Christmas bunny

Source

Is this Christmas bunny cute or what?!

I just want to wish a Merry Christmas to all the readers of this blog! Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and for all the lovely comments, it is very much appreciated.

x Anne

Slashies - Eugene Tan

Slashies are online videos that explore the lives of passionate people who have followed their dreams and pursued their true calling. The first video is about Eugene Tan, the surf photographer behind Aquabumps who quit his corporate design job to follow his passion for photography.

It's very inspiring, I highly recommend watching it!

Vectips Interview

Vectips recently interviewed me for their website. I definitely recommend illustrators checking out their site, it is updated regularly with inspiring content about all things vector. You can read the interview here. Thanks Ryan!

Australian Creative

My Señora Muerte iPhone case is featured in the Dec/Jan edition of Australian Creative magazine, with the fancy heading 'iPhone Accessory Du Jour.' You can view my iPhone cases here.

Ignore haters

I had a go at painting some watercolour lips. It took some patience, but turned out ok!

I get tired of reading through design inspiration sites where they post some project they think is awesome, but most of the comments just whinge about how it's not innovative or creative enough to post about. So here's some wise words I found on Swiss Miss...

I always take more pleasure in liking something than in disliking something. That’s not to say there aren’t some things that deserve to be liked and some things that deserved to be disliked, but I’m never fond of disliking something.
The lesson I’ve learned is to be wary of those who are. The ones who seem to think that being critical is the same as having good taste. Those people almost never have good taste, so their opinions don’t matter.
There’s no particular sophistication required to be a critic. We know this, because children often dislike foods they learn to love as adults.
So, even if what you’ve done isn’t so great, just remember that those who can’t say so with grace, those who seem to take pride in criticizing you, their opinions don’t matter. It may very well be that you’ve created a masterpiece, and they’re just children.
If you can learn to be a fair judge of yourself, you won’t feel the need to rely on other people’s opinions.

Power

Gina Kiel - how awesome is this illustration?!

The Drawing Book Studios recently devised a pretty cool project: all their artists were given the same brief to come up with an illustration relating to the theme of 'power'. Then all illustrations were placed online together with the original sketches and the artists discussing their take on the topic.

The cool thing is, The Drawing Book have A4 prints of these illustrations to give away for free! Just decide which of the many illos you like best, then tell them about it. More info here.

These are some of my faves...

Jessica Singh

Ken Taylor

All the illustrations created on the theme of 'power'

Solitude Magazine

The lovely people at Solitude Magazine featured my Cross My Heart illustration in their Dec issue! Solitude is an Australian magazine featuring the best in alternative stylings, rockabilly, burlesque, tattoo, goth and punk. It's a great read and I think it's really refreshing to see these kind of magazines at the newsagents alongside more mainstream publications. Available for purchase online here.

Free Shipping

Society6 is offering FREE shipping worldwide until midnight on Monday the 28th. Why not pick some artwork for your walls or even buy that someone special what they've always wanted... an iPhone case! You can view my shop here.

Design Montage Interview

I have been a reader of the Design Montage blog for a while now, as they have interviewed a bunch of my fave artists. They recently interviewed me, click here to read. Thanks Jenica!

Zombie Turkey Hand

I entered this into the Sourpuss Hand Turkey contest. So fun to draw! I think I will do some more Frankenstein-themed illustrations in the future.

Art Harvest online store – now live!

The Art Harvest online store is now live! They have introduced some new functions that makes ordering artworks easy peasy. Start shopping here!

T-shirt update

Stylin' and profilin' in her new tee

Remember that t-shirt giveaway I held last month? The winner was Sarah and the tee got mailed out from Australia all the way to The Netherlands, along with some postcard-size prints, stickers and a magnet. Well, she sent me an awesome email to say she received it and she posted some super-cute photos on her blog!

If you like all things cute and sweet, you should check out her Proud Daydreamer blog - the tea-addicted cuteness hoarder and space cowboy in the making (I love that title!)

Thanks for sharing the photos, Sarah!  ^_^

Oh golly gosh

The super-talented Nevertheless is a Perth based designer who creates the most beautiful one-of-a-kind lasercut jewellery and illustrations that are cute and whimsical. And she is holding a giveaway on her blog to win a set of 6 gorgeous prints! Click here to find out more and enter.

Art Harvest video

Art Harvest is having a launch party tonight on the Gold Coast, and they have posted a video on their website showcasing the artists and products available. There's some footage of me in the studio sketching ideas plus it shows a bit of the process I go through to decide on final colour combinations for an illustration.

Thanks to my friend for filming me, it took so many takes to get a decent shot without me laughing! You can check out my Art Harvest page here.

Thirty exhibition

For those in Melbourne, all of the top 30 Positive Posters will be on display at the Thirty exhibition tonight at 1000 £ Bend from 5:30pm onwards. Be there or be square!

