Skate Boards offered at Zazzle

Just getting into Halloween when Zazzle put out a new product soooo....I just had to try it out.  Skate boards.  I have never done this type of art work before so I gave it my all.  I took a day off and put his together.  For a first attempt... I think... not bad.  So now that the illustration is finished I turned it into a wonderful skate board.   I don't think that I will do to many more of these just due to the fact that they have to be done in 300 dpi and that is heavy for my lap top.  This image when finished running it through illustrator and Photoshop it  was 243 MB.  Needless to say things got to running really slow.   Well submitted for your approval..... Rotten to the Core.  

The Elements of Halloween

With Halloween just around the bend, I thought that it might be the time to start getting ready, for..., well a Halloween line.   Now at this time I have absolutely nothing!  So yesterday I started thinking how I wanted to go about getting a line together.  Since I was starting from scratch, but had a good since of what I wanted to accomplish, which was color and simplicity.  I also wanted to incorporate some of my aging process that I have been working with but since that aspect is a finial process I started to concentrate on the elements.  So I have started to create some elements of Halloween.  The basics are..... a witches hat, black cat, and pumpkin.  In the next few days I will put these items together to create several different looks  and add volume to a new line. 

I have tried to keep the elements simple so I don't put in a lot of time and only achieve one design.  Remember my goal is to add volume to a new line.  So I have created some items that can be added together to create many different looks.  This is a technique that I have used to achieve repeats for wrapping paper companies and for the scrubs found in nursing and hospital clothing.  Keeping things like these simple elements, makes it soooo easy when someone comes to you and says can you give me this with this.  Instead of going back to the drawing board and hoping that you can reproduce or recreate  your work again in the same manner that that you client would like, now you will automatically have it, and it will be  just a matter of a few strokes of the Wacom tablet and there you go.

I started off making this items that are posted here in Illustrator CS2 (hopefully sales of my Halloween line  will provide me with Illustrator CS3) I used my pen tool to do the basic out lines of the images and then to smooth them out I used the smooth tool.  I used the " jeweled swatches, and the vegetable swatches" for color.  The "jeweled swatches" are great for hot color.  It really make the items pop.  I try to use colors that are on the opposite side of the color wheel so that it adds that extra eye popper.  After all it is Halloween.  It is supposed to be very colorful and this could possibly be that one time a year that you can just let your inhibitions run wild with color.  

Well I shall return tomorrow with more but for right now I have to go and start making some more of my little spooks.   I am getting into the this now..... 

Joker

Review your images.  I can't say that enough.  I had forgotten this image that I created some time ago.  Locked away in my outside hard drive this little joker almost had the last laugh.  I spent hours on him when we first met.  Grooming him for usage in my zazzle shop day after day.  I put him outside for storage until I could get a satiable frame for his.... well mischievous personality. Well needless to say I totally forgot about him and moved on to other things.  So when I tell you get yourself a good filing system and place the things that you have ideas for in a certain section so that they will keep on at you until they have reached their competed state.  Make notes on what you would like to see happen to the design.  Remember there is not enough hours in a day for you to get everything done some make a file keep notes and ideas on how you want to keep changing your design and then move on.  Don't leave good art work to run a muck.  The creative mind is just that creative and create it what it does best so use that part but also keep notes because it moves fast.  

Animals

Well,  here I am thinking of things to go on baby shirts and bibs and little cards that are cute and cozy.  So here is how I went about doing it.  KISS. Keep it simple stupid. That is my main motto to myself.  Simple lines simple colors and remember cute large eyes helps.  I am sure that you too will find or have and idea of what is silly and brings a smile to your face if not a chuckle.  

I start in Illustrator CS2 and create some simple line drawings and a couple of brush strokes of color and vola your done.  Now then I move on over to the photoshop aspect of the image because there is where I use a great filter ..... rust... found in Alien Skin ( a separate purchase but well worth it) then I remove a lot of it with the eraser of your choice.  I use a scatter eraser so it leaves a bit of the rust behind so that it provides a texture and some color.  I also put on a adjustment of sepia so that it ages it just a touch.  Then another layer (please work in separate layers so that you can throw them away if you did not get the look that you like).  This layer will be for the type.  I pick some aspect of the image that is a important part of it or relates to the image itself.  I then type that in a frame around the image.  And there you have it.  I will post these items on Cafe Press so that you can see the outcome.  Hope you like it but remember this is not the only way to do things and that is what is great about art no set way.  Just have fun and be creative. 

Great new line at Cafe Press

In working with different companies for the sale of my designs on their products it has been a rush to place things and up load them.  I no sooner come up with a thought and design and then a thousand other things enter my head and it is off to the races.  I have been doing a line that is a type of distressing.  I am hooked.  I hope to expound on this and make it work in different areas.   Take it to a new level instead of just doing the same old same old.  This is going to be posted to my Cafe Press store called waddles for my baby line.  I see this going into the card section of the format.  Check it out.  Enjoy. 

Still working in Photoshop CS2 with rust filter and gradient with matching colors on over lay 

Mystic dragon

Mystic dragon
Originally uploaded by Jeweledfrogcreations

What a day this has been. I am still going with this aging teq. I loved this Dragon with the old look and on black it pops. You will just have to check it out on my zazzle account (link is on this blog) This is a whole set. I am trying to get where I do one thing at a time and posting these things as a set I believe will be better then just slapping them up one at a time. So here goes I am very please with this. I also have ordered several of my newest items so I will be blogging about those items when they get here. Hopefully they will be of good quality. I believe that if you want people to buy your items then you have to buy them yourself.