Princess ToadMonkey

illustration friday: poof! and girl poses... continued

2008-08-03T00:19:00.000-07:00

For illustration friday this week the word is Poof! I thought of a poofy dress, poofy hair, and poofy clouds all in a magical setting. Some fun with watercolors produced this:

And some fun girl poses... I'm experimenting with a style for a new project.

more girl heads

2008-07-30T22:06:00.000-07:00

I'm going to do a bunch of these, as they are fun for me and I'd like to continue to develop this style.

if I could design a coach bag...

2008-07-22T02:14:00.000-07:00

Maybe it would look a little like this...

I took an old drawing that's been gaining some new popularity on a fun fashion site, and played around with it. Very tempted to make another one (but if I do I'll do it with some recent art). Why? Cause a fancy bag shopping spree is on the line! I will draw for bags!

Design a Coach Tote

Sponsored by Coach
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illustration friday: multiple

2008-02-25T22:24:00.001-08:00

I thought of a multiplication table.

Well, actually, I thought of multiple personality disorder but I thought I'd do a friendlier drawing. :)

another doodle at work

2007-08-02T00:12:00.001-07:00

Doodles in meetings and watercolor inspired by three year olds.

angry people are fun to draw

2007-04-06T00:14:00.001-07:00

Here's just a doodle or two... merged together.

Illustration Friday: Snap

2007-04-02T20:29:00.000-07:00

On some days, don't you feel like you're going to snap?

Traditionally drawn, with gouache and prismacolor.

Illustration Friday: I Spy...

2007-03-27T23:06:00.000-07:00

I did this watercolor awhile ago. My reference was a screen capture of a home video of my brother and I playing in our front yard. My dad was taping us. Obviously, spying on us!

Here are more from that video:

Illustration Friday: Total

2007-03-16T23:36:00.000-07:00

I totally thought of a totaled car. Too much LA influence.

new cartoon portrait

2006-08-07T16:40:00.000-07:00

Sometimes art is messy.

2006-06-30T15:10:00.000-07:00

Traditional and then digital... Not exactly satisfied with it. But I'm not going to rework it anymore, it's time to move on. Sometimes you just gotta live with the end result, as sticky and messy as it may be!

I've been a busy bee!

2006-06-28T16:11:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm a horrible blogger, I know!!! I've been busy... working on a couple of freelancing jobs, starting a business, and *ACK* buying a house. Do you all forgive me????

There are some fun things I want to post soon. So keep checking!

In the meantime, keep dancing!

april fools day!

2006-04-04T02:34:00.000-07:00

I was a bridesmaid for the very first time on April 1st. Seriously!!!

This is us playing a trick on the bride. Heehee.

cake inspiration

2006-03-27T13:37:00.000-08:00

My brother blogged in his blog today about a cake competion he had stumbled upon. Nothing inspires me more than fancy cakes! Here are some of my favorites:

Yes, that last one is an iBook. How fabulous is that???

Check out more at his flickr acct here:

La Jolla Cake Competion

fun character designs

2006-03-21T00:15:00.000-08:00

I've recently done some funny character sketches of what my little dog and cat would appear like if they were my human daughters. Yes, maybe I'm weird. :) It's a fun excercise though.

Here's an old sketch of my animals as animals:

and now as people (they've switched places, my dog is now the little annoying sister)

This was a really quick idea, but I like Natasha's beat-up doll as a prop, and Snooper's icecream cone. (She's a little chunky.)

My in-laws have three dogs and two cats, and my parents have two cats... this was really fun so I think I'll try it with them too.

Illustration Friday: Insect

2006-03-09T00:35:00.000-08:00

This wasn't my original illustration, but I was playing around in photoshop, and did this butterfly piece, and realized it fit the theme. :) So here it is!

Another fun picture.

