Death by Cashmere Cover

I recently found a competition on a Norwegian blog(http://epla.no/blogg/2011/omslagskonkurranse/) where they wanted their readers to design the cover for a book called "Death by Cashmere" or "Dødelige Masker" in Norwegian as it is soon going to be launched in Norway. The winner gets a cash prize and the opportunity to get their design printed as the official cover. The deadline is the 22.November, pretty short deadline right. I just finished my entry and considering the fact that I found this competition on thursday I would say I've done a pretty good job :)



I don't know how big of a chance I have or if I stand a chance at all, but if I don't try I'll never know, will I? All I know is that this is a great opportunity to get some experience and to get my artwork published. Also the prize money would really come in handy as I will have to invest in a new washing machine, a new bed and a new refrigerator in January.

wish me luck!

Until next time
Anita Night

Frost

A little speedy color version of a sketch I did almost two years ago. I have to say that I'm pretty happy with the lips. I felt like I needed to practice painting lips so I looked up a reference online and tried to copy it before adding some personal touches to the mix.

Practice makes perfect they say, so I'm gonna keep on practicing on drawing lips with pencil some more I think



Until next time
Anita Night

Death

I've been dealing with death this week, and right now I'm not a fan. I recently lost my grandmother you see, and so I've found it hard to do anything creative. Today however it all came out in a river of illustrative and physical creativity.
By that I mean that I colored and cut my hair (that part I did not do myself), I started making some artwork for this years Christmas presents and I finished a speedpaint image I had lying around in my head. I guess my way of coping with loss is to throw myself into new projects. It keeps me preoccupied and hinders me from rolling in self pity and sadness. It's not healthy.

It is however healthy to grieve the one you loose, but I haven't let myself do that properly yet. I'm afraid that if I start crying I won't be able to stop. So I'm keeping my emotions in check until I get home, until I attend the funeral. It leaves me with a tangled knot between my shoulder blades and an even bigger knot in my heart, but I just don't have the option of letting go of my emotional control just yet.





I will soon though

Until next time
Anita Night

Remember this?

That's what I've chosen to call this illustration. It was made for a children's book project I did during the summer, and isn't really a full illustration but it works just fine on it's own. I think it is being published now, or will be very soon. The details have been a bit fuzzy as of late. Looking forward to receiving my copies of the book though. It will be a great thing to bring along to client meetings.



I'll probably post more images from the book as soon as I hear more from the publisher about publishing dates and so on and so forth.

Until next time
Anita Night

The returning predicament of time management..

Yes it is a returning problem. I fear it will be an ever present factor that will irk me to no end.
I started working part time three weeks ago, thinking that I would only be working two days a week, maybe three, but due to the fact that one of my co-workers just became a baby daddy and had to take time off I am feeling like I applied for a full time job instead of a part time job.

It won't last forever, it's only for two weeks, but having found myself in this tricky situation I find myself pondering the mere fact of how easy it is to become lost in what is supposed to be a part time job and forgetting or just not being able to find the time to do my illustration work.

Because I am aware of the problem I can nip it in the bud, and avoid ending up like a lot of students who take up part-time jobs to pay their bills while they struggle to break into the industry. Often it seems like a steady paycheck lures artists away from professional full-time illustration work, and it's kind of sad. I don't have a lot of experience yet, but I'm going through that problem right now and I have to say that I get why people often drown in their part time jobs. Your boss might ask you to work some extra shifts and it is all too easy to say yes because you keep thinking that you need the money. You can't be blamed for doing just that, but it's only a short term solution. It may not pay of right away, but in the long run it might actually be more prudent to turn down some of those extra shifts and focus on your illustration practice or classes or your homework(if you are still in school). That is what I intend to do, as much as possible at least. Because in the end I have to prioritize my dream and not my part time job, no matter how good of a job it is.

I realize that this was a rather lengthy post, but I felt like I needed to get it out of my system. If anyone has any comments or thoughts about the subject feel free to comment as always.

and last but not least here is a little sketch from our first drink and draw session:





Until next time
Anita Night

A little early, but hey Happy Halloween

Let me start by saying I love Halloween!! I do the whole dressing thing. So much fun and this year I'm going as poison Ivy, well I will if my wig arrives in time that is.

I have for the fourth year in a row been able to keep my promise to myself and make a Halloween card. They are never quite the same, but for some reason I always end up painting witches and vampires. This year it is no different.

There is a witch this year too, the only big difference is that I have chosen to use the Blood elves from World of Warcraft as inspiration for my little yearly "spoof". So here it is, my sexy, wicked blood elf witch (it should totally be a new class).

(To read the text please press image for larger view)

To anyone reading this blog, I challenge you to make your own Halloween card!!!

If you do make one then send me a link as I'd love to see some more Halloween works.

Until next time
Anita Night

update time...

A tiny little update..

I've been busy trying to find a part time job and working on my illustration projects as of late,

and so there has been radio silence from this blog for a long time. I'm planning to give more updates soon. When I have the time to sketch a bit. I will also start attending business courses and that may interest people so I'll probably try to write a bit about that too.

In other news, I finally got a job. I'm not entirely sure of when I start, but it will be soon. It'll be nice to actually have some structure back in my life again. I don't like drifting around in uncertainty, leeching of family and friends.

And last but not least, a little sketch from a drink and draw session I attended:

Until next time
Anita Night