Boring Old Blog….

ink and watercolor illustration of a sad giraffe (named Gigi) who is tangled in a red wire.

Inktober 52: 2021

As has become the norm for me I will be posting all my inktober drawings this year for Inktober 52.

black and white illustration of a man meditating, t-shirt reads Namaste

A Newsletter 😊

I am trying my hand at a newsletter and would love it if you would sign up to receive it. I am planning a once-a-month thing where I share different things I am working on, other artists and apps I think are worth a follow or try, and of course the shameless plugs to things like my Patreon and shops

Memories Submissions

Sharing a submission graphic created for MuggleNet to share on their social media platforms.

vector rebuild of care graphic from facebook and workplace

Reactions Responses

a simple reactions responses graphic that I built for the MuggleNet internal workplace as a get to know you game.

digital illustration with a gryffindor theme. from left to right there is a broom, gryffindor crest, round glasses, a hogwarts letter, a snitch and hand-lettered text that reads Elise Gryffindor. the entire illustration has a gryffindor scarf wrapping through it. The color scheme of the entire illustration is themed red, gold and yellow for gryffindor.

Custom Art

This is a post is about a project that I hope to continue to do for MuggleNet Patreon Patron’s.

grey arrow with blue outline and white shadow across left

Node Settings

The topic today will be nodes in Affinity designer for iPad. In Affinity, there are at least three different ways to make strokes and shapes. So we will delve into them and what options there are with them.

illustration of Lulu the llama next to a donut. written text says “Oh a donut!”

The Donut

Lulu found a donut and Gigi wants some

Harry Potter Art 2021

Last year when MuggleNet started their TikTok I offered up some of my Potter themed fan art and time-lapses of them for them to showcase.

graphic of a shield smiling and wearing a cape. meant to represent an antibody

mRNA Infographic

The goal of this graphic is meant to combat some of the misinformation surrounding the mRNA vaccines and to add more context into what is actually happening so that people are informed about how the vaccine works and are less hesitant to receive their shots.

patreon logo

Making a Patreon!

Should someone like me, a relative unknown in the art world, be bothering with creating a Patreon for fans, followers, or anyone else who may want to support me?

Hand lettered text reading top to bottom “Dobby is Free” all in MuggleNets navy and teal color scheme

Hogwarts House Bingo

Hello, creatives and fellow designers! Today I would like to share a Bingo game. The design then was shared on MuggleNet’s social media.

Simple photo of a pale pink flower set off to the right of a square image on a simple blue grey background. In text on the left of the flower reads “20 (in print) questions (in script)”

20 Questions?

today I would like to share with you a quick graphic I made for the MuggleNet Staff.

this is a graphic with two filled out pie charts. the goal of this graphic was to be an example of how to fill out the blank graphic for mugglenet staff. the top circle was filled out with how staff thinks I spend my time, and the bottom graphic was how staff actually spends time. fun little staff game for mugglenet.

The Pie Chart

This was a fun quick graphic to whip up for the site and it was also really fun to see how everyone filled in their pie charts.

Digital drawing of a silver snake on a green crest.

Sorting Hat Game

The object of the game is you take a screenshot and whatever house is in the photo is the house your sorted into. I know Harry Potter fans take their house sorting seriously so I promise this is only a game and that the real sorting hat will put you in your proper house.

illustration of Gigi the giraffe wearing a cape and saying “I’m a superhero!”

Gigi & Lulu

This post is about a new Comic series I am starting with my children. Gigi and Lulu are two characters that are created and inspired by my kids and they are actually voicing the characters.

digital pencil sketch of a gear. the gear is white and the background is black.

Preferences in Affinity Designer for iPad

today’s post is about the preferences in Affinity Designer. Everyone has their own way of working, and preferences to that end. With that in mind Affinity has made certain aspects of the UI editable and changeable in order to facilitate a better work flow for each individual.

Molly Sweater Week

The whole thought process behind this project was to design graphics that would represent what Molly Weasley would design on a sweater for different characters in the Wizarding world.

digital drawing of a cartoon giraffe named Gigi sitting on the grass with a red tulip growing next to her.

Tips and Tricks Video

the Iconfactory reached out to me about making a favorite Tips and Tricks video about their drawing app Linea Sketch.

Square graphic meant to look like a screenshot of a phone screens text messages. This one is from Cho Chang to Harry Potter

Text Your Ex day

a MuggleNet campaign that was supposed to go live in October of 2020 for Text Your EX day.

digital drawing of daffy duck holding a hunting rifle up to his face, with handwritten note “It’s Rabbit Season” on the left.

