Every Now and Then

I just finished what turned into a pretty big project.  I was commissioned to illustrate a children's book that is soon to be self published.  It was originally going to be 9 full color illustrations, but she added in 9 more ink drawings and one more full color.  The story is about a girl who goes to the NY public library and finds an old atlas.  She discovers, with the help of a bookworm, that every map she turns to in the book she is instantly taken to that place in the world.  It was a really fun story to illustrate since it took place all over the globe.  Consistency was the main issue I had to deal with.  I'll get a link to blurb soon so if you want you can order a copy.

These were inked and painted with watercolor; and then I photoshopped the maps in.  The maps are from an old atlas that was bought on ebay.  I just scanned in the corresponding country to the illustration.  In most of the full colored ones you can see the name of the country, or city, hidden somewhere in the illustration.

In completely unrelated news I have a new puppy!  Her name is London, and is the sweetest, most playful dog ever.  I'll do a sketch and upload it instead of a picture, since this is an art blog after all.

Been Awhile

So I just moved to Atlanta, GA a couple of weeks ago.  The transition was surprisingly smooth and I am currently freelancing full time.  It's terrifying.  And fun.  I'll let you know how this adventure pans out.

Also, here is a sketch.

Castle Minova

I went to Ireland recently and the countless castles explored inspired me to paint one.  I tried to imagine what my dream castle in Ireland would be, and then after hours of research and drawing I came up with this.  Which is absolutely nothing like the image I had in my head.  How is it that after so much careful planning, the illustration seems to have an entity all it's own?  I swear the image creates itself, not the other way around.  I'm now at this point where I've been working on it so long, I can not tell what needs to be changed, altered, tweaked, or if I even like it.  Maybe someone could give me some insight :)

Etsy

I added new art to my Etsy store.  Including prints of all the Alice in Wonderland pieces.  

www.neesha.etsy.com

Have a splendid day.

Alice in Wonderland

Hi boys and girls.  I've been spending a lot of time painting, working, and sleeping lately.  That's pretty much all I've done these last two weeks.  I did this series for a Staff Art Show we had at the coffee shop I work at.  The show will be up the entire month of July so if you're in the Brunswick, Me area at all you should stop by.  The address is 87 Maine St.  I'm quite proud of all of us.  The show turned out really well.

I chose Alice in Wonderland as a theme because it is my favorite story of all time and I could illustrate it a hundred different times and never get tired of it.  I want to do more characters, such as the Mad Hatter.  Speaking of, I could have cried when I pictures from the new Alice in Wonderland movie.  Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, and Lewis Carroll all coming together as one?  Probably the most amazing thing ever in the history of the world...ever.

Speaking of good movies.  Check out the trailer for "Where the Wild Things Are."  That looks amazing too.  

Wanderlust

I got back from Ireland about a week ago, hence the lack of posting.  It was an unforgettable trip.  Everyday was filled with things to see, do, hear, taste, so needless to say I didn't have as much time as I would've liked for sketching.  I did manage to get a few pages down though.  These are quick gesture drawings of people I did while sitting on the green at Trinity College in Dublin.  I liked sketching there, people didn't move much.

Please No Shoes

I did a painting for my mom to put in her entry so that people don't wear shoes in her house.  Above this image it says "Please take off shoes".  See if you can find Flava-flave Darth Vader.

Hi.  A few people have been sending me some really encouraging e-mails lately and I just wanted to say thank you :)  These are a couple of paintings I for a series called "whatever Neesha wants to paint because she is sick of trying to come up with a meaningful theme."  I'll post more later.

Hibernation is Over

SO there have been a few distractions to say the least but I am back.  At least for the time being.  I just finished a couple of freelance jobs which means I now have more time to work on my portfolio.  Which I have a goal to do 8 new pieces to put in a new portfolio to send out before April.  So this drawing is apparently Dorothy and the cowardly lion from the Wizard of Oz.  Toto is there too.  I'm gonna paint it, but thought I'd post the sketch first.  Process wahoo!

OH I also wont the art contest with my Andrew Bird painting :)  His new album is lovely and I encourage all to go pick it up.  I am going to Boston this weekend to see him live in fact.

That's all for the moment. Thanks for stopping by.

I was looking through the latest Spectrum yesterday and it made me want to do a weird little sci-fi drawing. 

I don't really know what this is.  It started out as a potential "Alice in Wonderland" painting.  I was thinking of rewriting the story where the "real world" and "fantasy world" are switched.  So like when she falls down the rabbit hole everything is normal there and she tries to cope with it.  I think that would be the less exciting version though.

"Then Alice knocked on the door of a woman who called child services because she thought Alice had been abandoned.  Alice lived with foster parents until she was 18 and moved to California to be a singer.  She wasn't very good so she worked at a diner to get by.  The end."

Andrew Bird

I walked into a local music store the other day and they were having an art contest.  Basically you just had to draw your favorite singer, actor, or video game character.  The nerd in me really wanted to do some fan art of Zelda, but I decided not to.  If I win I get a $100 gift certificate (wahoo!) and a t-shirt (even bigger wahoo!).  So I did a quick painting of Andrew Bird, my new favorite singer.  He's coming to Boston in January and I am so excited to go see him!  

Anyway, that's enough rambling for now.

Knitbot Graphics

So you should head over to www.knitbot.com and check out the new banner and logo I did for my friend Hannah.  She has published one book on knitting and is working on her second.  I want to thank her for letting me do the banner and putting a little interview of me on her blog.  If your into knitting definitely check out her stuff, it's awesome.  

Logos, Icons, and Graphics oh my!

Hi.  So I've been somewhat busy these past few weeks doing some graphic design work.  I made a logo and banner for Knitbot.com, which should be up soon.  I also made this little character for my aunts new cleaning business called "Green Maids"  she uses all organic cleaning products and recycled paper towels, etc.  I'm not done with the logo yet, but this little lady went in the yellow page ad.  I need to do some tweaking on her so any comments/crits would be delightful.  

I also have a job designing icons for a company's new application that is coming out on iphone.  I need to thank Ringling for that one.  The company saw my work on the Ringling website and contacted me.  Wahoo!

As soon as I can I want to start working on my idea for a new book too.  It's called "The Rainbow Colored Snow Fox".  I'm super excited and will post some sketches soon.  I think this will be the one I take around to publishers this winter.

Stay warm!

Andrew & Coraline

I'm reading "Coraline" by Neil Gaiman.  It was described as being similar to "Alice in Wonderland" except darker.  I like it so far.  This isn't an illustration based on the book, I just stole the name because I liked it.

I'm trying to keep my colors cleaner.  If you haven't gone here yet you should and see some amazing illustrations of "The Little Prince" and "Alice in Wonderland".  By the way, anyone know how to order books from Korea?

IF: Repair

sadness.