Society6 iPhone cases

So excited to finally post about this! My illustrations are now available to be purchased as iPhone cases and skins, as well as high quality prints from Society6! I have wanted to have my art on iPhone cases for the longest time. I chose Society6, as the iPhone cases have a very slim profile, and are stronger, lighter, more flexible, and of a higher quality compared to other plastic cases on the market. The cases are available to purchase for either iPhone 3G or iPhone 4.

I ordered the Señora Muerte case for myself and I am so happy with how it turned out, the level of detail in the tattoos is amazing and the colours are sharp!

Also, Society6 is offering free shipping worldwide this weekend - offer expires midnight on Sunday (USA time, I assume). You can view all my iPhone cases here.

IHART Exhibition

For those in Perth, there is an awesome exhibition tonight upstairs in the Grey Door Gallery at the Claremont Hotel from 7pm onwards! There will be customized Chuck Taylor sneakers, 30 original skate decks and large artworks for sale with all proceeds going to the Heart Foundation. Two of my illustrations will available for purchase as A2 sized prints. More info here.

Positive Posters

Super exciting news! I while ago, I entered a design into the Positive Posters competition. For those who don't know, Positive Posters aims to raise international awareness for global social issues through an annual poster competition. This year, there were over 2,500+ entries from 80+ countries and my 'Seeds of Destruction' entry is one of the top 30 finalists!

I had to position hundreds of tiny beans to create this finished piece. One sneeze and it was over! 'Seeds of Destruction' refers to the topic of genetically engineered foods, which is a really important issue to me. I've pasted my rationale below:

GE canola crops have been grown in Canada with disastrous results. The GE crops contaminated regular crops and today in Canada, you can no longer buy conventional canola as 90% of it is contaminated with GE material. The biotechnology companies now have a monopoly on canola production and the cost of that patented seed is going up every year. The food produced poses risks to human health. It is unethical to patent seed life!

You can view the top 30 posters here. Winners will be announced Nov 9, so fingers crossed  :)

And the winner is...

There were 28 comments under last month's Sailor Girl tee competition post. To pick the winner I used a random number generator, so congratulations to comment #1, which was Sarah. You have won a tee in your choice of colour and size! Send me an email though the contact page.

Thanks to everyone who entered, and I hope to run more giveaways in the future!  :)

30under30 Awards

Oh my gosh, some people are just so mega-amazing! These were my thoughts after reading some of the profiles of Anthill's 30under30 Award winners. Basically, the 30under30 Awards acknowledges young entrepreneurs in Australia. It's so impressive to read of their achievements running their own companies which is only more insane when you realize some of them ARE STILL IN THEIR TEENS.

Insane! Read about it here.

One week to go

Don't forget that the Sailor Girl Tee giveaway closes a week from today, on the 31 October. Make sure you get your entries in before then! And remember that you must be a follower of the blog to enter.

myp Magazine

Issue 4 of myp Magazine is out, which features the hundreds & thousands typography I created. You can read it online here.

The Vault

The Big Day Out peeps have created an awesome web page to celebrate their 20th anniversary. It's a trip down memory lane called the Vault and you can see the posters, tickets videos and photos from each year's event. Check it out here.

T-shirt Giveaway

Ok, I am soooo excited to launch the first giveaway on my blog! I recently got my Cross My Heart illustration screenprinted on t-shirts by the lovely people at Red Octopus and they came out looking sharp! The tees are a four-colour screenprint on Gildan soft-spun cotton in a range of six different coloured shirts. And I'm giving one away!

How to enter?

It easy, man! Simply become a follower of this blog (if not already) under the 'Fantastic Followers' button on the side. Then just post a comment below before midnight 31 Oct to enter.  

Good luck!

Famous skulls

 

I love these sweet, if slightly morbid portraits of famous women by Theresa Honeywell. To be an instantly recognizable icon it seems that all you need is an unique hairdo!

Cinemagraphs

My friend Sarah has been making some really nice cinemagraphs and posting them on her blog. Kinda makes me want to have a go at creating some! Read her post on how to make them here.

Hundreds and thousands

More typographic experimentation! I was approached by a German magazine recently to come up with a piece for their upcoming edition. The brief was pretty open - come up with something based on the theme of 'my day.' I used cake decorating sprinkles to form the words, which in English translates to 'every day is a party.' I originally planned to use some cachous (those edible silver balls used for cake decorating) but they just rolled everywhere!

The sentence 'every day is a party' means that every day can be the best day if you just have a good attitude and expect good things in life.

Dieeis

The most insanely beautiful work by Thai illustrator Dieeis.

PS: Unrelated news... but it's now possible to follow my blog with Bloglovin

Riccardo Bucchioni

Oh man, I am such a sucker for illustrations of green zombie / Frankenstein girls. Maybe that's why I like the work of Riccardo Bucchioni so much.

Plasticine typography

I bought some plasticine a couple of years ago with the thought that someday I might incorporate it into a design. Well, that time finally came! I had a go at creating words using the plasticine and it was a whole heap of fun! Some of the letters were a bit difficult and wriggly to shape, but I suppose it all adds to the playful vibe of this piece.

The words get out there & do something colourful is just a reminder to myself to try and experiment with new mediums, have fun with design and not to over-think.