I was mostly experimenting with creating different textures using the different brushes. In other words, I'm totally procrastinating on "real" work. :P

cats

2006-03-03T22:37:00.000-08:00

Just a fun little drawing I did. I wasn't going to post this, but, eh--why not? :)

sleepy dreams

2006-03-03T15:42:00.000-08:00

Every night this is how I sleep. Curled up on 1/4th of the bed, and being squashed by furry animals.

cafe sketches

2006-03-02T19:28:00.000-08:00

Some in pencil, and some in crayola. :P

Meet Molly.

2006-02-21T13:49:00.000-08:00

To help me learn painter and illustrator, I'm giving myself some exercises. So, meet Molly. Molly is a cute little girl who shall be painted in several different art styles, all digital. The first painting is here:

Photoshop this time, sponge painting technique.

Illustration Friday: Song

2006-02-18T22:02:00.000-08:00

Another done by hand: prismacolor pencils. I thought of the first songs I ever learned how to play back in beginning band. None of us were very good then. :p

new banner

2006-02-18T02:32:00.000-08:00

new portrait for me...

2006-02-18T01:11:00.000-08:00

I did this in photoshop. I wanted to get a graphic, cut out look... I'm still struggling in Illustrator, anyone with pointers feel free to comment. :)

A piece of art? Sure, a piece of cake.

2005-12-16T23:24:00.000-08:00

In the last few weeks, I've been super busy swamped with some consulting work, and I didn't draw a bit. Unless you count the doodles of people getting killed with a sledgehammer.

Oh wait, maybe that was in my head.

So, in a desparate need to feel creative again, I made a teddy bear:

A teddy bear cake, that is!

So here it is, my grand artwork for the holiday. It was yummy!

happy things in the mail

2005-10-21T15:02:00.000-07:00

When I moved back to Los Angeles a couple of months ago, I left behind my job as an art teacher. I really loved it, and I feel like the little kids I taught actually taught me so much about art. I mainly taught ages 3-6. So it was part teaching art, and part surrogate mommy. :)

Anyway, I got the most wonderful thing in the mail. My supervisor sent me a bunch of pictures on a CD from the summer art camp I taught. All of my students were about 6. I'm not going to post any faces, but I want to share the art.

We hung up all their art on the wall as they finished:

This is a painting a student of mine did using Google map satellite pictures:

I loved how this turned out. The kids created life-size stuffed toys. They all turned out kinda creepy. Tim Burton would be proud. :)

We actually used the stuffed toys in a mini-film that we created that week, titled "Attack of the Stuffed Toys!" They wrote and designed the film. Remember, they're six. ;)

I've been a bad blogger

2005-10-21T13:07:00.000-07:00

I haven't updated anything in awhile. Let's just say the past few weeks have had some ups and downs, and very little sketching. I profusely apologize! I will be doing the Illo friday this week, plus I have a few more ideas up my sleeves... Until then, enjoy this old drawing. Kinda how I've been feeling lately!

Illustration Friday: Fresh

2005-09-25T15:34:00.000-07:00

My first Illo Friday! I did this Oooolllld school style, scissors and glue! I've gotta learn Photoshop for collage!

while I'm on a roll...

2005-09-24T19:44:00.000-07:00

These are some observation drawings I did a little bit ago at an outdoor mall in Pasadena.

a traffic school story of woe and regret

2005-09-24T19:31:00.000-07:00

Yeah so I had to spend 8 hours of my life at traffic school today. Which is bad. But, what is good, was there was PLENTY of time for doodling! Meet the cast of characters:

Aaahhh, what a day. Now I remember why I was a bit more productive with doodling and cartooning in college. ;)

The room was dark and people were kind of hard to see, but it killed some time.

So sweet!

2005-09-18T13:56:00.000-07:00

I came across this little comic this morning, and all I had to say was... awwwww!!!!
click here!

