Goodbye, Princess! (And Frozen)

These next few days will be my last working at Jakks. It's been great getting to work on Princess and Frozen. It truly was a dream job.

I've been offered a position at Jazwares in sunny Florida! That means I gotta pack ALL my things and leave California! I'll miss my family and friends, but, hey, it'll be a new adventure!

I'll still be doing packaging design for toys, with a bit of illustration thrown in. I never in my life thought I'd be doing packaging design as a job. Heck, I didn't even know it was job until I started at Jakks! Studying concept art and such in school, I figured I'd be doing that. For some reason, I guess I'm pretty good at doing packaging. They have a lot in common, actually...

I have grown SO much working with Disney and Jakks. I wouldn't be the artist I am today without them.

With this new job, I should have a lot more free time to work on personal projects. Hopefully that means I'll be able to do more art and post more often.

Until then!

Disney Princess Mini Backgrounds

Here's some more art I've done for work!

These were done around the end of 2015 for some doll packaging backgrounds. Unlike some of the background I've painted for Princess, these were not meant to go behind the actual princess doll, but rather, their friend! This time around I had to provide reference of actual scenes from the movies to Disney.

It's a small detail that probably most people won't notice when they open the package, but it did give me something fun to do! It's very rare that I ever get to draw or paint at work, so this was a treat for me!

Catching Sakura Show

I was invited to make a piece for the Catching Sakura show at Comic Book Hideout in Fullerton California! I choose to paint it with gouache.

Cardcaptor Sakura was one of my favorite shows to watch back when it was airing as Cardcaptors in the USA. I didn't have cable TV growing up, so Kids WB was my jam! I even remember picking up the manga in high school, and trading it back and forth with my friends!

I've never really forgotten about the show even after all these years. Probably because I could relate so much to Sakura; more so than any other main character I read or saw on TV.
Around the same time the show was airing was when my mom passed away, so I could definitely relate to her. Besides not having a mom herself, she also:

-Had an older brother who picked on her.
-Had a kind father who cooked amazing food.
-Wore a uniform to school.
-Rollerbladed everywhere!

I had/did all those things too! In my eyes she was just like me! Minus the magical powers... I WISH I had that!!

Opening night was very nice! It was in a fairly small space, but about 45 different pieces are on the walls!

The show's open until January 28th 2017! Stop by to see it if you can!
The original painting, as well as a few prints, are for sale there.

Indiana State Fair Booths

A few months ago I was contacted to design some buildings/booths for a commercial spot for the Indiana State Fair. I got to work with Yankee Peddler again on this one! I've done quite a few projects with them so far. They're always so great!!

They recently moved to Detroit, so this time around we just communicated via email instead of in person. I'm honored they keep wanting to work with me even though they're so far away! Maybe one day I'll get to pay them a visit in their new place!

Parasyte Anime Expo Bag Turned Purse

At Anime Expo this year I got a Parasyte themed bag! Never actually seen the anime (it's on my list of things to watch)! but I really liked the design of the bag.

After a convention is over, these bags become sort of useless to me, and I usually get rid of them. But, I hated the idea of throwing away something with such cool graphics on it.

Since I have no need for an over sized backpack... I decided to turn it into a purse! Now THAT I can use!

I used a purse I already had as a sort of template for the size and shape I wanted, made it a few inches deeper, added a flap, then turned that into a pattern in Illustrator.

I made a small "mini-mock" of the pattern I made, just to make sure my measurements were all correct, before I started cutting into the bag. The whole bag had to be taken apart carefully so I could reuse all the material. Then, I just lined up the parts of the graphics I wanted on the pieces, cut them out, and started sewing!!

All in all I think it turned out pretty good! It's certainly not perfect, and I'm no master seamstress, but it'll be something fun to use for the next special event or convention I go to! Things like this are also great conversation starters, I find.

The only thing missing is some sort of clasp to keep the flap closed. I'll probably end up adding velcro.

If I ever get another convention bag I really like, maybe I'll do this again! It wasn't too difficult. I've seen people make dresses out of these bags, so hey, maybe that's next on the list!

Sofia the First Doll Art

I currently work on Disney Princess Dolls, specifically the packaging, over at Jakks Pacific. Sometimes other teams will come to me for custom art for special toys. This is one of those cases!

The Sofia team wanted a custom liner for this Seashell Sparkle doll, but it had to look like a background painting from the show. No problem!!

You can't really see the liner art with the doll inside too well, but that's just how it goes sometimes. But, they ended up using my art on whenever something Seashell Sparkle came up! Pretty neat!

I finally got my own doll of her in package! She's been out for awhile, so I'm glad I was able to get one. I'm actually very proud of how this came out! Things like this don't happen very often!

Speaking of, I also got to paint this picnic scene for another Sofia doll. It's not as fun as the Seashell Sparkle (I think it's because I just really like the color blue), but I'm still very happy with how it turned out!

A Lost Sleeping Beauty Children's Book?

A couple of months ago, my dad was cleaning out the garage for the zillionth time. He calls me from inside the house, and hands me this super old Sleeping Beauty children's book:

The cover was torn off who knows when, and is missing quite a few pages. BUT, it is filled with some gorgeous paintings I have never seen before! I had to share some of my favorites here.

I've tried looking up the book, but can't seem to find it anywhere. It's clearly made by Disney, but it's impossible for me to find for some reason. I'd love to own a full copy of the book! My guess is it was made some time in the 60's when my dad and his sister were little.

The book is absolutely wonderful, and really is a diamond in the rough! I wish I knew who illustrated it. He or she really knew their stuff! It's been great for reference, and just over all very nice to look at.