Halloween Postcards are here!!

I'm so excited to finally get these!! :D 

They'll be going out to anyone who wants one so, if you want to be on the list, send me your address! :)
hobbs.annie@gmail.com

I had a great experience using uprinting.com. I had a minor emergency after submitting the files and within seconds of realizing it, I was able to connect with a live rep via instant chat who took it out of the printing que, opened up the job, and let me resubmit my files.  Soooo thankful for their great customer service!!
I will definitely use them again and the printing quality is awesome as well.

10/25 Doodles: Pandas!

Who doesn't love the squishy face of a panda?

The other night I tagged along with my mom to a meeting and brought my sketch book with me. Sometimes its good to just get away from the every day space you occupy and sketch someplace else.  Tho I was technically present at the table during this "meeting",  I was lost in a world of watercolor pencils, new black pens, and little roly poly pandas. :)

I desperately need to get out of the mindset that some doodles are not "good enough" for a nice sketch book because I'm currently having an argument with myself over sketching in my nice moleskin.  Part of me doesn't want to mess it up and the other part of me is saying, "Don't be stupid, it's a SKETCHBOOK!"  These turned out pretty well and I think I just need to get over myself and DO IT!

Halloween Illo

For the last month or so I've been trying to finish this illustration so I could send out postcards. I finally finished!! I went through uprinting.com, which I have not used before. Hopefully everything turns out fine and I can get them sent out in the mail this weekend or early next week.

I'm still experimenting with watercolor, not sure I quite have it down yet, but I'm getting better! :)

Here's the final illustration :)

I would like...

Thanks!

Spankin' New Logo

If you're looking at this blog post then you've probably noticed the new logo on the top :)

This is a new marketing strategy I'm using to put on packaging, note cards, business cards, promo stuff, magnets...etc. I also decided that if the illustration is holiday or event themed (such as Autumn, Halloween, Christmas etc) the color scheme can be easily changed to match, all the while keeping the form and feel of originality.

Ive been thinking a lot about how I want to brand myself because of the 12 Week Challenge I'm currently working on. I think it's important to brand yourself as a business as well as an artist. Ive skipped ahead a few challenge weeks, but because of current freelancing projects I felt that I needed to address this part sooner.  Here are some questions I've been asking myself;
- What kind of logo or image can be universal enough to stamp on the back of a professional print or a silly birthday card?
- Do you only want to use images of your new and changing illustrations to promote yourself?
- Or should you include a simple logo that can be consistantly repeated and identified by clients?


Anyway, some food for thought for any fellow illustrators reading this :)

As always, Your comments and opinions are eagerly welcome.

Fox Sketches

I have some friends who are working on their own animation project about a fox sorta like Zorro. They aren't really cartoonists so they asked me to help them flesh out this character for animation. Instead of using an actual mask I utilized some natural markings I saw on some reference photos.
This is a page of one of the character designs I came up with.

Roy Rogers and Annie Oakley

My Uncle's Birthday is this month and my mom wanted to make something special for him. He's hard to shop for in that he doesn't really need anything, so we came up with the idea of a specialized card with a poem she wrote about them growing up together.
One of their favorite games as kids was playing "Roy Rogers and Annie Oakley". So naturally I HAD to take advantage of 2 kids in fantastic cowboy gear and come up with an illustration. (the Annie Oakley costume is based on an outfit I had when I was three. I was pretty cute, not gonna lie)

Anyway, here's the final product I did this evening! Still deciding if we're going to make it the cover of a card or if we're going to frame it next to the poem.


*** WARNING*** Any family members who may be reading this... NOT a WORD to Uncle Bud! Its a surprise :) Ok, everyone... As you were!