A quick post about my process

Each month, either Mrs. Handmade or I work four shifts at Fusion, an art co-op we are members of here in St. Louis. One of the great things about working there is that after the dusting is done, and if there are no customers to help, all the time is ours. We're actually encouraged to bring our craft/artwork to do, because seeing us working helps draw people into our story. I spent this last Saturday working at the shop all day, and inking storybook drawings. It was great talking to people about what I was working on, telling them about the project and answering questions. One couple asked me about my process, which I love talking about because drawings seem like magic sometimes instead of a series of steps. I thought I'd take a minute and share some process drawings from Little Red Riding Hood with you today.

 

I started out by doodling in my sketch book, looking for who I thought the character of little red is, and what I wanted her to look like. This includes her reacting to things and doing things. This is a pretty well refined sketch of what I decided I was looking for.

 Next, I do very rough layout sketches for the drawings I'd like to include...Mostly these are just notes to myself, and I'm just looking at shapes and deciding where I want things to go.  I know I did one for the drawing I'm about to show, but it must've been on the back of an envelope or something, because I have no idea where it is now. Ha-ha-ha!

 

 Armed with the rough layout, I sit down with (in this case) cold press watercolor paper and a non-photo blue pencil. I use the blue pencil on these because it doesn't compete with the graphite when I do the final drawing, and it adds another layer of texture to the finished image when colored. Basically, I just like it. :) So, here I loosely and pretty quickly put down all the major shapes that I plan on being there when everything's finished.

 Next, I use a 2H graphite pencil to work out all the details, and to start figuring out the textures I'll need when I ink it. This is also where I start posting the images for the writers to see, so that we're all on the same page, and to give us all a chance to ask questions and comment.

  

Inking is probably my favorite part of the whole process. It's soothing, and probably the only part of the process where I don't always feel like I'm fighting it. I think this allows me to take more chances with it too.

Also, it's where everything sort of solidifies for me, as it approaches being finished. The trees were inspired in part by Charles Vess and his awesome artwork in the Dream Makers anthology. I got that book for Christmas when I was 13 or 14, and just pored over it. If you ever find it, definitely check it out.

I'm finishing up these spot interiors now, and starting the 12 main calendar images over the next week. At the same time, I'll start coloring the interiors...hopefully I don't mess them up, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, am I right? I'll leave you with one final image, the inked Tailor and Giant from last week. Brandon Graham did a really great little write up for the project over on his blog today. Go check it out!

 

Until next time, take care and be good!

Your friend,

Jeffrey

Some background and progress on Handmade Fairytales

Whenever I'm asked what Handmade Family makes I say stories...Actually, that's a lie. I just now thought of it, but it sounded so good, that I honestly want it to be true. Maybe I will start saying that for real. The real truth, is that we make back-to-basics gifts, toys, accessories and decor that promote education, problem solving and imagination. We're more than the products we make though, and we know that our customers are more than what they buy...we make things to be a part our families' lives. Stories are an important part of that, and we love telling them. When Abby was born, I knew that I wanted to collect these little experiences and illustrate them, so I started a little web comic called Daily Life. One panel cartoons with some accompanying text. I did several of them over the course of a year or two, and then decided to make a calendar collecting twelve stories about my first year as a stay-at-home dad my two little girls.

Looking for an idea for the second calendar was tough. I wanted to still tell stories about my family, but was looking for a way to stretch my abilities a little and offer something that people who didn't know me, and who didn't have that back story could relate to. Part of what inspired me as a kid, and made me want to follow a career in art was a love of movies and games. I remember being a member of the Rebel Alliance, or a Ghostbuster on the playground. Movies have become a part of our cultural dialog and there's such a rich source of material to play with there. One of the really fun aspects of that project was researching accurate costumes for the kids, while thinking of ways to make costumes for the adults that made sense but were obviously hand made.

I've enjoyed working on these projects so much, and have learned so much by doing them. This year though, I wasn't sure whether I was going to do one. I talked to Mrs Handmade about it and while we both agreed that the fan inspired work for 2012 was really cool and we love showing it, maybe we could do something more...So we decided to do a book. At first, I wanted to do just a "sketchbook" collection of drawings and illustrations. Sort of a best of the last couple years with some new work to tie it together. She thought (rightly) that it would be better to do a book of all new work, and to continue telling stories. So we decided to work on an illustrated book of Fairy Tales. As we talked out the idea, it grew. And grew...Into the most ambitious project we've done so far. The book will contain 12 fairy tales, written graciously (and incredibly) by our friends, with illustrations, layout and design by me. Along with this is the 2013 Handmade Family with us and the kids acting out the stories as illustrated theatre...

