Saul Bass + Other Stuff Going On

I loved, loved, loved the google doodle up today in celebration of Saul Bass's 93rd birthday. Saul Bass is one of my favorite artists. I know I've mentioned him on the blog a few times and I thought the animation was so well done. If you didn't get a chance to see it, you can check it out here.

Also, I know the blog's been pretty silent for the last few weeks. The semester is coming to a close and it always gets especially hectic as I'm figuring out grades and preparing seniors for graduation. On top of that, this pregnancy is reaching it's final weeks...and we still have so much left to do! Beside buying all of the necessary items and reading all of the books we can to prepare, I've also started working on a baby quilt inspired by this tutorial (but different colors). If it turns out well, I'll post it. It's my first quilt, though, so there's a good chance it might not work out.

Oh, and this baby is showing signs that he might arrive early.....although who knows, really.

Portraits for Scientific American

I just wrapped up a portrait illustration assignment for one of Scientific American's supplemental magazines. I got to work with one of my favorite art directors, Joelle Bolt, and create three portraits of Ag-Bio scientists currently making strides in their field.

Yasmin Othman

Clive James

Adrian Dubock

I revised the original images to remove the background color and added a vignette upon request. So, the images on the right side are what will be printed in the magazine (and I agree they integrate better with the text this way), but I still prefer the originals as stand alone images. So, I'm posting both. I also tweaked the portraits to turn them into tiny thumbnails placed at the top of each page, but those aren't so interesting to look at on their own.

It was fun to turn out a few pretty quick portraits again after the long book assignment and I'm pretty happy with how they turned out (for now....I can't look at any of my work for long without starting to nitpick it).

Taschen Fashion Illustraiton Now!

I know I haven't posted in a while. This semester + illustration projects + pregnancy has really gotten the better of me. But, I'll get the ball rolling again with some illustration news.

Two spreads of my illustration work are going to be published in another Taschen book coming out this summer, Fashion Illustration Now! I'm super excited to be included and can't wait to check out the whole book. Here's a rough screen shot of one of the spreads in the meantime.

Patterns in the Sky

Yesterday, I included in my February instagram post a small peak at the title page of a book that I recently picked up at a local goodwill. I think it's designed so simply and beautifully, so I wanted to show you a little more (especially the tiny embossed cygnus on the clothbound cover). Here are a few more images from Patterns in the Sky - The Story of the Constellations, published in 1951.

February Instagrams

Since I've been too busy to blog much, here's a peek at how I spent most of this past February:

The month included a trip to the Museum of Natural History in D.C., homemade Valentines, baking, thrift shop book finds, snow flurries, and architecture around town.

Also, the bottom left photo is of the new pair of green kicks I bought to cheer myself up after hurting my ankle. I'm on a strict sneaker-only regimen until it heals, but I'm not ready to give in to complete frumpiness (being nearly 7 months pregnant is making that an already trying task).

I'm turning in finals for the Flannery O'Connor book illustration project this week, so hopefully that means I'll have more time for blogging soon!

Anne Ten Donkelaar

Thanks to Design*Sponge, I just got turned on to the delicate constructions of Anne Ten Donkelaar. These are a few of my favorites. You can view more at her site, here.

In other news, I'm as big as a house now and staying very, very busy working on the changes for Flannery O'Connor illustrations. Also, it's only the beginning of February, but I'm so ready for Spring to arrive (possibly another reason by Donkelaar's work is so appealing to me right now)!

Congrats Ravens!

And congrats Joe Flacco! The city is exploding in excitement outside our windows tonight. The last time Baltimore won the Super Bowl in 2001, Jesse and I lived here, too, but as college freshmen. We must be lucky charms for this city;)

portrait of Flacco that I illustrated for Baltimore Magazine at the beginning of this year's season