Studio log - Mail Club "flow" and sketches

I've decided to start this new blog area of my site so that I have somewhere to document my creative process each week. The messy sketches, progress on bigger projects and notes on my inspirations. The amount of writing will wax and wane I imagine. Sometimes just a few sentences for context and other times large essays when I feel inspired. Hopefully I'll fill up a post with work during the week and then edit and post on a Sunday.

Started this character illustration and I'm not sure where it's going but I like the sketch. It's fun to work on stuff with no real purpose or goal in mind, just vibes.

A little bit of play in my sketchbook. A saying that's been bouncing around my brain a bit that I might turn into a print or a shirt, and some dog studies (specifically dogs with eyebrows). It's hard to capture my coloured pencils on camera, they're so light.

Did a LOT of work on Mail Club rewards for July. It's become part of my process each month to start in my sketchbook just brainstorming messages surrounding the theme, and some sketches that have already been cooking in my brain. From there it's a lot easier to jump into sketching out the formats digitally and collecting inspo images.

Ideation process for the sticker, from sketchbook sketch to the final idea. I decided to include a fun sticker material this month and I think it really brings the design together, but it took me a while to get the composition right.

I was so excited for this month's postcard, I've had this idea in my brain of Toot the cat floating down a river for so long. A little homage to the classic Ophelia painting, plus an excuse to draw water crowfoot which I find so beautiful. I had a little trouble with the lighting for a bit. I really like the scattered lighting of sun through the trees (3rd image) but it seems to clutter the illustration and pull focus from the subject. So I ended up with the 4th image which I think is better balanced, but it was still fun to play around with more complex light rendering.

Last lil thing from the Mail Club I want to share, this footer for the letter. I was sooooo happy with my sketches for this. When I first started drawing these cat characters of mine I often had trouble with how their fictional anatomy worked and putting them in more complex poses, but these came so naturally and I think really shows how much better I understand these characters and their shapes. I think I may use this art again and make it a sticker or print or something? It's too cute.

Notes / goals for next week:

• draw a backing pattern for the mail club letter

• more sketchbook time

• go through and write down ideas for future products / prints