in case you were wondering what Little Fox is up to!

just in case you've been checking my sketchbook, you might have noticed i have been painting a lot of foxes and other cute creatures. so here's the story, in case you were wondering.

it's been that time of year again: the deadline to submit to the Illustrators Exhibition at the Bologna Children's Book Fair was fast approaching and i had nothing that met the submission specifications, so as usual i had to create something new. luckily i knew exactly what i wanted to illustrate: i had long been musing about telling different stories with different characters all happening on the same page. i chose to illustrate 5 Aesop fables, because they are simple, and because their characters are animals, and who doesn't like painting those? i focused on 5 fables which had the fox as the main character - i've been seeing foxes everywhere and wanted to come up with my own little fox.

a new restriction i imposed on myself - well, it's not really a restriction, since it's very liberating, as you will see - was that i would not draw the illustration first and paint over later, as has been my practice since forever. i find my paintings lack the spontaneity of my sketches, so i decided to start painting without the initial pencil drawing. of course i did have a rough sketch in front of me, but i was no longer just coloring my drawing. my brush was free to move around, and i did not mind when some lines were a little off. i felt this made my illustrations more lively and i learned not to obsess over small discrepancies.

in preparation for this new way of painting, i had to draw and paint my characters numerous times, to familiarize myself with them. below are some examples:

once i felt ready, i placed my sketches on the wall above my desk and started painting. here's one of the sketches to show how rough they were:

and finally, below are the illustrations i submitted to the exhibition. each one focuses on the fable it tells (the fox always being the largest character illustrated),  but the main event is surrounded with illustrations of what the other characters in the remaining or previous fables are up to (according to me, not Aesop:)

the fox and the grapes

the fox and the stork

the fox and the lion

the fox and the rooster

the fox and the crow

i have been submitting to Bologna every year with no exception for the past 10 years. it is a very prestigious show, and it would be amazing if i ever got in. but by now i am used to rejection, and don't hope for anything. that doesn't mean i stop trying, though. wish me luck this time!

no place like home

i am working on a personal project which i call "no place like home". i love to draw houses and i love to draw maps, so these drawings show houses and a street map, in which the streets lead nowhere else but home. no need to read too deep into this, i just like to draw these things.

i have been drawing, like so.

no place like home no.1 drawing

and painting.

no place like home no.1 painting

i have been painting and drawing.

no place like home no.1 painting and drawing

i have been "photoshoping" and "illustratoring".

no place like home no.1 in photoshop

no place like home no. 1 in illustrator

i like working in all those media and i am not sure which way to go. which one do you like best and why? these are not rhetorical questions, so please feel free to answer them. it goes without saying you can also feel free to ignore them, even though i would like to know what you think!

back to earth

so here i am as promised. had a great time and did not forget the suncream - and it was never cloudy!

before leaving, i had entered the Lilla Rogers Studio Global Talent Search 2014. the assignment was to create a wall art piece with the theme "little terrariums", and the image had to contain at least one word. i loved the brief, and how it was packed with supporting material and guidance.

first thing i did: called our babysitter to make sure i had enough time to do my best.

and then the fun began. i spent the first day on visual research, a couple more days on drawing motifs, and then i scanned in everything and experimented with various photoshop brushes, until i found what i was looking for. i played with my drawings in illustrator, moved them around, designed the composition and figured out the colors. finally i worked in photoshop to add the desired texture. (one day i want to write about how working digitally has made my process so much more intuitive than when i used to paint like a medieval manuscript illuminator! )

plants (drawings)

plants ( illusatrator)

small world (photoshop)

i greatly enjoyed making this, was satisfied with my work, and waited for the results with anticipation. when i found out i hadn't made it to the second round i have to admit i was disappointed, but fortunately i did not have time to dwell on it because i was in a sunny place with my family, and frankly, nothing else mattered (except not forgetting the suncream!)

make sure to take a look at the beautiful work of the 50 artists who were selected among the 999 from around the world. 5 will be selected and move to the finals. who do you think has got what it takes? not me, obviously!

for me, it's back to earth, back to school, back to work, and back to my sketchbook.

happy september!

don't forget the suncream!

going on a sunny vacation tomorrow. will write when i'm back.

this is me. i wish i had red flipflops!

stay well. make pretty things. and don't forget the suncream, of course.

meet the royals

there are many things i'm not sure about, but one thing i know: i just love to make pictures. i'm happy when i make them, and sad when i don't, it's that simple.

these faces had been waiting in my sketchbook for far too long:

giving them color had been on my mind since the day i sketched them, and today i managed to do that in between all the dirty diapers, tantrums, fevers, and everything else that happens on a sunny saturday.

i even surprised myself and added another member to the family:

not sure what's going to happen to them now, if anything. in any case, they will have to wait for a couple more months, at least.

what's that?

you're tired of waiting?

well, that's too bad because i'm also tired. yesterday i walked out of the supermarket with my shopping bag waiting for me by the cash register. the other day i put my baby son's shorts on my 3.5 year old daughter. and i only stopped because she started laughing. so you will wait your turn, and i will get back to you when i can. believe me, i want to more than you can imagine:)

this was me, unedited. will post now before i start feeling silly.

a very quick note about a quick challenge

today i had a few minutes to spare for one of my favorite activities: painting.
first, i set myself these rules:

1. no corrections, no layering
2. don't over think, be quick and intuitive, don't plan
3. share whatever the result, no judging

then i painted this:

this was fun and liberating.
looking back, the black dots where a bad idea (i make the rules and it's ok to judge after it's done and shared. please feel free to judge!).

without the blah blah blah

i know i haven't blogged for longer than it makes sense. don't have the time. not blogging defeats the purpose of having a blog, i know that too. just give me time.

i recently overheard a young girl, she must have been around 7 or 8, walking through Harvard Yard with her parents, saying "i don't want to go to Harvard. i do want to go to a good school, but one, you know, without the blah blah blah…" that's a line i will never forget. there is too much blah blah blah in this world anyone can handle.

so without any more of that, here's what i recently did: five giant illustrations for my daughter's end of school year performance, each animal couple representing a class. 

crocodile rock'n roll

elephant cha cha 

giraffe charleston

lion kochari (armenian circle dance)

monkey twist

i really enjoyed making them, working for hours in absolute silence without having to change a diaper, or feed, or talk, or smile.

who knows when i will sit down for a minute and blog again.

please, do keep in touch and blah blah blah.