Don't Worry, Eat Cake Giveaway #1

It's time for the first giveaway! So just to recap, I'm celebrating the countdown to my coloring book's release day with some freebie downloads! On each Monday in May and each day in June leading up to the 7th, I'll be posting digital downloads for you to print and use at home for fun. This week's free download is a colorable greeting card for Mother's Day. If you haven't had a chance to grab a card for your mom yet (because May totally snuck up on us this year right?!), use this card to surprise your mom with some colorful art just like you did in the good ol' elementary days. :) 

Simply print the card on heavy cardstock (around 80# or 100# cover weight is what I use), color in, trim along the faint border, fold in half, and then match with an A7 size envelope.

Remember, the download link is only available on Monday, May 2, so make sure to download now if you'd like to use it!

See you next Monday with another giveaway!

It's pre-order time!

My coloring book Don't Worry, Eat Cake is available for pre-order now! Head over to this page to find all the links to buy!

Let me just say that it's so unreal to be talking about pre-ordering! Last fall, I spent almost every waking second working on this book. If I wasn't eating or sleeping, I was working on illustrations for this. Even if I was eating or sleeping though, it was definitely all I could think about. Now that the book is here and I see it in my hands, I still have to pinch myself to remind me that this is all real and not a very, very cool dream. I received my advance copies in the mail recently and it's just so exciting to see them in person. I'm really proud of this book and I cannot wait to share it with you this June.

So now that the official release date is only 6 weeks away, I'm going to celebrate the countdown with some Don't Worry, Eat Cake Giveaways! Free stuff, yay!

I'll be offering free digital downloads every Monday in May, and then each day in June leading up to June 7th! I've put together some colorable goodies from some of the artwork in the coloring book that you can download and use at home. Each giveaway will be posted here in my blog, but it will only be available on the day that it is posted. So, make sure to check back each Monday in May and each day in June up until the 7th! 

April Flowers

This month, the theme of Spanky's Art Party is flowers (find out more by searching #spankysartparty on Instagram). I think flowers are currently my favorite thing to draw and paint.  I've been learning more about surface design and licensing art for things like fabric, home decor, stationery and so on, so this month I wanted to try out some patterns. I would love to order some Spoonflower fabric out of this pattern and make a dress. That is if I actually knew how to sew, but I don't. It's been on my list of "Fun Things to Learn" for like ever.

This year I'm working on building my portfolio to attract more commissioned illustration work and to hopefully license my art to various surface design categories in the future. Sometimes it feels like it will take forever to create enough pieces to fill my portfolio to where I want it to be, but I have to remember baby steps. If I focus on just making what I can and taking it one day at a time, at some point it will eventually be there.

Unrelated, but GREAT NEWS! Look what I received in the mail yesterday :D First copy of my coloring book Don't Worry, Eat Cake :) :) I wasn't expecting to get a copy this early, so it was an awesome surprise. It's surreal but so freaking fun to see it in real life. 

Hand-lettering Workshop

This June I'll be teaching my first workshop! I'm feeling very nervous, but also really excited! Time for me to conquer some social anxiety because I think teaching could turn out to be very fun :)

It will be in Owego, NY at the Tioga Arts Council on Saturday the 4th. I'll demonstrate some hand-lettering techniques, and then guide you through sketching and lettering your own 8x10 illustration to take home. You can find out more details here.

Space is limited, so if you are interested, please sign up soon!

Two months until Don't Worry, Eat Cake!

Eeeeeee! Today marks exactly two months left until my coloring book Don't Worry, Eat Cake is released! I can't believe it! When I was working on the artwork for it last fall, June 7th seemed unbelievably far away. I can't even begin to describe how excited I am to finally see it in real life soon :) 

Now comes the busy, but super fun part of starting to promote the book on social media. In the next few weeks, I'll be announcing more official things about pre-ordering, giveaways and events. Stay tuned!

Birds of Springtime

Earlier this year, my friend started a weekly art challenge to help us all build our illustration portfolios. Each month has a theme, and then ideally each week you create a piece so that at the end of each month you have a little collection, and then at the end of the year you have 12 collections. This month's theme was "birds," so I wanted to create something inspired by springtime. I love this time of year when the birds are returning, grass is  getting greener, flowers are blooming and it smells like mud outside. I don't know a whole lot about birding, but a lot of my family is really into it. Sometimes it feels like a fun game to spot certain types of birds. In this piece, I drew my favorite birds that signal warmer weather to come.

Best part of all is that the hashtag for the challenge is #spankysartparty :D Best name ever, right? If you know me personally, then you know why that's the best name ever. This little guy's name is Spanky! 

You can search that hashtag on social media to follow along or see what other illustrators have created. Here are the pieces I created for February (houses) and January (houseplants).