Artmash 2021

This year I am organizing my illustrations a little differently when illustrating for an art challenge, as compared to other illustrations and projects I am working on.

Parchment paper background of Harry Potter resume: Profile

Wizarding Resumes

a MuggleNet social media campaign designed around what they thought different characters from the books and movies resumes would look like.

Gauche painting of yellow black eyed susan flower on green background

Black-Eyed Susan

I found myself really enjoying the progress of “painting” on an iPad and it started a transformation in my creative process.

Illustration of paper cranes in every color of the rainbow. They are all jumbled together more heavily on the left and getting dispersed as you move to the right and the upper right corner empty canvas.

Origami Paper Cranes

A few weeks back a fellow artist I have collaborated with before reached out to me about contributing some art for a project called “Stop Violence Against Women” and I agreed because it felt like a wonderful cause to be involved with and create for.

black and white digital sketch of a “Trading Outpost This Way” sign. The post is drawn to look like a wooden post stuck in the grass, with a tulip growing up out of the ground on the left side. The Text is written in yellow, while the rest of the image is black and white.

Inktober 52: 2020

This year Inktober is doing weekly prompts and I plan on following along because it helps me keep sharp and push my creativity.

Illustrations 2020

Here are my Illustrations, I use various apps to create my digital art, usually Linea Sketch, Procreate, and or Affinity Designer, in some combination on my iPad Pro.

Layers Studio (Export Persona)

This layers studio when in the export persona is different from the layers studio when in the designer persona. Added to that the layers studio in the iPad version is different from the mac/pc version and it can lead to confusion. With that said I will do my best to break down how the layers studio works in the export persona of the iPad version of designer.

a subtle redesign of the procreate app icons. the design isn’t changed much it is still a rainbow swoop on a black or white background, however I created it using a stippling (tiny dots) technique.

Yet another contest…

a logo redesign contest for the Procreate app icon. Basically you could let your imagination run wild and create the icon any way you saw fit. This was all for fun of course because procreate was not planning on recreating their logo anytime soon.

image of half filled glass of water, text circling the glass reads “whether you’re an optimist or pessimist, always half”

Am I good enough??

Maybe? maybe not? I think we all have this feeling somedays. Maybe it is the chaos that is this year affecting me. Possibly it is that I am too risk averse. I am not sure what it is but it has been running though my head a lot lately. Thoughts like do I have enough …

framed image of a yellow harry potter lightning bolt, below that are yellow glasses (left eye blue, right eye red), below that is a yellow 3d deathly hallows symbol, next is a yellow 3d vote block text, and finally at the bottom is black text that reads “like Dolores Umbridge is on the ballot”

Vote

During Inktober 2020 there was a prompt that was just one word Ominous. Given that the 2020 election was coming up here in the United States something about that word struck a chord with me.

Text on blue background, reads “Dumbledore’s Army: See Hermione Granger if you want to join.*” under * says sneaks join at your own risk

Lettering and Typography 2020

These designs are some of my hand lettering and typography Art and are usually created using a combination of apps on my iPad Pro.

framed image of a yellow harry potter lightning bolt, below that are yellow glasses (left eye blue, right eye red), below that is a yellow 3d deathly hallows symbol, next is a yellow 3d vote block text, and finally at the bottom is black text that reads “like Dolores Umbridge is on the ballot”

From Sketch to Print

Sometimes when you create a design it just isn’t enough to sketch out something. You need to work out a final product.

Gauche painting of yellow black eyed susan flower on green background

Fast Art vs. Art that takes time

I want to make artwork I love to make and I would love if people want to buy it but if they don’t than that is fine too. I hope people would want to buy my art but I can accept that I am not going to be a success overnight.

Slices Studio

The slices studio is found in the export persona section of affinity designer. It is designed to give you precise control of different exportable areas or slices.

Digital color pencil drawing of a single nondescript red flower slightly to the right of frame; maybe tulip inspired

Musings of an Artist

When Covid started the whole world got turned upside-down, and as I reflect back on what it means and has meant to me it makes for an interesting head space

digital white pencil sketch on a black background of the letter a with 14pt written underneath. this is what the icon for the text studio looks like on affinity designer for ipad looks like.

Paragraph ~ Text Studio

Today’s post is about the paragraph section of the text studio. These controls give your text and typography paragraph editing options that will affect a larger body of text.

Illustration of top half of woman’s head. she is looking up and to the right and above hear head are symbols that are meant to represent her confusion in where to search for the answers she is seeking on the internet.

ReproRed

So this is a selection of illustrations that I made for a company called ReproRed.

digital white pencil sketch on a black background of the letter a with 14pt written underneath. this is what the icon for the text studio looks like on affinity designer for ipad looks like.

