Meet the Maker – it’s me!

Hi! Thought I would take a minute and introduce myself! I have been a graphic designer for MANY years and have always loved art and creative outlets. I’m also an illustrator and hand-lettering artist.

In the Early Days

My main focus in high school was art and I spent every free minute in the art department working on some kind of drawing or painting. After high school I attended The Art Institute of Atlanta and got a degree in Graphic Design. I’ve spent years working on many different in-house design teams creating things like brochures, trade show graphics, magazines and social media graphics. Over the years of concentrating on Graphic Design, I stopped drawing because it was never needed in any of my design work. Outside of work, I didn’t do much creatively for a long time except for fun arts and crafts projects with my son when he was a little guy (he’s not little anymore, he’s 16 and way taller than me!).

These are the only pieces of art I kept from high school. The barn was done with oil paints and the still life of my jean jacket, trashed sneakers and super cool sunglasses was done in pencil.

Sometime in 2017 I began following artists and hand letterers on Instagram and started practicing lettering. Then lettering turned into illustrating and now I love both!

Some very early work, all started on paper with pencil and pens. Peace and Opportunity were both done early 2017. I discovered Lauren Hom and her HOMwork challenges and started doing those in January 2018.

Process

Creative sessions vary for me depending on where I am in the project or piece I’m working on. In the beginning, I do a LOT of research (AKA procrastination) if I don’t have a super clear idea of what I want to do. I do my research in different places but I use Pinterest and Google quite a bit. I look for reference images like people poses and objects. Most projects start with sketching thumbnails either on paper or my iPad. After thumbnails, I choose a direction to go in and start a larger sketch on my iPad in Procreate. Once the sketch is where I want it, I begin refining shapes, lines and composition. Choosing colors comes next and sometimes takes just as long as the research stage of my project! I usually use a limited color palette because choosing colors that go together and have the right feel for the piece is HARD and fewer color options means fewer decisions to make!

My biggest challenge when it comes to creating is WHAT. The initial idea stage is where I get stuck for the longest. If I’m in a creative rut, I look for a challenge of some kind. I loved doing #facetober in October 2021 and it sparked some fun creative ideas for me. I also love taking Skillshare classes to learn something new. The Style Class: Work Out Your Illustration Style in a Daily Project by Tom Froese helped me start and complete my Working Robots from A to Z project. You can follow that process here.

A few of my favorite pieces of recent art. Henrietta is part of my Player Personas series, Cat Lady is from #facetober 2021, the Oceanographer is from my Working Robots from A to Z project and Tulips is an acrylic painting.

This or That

Cats or Dogs? Dogs

Coffee or Tea? Tea

Early Bird or Night Owl? Both. I love to stay up late when I know I don’t have to be up early the next day! I love getting up early in order to start checking things off my to-do list or have some quiet time to read or draw before taking on all of the things for the day.

Tator Tots or French Fries? French fries

Messy or Tidy? Tidy

Fast Food or Health Food? Health food. Dark chocolate is healthy.

Calling or Texting? Texting

Couch Potato or Fitness Fiend? Both. I love a good Netflix binge but exercise gives me energy.

Candy Corn: Yes or No? Yes

Hobbies:

Board games – current favorites are Everdell, Hero Realms

Video games – currently playing: Persona 5 Royal, Kena Bridge of Spirits
anticipating: Horizon Forbidden West, Hogwarts Legacy

Anime – a few favorites: Violet Evergarden, Attack on Titan, Demon Slayer

Gardening – trying to keep a bunch of houseplants alive and working on a veggie garden

Dog training – my 11-year-old Rat Terrier, Violet, needs lots of work!

Well, that’s a little bit about me! Check out this post to read about LePunktNoir. I’ll be posting another Meet the Maker soon, so stay tuned!