Lettering: Lemon

A look at the process of creating this lettering for “Lemon.”

While researching how citrus fit into the Rococo aesthetic, I found out that Versailles had a garden of orange and lemon trees. I love thinking about color in terms of temperature; after trying some cooler yellow palettes, I knew I wanted to bring more golds into this piece. You can see the original sketch below.

Inking the sketched design.

Here are a few more pieces from my lettering portfolio:

Wind and Water: Creating in Blues

I’ve been working in a lot of blues lately, and I’m so happy with how this piece came out. I paired this lettering that I created for a client with a portrait from a my sketchbook. Using deep indigo hues to offset the lighter, delicate florals made me think of wind and water.

Here is the finished piece:

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Closeup detail.

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Closeup detail.

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Here are a few more blue pieces from my portfolio:

New Floral Dreams Portrait

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I finished a new portrait!

The colors were inspired by fruit - I love working with saturation in the edges to get the shadows to glow!

I wanted to play off my Dreaming in Flowers portrait by using these purple jewel tones, but bringing in some warmer, orange hues.

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O R I G I N A L  D R A W I N G >

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Dreamy Lettering

I loved making this piece of lettering! I was sitting at Subculture Coffee under some beautiful lights, and things definitely felt dreamy!

1. First, I sketched out the letterforms and added ink: 

Hand-lettering for the word "dreamy."

2. Then, I added color! I love this bright blue. I think it feels like Diana from Anne of Green Gables.

Prints for Sale!

Prints for Sale! You see the process of how I made this piece here!

Peter Pan Book Cover Drawing Process!

Here's a little look at the process of creating my Peter Pan book cover illustration!

1. Drawing process:

Video of the Drawing Process of My Peter Pan Book Cover!

3. Trying Out Different Colors:

The Brown option looked a little too sandy or dry, so I liked the blue one better - it felt a little more smooth and moonlight!

4. Final Piece!

Prints for Sale Here:

Peter Pan Book Cover Illustration

Happy Easter!

Here's some lettering I recently made. I drew it in my sketchbook in pencil first, and then used a tortillon to blend and shade the graphite.

I'm thinking of adding color digitally. What color should I do?

Surprising Yourself: Hand-drawing Decorative Frames

There's something about being surprised that draws me to making things. 

Remember your first time, as a child, feeling the magic of cutting tiny pieces out of a folded white paper square and unfolding it to discover the surprising design of your beautiful little paper snowflake?

About four years ago, I found myself drawing frames made of flowers and rococo-inspired forms, but I rarely wanted to close the shapes.

Something about only drawing half a frame allowed space for my imagination to play along with my hands - to jump ahead of my fingers and predict what it would look like reflected symmetrically.

Making space for that element of surprise gave me such delight when I did reflect my drawings to create what I couldn't fully predict! Like pulling your new "experimental" recipe cookies from the oven, there were frames that didn't seem right - something was poking out too far or just "tasted weird," but there were also new notes and flavors that I loved!

I believe allowing yourself to be delighted - or even disappointed - by what comes out of your hands when you sit down to make something is valuable, because it represents opening to something outside yourself.

It represents risking disappointment for the opportunity of delight, and trusting that the future, though hidden, can be your friend in ways you won't see until it arrives.

And that is how I want to live my life!

See more of my frames here.