Rococo Cocoa

Wee!

I: That is so gross.
Lizzy: Just the combination of bbq sauce and milkshake alone would turn me away

This is a pastel I've been working on for a charity benefit for Save Darfur. I'll post the finished piece on here, as well as pictures from the event, I imagine. I credit them for getting me back into the handmade arts. I needed a push to start again.

To explain the piece, I wanted to focus on the beauty of the Sudan rather than the pain, since, someday, with any hope, there will be happiness there again. The vine like flowers around her are... the scientific name is Utriculara inflexica, and for some peculiar reason I can't find the real name of them... anyone know a botanist?

This makes me laugh hysterically every time I see it. Period.

Click here and here to check out the work of Slovenian artist Frank Grom. He drills holes in eggs! Crazy patience.

Michael K at Dlisted does a hot slut of the day post every day, and today was Trent from Daria. It bought me back... In high school I had this handmade sketchbook I had to make for my art class, and I remembered I did a drawing of him:


And its not just, like, a random little doodle... its a freakin' detailed drawing with like crosshatching and sh*t. Talk about a depressing adolescence.

In other news, I was a pretty good artist in high school. Eh?

I recently gave a friend a really good wedding present: I offered to design her wedding invitations for free. It's a great portfolio builder and it helps keep me sane cause the jobs at work right now are boring. Here are the three ideas I presented to the happy couple:



1. Basic Folded
In case you didn't notice, her wedding is going to be in the fall. The wedding is fall themed, so I tried to reflect this in the coloring and decorative flourishes.


2. Swash and Leaf- 've always wanted to use a swash font for something, and since I work in museums, they frown on them case they're not readible to younger folk, disabled folk, and the elderly. But for weddings you can be foofy foofy, so I went with Caslon Swash. I love these envelopes, and if anyone can find them on the cheap I'd really like to know where I could get a bunch. The envelope is binded with a wrinkled paper ribbon that I found really nice. The paper is this really awesome watercolor paper with ripped edges which gave it a natural look.


3. 12 Leaf
12 leaves, and their wedding is in October. Do you get it?

This is the one they went for. There will be some color changes, and like a reply card, directions, all that good stuff. So when I get the final thing together there will be a delightful post on that. I like how the line on the actual invite mirrors the ribbon on the envelope. I'm trying to figure out how to mail all that with the ribbon on the envelope. More on that later.
Cheers!

I: Whoa did you read about the new Jim McGreevy thing?
(20 seconds pass)
Loree: That is so a Lifetime movie in the making.
I: blech.

Interesting new photoshop tutorial... shows you how to make those glowing lines and etherial firefly dots. Pretty nifty. This is my first go at it. Took about 20 minutes. Not bad... Can't wait to use it for something :)

For my job, sometimes I get stock photos and illustrations from stock websites, cause it sure is easier to just download a picture of a pistol in an engraved style than it is to draw that shit. Sometimes I come across pictures that make absolutely no sense. So I've decided to start what I call Stock Stupidity. Our first entry comes from istockphoto.com. What company is putting together a report where they really need a picture of a dude almost naked in a men's bathroom? That guy is kinda cute though. He reminds me of Zachary Quinto. Sylar, anyone?

Devoid of emotion, or is this her "fierce" face? You decide.

This dude takes Garfield out of Garfield and the result is basically "John the Schizophrenic":

http://garfieldminusgarfield.tumblr.com/