Friday, April 23, 2010

ToBoldlyFold + Family Circle DUBPOST

Hello friends!
So recently I've been doing a lot of portrait-type illustrations of women, which I'll continue to share in the next few weeks. They range from the more stylized (like below) to more realistic. It's been interesting trying to find different ways of doing them.

Family Circle magazine asked me to do an illustration about women's arthritis and joint pain for one of their March issues & I was happy to oblige! They decided later that it'd look good as a full page with room for text, which was easy for me to convert my illustration into.

I would've been happy doing either sketch, but it was interesting to be asked to do the simpler portrait since I feel I usually end up doing more complicated illustrations. (I drew her holding her wrist, because I'm super afraid of getting arthritis in my hands when I'm older!) The whole project was AD'd by Lisa Kelsey. Thanks Lisa!


In other news, Sam & I received a lovely care package of sketchbook goodies from To Boldly Fold! One of the perks of going to an art school is that you meet lots of other talented people who sometimes give you some of their great work, and we are lucky enough to know Mel Chao & Mark Grambau who generously sent us this parcel of high-end handmade sketchbooks. (check out Mel's other handcrafted sketchbooks at http://www.toboldlyfold.com and http://www.etsy.com/shop/toboldlyfold)
We each got a nice big leather sketchbook, and a couple of smaller varied ones!



The big sketchbooks are made with Rives BFK, hand cut genuine leather and a vintage button. This was all a total surprise to receive, and I LOVE the button and the stitching and the dark leather on my book, it fits my personality perfectly!! I also love how Sam's sketchbook totally matched with the shirt he was wearing that day (and his had dark green thread--his favorite!). My sketchbook is so nice I am honestly intimidated to draw anything in it. I hardly sketch traditionally anymore, but I'm glad I've got an excuse to now so I can post stuff to the ToBoldlyFold.com flickr website!





An extra bonus was that both books came with a sweet stick-on bookplate graced with the illustrations of our talented friend Nancy Muller!! (I got the bat!! I loveee himmm) I do not know how this girl doesn't have a prizewinning children's book out already.



Thanks so much Mel & Mark!!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hooray!!!

ink and ginger said...

Ooooh, what lovely sketchbooks! I've marked their store as a favorite; I might treat myself to one of the big ones if I do well in my classes this semester.

The illustration for Family Circle is great (and I share your fear of wrist-thritis!), and I have to say - bravo on getting these notable clients!

Alyssa Coles Pilcher said...

I love the way you execute your ideas! Your interpretations are very creative! Keep it up! :)

Anonymous said...

These look so beautiful!! That's so nice of them to send. i will have to check out their etsy; I've been wanting to sell my own handmade sketchbooks for a while now.

Kali Ciesemier said...

Mark: Hooray indeed!!! :D
Pen&Paper: Thank you! The sketchbooks are really nice, I'm still saving mine for some nice sketches when I have more time...And I know--it's easy to worry about losing your sight/hands when they're the tools you depend on! Eek!
Acoles: Thanks!! I feel like the trick with editorial illustrations to figure out interesting ways to draw otherwise mundane stuff...if you can't get excited about what you're doing, the viewer won't either!
Celine: Definitely check 'em out! Etsy is great, so many talented people making creative things. :)