Brandon Graham, with The Brave Little Tailor
Justin Hunter, with Goldielocks, The Fox & The Crow, and The Frog Prince
Josh Burnett with Hansel and Gretel
Leighton Connor with The Princess and The Pea, and The Seven Ravens
Richard Smith with Jack and the Beanstalk, and an original story about my forest sprites
Rob Lammle with Thumbelina
Steve Johnson with The Emperors New Clothes, and Little Red Riding Hood

So would you like to see a little bit of what we've been working on? Here's a couple of the pencil drawings from the Brave Little Tailor, by Brandon Graham

“Seven,” he said. He would have to swat them all at once. If he missed even one, he would be stung for certain. Stings were not his favorite. He found his straw broom and tested its heft. He aimed carefully. Then he let fly. SMACK. Seven wasps curled harmlessly along the ground.

“Did you see that?” he called to his sheep. The sheep were hard to impress.

He was, however, truly miffed that no one had bothered to warn him the giant was there. Meridee might have said something. Poor manners were inexcusable. He turned on his heels to go back and give her a good talking to.

We're all really excited about this project and are looking forward to sharing the ideas and progress  with you over the next few weeks as we lead up to their release at the Strange Folk Festival in O'fallon IL, at the end of September. Until then, take care and be good.

Your friend,
Jeffrey

Some New Artwork and Thoughts About Projects

All these pictures were taken on my iphone and processed with instagram. You can follow me if you want too! My user name is redherringjeff.

 My friend Connie from Life Uncork'd is pretty awesome. Summertime is full of berry, peach, and apple picking and Connie is right out there...and she makes wonderful jam. For my birthday, she gave me three small jars, and we've been enjoying the heck out of them. Especially Olive and I...especially Olive. Ha-ha-ha!

 

 Working on handmade commission pieces and personal illustrations at the same time allows me to experiment with different color combinations and techniques in a way that I may normally not be able to. My emotional stance towards this learning process has changed a lot over the years.  In school there was a lot more "wild" experimentation, with strong colors and heavy washes. Now as I work I think more about control and thin washes effecting how the colors work together.

 

 A couple of weeks ago I put a shout out on Instagram and Facebook mentioning that I was going to be doing some marker drawings as warm-ups and asking friends and followers what they'd like to see. There was a great range of suggestions from Olive dressed as a Super Toddler to Batman trapped in Candy Land (complete with sweets and disaster). I'm pretty happy with this little drawing of Pinky and the Brain, I thought it might be funny to sort of switch their positions...

 We're getting work done on the Fairy Tale book and Calendar. I have drafts of several of the stories from my writer friends that are working with me on it, and about a third of the book illustrations are put together. Here's a little teaser of the witch from The Seven Ravens. It's really cool seeing this project come together, and I'm looking forward to sharing more bits of it with you over the next month.

Thanks for stopping in! Until next time, take care and be good!
Your friend,
Jeffrey

Some things I'm into right now,

Tiger in a Jar:  Tiger in a Jar makes beautiful, rich videos and photosets featuring among other things handmade products and lifestyle. If you like quiet moments in the midst of adventure, this is the place for you.

PBS Digital Studios: A network of web originals from PBS on YouTube. I've been really enjoying their idea channel show, as well as musical remixes like this one featuring Mister Rogers.

6 Hours

All these pictures were taken on my iphone and processed with instagram. You can follow me if you want too! My user name is redherringjeff.

I love my kids, and I love being home with them. As any stay at home parent can tell you though, the hardest part of that job is that you never get a day off. For me, nap time is spent working or cleaning and there is very little time left for personal projects. I talked to Mrs Handmade about this the other day, and we hatched a plan for some time set aside for those things that I don't have time for, and also time to just be alone. On the Design Mom blog last week, Gabrielle Blair talked about being alone and included this wonderful little video about it.