2005-09-16T00:24:00.000-07:00

Ethan and I are trying to work out everyday and eat better and all that fun stuff. So what does this mean? Last night I dreamt about donuts. Donuts. I dreamt we were in line at a cafe, hungry, and Ethan ordered some string cheese and a diet coke and I wanted a donut. But I knew I couldn't have it, because it would ruin my diet.

That is sad, people. I can't even eat donuts in my dreams.

The same dream had me driving all over LA looking for my lost sunglasses and asking my brother to paint some wall art for me which he then needed help on.

I think sometimes the reason I don't wake up very easily in the morning is because my dreams aren't very far from my living reality. Except my brother wouldn't paint wall art for me. That was sorta weird.

2005-09-14T12:28:00.000-07:00

It's impossible to have both a laptop and a lap dog.

Doing yoga is hard. Especially at home. With a dog and a cat. Meditation my ass.

Rock concerts were not designed for short people.

There are too many tall Decemberist fans.

photoshop fun

2005-09-13T16:42:00.000-07:00

Just having some fun with Photoshop.

one more for the evening

2005-09-11T01:01:00.000-07:00

Might do more to it later... but done for now.

Girl heads

2005-09-10T17:29:00.000-07:00

Okay the thing is I'm obsessed with drawing girl heads. I found these from a hairstyle magazine. There are so many heads in there I like, I may just have to draw all of them!

Here are a few:

These were done with colored pencil and prismacolor.

Here's the thing about Natasha

2005-09-09T14:11:00.000-07:00

So here it is: she just doesn't make her own plans for the day.

Her plan is... "Where's Mommy? I must sit next to her."

"Mommy is getting up to go to the bathroom? I will follow."

"Oh, the kitchen! Maybe Mommy will get me a snack. No? Okay, then a part of my body must me touching a part of her body. Sit, Mom, I need a lap!"

And occasionally...

"Oh the fat cat is still lurking. I will attack her!"

And then Snooper's all...

"Come and GET me then, you smelly twit-bean!" (Writhing on the floor ensues.)

And then Natasha's all, "You're going down, Furball!"

And then there's running and meowing and barking and sliding into walls and crashes and things falling off of shelves and desks and tables.

And then Snooper stares at her half-full food bowl and stares at me like, "Feed me, biatch!" And I feed her and retreat to whatever I was doing and Natasha's all:

"Where's mommy? I must sit next to her."

old comics of mine

2005-09-07T00:36:00.000-07:00

So I did a comic strip for awhile, and I'm toying with the idea of ressurecting this character in a new strip. But I want to archive some of these strips here first.

The inner workings of my brain

2005-09-04T00:01:00.000-07:00

This is an old illustration of mine, the characters in it sort of resemble the characters in my first film.

more old stuff

2005-09-03T22:25:00.000-07:00

Old life drawings... new stuff soon!

first post

2005-08-27T19:05:00.000-07:00

This is an older sketch, but to get a jumpstart I'll post it anyway. I drew this guy in a caricature class.

I've seen a lot of great sketch blogs pop up in recent weeks. Great work! You all motivated me to start one, so thanks. :)

All Ethans Are The Same.

2005-04-21T12:26:00.000-07:00

All Ethans Are The Same.
by Amy Haber Kaplan

I should know. I'm married to one.
Ethan was born in between 1971-1979. He didn't like soccer, but played as a child. His mother has the pictures. When Ethan was bar mitzvahed, his suit was too big for him. In high school, the other students thought Ethan listened to weird music. He went to college and met other people like him in his art/film/music/media program. Ethan is, or always wishes to be, a documentary filmmaker. Ethan can sometimes be too smart for his own good. Ethan sometimes doesn't brush his hair, but that's okay, that's what Ethans do.

If you are an Ethan and this is totally wrong, feel free to correct me. I'm only speaking from experience here.

