Fierce!

Time for another Illustration Friday post... This week's theme is "Fierce." It's already Friday here in Seoul, but it's still Thursday evening in the States, so I'm cutting it a little close, but I'm still on schedule!

I had the idea for this illustration lingering in various forms in my notebook for several months. When I saw this week's IF theme was "Fierce," I immediately thought it was perfect for the classic fairy tale diva, Goldilocks. Goldi is one fierce prima donna. This porridge too hot, that porridge too cold, she'll be damned if she doesn't get SOMEONE to give her a decent porridge, even if it requires her to pack some heat and intimidate cute baby bears. This is the second in a series of prints giving fairy tales a twisted retelling, the first one being 'Lil Red which I posted about back in January.


It's rainy season here in Seoul, and the oppressive humidity doesn't make for prime printmaking conditions... On my first try, the original B/W illustrations I used to expose the master screens didn't dry properly, and I ended up ruining two perfectly good master screens before I figured out what I was doing wrong.

I did manage to pull a few good prints though, all of them on the few scraps of Rives BFK that I had lying around. I will have to pick up more sheets of that lusciously good, soft printmaking paper while I am back in NYC next month. I still have not figured out where to get good printmaking paper here in Seoul...

So I'm trying to think of a third fairy tale that I can give a wicked twist.... Any ideas? Three twisted tales would make for a nice notecard set, I think...

***And... some shameless self-promotion***
I'm a finalist at Fred Flare's Next Big Thing 2008 design competition!
VOTE FOR ME HERE! PRETTY PLEASE?

Oh, and happy independence day, Americans!

Tales & Legends

It's been a terribly long time since I posted something for Illustration Friday. This week's theme is "Tales & Legends."
I love fairy tales, and I have a weakness for dark ones. The Brother's Grimm, E.T.A Hoffman and Ludvig Tieck are favorites.

In preparation for screenprinting it, Li'l Red, above, was adapted from an earlier full color illustration to this 2-color version. I'm liking this rendition so much better (particularly how the newly added pool of blood matches her red hoodie) that I think this will be the first in a series of fairy tales, retold. Any suggestions for other traditional tales that deserve a twisted retelling?

This is the first Gocco print I've done with relatively large solid areas (as opposed to line-art), so I encountered a few new problems. First of all, I had to keep the illustration small, to fit in the card format of my PG-5 Gocco machine. Keeping the details in mind, I tried to choose a relatively non-absorbent paper (it's a sample sheet of Fox River Starwhite with a smooth surface), but it still sucked in that Gocco ink and the ink-spread obliterated most of the detail in Red's hair and the wolf's fur. When I attempted to put down less ink, then I got the problem of not having full coverage through all of the solid areas. I'm wondering if I need to use a non-porous paper (something matte or glossy coated?!) in order to get this to print correctly...
Also with regards to color registration, I set up a little system taping tracing paper to a sheet of cardstock. But perhaps it had a little too much "give" and I couldn't achieve any accuracy within 1/16 of an inch which is telling on this image...

So... so far, I think the Gocco lessons learned are:
-I should probably trap my images better to allow for ink spread, and stay away from having too much detail in knocked out white areas.
-I need to be more rigorous with my registration, maybe using a harder piece of plexi and acetate instead of cardboard and tracing paper...
-Possibly try printing with less porous paper for more detailed designs...

Some linky stuff:

I totally need this machine. In fact, I know several people who need it. Now if only they could hook it up so that when you pedal FASTER, your computer operates faster! via notcot

One of my fantasies is that I'll be wandering around in some city and be surprised by a Royale de Luxe Sultan's Elephant performance. Now there's a themepark in Nantes, France where you can ride on a humongous mechanical elephant any time you want! Jules Verne meets Leonardo da Vinci in their mechanical squid and lantern fish too! via dark roasted blend

Art from only a sheet of paper. via 2 or 3 things I know

Crafts & Arts

While my some of my work projects are lounging in "waiting for client feedback" purgatory, I decided to not let the creative momentum slip away and made some more stuff.


This Valentine's Day card came about because I did a bunch of sketches for my friend's wedding invitation. I had forgotten that she really hates birds. Needless to say, she didn't choose this design, but I liked it, even though I kind of think the whole bird trend thing is over. If you want to send a handwritten message to your lovebird, you can buy it on Etsy now. If you have more than one sweetie, you can buy the set of 4, I won't judge you.



I made the travel journal and the passport holder fresh after our trip to Bangkok, feeling inspired by the whole romantic notion of travel. The travel journal is available in my shop. I'm considering re-making the passport holder in vinyl or industrial grade felt (or leather, but leather's expensive and a b*tch to sew by hand) to make it more durable...

I haven't gone to any exhibitions lately, but it's so cold out that it's been much comfier to browse art online while sipping hot chocolate... Some artsy things I bookmarked this week:

art made out of crayons
via it's nice that

art made out of chalk dust
via notcot

sculpture made out of a book
via ffffound

camera (and photograph) made out of a room
via... a vague memory i had of an article in the nytimes years ago + google