So I've managed to get out to Bread Co, or the library and get some work done on the blogs, or in my sketch book. and it's been really great. My wife is pretty rad.
Speaking of rad, this past weekend Mrs Handmade had another idea...trade a day of babysitting each week with one of our friends. My head exploded. What a perfect, simple idea that would be great for everybody. Why hadn't we thought about it sooner? Six hours home alone. Six hours to get some work done...during the day. This week was my first "day off" and while it felt a little indulgent at times, I made an actual dent in my work load. And then we went to see "Brave" after picking up the girls. And it was great.
Here's a little peek at my six hours...

 

9:30. After dropping Amy off at work, and the kids off at the sitters I sat down to frame some calendar prints for the shop and watch the "new" Conan movie. The movie had just the right amount of fluff to make actually paying attention to what I was doing possible. Also, in case the R rating didn't warn you, this is not like the older Conan movies, and I wouldn't watch it with kids. There's a lot of boobs and blood.

11:00.  I spent 20 minutes in my super messy studio looking for picture hanging hardware that I'm sure I have. I briefly considered both cleaning up the studio and going out to buy the hardware. Ultimately I decided to just let it go and work on sketches for the fairy tale book and calendar...

 Eating lunch while listening to Neil Gaiman read "Stardust" and sketching ideas for "The Emperors New Clothes".  I'm thinking that instead of going with the traditional Rococo inspired designs that I'll do Napoleonic empire clothes with 20th century Arts and Crafts sets.

1:30. After lunch, back down to the studio to rework some drawings for a barbecue competition team shirt I'm working on. One of my instagram followers said I need to post more of this type of stuff. What do you all think? More artwork? Is there anyghing in particular you'd like to see here on the blog?

 3:00. I caved and went to buy hardware on my way to pick up the girls. I just know that in the next couple of days I'll find the stuff I already had...it's not like I wont use it all or anything, just frustrating that I wasted so much time looking for it. Ha-ha-ha!

 

4:00. I picked up the girls at the sitter. They were glad to see me, but sad that they had to leave their friends. Ha-ha-ha! Life's so hard when you're a kid. We went and picked up Mom, and then went and saw Brave. The movie was great, and I think it's unfortunate that Disney did such a terrible job marketing it, because it wasn't the movie they made it out to be. 

And that was my "day off". Over all, a pretty good and productive day, and I hope you enjoyed spending it with me. Is this something you'd like to see as a regular feature? Are there things that you'd like to read about that I'm just not thinking of? Would you like to see more tutorials, reviews and shows? Let us know in the comments. We'd love to hear from you!

Until next time, take care and be good!

Your friend,

Jeffrey

Things I'm into right now:

Thundercats. I finally got to see some of the new Thundercats cartoon, and it's pretty cool. One thing that's interesting to me is that this is the second cartoon that I've seen recently that borrows a lot of it's themes from the A-team. 

Neil Gaiman Books on tape:
I'm listening to "Stardust" right now, and have "Coraline" to listen to while I work next. One of the cool things is that Neil reads his own books, and he has such a wonderful, English voice.

Photo Round-up For The Third Week of June

All these pictures were taken on my iphone and processed with instagram. You can follow me if you want too! My user name is redherringjeff.

Have you seen "The Avengers" yet? Mrs Handmade went the other nite for our twelfth anniversary, and it was awesome! Here's Olive posing as Captain America on one of our morning trips to Target. It's the only place open after we drop Amy off for work, so we usually go and hang out for a bit and get a start on our errands before heading to the park, or wherever.  

 

This is our Simmer-Down chair. Sometimes the kids just need a minute to catch their breath and think about the decisions they're making...Sometimes I need a place to put them while I think about what to say to them. Something I've noticed is that the days they seem to be the neediest are the days that I just don't have anything to give them. 

I bought some costume glasses at a Deals that's going out of business. They're super cheap, but the girls look so cute in them! I showed this picture to Abby, and she said "Awww, it looks just like you!" Ha-ha-ha! It's awesome having conversations with her. She's so funny, and smart, and I never know what she's going to say.

 Last week we took some of our capes and artwork to a new shop in O'Fallon, Illinois. The shop is super cute, and carries a good variety of awesome local handmade goods. If you're in the area, you should definitely stop by and check them out. They're located at 311 South Lincoln in O'fallon, IL 62269.

 I finally managed to get the first four Doctor Who peg people painted. I'm pretty happy overall with how they turned out. From left to right, there's the Empty Child, Rose Tyler, the Tenth Doctor, and a Cyberman. I've got a couple of others started, and am pretty excited about them all.

