how I always enjoy painting and drawing my friend's pets. This painting, (watercolor and ink wash) was created quite a while ago when an english bulldog breeder friend of mine slipped me a picture of this puppy. I can't remember if I meant to give it to her or not and have since lost touch. It has traveled around with me every where and is now currently hanging in our living room. The original idea was to challenge myself to paint a subject that was white, "paint white" I told myself. Then the form of the dog revealed itself through a careful study of the shadows created by the folds in his flabby puppy skin. From there, the idea of the pet portrait just took on a life and personality of it's own ;)

New Ofleb Productions Logo Wink ;)

More fun with Karen Belfo and Ofleb Productions in Montreal. Cartoonist Karim Terouz created this original logo design for Ofelb Productions and I had a great time giving it a little life with Flash and AfterEffects.

Ofleb Productions Montreal

click to enlarge any image

I am excited to be working with the talented Ms. Karen Belfo of Ofleb Productions in Montreal again! Saladani's Enigma is a new feature length film Karen is working on for 2011. Ms. Ofleb explains about her new film,

"Saldani's imagination and perception on reality get tangled into a web of negativity and confusion. Her enigma reflects herself. Her characters are her obsession and the man next door becomes her ticket to freedom."

visit: www.saldanisenigma.com

Hmmm sounds interesting!
Karen hired me a few weeks back to start creating a unique animated intro for her new movie. So, on a rainy Tuesday afternoon, I rolled up my sleeves and put on my favorite Django Reinhardt tunes as I worked out these 4 concept illustrations for the new intro. I wanted to create a characiture for Saldani that channels the quirky character Amelie played by actress Audrey Tautou and Betty Boop! The next step will be to work this into a nice 30 second animated piece introducing the film (coming soon in April), much like "Frank's Letter" another short film I worked on with Karen Belfo a few years ago. I'm really excited about this because I look forward to an opportunity to animate in a very gritty ink and wash style again. Yeaaaah Montreal!!!