I win!

Quail-Mart

I entered a contest on Portfolios.com and I won the bronze in my category! The announcement will be on the site the first week of July. I will have a link to my portfolio. I'm really hoping this will increase my exposure and hopefully land me a job or two. I'm also in the process of mailing out self promotional postcard again. I'm much happier with the printing on these. I used overnightprint.com and they turned out great and only cost me 30$ because I had a coupon.

rain

No matter where I go I have to draw. I drew these pictures on the beach at Pictured Rocks in Michigan's upper peninsula. It had rained shortly before we arrived and shortly after we left. I hope a few people got to enjoy them at least before they were washed away by the rain.

Dance

Some oldies. I don't have time this week to do a new illustration I'm currently packing to go up north for a week. Just me and my husband in a little cabin on a lake. I'm excited I don't even have to take any work with me.

Jungle

I hate shopping at those huge chain stores. I can never find anything and I get lost. It's like a jungle!

In other news I found out my cards will be out in select Target test stores from August 7 to Sept 2. They can't tell me which stores are test stores so if anyone finds a store carrying my cards let me know! If my cards do well they will go in to the everyday line. I may also get to make more cards for them. That would be exciting.

In related news I updated my website. Several of the images from my cards are on there. Everyone should check it out. cbeckwith.com

Portrait

This is a quick portrait of the girl that was shot last night in a drive by just down the street from my house. She was hit in the neck. My husband is an army medic and he rushed to the scene and held her head until the ambulance arrived. She told him she was four months pregnant.

I don't understand things like this. Why shoot innocent people? Why shoot anyone at all? In all irony the shooting occurred at the corner of Martin Luther King Park. Martin Luther King, the man who lead a people in a great movement of non-violence and unity. It is a shame that his legacy is that the places named for him witness violence and murder among the very people he sought to bring to greatness. The world needs another Martin Luther King, someone to breathe hope in to the dying youth of our urban streets. Someone to promise them a future that is not lying on the pavement in a pool of blood.

Cake

I haven't been real inspired by the last couple IF topics. This one however was a bit of fun and a nice break from the book I am rushing to get done.

Illustration Friday: Fat

Sometimes feeling fat depends on who you are around.

I learn something new every day.

Here is a random picture. I hadn't thought about this image for a while so I thought I'd throw it back out there. It is one of my favorites. It is now in New York at the Society of Illustrators Student Competition or it may be on its way back to Grand Valley. Either way I kind of miss it. I don't get attached to many of my paintings but all those little vertebrae were so much fun.
Today Karl helped me package my InDesign files for print. Here I thought it would be so hard and it turned out to be so easy. I love Adobe for making programs I can understand and even teach myself a little. So tomorrow my cards are off to RCP. I'm really hoping I put everything I need on the CD.
I also spent an hour on the phone with my email provider trying to figure out why my email stopped receiving email. We never did figure out why but it is now fixed. Yay email.

Under the Sea

In many ways life under the sea is similar to life on land.

Fashionable

I haven't been very good about updating lately. I've been pretty busy. I'm working on that book still. I also got a call from Recycled Paper Greetings last week. They want to do a test with seven of my cards in Target stores. I finished them up and sent them out today. I'm really hoping they sell well. How well they do affects how many cards of mine RPG will carry. The image above is from one of the cards I sent them. I also cut my hours back at my day job again today. I want some free time. It feels like all I do is work then do house work. On the plus side I ran 22 minutes yesterday and can still walk today. I want to be able to run 30 min before I join the running club with Karly. I'm getting close and I feel great. My knees barely hurt and I've lost about three pounds. I feel very determined in my get-in-shape plan and career track.

Robot

It's strange but this is the first thing I thought of when I read robot.

Spotted

Here is one I did just for Illustration Friday. I decided to use Illustrator this time. I'd like to have a digital portfolio as well as traditional media. I'd love to hear what people like better my traditional or digital. Thanks.

Spotted

I did this image for my senior show and thought it was very appropriate for the spotted theme. My neighbor loved it so much he bought it. I think I'll try my hand at another spotted image. Hmmm what to do?

I don't use Illustrator very often but I'm trying to learn to use it better. Here is an image I created just for fun. Live trace is my hero.

Speed

Speedy skeleton dog.

Spring

This was my rendition of spring for Illustration Friday. I kind of posted it too late but oh well I'm busy.

This is an image I did for a greeting card for my future sister-in-laws wedding shower.
In other news I now have acontract with Recycled Paper Greetings so look for my work comming from them in the next yearish.

Wow

Hey this is my first post to my new BLOG. I'm excited. I plan to use this to track my illustration career. This is how things are going so far. I just bought a space on portfolios.com (portfolios.com/cbeckwith) and updated my website (cbeckwith.com). I just finished my first book and have a meeting on Monday to drop off the originals and get my final payment. Then Tuesday I have a meeting with another self-publishing author who is interested in me doing illustrations for her book. Sometime in there I have mail out the spec cards I did for Recycled Paper Greetings. The sounded interested initially so lets hope they accept the finals. It would be so great to have published work in a store!