 

 We set up shop at the Soulard Market Arts and Crafts fair this weekend. The market is pretty awesome! It's an indoor Farmers Market, so it's open year round and was really busy. We had a great time hanging out with our crafty friends, and meeting new ones. The response to our work was really positive and encouraging too, which is always an added bonus that sure helps get you through the heat of the day when things start to slow down a bit.

 I added this little shelf to our display this week, and am so glad I did! It adds a little hight to the items on the table, and gives us an extra three feet of display room! It takes so little to get us excited these days, ha-ha-ha!

Thanks for stopping in! Until next time, take care and be good!

Your friend,

Jeffrey

Some things I'm into right now,

Adventure Time: it's like Spongebob times 10. Totally inappropriate and awesome, it's about a boy named Finn and his magic dog Jake and the adventures they have. Basically the kinds of things I daydreamed about as a kid...or last week. Like I said it's totally inappropriate for kids, but despite that the girls are a little obsessed with it. 

Fairy Tales: I've started working on the 2013 Handmade Family calendar, and the theme is fairy tales. I'm thinking that there will also be a companion sketch book as well. The idea is pretty ambitious, but I'm really excited about it. Are there any fairy tales that you'd like to see included? Let us know in the comments! 

Photo Roundup For The First Week Of June

Busy, busy beginning of summer here getting the yard work done, summer craft shows, artwork, and of course playing with the girls. So here's this weeks photo roundup, all these pictures were taken on my iphone and processed with instagram. You can follow me if you want too! My user name is redherringjeff.

One of our goals for Handmade Family this year was to do a show a month, in May we ended up doing three.  It was a hectic month for Mrs Handmade and me. Memorial day was Gypsy Caravan, an annual craftshow and flea market benefiting the Saint Louis Symphony. We were expecting heat and thunderstorms, but got a pretty mild, windy day. It was really pretty nice. This is our booth neighbor Melissa of Villa Design through the window formed by our displays. 

This book shelf, built inside of a door frame is awesome. One of the really awesome things I saw in the vendors stalls around the show. If only I was a little richer...and earlier. At 7:30 it had already sold.

 

This is my first "successful" attempt to braid Abby's hair. It's not the prettiest braid in the world, but if ponytails are any indication, it'll get better. 

We're always making things around here, and imaginative role-playing is a pretty big game with the kids. Really, we do a lot of back to basics stuff around here. Which isn't to say that we never watch TV or play computer games, there's plenty of that too, but we like to shoot for a balance.  Abby found this box the other day and wanted me to cut a robot face out of it. She was walking around saying "I am a robot...I talk like a robot..." for quite awhile. The other side has just one big square cut out of it, so she can be a talking TV head.  Ha-ha-ha!

So I'm sitting on the couch reading, and Abby decides to climb up on my shoulders and start wrigling around and dancing. The more I think about it, the more it seems like a good metaphor for our lives with children. I know I'll miss these days when they're gone.

 

The leeks I planted in our garden last summer bloomed this week.  They are huge and beautiful, Amy smelled them and was surprised to find that they smell like onions.  Ha-ha-ha! I said it made sense to me. This is one of the really cool things about having a garden. Even if (for what ever reason) not everything you plant gets eaten, there's nothing like seeing where things come from and where they go. Nature's pretty darn amazing.

 

The beginning stages of a Cthulhu peg-person. I've been having a lot of fun working on these guys a little bit at a time, lately.

 

A sketch I did for my friend Rob over at SpaceMonkeyX. He's a freelance writer, and all around pretty awesome guy.  You should go check him out!

Well, that's it for this week! Until next time then, take care and be good!

Your friend,

Jeffrey

Photo Roundup For The Third Week Of May

I can't believe that I forgot to post these on Monday!  This seems to just be one of those weeks :) So here's this weeks photo roundup, all these pictures were taken on my iphone and processed with instagram. You can follow me if you want too! My user name is redherringjeff.

 

Sitting outside on the swing, I was checking mail while the kids played and Abby asked me to take her picture. This is her pose...with her eyes closed. Ha-ha-ha! This is actually intentional, and just cracks me up!

Abby's god mother got this book for her for her first birthday, and it's probably one of my favorites. It's hard to beat a combination like Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess in the first place, but the poem is just fantastic, and speaks about the things fathers want for their daughters. I don't want them to be perfect, but do want them to be happy, healthy and responsible. It often frustrates me how little good literature there is out there for little girls, but it IS there.

