First Change of the Year

Hi all!
So, to those of you who adore Blogspot, I have some news you may not enjoy. I've created a Tumblr, where I've imported all of my old posts, and plan on beginning to use it as my only blog sometime this year. I'll be using both at first, just because I'm not a huge fan of change myself, but eventually, should things be as great at Tumblr as they say, I'll stop posting on my Blogspot. If you have a Tumblr account, be sure to follow my new snazzy layout! And also, a big thanks to Casey Crisenbery for helping me figure out the HTML coding... not exactly my cup of tea!

On to other news: School is back in session for Square Carousel! Our first challenge of the year, chosen by Maily Degnan, is to illustrate our favorite movie. I chose "Big Fish" for mine, and focused on the character design of protagonist Edward Bloom's true love, Sandra Templeton. Head on over to Square Carousel to read more about the movie and my process!


"Sandra Templeton," Gouache and digital, 2012.

Also! I got my new set of cards in the mail! They look fantastic. Gotprint.com did a great job with the color. This time, I got matte instead of glossy, and I really prefer the turnout! The only thing I'm a bit saddened by is those corners. Last time I got rounded ones, and I loved it, but unfortunately, for some reason, you can't get them with matte cards. Oh well! I'm excited to send them out. Time to start writing addresses!




That's all I have for now, folks,
adios
caitlin

Fresh start, 2012

Hi all!
The last few days I have been working on my new mailers for 2012, and am happy to tell you that they are ordered, and hopefully on their way soon!

By the way: Spoiler alert, if you are on my list! I'll be posting the images here.

I decided this time to change it up a bit by sending out two different cards, one aiming at children's book publishers, and the other at editorial clients. Had I been able to afford it, I would have printed cards for art licensing and perhaps another editorial example as well. Hopefully 2012 will eventually allow me that! This is still pretty exciting for now.

For the first card (my "editorial" one), I used an image you may recognize, but played with it a bit, and eventually decided to display my hand-lettering abilities at the top. This also created an unexpected and unique composition for the postcard.

"Postcard 2012," Gouache and Digital, 2011-2012.

"Hello Neighbor," Gouache, 2012.

The lettering here was a lot of fun! For Christmas, Kellan got me two amazing books full of lettering samples from the 1940s through '70s, and I spent quite some time pouring over the pages, looking for ideas. For anyone who loves type and lettering, I highly recommend these books! I am in love! (With the books, and with the boy).



The second card was almost entirely new work, although you may recognize the houses below from my collaboration with Seo Kim! I loved them so much, I had to use them again for something. For this card, I knew I needed something that would embody all the different elements of a successful children's book. This is challenging, because those elements usually unfold throughout 32 pages, but I had to represent as many as possible in one image. I feel as though the result was pretty successful, as I attempted to show both animal and child characters, an event taking place, a location, a brighter color palette, while still keeping my stylistic approach to all these things. Hopefully a publisher will feel the same way! We shall see!


"The Best Dream," Gouache and Digital, 2012.

The back of both cards will be the same as my previous one:

(It's hard to see the edges on a white background, huh?)

And in other news, They Draw and Cook is featuring my Superfood Salad on their jumbotron this week! They have been the kindest, most supportive people of my illustration career, and I can't explain enough how thankful I am to have fans in them!

That's all for now, but keep an eye on Square Carousel, because we are starting back up for the New Year!
adios
caitlin

Happy New Year!

Hi all!
Just a very, very quick post to let you know I've survived the holiday season and haven't forgotten about you!

Just before Christmas, Seo and I completed our collaboration piece for Square Carousel. I really, really love how it turned out. It's so much fun to see how my work can transform by the hands of another artist. Check out the website to read more about our process and thoughts on the final piece!


"Relationships," Mixed media, 2011 ©Caitlin B. Alexander and Seo Kim

I'll have more news to share soon.

adios,
caitlin