Philippa Rice/Soppy.

I first discovered Philippa's work on Tumblr, where I came across her "Soppy" comics. I think they're brilliant and poignant, and her style truly lends itself to the honest, true nature of relationships.

These might seem like unremarkable scenes--brushing teeth together, reading in bed--but these are some of the many "little things" that are actually bigger things, if you think about it. It's in these simple scenes that Philippa represents the understated aspects of being with someone--some of which I would consider the most precious.

In addition to illustration, Philippa does animation, collage, and web comics through a variety of mediums (one being cardboard). You can find her main website here and her Tumblr here. She works out of Nottingham, UK.

The Impassible Wilderness.

This is still a work in progress, but I wanted to talk a bit about it anyway.

This illustration is heavily, if not entirely inspired by Colin Meloy's Wildwood,  which I had the pleasure of reading a couple months ago. Wildwood is a cross between C.S. Lewis' Narnia Chronicles, Jim Henson's Labyrinth, and the crazy pirate-Russia-history-inspired songs of Colin's band, The Decemberists.

While Wildwood is generally classified as a novel for young adults, this story is for all ages and varieties of fantasy/adventure lovers. While the main plot remains innocent enough, there are moments when the tone becomes incredibly somber, and events unfold violently. 

It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of Carson Ellis (who happens to be Colin's wife), and her illustrations for Wildwood were incredibly important to the story. It would not have been the same without her work.

I decided to do my own take on Prue, the main character and heroine of this story. Ivy is a very strong motif and metaphor in the novel, possessing the supernatural power to end life for all inhabitants of Wildwood (The Impassible Wilderness) if controlled by evil. I wanted to experiment with format on this one, having the ivy act as the image border rather than edge out from the center. I'm happy with where it's going, and I think writing about this project is giving me the motivation to finish it. 

I will post an update when it's done! xx

Teagan White.

I am feeling incredibly inspired this morning thanks to a monumentally talented artist by the name of Teagan White.  I stumbled across her work on Tumblr and was completely enamored with her expert use of color and dedication to detail. She works primarily in gouache, graphite, watercolor, and also manipulates her work in Photoshop.

Her subject matter revolves around the interaction of wildlife and nature, but she also dives into expression through typography. She employs an expert sense of design and composition while pushing boundaries of legibility to acheive these striking images. I'd also like to point out how extremely clean and sharp her execution is--that's something I am continuing to work on. 

 

She posts works in progress and talks a bit about her process on her Tumblr, and you can also follow her on Instagram.

Slug Kitchen Tidbits.

Some of you may know that I've been doing some food and art blogging over at The Slug Kitchen, which I mentioned a couple months back. This is my year-long project for 2013, and involves adapting and illustrating one new recipe each week. Since I work full-time, it wasn't possible for me to do a 365 project this year (at least, not one I'd be happy with), so I thought this was the next best thing. 

At first, I was feeling a bit dissatisfied with the blog--most of my work tends to be very detail-oriented, and I was a bit hard on myself for not tailoring these recipes to look more sharp and time-rendered. But I keep reminding myself that the whole purpose of this blog is to build my portfolio with diverse content--and simple, quick illustrations aren't necessary "cheap." Some of my favorite illustrators create extremely playful and fun work, and I believe they are successful because they make their style so very accessible to anyone--not just art and design enthusiasts. (ie: Gemma Correll, Julia Pott, Jen Corace, to name a few.)

Here are some of my favorites of the illustrations I've done for the blog so far--as with most things, I think I'm getting better with each recipe.

Pumpkin Risotto

Pumpkin Gnocchi

Tortilla Soup

Thank you as always for looking! I'll be posting a recipe for homemade chai at some point this week, so stay tuned!

The Slug Kitchen.

Happy Monday, everyone!

I'm excited to post the very first entry of my new cooking blog, The Slug Kitchen. You'll find original recipes by me and/or Matt, as well as great finds from my favorite cooking blogs around the Internet, recipes from magazines, or concoctions from Pinterest. I will be posting new recipes every week, if not more frequently than that.

The Slug Kitchen is still a work in progress, but I've illustrated my first recipe, which is for a vegan version of one of my all-time favorite dishes: hot and sour soup.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!