2005-03-04T00:22:00.000-08:00

I received a business card from one of my students today. She's apparently the future president/CEO of Greystone Television and Film. She's three. She likes jewels and pjs. She misses her blue shoes that she lost in NYC whilst looking at dinosaur bones.

safe and sound... sort of

2005-01-14T01:21:00.000-08:00

After a 7 hour trek across California, we made it to Fullerton. Natasha is hyper and biting my legs. I took my pill and I'm seeing double. Ethan is bleeding from a facial wound -- bad shaving incident. We have to get up in 4 hours to go to the airport. New York here we come!

Ugg

2005-01-12T23:41:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd out myself. I'm so ashamed. So ugly, these shoes are. Blasphemous. And yet, so comfortable. And I will NOT conform to teacher-wear, and I WILL wear heels to work. So, I wear Uggs at home.

At first they were just slippers. Because it was really cold outside. Then, maybe I'd go the drugstore in them, maybe some grocery shopping. Tonight, I went to the mall. In my uggs.

Oh, and they're not real Uggs. They are knock off uggs. I'm not sure if that makes it better or worse.

Tomorrow I teach and then drive 14,000 miles or so to get to the airport. If you don't hear from me or Ethan, we've been kidnapped by country folk near abouts Palmdale. We'll send Natasha for help.

Desperate PTA Moms

2005-01-12T00:15:00.000-08:00

I must clarify: kids draw weird things sometimes. I let them draw whatever they want, unless it has excessive murderous tendencies. Then maybe I'll try to steer them in another direction. But for the most part, creativity should not be squandered. Let kids be kids.

That's fine, right? Today I went into the school to make up a few classes that I will miss because I'm going to New York this weekend. As I left for the day, one the more prominent pta moms on campus recognized me, smiled hello, and went to help set up the bake sale. I think it's a weekly bake sale, and that could be dangerous for my jeans. Self control. Sorry, tangent. So, I walked by the sale to see what delicious sugary goodies I could treat myself to. I settled on a donut. While normally 75 cents, I was excited to learn that my teacher discount got me a 33% discount. I shelled out two quarters for the baked good.

"You know," the mom said as she helped the other moms put out brownies and lemon cake, "you had my son in your class yesterday!"

"Oh, really? How wonderful."

Tales from the Art Teacher

2005-01-07T00:11:00.000-08:00

Today at work one of my younger students pointed to a color wheel by my supplies. "You know what that looks like?" he asks.

"It's a color wheel," I say.

"Yes, but you know what it LOOKS like?"

"What?"

"A star of david!"

"Oh, look, so it does."

"You should be Jewish. Then you would know."

"Well, actually, I am."

"You're Jewish?"

"Yep."

"And you didn't see that it was a star of david?"

"I guess not!"

"Well, that's okay. You can't be expected to know everything."

Nothing makes people smile more than a pug in a sweater.

2004-12-12T12:10:00.000-08:00

Natasha and I went on an outing today, to mingle with the holiday-frenzied crowds. And she's such a star. We only walked around for a couple of hours before she started barely trailing behind me, and pleading with big puppy eyes to go home. Everyone was commenting on how calm she was. Heh.

In other animal news, I bought Snooper her four dollar toy from the supermarket that she loves and so quickly destroys. It lasted an hour. Good thing it's only four dollars. She is now in the living room meowing at the remains of her kill.

This has been a quiet weekend of solitude for me. I've gotten caught up on sleep, and done a fair amount of window shopping/wish listing in my head for the upcoming holidays (and hopefully upcoming paychecks). I've meditated a bit on my film and my art and where it's going and where I'm going. I've eaten chocolate donuts. It's been a relaxing couple of days.

Tomorrow I need to actually respond to my alarm clock as I need to drop off some artwork to the museum, and then I may or may not work at the museum function. And then it's all about animatics, final cut pro, and after effects for me baby, as my final is on Tuesday. Sometime in between that I'm getting fingerprinted and oriented at my new job.

Bells are ringing in the background here but it's just Snooper finalizing the death of her supermarket toy.