Illustration Diary // 1

The past several weeks have been so artistically productive for me, and I'm excited to start this new series: Illustration Diary.  Every 4 weeks or so, I'd like to share illustrations that I've been working on, as well as non-illustration projects that slip in every now and then.



I mentioned in a post recently (which you can check out right here if you missed it!) that I'm finally finding my way back into making drawing part of my everyday life again....and I simply can not find the words to express how much it means to me.  I'm so excited to see where this new chapter takes me.

These past few weeks have been inspired exclusively by Eagle Vs. Shark, Flight of the Conchords, and What We Do In The Shadows.  The last of which I've only done a portrait of Viago.  I'll pick up on those in the future, but I have a couple of projects that I'll be working on in November that I'm really excited to start on.  I'll share more about that next time!

Eagle Vs. Shark is what inspired me to start drawing again.  I'm not sure exactly what triggered my need to draw after seeing it, but I suspect it was most likely a combination of my love for offbeat characters, Jemaine Clement, and the social awkwardness throughout the film...which reminded me of myself.  Whatever the reason, I'm glad I found a new favorite which inspired me to put pencil to paper.  So happy.  I had a bit of fun playing with backgrounds, shapes, and fonts in Photoshop to turn my original illustrations into these little prints.

Next up is Flight of the Conchords.  I am one of those "incredibly late to the game" Conchords fans.  I remember everyone talking about it when it was on HBO, but I didn't have HBO and it just ended up slipping by me.  I have since become infatuated with them on the same level that I am obsessed with Monty Python.  That's a pretty big deal for me.  Seriously.

I decided it would be fun to make paper doll robots of Bret and Jemaine, and only ended up starting Jemaine.  I'd like to pick it back up and complete one for Bret too, but it may be a while.  It was fun, but the mood to create another paper doll just hasn't struck yet.  I'm sure it will though, and when it does I think it would be cute to make a little stop-animation thing of them.  If you're totally lost in regards to the whole robot thing, pretty please watch this video and become a Conchords fan so we can talk about it!  I would love to dress like this for Halloween...I won't be going out for Halloween so it would just be me sitting at home wearing this for my own amusement...which is comical to me....so maybe I will ;)

Alright, saving the best for last.  The framed illustrations in the photos below were inspired by a promo commercial Flight of the Conchords did for season two where they sing about Sexy Flowers (you can see it here).  I ended up completing the one of Jemaine first (of course) and proceeded to send it to him on Twitter.  He ended up re-tweeting it, which kind of my made my head explode with joy....and then he actually replied with this:

....which I think actually DID make my head explode...or at least that's what all the smiling has made it feel like anyways..  Seriously...I can't stop smiling.  This is too awesome.  Needless to say, I'm stoked to see them in concert tomorrow night.  It's going to be the best night ever!  I ended up completing a matching illustration of Bret and have them both framed above my desk :)

P.S.  I'm just a little bit in love with using these candle holders to store my color pencils, pens, and such.  So cute!