Happy Easter

Okay so I just want to let you know that I'm sick at the moment and have to stay in bed. I can't really use my computer as my eyes are too sensitive for my screen. As soon as I'm well I'll have plenty of new and exciting content to share with you. Hope you all have a very happy Easter or Passover and I'll see you soon!

Colorful illustrations by Genevieve Kote

Today I want to introduce you to the talented Canadian illustrator Genevieve Kote (love her name!). Genevieve's illustrations has appeared in various publications across the globe so you might recognize her work. Her style is very consistent and her characters are fun and colorful. She's very good at translating emotions and making more complicated scenes seem simple and understandable. I really like her colorful and detailed work and I'm sure you will too!

Sending files to press checklist

I recently found this wonderful checklist on bonfx.com and thought I'd share it with you. I'm a list person and want to organize everything all the time, so having this list is very good for me and I'll definitely be using it a lot. You can read the whole checklist by Douglas Bonneville here, and also find a lot of other great content and resources on bonfx.

Fun retro illustrations by Scott Burroughs

I love the work of Colorado based illustrator Scott Burroughs. He has worked at Walt Disney Feature Animation and now works as an illustrator. His art is so fun and colorful and I see lots of 50s and 60s influences. He seems to be especially fond of robots, movies, vintage commercials and sci-fi and I love that. Scott has a wonderful portfolio site full of fun characters and drawings, as well as a cool blog where you can see all his recent work as well as some of his process sketches. Some of his pieces really remind me of I Dream of Jeannie and I'm instantly transported back to my childhood when my mom used to watch the show with me. I hope you'll enjoy Scott's quirky illustrations as much as I do.

Drooling over Poked Studio

You're probably already familiar with Poked Studio but I need to write about it nevertheless. Poked Studio is illustrator Jonathan Ball and I'm madly in love with his illustrations and designs as well as all the free goodies he offers on his site. I especially love his 3D work and how well it blends with 2D coloring and textures. I've been wanting his lovely art pillows from ClickforArt for ages but have yet to afford one. His work is so vibrant and fun and full of crazy details. I've always been a sucker for cute characters and these are awesome and all live in stange and magic looking worlds. Hopefully I'll be able to get a print or a pillow in the future, but for now I'll enjoy the world of Poked Studio on Jonathan's website, Flickr and Twitter.

Awesome How To Draw Blog!

Rad Sechrist is awesome! He is a storyboard artist at Dreamworks Animation, but that's not what makes him awesome. It's his blog "Rad How To"! It's simply amazing. Rad covers all kinds of drawing techniques and teaches you his methods of developing characters, drawing anatomy, coming up with the right shapes etc. I could literally spend hours reading his advice and trying it out. If you want to learn to draw better, then this is the place to go. Rad also has a more personal blog where he adds some of his cool drawings and sketches. I'm going to clear an upcoming weekend and devote it exclusively to Rad's teachings. *worship*

Robot Unicorn Attack

Lately I've been playing this awesome little online game called Robot Unicorn Attack by Adult Swim Games. It's like an 80s cartoon world with magic rainbow fairies, white rainbowmained unicorn, huge glass stars and a wonderful theme song by Erasure. It's simply fantastic and every time I play it I feel like I've been transported back to my childhood when Rainbow Brite, My Little Pony and the Care Bears were my everyday TV cocktail. If you're an 80s kid like me, or just like fun and challenging online games, then you should really try this one out.

Beautiful and Dreamy Autochromes

I recently discovered the blog "How to be a Retronaut" and I simply love it. It's become one of my favorite blogs as I love history and this blog has a way of serving you history in a very visual way that adds to the stories and really makes history come to life. The blog also features a lot of geeky and designy stuff such as commercials and behind the scenes Star Wars pictures and I love that. It's a great mix that makes this site one to watch. One of my favorite posts though was about Janet and Iris Laing, two girls who were photographed by their mother using an autochrome camera. I didn't know what autochromes were before reading this post, but after a visit to Wikipedia I now know that it was a method of taking pictures using potato starch grains. It's actually a very interesting read and I found myself wanting to try the method as it produces beautiful and delicate pictures. Here are some of the autochromes that I so fell in love with on How to be a Retronaut, and you can read the story behind them there as well.

French and fabulous - Superbus

Today I'm actually going to write about music, specifically a wonderful French band called Superbus. I noticed their music on one of my Paris trips when I saw them on a French music program on our hotel room TV set. I brought their CD home with me having only heard one song but I was positively surprised by the album, which is now part of my everyday playlist. Their music is really good and they have such a good vibe. It's pop/rock and most of the songs are in French but some are in English. I think the French language is so charming and I just love the sound of it. I'd definitely recommend this band and I'll leave you with some of their songs here so you can have a listen.

Monster Update

It's been a while since I've posted. I've just had so much to do and been so busy with work. But there's lots to share so I'll just go right ahead.

First of all we've updated our website at work with a new front page design. I have a new design partner, Michal Bendtsen, who's very cool and good at game design. He and I are making a lot of changes for Moviestar Planet so hopefully it'll start looking much better than before. We're also working on a lot of other new things that I'll post in the future. This is the new front page design:

Besides work I haven't had much time to be creative but I did succeed in making some crazy sketches with my boyfriend one night. I'll add them later on. I also tried drawing David Bowie for my kid sister but the results were pretty awful. I have to really remind myself not to quit when I make something that looks like crap. I have to learn from my mistakes and I can't do that if I hide my work away and don't get feedback. So well, here's Bowie made in pencil, watercolor and photoshop sketching:

I've also been playing around with a new photo editing program that I just got my hands on. The results are really good. I'll write more about that later as well. I'll try to update more often when I have more energy. Work takes up a lot of my time, not only during the day but also when I'm off. I just can't seem to let it go. Anyway, here are some of my photos, one of New York and another of Paris. I'll update more soon.

Glittery Bling iPhone Cases

Recently I decided to get some bling for my iPhone. As I've stated before my iPhone is as much an accessory as a gadget and I want it to look pretty. I'm a girl - don't judge! Anyway, I've been scouring the web for something yummy looking that wasn't too over the top nor too expensive, and I came across a fantastic site called Dino Direct. I'd never heard of it before but it's simply amazing for a girl like me, who wants to customize everything without spending too much cash. They have a wide selection of phone accessories and wonderful crystal iPhone cases that are just perfect for me. And the best part is that they offer FREE WORLDWIDE SHIPPING! And their prices are also super low. I bought three phone covers and a screen protector for about $20 and they look amazing. The first three ones below are the ones I got.