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Make Art That Sells Assignment 5 Final - Party Goods. It's all over now :*{ No more Make Art That Sells class work. I had a BLAST on this last project. I decided to work on bits which would be appropriate for a little girl's party. So I came up with these three Flower Girl characters and laced some of the little icons from their dresses into the ribbon-like patterns on the paper goods: Flower Girl character designs. © Samantha Grenier My favorite part of this assignment sketching out ideas. I became fascinated with folk art and florals. Below are a couple pages from my books: Party Paper Sketches 1 Assorted Icons - © Samantha Grenier Party Paper Sketches 2 Birds and Girls - © Samantha Grenier I was tempted to render my final pieces in paint, (I have Folk Art brand paint sitting on my desk!) but I'm kind of a novice with the "finished" look in paint, so I shy'ed away from it. I can see this in my cut paper technique too. Party-party!...

Map of Amherst, NH - Editorial Illustration Assignment I can hardly believe Lilla's course is nearly over. This session has been challenging but very rewarding. I'm THRILLED I took up a spot in Part B. I was nervous just before the class started up because I struggled with conceptualizing my finals for Part A, and I've got a big side project on my hands which I had to juggle into the mixture of drawing. Above everything else in the course, I really looked forward to this past week's assignment: Editorial. I've been so focused the past couple years on Children's Book illustration, but I have a strong attraction to editorial work which I'm starting to re-investigate while I build up my Picture Book portfolio. This week's assignment was to design a map of our home town. So WELCOME to Amherst, New Hampshire: Close-up of some of the colonial buildings from the historical district. And a Pine branch. Amherst prides itself on it's rich colo...

Holiday Card -- First Assignments Yep! Back in class :-) I'm back to taking Lilla Roger's eCourse Make Art The Sells (or MATS for short). The first assignment had me whittling away at Holiday cards. I LOVED making this card! I know I may have gotten a little too ambitious with this assignment, but I had a vision and I just had to go for it. I don't want to burn out after assignment #1... I've got four more weeks to tackle! This is definitely one of the market niches I've really taken to. Though the assignment was to make 2 cards, my second composition never left the sketchbook because I became so consumed by this one. I did struggle with background quite a bit. Here are some of the samples: Holiday card background samples. Right to left - flat navy, silver lacy, and assorted darks (shown here with lace detail). The navy is a little different for a Christmasy card. All the bits and pieces were originally pooled together against a white background, bu...

Plate Designs for Home Decor Assignment Dinnerware screams "Paint ME!" so I took a shot at watercolors for my second assignment in the Make Art That Sells eCourse. When I couldn't get just the right colors I wanted, I took my designs to the computer. This turned into a week-long mini war with messy (paints) versus clean (digital). At the moment I'm struggling with my assessment of the Home Decor Market because I know I'll be a good fit for it, but I need to follow my gut. As inspiring as flowers can be, I overwhelmed myself with too many concepts and ended up picking none of them. My first reaction to an idea (generally) is to get it down on paper. But my first reaction to this assignment was "Get flower buds!" I sketched a bit in marker, took to watercolors, (which I'm madly in love with by-the-way,) and then eventually sketched out my designs in pencil. A little backwards for me. For the curious eyes, here are some of my watercolor doodle...

Submitted Bolt Fabric Assignment My first week of Lilla Rogers' eCourse  (Make Art That Sells) is winding down now. It was enlightening while challenging. I'm in LOVE with fabric designing and I'll most certainly begin exploring this area later this summer. For now I've got to get through weeks 2-5 and the  LA SCBWI Conference  - one focus at a time right now! Probably the most challenging bit was suffering through another cold, while juggling the work-load. What is this? #3 or 4 this year? It was the type of distraction which could derail creativity.... Could, but didn't. I did drift off to sleep thinking of the assignments very often, so there are some things I failed to capture just due to the fatigue. Of course a giant head cold strikes as soon as I've got to busy myself with a looming deadline!  Blah ! Well I'm surviving. I'm pretty sure the cold is starting to taper. At least I got SOME rest this weekend. I've been sneaking e...

Lilla Rogers MAKE ART THAT SELLS Course Back to school for me! I've signed up for Lilla Rogers Make Art that Sells  (MATS) eCourse. It all begins tomorrow! I'm nervous and excited. Nervous because it's a pretty big commitment. I'm fortunate to not have so much going on right now to participate - just a slow an steady spring clean mixed in with my regular evening sketch sessions. Excited because... come on - Lilla Rogers! What I'm hoping to get most from this course is the pants kicking I need to pump up my portfolio. Deep breaths! ~Samantha