My First Crush

My first crush that I can remember is a boy I went to school with in the first grade. He had bright red hair and freckles. I liked him for quite a while based only on his cute frecklieness, as we really had nothing in common. I met my very first boyfriend years later at 14 in another school, and he too had red hair and freckles. It was just a thing I went for when I was younger. My celebrity crushes were a whole different thing. I'm not even sure I can call these guys crushes since I was only a kid, but I remember blushing when they were on TV. 

Christopher Reeve as Superman

Lou Ferrigno as the Incredible Hulk

 Disney's Peter Pan

Okay so I had a thing for made up characters. Who doesn't!?

Spooky Halloween

Here are some characters and fashions I did for work. It's supposed to be a very spooky Halloween theme and the kids seem to love it. I also submitted this to Illustration Friday as I've never tried it before.

My latest characters

My latest work:

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!

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*

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.

Art of BioShock 2

I'm in no way a serious gamer though I've been playing computer games since my very first Olivetti PC in the early 90s. I used to play crazy and wonderful DOS games and early CD ROM games such as Hook, the Kings Quest series, The Kyrandia, series, as well as some of the freakier Sierra games such as Shivers and Phantasmagoria. I took a break from gaming until I got my first laptop and then continued with American McGee's Alice. I then started dating my boyfriend and he introduced me to the wonderful World of Warcraft and I got totally hooked. Finally I realized that it was a major time consumer and stopped playing. I then started playing cute little online games such as Pet Society but ultimately stopped that too. I work with online games on a daily basis but still that doesn't make me a serious gamer.

It was random that I came across the BioShock 2 trailer and I was instantly mesmerized. The design is fantastic, the characters seem so weird and sinister and it just looks like a game that I'd love. I really appreciate good game- and character design and this game looks like it might fall into that category. I've been scouring the web for pictures to share with you so you'll be able to appreciate the wonder that is BioShock 2. I know absolutely nothing about the story or it's prequel so this post is not a game review but just me suggesting you take a look at the freaky BioShock 2 website or even watch the trailer below. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did. 

First some random concept art I found on Google

These are screenshots from the BioShock 2 website

 

And finally the trailer that got me into this in the first place

Stunning Steampunk Sculptures - Oh my!

When I came across these I was simply blown away. I've only known about the whole steampunk movement for about a year so the whole universe is very new to me. I was instantly taken with the idea of a steam driven world, and I've been keeping an eye out for new steampunk curiosities. When I found these sculptures I got all giddy and excited. They're made by French illustrator Stephane Halleux and the details are to die for! He uses all kinds of different materials such as leather, metal and different recycled objects. I'd love to have one of these in my livingroom but I doubt they'll be for sale any time soon. If you want a closer look at Stephane's imaginative creations, then visit his website where you'll find all his sculptures seen from different angles and in close-ups for a full view of the gorgeous details. It was very difficult to decide which ones to show you so I decided to add a whole bunch. Enjoy!