Wednesday Morning Mantra

Is it really only Wednesday? This week has been oddly slow, but every time that thought comes to my mind I just stop and remember to myself "a week from today, you're going to be sunbathing on the ocean", and suddenly I feel much better!

I have the oddest urge to listen to 80's music today...

Another random piece of info, I've got a fitness/dance hula hoop on its way to my house. Apparently "hooping" is a great cardio exercise that works your core. I'll try anything that can keep me off a treadmill!

Oh, and this happened.

Manatees in Love - IF

Certainly by now the Valentine's Day committee has flooded the aisles of stores with hearts and chocolate.

My illustration for this week's IF topic involves an underwater romance. You may need to sip water for this one, it gets awfully steamy.

Pretty soon Justin and I will be sailing on an "ocean" ourselves. I don't know why I put the word ocean in quotations...we're quite literally sailing on an ocean. Next Sunday we will be setting off to the Bahamas on a cruise; our first vacation that's just the two of us, and I am beyond excited! Especially since he promised to take ballroom dance classes with me on the boat.

California Coastin'

Happy New Year! It feels funny doesn't it? 2013? I'm not sure how long it will take for that to sink in.

I always have New Years resolutions, and I like to keep them pretty realistic. I would say "lose weight and eat better" but I don't really think of that as a New Years resolution because it's something that I'm constantly working at...that's more of a lifetime goal that I don't think I'll ever stop chipping away at.

This year my New Years resolutions are:

1. Become a "morning workout person" - To be honest, I've already achieved this one. My hope was to just not fail, but I've been working out before I go to the office instead of after for the past two weeks and I've already decided that there will be no more going to the gym after work. It's before, or nothing.
2. Drink more water on the weekends - I'm really good about drinking a lot of water. I drink two 24 oz bottles at work every day, plus more if I go to the gym. However...on the weekends I drink literally zero water and end up groggily arriving to the gym on Monday morning and wishing that I wasn't incredibly dehydrated.
3. Eat better on weekends - Weekends are always the point where I fall off the wagon. I do great all week, I eat in a calorie deficit, I don't eat bad things, I don't eat when I'm not hungry. Then Saturday rolls around and I somehow find myself at McDonald's...

With the wedding just 10 months away, these 3 goals can only work in my favor. 

I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays, I know that I had a great time. It was really nice to get some time off of work to spend with the family and to work on the house. For Christmas, I gave my mom, sister, and best friend each a music box that had a frame on the top. The frame had a lame picture on the inside that said "sister" or something, but I bought those boxes because I wanted to draw a comic for each person to put into the frame instead. 

Here is the drawing I did for my mom, it's the only one that doesn't really involve an inside joke that none of you would understand. Basically, she and her husband did a bike trip a couple of years ago where they rode from the Canadian border down the coast of California and ended on the Mexican border. I drew this as a joke that they really didn't do any pedaling, and just had their cat hauling them the entire time. My mom is a knitter so she's knitting in the back and her husband is a very active architect who loves to be on his laptop and making phone calls.

Anyone have an interesting New Years resolution that doesn't involve money or weight loss?

Happy Holidays!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..

Not.

It doesn't look like Christmas at all. Where's all the wonderful Buffalo snow I'm so used to??

So for my Illustration Friday post I will use this holiday card I designed for an office supply company in my hometown Medina, NY. It certainly fits in this week's topic, and I literally just finished it on Tuesday!

"Front"

"Back"

I didn't get a jpeg of it when I had the logo on the back. Imagine that above the little red tree there is a logo that says "Paperboys Office Supply & Business Solutions"

I've been crazy busy this December. Working on my house has been quite the journey, but we're putting our final coat of poly on the hardwood floors, so we can move in this weekend! *jumps for joy* *does happy dance* *realizes people are watching and awkwardly sits back in desk chair*

I have taken on another job these past two weeks. Not only am I an Art Director full time, but for the last several days I have also been Santa Claus.

Yes, that's right. 

Awhile back Justin and I made a coloring book for the Lions Club that was printed by Paperboys. It told the story of how the village of Medina is decorated every year by a team of three elves (Rosie, Candy Cane, and Tinsel). Long story short Medina had a big Christmas shin dig where billions of children flooded the streets. At Paperboys you could color a page from the coloring book, and write a letter to Santa (there's a letter on the back to fill out). The big selling point was that Santa will actually write you back! 

Guess who was Santa? 

Yup. 

A better look at the coloring book cover, before the text was put in.

Don't get me wrong, it was fun. Some of those letters were hilarious, and I wanted to make sure that each and every letter was personal. When I was in 1st grade I got a letter from an elf named "Flicky", and I was so excited that I kept the letter forever (still have it now). In 5th grade I was lucky enough to be in the English class that actually wrote those letters to the 1st graders. So who was I? Flicky, the elf. Of course.

Pics of my renovations will be up in due time...there is still too much to do!

Pappyland

McDonalds

It's not Toonsday, but I felt the need to pull a comic out of my archive today. It clearly depicts my attitudes towards the fast food industry and that is, I could care less how bad it is for you...the force that drives my car to McDonalds when I'm cravin' their fries is stronger than any that an article or documentary about the fast food industry could hold off.

Lacking Momentum

Really missing illustrating right now, as well as Illustration Friday. After finally closing on the house, all of my evenings have been devoted to turning our lower into a home. Now we're left with a pile of drywall scratching our heads wondering where to begin!

For small updates on more art-related things, I have rather exciting news! After hours of going back and forth with the rep from Channel 4, my commercial is finally airing several times on both Channel 4 as well as CW! For those of you that don't know, I work at an advertising company as the art director, and these past two weeks have been crazy after we decided to buy commercial ad space. I was sent back to my roots to wipe dust from Adobe Flash and animate a 15 second spot for our company.

All of this has been very fun, however it reminds me of why I started to put myself away from Animation after receiving my degree at Edinboro: Animation is so stressful! I had a small moment of breakdown similar to ones during my final semester at college where I went into the bathroom, let out a few tears, then composed myself to return to my office desk to complete the task.

On a lighter note, I'm completing a children's coloring book to be sold for the Christmas season. As a way of giving back to my hometown, I am helping create a coloring book about Medina, NY. It tells the story of how Medina is decorated by three elves that visit every year, and highlights Medina-famous places and landmarks that make Medina...well...Medina.

Pics to follow, I am terribly sorry that this post is so lame-looking and lacking in photos.