Character ~ Text Studio

today’s post is about the character adjustments that can be made from the Text studio in Affinity Designer on the iPad. Within the text studio there are both character and paragraph adjustments that can be made to text within a piece of art or illustration you’re working on..

Digital black and white drawing of a girl sitting who at first glance appears to be meditating but she is actually sleeping. There are zzz's that are floating above her head.

Inktober 2020

Hello all you wonderful creatives and designers! It is that time of year again!! Welcome to my collection of 2020 Inktober drawings, this year I will be writing a bit of my thought process behind the illustrations (for those of you interested). Without further ado…

digital white pencil sketch on a black background of the letter a with 14pt written underneath. this is what the icon for the text studio looks like on affinity designer for ipad looks like.

Text Studio

The text studio will be very similar to the character and paragraph panels on the desktop version of Affinity Designer.

Constraints Studio

The constraints studio allows you to anchor elements to a particular position within other parent elements.

white pencil sketch on a black background of nine squares arranged 3 across and 3 down. this is what the assets studio symbol looks like when using affinity designer on an ipad.

Assets Studio

Hello creatives and fellow designers today’s post is about the assets studio in affinity designer for iPad. The assets studio is both similar and different to the symbols studio.

symbol studio icon, white spinning wheel split into 3rds and curved in motion.

Symbols Studio

This is where you can create and store symbols from selected object s group or layers. Once you’ve made and stored a symbol they can be dragged and dropped into your artwork as much or a little as you would like.

White pencil drawn compass graphic on a black background

Navigator Studio

Today we are overviewing the Navigator studio in Affinity Designer on iPad. The navigator studio will not effect your design in any way, however it gives you another way to pan and zoom around your document.

History Studio

Today is a post about the history studio in affinity designer for iPad. It will track changes as different entries as a list and allows you to jump back to previous points in your design.

Transform Studio

In this article I will be discussing the Transform Panel in Affinity Designer for iPad. This panel allows you to control your design down to the most minute of details.

drawing of fx in white on a black background styled to match the icon for the effects panel on affinity designer for iPad

Styles Studio

Today we are explaining the styles panel in Affinity Designer for iPad. This panel allows for you to apply a pre-prepared style to a selected object.

drawing of fx in white on a black background styled to match the icon for the effects panel on affinity designer for iPad

Effects Studio

Today I will be breaking down the Effects Panel on Affinity Designer for iPad. It is used to adjust settings that apply and modify object effects on selected layers and/or groups.

Layers Studio ~ Affinity Designer iPad

Hello my fellow creatives! Today we will be covering the Layers Studio in Affinity Designer for iPad. It controls the order objects are viewed on your page, will organize the art boards, layer visibility, locking, and opacity

blush mauve cursive uppercase letter N with mauve and navy hearts connected to either end of the logo

Logos 2020

These are logos I have designed over the years (when I was first starting out and had few to no clients 😉); up to and through 2020.

image of uppercase R that has top to bottom: Orange then Grey then Navy horizontal stripes across the R.

Text Logos with Impact

Sometimes all you need for an impactful logo is the right font for your style and some simple color choices.

Stroke Studio ~ Affinity Designer iPad

Hello all you wonderful creatives! In this post, we are going to be discussing the Stroke Panel on the iPad version of Affinity Designer for iPad.

Orange circle with a white pause symbol on the middle. There is an orange glow surrounding the circle.

WorkBuddha Logo

Back when I was first starting out as a Freelance Graphic designer a company approached me about building a logo for their site. This company was called WorkBuddha and at the time it was for an independent consultant starting their own company

Pat Green Photography Logo

I recently designed a Logo for Chicago based photographer named Pat Green, and it was overall one of my favorite client experiences.

illustration of rainbow with clouds on the bottom of the rainbow. the rainbow goes from upper right corner down to lower left corner. the text below the rainbow in right corner reads “someday we’ll find the rainbow connection the lovers, the dreamers, and all essential workers.” the text is all white except for the word rainbow where each letter is a different color of the rainbow.

Rainbow Connection

In the middle of April another artist on Behance reached out to me about a collaboration they were organizing with other artists around the world as a way of honoring the professionals who are all working on the front lines in various capacities during this Corona Virus 🦠 Pandemic.

