Tagged by Katie

I've been tagged by Katie

I have to come up with 7 interesting or random facts about myself and then tag 7 people to do the same.

1. I hope to illustrate children's books through publishing houses one day, but I want it to happen now!

2. I like stomping on crunchy leaves

3. One of the reasons I work from home is so I can pat and cuddle my 2 dogs more often

4. I am vegetarian and recently bought some awesome cookbooks by Valerie Ferguson

5. I found out last week I am allergic to dust, dust mites and cockroaches

6. Creating art makes me happy (it's like my soul is singing) and I can lose sense of time

7. I don't kill spiders (I put them in a jar and take them outside), I do kill mosquitos

Here are the rules:

1. Link to your tagger and post the rules

2. Post 7 random facts about yourself

3. Tag 7 friends at the end of your post and link to them

4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog

I am tagging:

Samantha Hughes

James Foley

Julie Knoblock

Mayy Chan

Meredith Myers

Kathy Hare

Bee's Blog

Opinion-Illustration Friday topic

'Opinion', I wasn't really looking forward to illustrating this topic because it seemed quite hard to portray my beliefs and ideas about something in a picture. I have to be honest and say I don't share my opinions that often because I am not a very argumentative person. One of my strong opinions though is that those who are cruel to animals or those who take pleasure in seeing animals get hurt should receive the same sentence as if they were hurting or killing a person. I don't see how there should be any difference, lock them up for life I say! It is just beyond my comprehension how anyone could bring harm upon an animal that often shows so much love, affection, gratitude and unconditional love. There is probably not much point in explaining my obvious feelings about these people.  

Zoo photo references

These are photos I took at the zoo a few Thursdays ago. I got a new camera so I had to try it out on the animals :) I did some sketching aswell, but haven't scanned / photographed any of them yet. I was pleased to take about 600 photos they will be great for drawing references :) Don't you just love this little turtle? I thought he / she was so cute and I can't wait to sketch it. 

Pretend-Illustration Friday topic

Pretend, just a simple sketch this week. Sometimes I feel a bit of pressure that I have to create a masterpiece every week, but I know that's not what Illustration Friday is about anyway. It's meant to be fun and an opportunity to practice your skills more and be challenged with different topics. Plus I have to get going on designing / uploading art onto my illustration website :)

Wise - Illustration Friday topic

Wise: my illustration for the topic a couple of weeks ago. I know owls were the obvious choice for this topic, but to be honest even before the topic was posted I had been collecting owl photo references to draw from. I am thinking about having this on my illustration business card. I had a bit of a business enlightenment a few weeks ago after going to a web design seminar. I am going to create an illustration website separate from my graphic design / illustration one. I found that publishers only want to see illustrations on their own, not graphics work too. I have registered my new website domain name (just using my name but I have found that is what most illustrators do), so I have to get cracking on it!

I've had a lot of graphic design work lately which is great but I want to be illustrating more. I am also really inspired to start up an etsy shop one day and actually try selling some of my work. There have been some awesome Arts / Crafts markets lately in Perth including Made on the Left in Mt Lawley and there will also be Bazaar and Perth Upmarket coming up in December. One day i would like to try having a stall. So many ideas, sometimes i don't know what to start on first! If anyone has any suggestions on my owl at all, with colouring or anything feel free to comment :)

Vacant-Illustration Friday topic

My interpretation of this week's Illustration Friday topic. This is my Red-tan Australian Kelpie Banjo. Sometimes I think he is a few kangaroos loose in the top paddock! E.g. a little loopy and not all there, so therefore vacant! I enjoyed using simple fine liners for this sketch.