My figure drawings finally found a home

Remember back in March when I wrote about reacquainting myself with figure drawing? Well, it's gotten even better since.

The short version of the story is, a handful of my old figure drawings from ten years ago are now hanging in my gynecologist's office. Have a look:

 

 

The photos above were taken in the waiting room and just back the hallway a little. Another drawing hangs in the next hallway back and a fourth one in a little room off from the waiting area. Two exam rooms each have a drawing as well.

The paint colors my doctor chose for the walls are, first of all amazing, and second, perfect for the off white paper and Sanguine conté colors I used for the drawings. All the walls are painted with muted earth-toney colors, with different colors in different rooms, and the drawings look like they were made for the spots where they were hung.

The plan for now is that we swap the drawings out each year to keep them fresh. Swapping out will also (in theory) give me incentive to get more drawn. For some reason I'm just assuming I'll be able to jump right back in and still be able to draw the figure. I'm not sure why I assume that.

Here are the ones we've hung:

This one is just inside the front door. She's going to be a hard one to replace later.

She's the one hanging back that first hallway.

This one is in a little room off from the waiting area.

One of the first figures I drew. She's back the next hallway.

I called this one "Pretzel" a while back. She's in the first exam room.

This one is hanging in the second exam room.

We only hung the ladies, and only the ones that might cause the least amount of controversy (as in, for example, nothing full frontal). I have more figure drawings on my fine art website: http://www.norathompson.us. Some of the ladies we didn't include are there along with some men and the only baby I've done so far.

I'm chomping at the bit to draw more, but I have too many things on my plate right now to dig that old paper out and get started. I'm also a little nervous about getting back in the groove. These drawings were all done in a few months' time, and I was definitely in the zone. But that was ten years ago. I hope I still have them in me.

Branding: Now I have to update everything I own

It was a good idea at the time. Really, it was.

It started with creating a font. That was simple enough. I've wanted to design one for so long...

Then the font ended up on my website. Wasn't that just the coolest thing?

Then I started thinking about how I've always wanted the font of my logo to be something I created by hand. Not a problem.

The problem didn't happen until the reality set in that I was going to have to update absolutely everything in my marketing arsenal.

My new business card

So I ordered new business cards yesterday; I updated my studio invoice with the last commission; I updated the pages that will go into my portfolio, and the file is waiting on a USB drive to take to the printer; the ID stickers I have on my portfolio are updated and waiting to be printed out...Unfortunately, I had a load of postcards printed months ago, and they're all with the old branding. I'm going to have to use them anyway; I don't have a lot of choice.

I love the new look, but the new look means a lot more work than just designing a new logo.

It was totally worth it.

Frankenbot

Got a commission for the cover of the fall The Link magazine, the magazine for Carnegie Mellon University Computer Science alumni. The story is about how Comp Sci students don't just code anymore; they have to build things by hand, too. For example, they build prototypes of the things they are working on like touch screens and robots.

My idea was of creating a robot, Frankenstein-style. I wanted it to have really dramatic lighting, and I wanted to see if I could pull off a colorized pencil drawing. I hope it worked.

My first agent submission

I finally went and did it. My first submission to an agent.

Ever.

You never forget your first.

This also meant I wrote my first query letter, which seems to always want to be spelled "queary" when I type it out. I think it has something to do with the word "queasy," but I'm not sure.

Oh, and my first synopsis.

(Why do you people keep making me write more words?)

Bones are crossed.

Skydiving School

Well, I shuffled off my latest postcard, and it's already generated a few hits on the site (at least, the timing is right for all the extra hits). Always exciting to see. I'm calling the illustration "Skydiving School" for (I hope) obvious reasons.

The image is over there, on the left, and here's the page I put together for the people who want to go green and see it electronically: http://www.nora-thompson.com/postcard.html.