The Toolbar, Context Toolbar, and an intro to the Studio Panels

Hello All you wonderful Artists and creatives. Now that I have broken down the different personas, this week is devoted to a small amount of info about the Toolbar, Context Toolbar and an intro into what the Studio Panels are

colored pencil sketch of the affinity designer icon for the export persona; color is sea foamy / art deco / teal green

Export Persona

Today we will look at the Export persona tools. It is designed to do exactly what you would think given the name 😉

cursive logo says interjad, tagline underneath says “learn, implement, impact lives”: above I is a stethoscope, above j is a smiling doctor icon, the d also looks like a pill

Interjad

This is a Logo design that I recently worked on for the company InterJad.

a photo of me standing in front of my display wall for the show, i am wearing a pink sweater an my glasses and behind me you can see a wall with my framed photographs and illustrations.

Feelings on Art Shows

Hello all you wonderful artists and art loving people! 💚Recently I participated in my first Art Show and it is an experience that I have feelings about.

illustration of Disney’s Doc McStuffins children's character. the animation is her stethoscope is doing it’s magic that brings the toys to life.

Animations 2020

So this year is all about challenges for me and I thought one thing that I would attempt to do is learn how to do animations luckily Procreate added basic animations and text at just the perfect time. So this is where I will post my attempts at animation.

colored pencil sketch of the affinity designer icon for the pixel persona; color is sea foamy / art deco / teal green

Pixel Persona

The Pixel persona in Affinity Designer contains all of your raster based image tools. This is going to have tools that produce similar effects and art to what you would find if you have ever used Procreate or Linea sketch in order to draw on a tablet or computer.

colored pencil sketch of the affinity designer icon for the draw persona color is sea foamy / art deco / teal green

Draw Persona Tools

Affinity Designer’s Draw Persona is where you’ll find all your vector drawing tools.

colored pencil sketch of the affinity designer logo, drawn in shades of art deco sea foamy/ teal-ish green

Personas, Tools, and Toolbars

Affinity Designer is a vector art drawing and illustration program and throughout this series of blogs, I intend to compare using this program on iPad vs. a computer.

bride in vest and red bow tie carrying bride in white jumpsuit, and vail holding red flowers. behind them in faded black text reads Mrs. and Mrs. with white background

Hers and Hers Wedding

This is Just a hers and hers design that started out as a gift for a family member who is marrying the love of her life.

grid of 4 identical images of girl drawn and colored warhol style. upper left: purple, pink, and teal; upper right: reds, oranges, and blues; lower left: bright rainbow with bold blue, yellow, pink, and reds; and lower right is monochromatic greys and blacks with yellow background

Contest Submissions 2019

For my own amusement and because I like to keep my skills (or lack of skills 😉) I try to submit to contests and see how I do.

cartoon giraffe (i call her gigi) and her neck is twisted like a corkscrew head is tilted to left and she has dizzy swirls and stars coming off of her head

Inktober 2019

Happy Inktober everyone!! I am pushing myself this year to actually get this done and follow all the prompts for 2019.

cover of affinity designer workbook. a text book cover for a vector graphics application

Affinity Designer Workbook… for iPad pro?

Ok so back in March of 2016 I went all in on an iPad pro as my only computer when my computer decided quite gloriously to kick the bucket. At the time there really wasn’t many options for digital drawing (other than Procreate and Paper by 53). These app are wonderful and Procreate and Linea …

Photograph of a gazebo in the Rose garden @ Chicago botanical gardens. There is a park bench that has an illustrated ostrich sitting on it.

want to be an illustrator & welcome

Who doesn’t love to draw. I know do and always have ever since I was young. Some of my earliest memories are coloring with my mom at our coffee table (this is something I am trying to share with my children now). In the many years since I have since progressed to drawing favorite characters; usually disney or looney tunes and art was always one of my favorite classes.

cartoon illustration of tortoise crossing the finish line while a hare sleeps near by under a tree.

My thoughts on art contests

Art contests can be an extremely grueling … make you feel like your not good enough experience, so why do I or any other artist even bother…. Because your Awesome … read on

Book Jacket

This is a project I worked on when I was still in school. The Author of the book was a professor who was looking for a cover for his book, and everyone in the class came up with a design that was then picked from to be used as the book cover.

Magazine Spread

This is a magazine spread that I did for my portfolio class. The photography is all mine from a trip that I took back in 2010, and the ad was one that I made and submitted to a contest site for possible printing.

Cafe Website Design

This is all from a class I took where I had to build a cafe website in WordPress as well as in Adobe XD. All the photography that I used in this project is my own.

mick jagger graphic photo progresses like a rainbow getting larger and large behind each image starts in color then goes to red, yellow, green, blue, and finally violet

City Music Festival

My idea for a Music festival poster and banners, the original image of Mick Jagger was taken by Xi Quin Ho Silva. I made a few tweaks to the original image.

Portfolio

This is my Portfolio from when I finished up my Graphic Design degree.

Salsa 17

This is work that was done for a restaurant in Arlington Heights, Illinois.