 

Working on some new peg people. I've seen several on pinterest that are pretty nice, but not really what I'm looking for...This is what happens when someone with art training and several years as a serious miniature hobbyist/gamer  becomes a crafter. I hope that this first set of Doctor Who peg people are well received. If not, then I had fun making them!

 

Speaking of art, I do graphic design and illustration as my day job. (In case you didn't know, ha-ha-ha!) These are a couple of character drawings I did last week. I'm thinking if I don't have time to get the new Daily Life finished this week I might throw some color on them for Friday's post. 

 

The girls and a little Crafternoon Delite.  I forget sometimes just how capable Olive is, because she doesn't really talk yet...That kid is smart. A lot of construction paper, foam stickers and cutting going on here.  It's cool seeing how into making things they are.  Speaking of Crafternoon Delite, Tonite (Wednesday, May 23) we are hosting a crafting event at Fusion in chesterfield mall from 6:00 to 9:00. Grab some of your handwork and come on down and hang out with us!

 

We found these costume glasses the other day at Deals, for a dollar. Olivia thought they were really cool, and looked SO cute in them...unfortunately, they broke the next day. It kills me that even something that only cost a dollar has no real longevity.

Well, that's it for this week! Until next time then, take care and be good!

Your friend,

Jeffrey

Photo Roundup For the Second Week Of May

 All these pictures were taken on my iphone and processed with instagram. You can follow me if you want too! My user name is redherringjeff.

 

This is the most hilarious side effect of owning a Mr Potato Head.  I think at one point or other, all kids try on the glasses, don't they? Olive will put them on and then come and tell me either "glasses" or "eyes" depending on her mood. 

 

A couple of weeks ago, I went and did a presentation about being a freelance Graphic Designer and Illustrator to a high school graphic design class. Remembering my speech classes in college, I was worried that I'd talk for about 5 minutes and then run out of things to say. What I forgot is that I really like to talk about what I do. I think blogging for the last 10 years or so has really made that easier, because I know what it is that I WANT to say now, ha-ha-ha! The other day I got this thank you note from the class. I think my favorite is "Thanks Jeff, you're pretty legit. props"  Ha-ha-ha! how awesome is that?

 

The other day, Abby came out of her room wearing one of the super hero masks that Mrs Handmade made for her...and a GIANT sombrero.  "Who is this masked amiga?" said Amy as she took a picture. 

 

A second later, Olive comes out wearing princess shoes and this smaller, straw sombrero. Ha-ha-ha! The perfect sidekick for her Quixotic sister!

 

The view from my chair at this weekend's farmers market down at Tower Groves in Saint Louis.  We couldn't have asked for a better day, 74 degrees and sunny. There was a good crowd, and we had great neighbors. 

 

Speaking of our great neighbors, here's Beqi and Lauren B. Both do awesome work, and are fun, funny and just generally pretty great. All day, Lauren was just GUSHING about corgis. I think Beqi was getting a little tired of it by the end of the show, but of course it didn't stop. Ha-ha-ha!

Until next time, take care and be good!

Your friend,

Jeffrey

Becoming a Handmade Family Part 2: Strange Folk

I think I mentioned in my last post, that one of the changes that we've made in the last year, by forming Handmade Family and joining the local independent craft community, we've made a lot of new friends (and continue to make new friends all the time). We're edging up to the precipice of starting to do shows now, and that kind of makes us nervous. Part of preparing for it for us is that we go to different shows to meet people, and also to get a feel for what different ones are like. We've been to some okay ones, and some good ones...


This weekend, we went to the Strange Folk Festival in O'fallon Illinois. It was AWESOME. Everything about it, from the general atmosphere to the variety of artists made it feel like it would be a very good fit for us next year.

We got to see several of our friends there, and the girls got some fresh air, probably the BEST cupcake I've ever had, and before we left they got to play on the playground.

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera :( so I didn't actually get any photos myself, and I would love to give a shout-out to all our friends, but there's just not room. I would like to mention our friend Andrea of Zenbot Baby though, because her husband (who I'm friends with on google+, and who I narrowly missed meeting in person today) DID take a picture of this super cool upright bass made out of an upcycled bicycle. When I saw this thing I was just floored by how cool it is.

There was some part of us that wasn't really sure about the whole show aspect of this business/life, but I think we both came away from this event inspired.
Until next time, take care and be good!
Your friend,
Mr. Handmade