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Morning collaging - torn papers and glue. I'm still here. Quietly working on my portfolio… neglecting my blog. The past month was filled with doodling and other paper-cutting activities. On top of that I'm slowly, slowly, slowly building out my studio space to make it viewer-friendly. Priority number one is polishing off my portfolio for the New England chapter Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrator's conference . I've only got one more week left on the timeline, but I'm feeling confident with the book organization as it stands. Though I still have oodles of work to complete by next Friday, I'm close to press and assembly, so the deadline doesn't feel scary-close (this time around). Fingers crossed for my postcards. They should be landing some time Friday or Saturday, so let's keep our eyes on the mailbox for them. ~Samantha

Badge by Denise Ortakales - Source Whew-Hooo! I JUST signed up for the New England chapter SCBWI Conference . I can hardly wait to see everyone again :-)

Think bright pink exclamation point. 200 pt Nueva: Pink Exclamation Mark - © Samantha Grenier 2014 That is me this week. I am an exclamation mark because 3 great things occurred in my life this week: 1. I toured and have a studio space on reserve for me at Western Avenue Studios in Lowell, Massachusetts. This not only puts a rocket launcher into my part time freelance illustration career, but it's getting me out of the house so that I can interact with an inspiring community. I sign my lease later this week and there will most likely be many  studio set-up photos to follow over the next month. 2. Did you know I wrote a macrame book? Did write/illustrate... now sifting through the draft. I got to see my Book Baby for the first time Tuesday. I'm pretty sure followers on Twitter could hear my scream from delight. Here is the official book announcement sent by Fox Chapel Publishing: Hello! Macramé should be landing in crafty stores April/May. 3. Though ...

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...

Scrapbooking bits - final assignment Who doesn't like scoping out the towers of loose papers at the craft shop? It's a pretty big area to avoid. Scrapbooking is usually my first stop: search for paper textures and eye the motifs. What surprised me most about this week is that there are still scrapbooking companies licensing from freelancers for there collections. I thought this was an area where companies relied on in-house designers. Well... surprise ! They also find artist inspiration to make accessories too. How about that? This week's assignment was to design a sheet of icons which could be suitable for chipboard pieces or stickers, or inspiration bits and pieces. I started with a LOT of drawings... here's a snippet: Sketchbook spread with scrapbooking inspirations. Then I went nuts on PATTERNS to apply to my digital cuts: Pink-pink-pink herringbone pattern Assorted patterns which could be used for washi tape, paper, icon decorations, etc. ...

Assignment #2: Baby Apparel Babies are fun. No doubt about that :-) I had oodles of fun working on my camp-themed Baby Apparel Assignment for the Make Art That Sells eCourse . I struggled with this assignment... just a little bit. The struggle wasn't about coming up with ideas to complete the assignment, but that I couldn't stop drawing. Below are some close-ups of the final artwork, since it's so hard to see in it's tiny-format. Placement fabric design: Animal trailers and trees. Baby Girl's dress mock-up. Tree patterned onesie. "Camp Cutie" onesie. The color pallet was inspired by Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom .  I got a little carried away with the film inspiration and ideas kept flowing in about scouting. I had to take a day or two to re-collect my thoughts on the project, but kept drawing all the while. I eventually landed on my final animal campers, which may be a little abstract for baby apparel, but still cute no...

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...

illustrator-sam.com  -- website update! Gone Conferencing! The website has been updated with a fresh coat of (digital) paint, and new pieces born since the New England SCBWI Conference . Now I'm setting off for the West Coast for the Biggie Conference in Los Angeles. Hope to see some of you there, and for those not attending, the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators will be blogging and Tweeting the whole shebang here (blog) and here (twitter feed or follow #LA13SCBWI). I'm ready for some learning!

I flourished despite about 50 disputes with a container of Mod Podge: "Flourish" decorative collage. I'm going to be perfectly honest here: I nearly (and am still tempted to) tear up a huge wad of tissue/tracing/velum/watercolor papers and just spell out the word "SHIT!" I didn't think it would be appropriate for the class, it seemed resentful. It does sound snarky and negative, but I can see it... "Shit" would be fun. Who wouldn't want a big "S-H-I-T" on their wall? Yes, I did swear at my materials about a dozen times before collaging  won me over. I think it's the designing of the composition I like so much... that and transparency papers. Part of the construction of this piece consisted of a fight with a single paint brush, glue, humidity, bleeding inks, and my inability to get a zipper to zip the way I wanted it to. Also I was stabbed by a staple from the zipper package. My grudge against the zipper has passed and I...

Meet my egotistical snail! So week #3 from Lilla Rogers' Make Art That Sells eCourse was all about the Picture Book. "Yay!" I thought. I thought.... Almost there, but no lollipop! We were to either illustrate a book cover or interior spread to a Hans Christen Andersen fable. I chose the spread because I really liked the assortment of possibilities, but I feel like I tried to show too much: "Finished" illustration spread for The Snail and the Rose Tree , by Hans Christen Andersen. The bit I enjoyed the most about this assignment was that we needed to somehow integrate hand-lettering - whether it be the title of the book or text within the story.  I can't explain why I've been dragging my feet on about testing out hand lettering, but I really had fun with this, I just wish I tried illustrating type and hand lettering sooner: Text "Bear Nuts" - Those are Hazelnuts. Text "Give Milk". Text "Grow Roses". ...

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

3/4 of Southern NH Illustration Critique Group: (left to right) Me, Natalie and Sheli. It's been nearly 2 weeks since leaving the the New England SCBWI conference... Still giddy, but I'm recuperating from all the activity. I've been puttering around trying to clean up some non-picture book illustration works. Some "works" include writing out THANK YOU notes to those whom assisted me at the conference from critiquers, to workshop faculty. Here's a mini digital dose: Also I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't thank the ladies from our monthly illustration critique group: Sheli Petersen  and  Natalie Curtiss . (Go look at their websites!) Extra kudos to Natalie for driving! Also THANK YOU to the insightful Skia Lawrence who's the 4th member from our critique group; whom was unable to attend this year. Thank you! ~Samantha

Post-it Notes to self: "Don't forget your toothbrush... or hair stuff!" I will be leaving for the New England SCBWI conference in just a bit. I'm more than ready for an inspiring weekend! If you see me around, don't be shy and say "Hi!" Say "HI!" :-D  I will be toting my portfolio around with me all weekend, so if you'd like to take a peek, I'd be happy to show it off: Portfolio cover. See you in Springfield! ♥

Illustration contest submission for Jane Yolen's "Infirm Pachyderm". As one can see, I have been heavily involved with elephants lately. Nothing wrong with that! The New England SCBWI Conference (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) is only a couple weeks away. I had to pause portfolio preparations to submit to this year's poster illustration contest: Jane Yolen's poem "Infirm Pachyderm". My gut reaction to the first 30 or so reads were all somber. I wanted to gauge other illustrator's responses, so I preformed an image search... same reactions there. Since the poem is written for an audience that's Middle Grade age group at max, I wanted to illustrate a positive spin on the poem's outcome. Construction the illustration was a little less positive. I'm going to admit I have a weakness with Black & White drawing, so naturally I wanted to cut TONS of grey-scale images! Since my technique dwells on paper tex...