ICON7

Two weekends ago, I went to ICON 7 in Providence, RI. This was my second ICON. I really felt that this year I was more comfortable and confident with myself. Last ICON was really intimidating, especially going to it all by myself in LA. So, in turn, I felt that this subtle boost of confidence made it easier to strike up conversations with super talented illustrators and art directors.

There are some great recaps out there from my fellow illustrators. I'll link to them here:
Mark Kaufman The Top 20 Things I Learned at ICON7
Sam Washburn Icon7 Recap
Claire Manning ICON7: Part 1
Alice Young ICON: Part 1

 I laid out all the great cards, prints, items, etc. that I acquired that weekend. Really, my peers are so talented! So here they are!

On Thursday, I attended a workshop moderated by illustrator Jen Corace. I've been a fan of her for a long time. She talked about crafting your own shop and selling directly to people. She spoke about her own online shop on Big Cartel as well as the ins and outs of selling on etsy and big cartel. Our group went to Craftland and I thought I died and went to heaven. So many items all made by individual people. Here are my favorites...

eggplant from feltlikeit



my obsession with the small object continues


 




I recently discovered Pinecone & Chickadee tshirts, and had to pick up one for myself and an onesie for a soon-to-be-mom.




On Friday night, ICON had their first public roadshow. My hotel roommate, Shannon Freshwater had some fancy pieces of original art, prints, and books for sale. I picked up 2 original pieces of artwork.

Also, at the roadshow was Sam Washburn. I met Sam last ICON, so it's been great to see him transition to freelance over the last two years since ICON. I picked up a print of all the House of Representatives from the midwest/north region as an early gift for my step-dad.

  

Some wonderful promos that infiltrated my purse, my suitcase, and my name tag by the end of the conference.

And to give some shoutouts to just a handful of new friends I made:

Natalie Andrewson (I met at the roadshow)
Mario Zucca
Sounion Hong
Alice Young
Lauren Simkin Berke
Muddyum Choudhury
Jeremy Leung

And to conclude, I made a list of quotations or paraphrased blurbs that resonated with me.

-"A lot of people set their prices in retail at the wholesale price. It should be double." -Jen Corace. I gotta rethink my pricing
- Daniel Fishel paraphrased, I think from Marshall Arisman originally (correct me if I'm wrong), "You're always going to be broke, so spend the money you have on stuff you can write off"
-"Be nimble" -Bob Staake
-"Don't always accept the brief as they (art directors) present it" -Chris Silas Neal
-The term Procrastiworking coined by Jessica Hische. Means to work on side projects/research while working for clients.
-"Make things you wished existed"- Jessica Hische
-Copyright your work, you'll have more of a backbone if someone rips you off.
-"Don't wait for approval from others, just do it!" -Idiot Books

And last, for your viewing pleasure from the opening night...

Branding: Todd H Carlson Weddings

This February through March, I worked on a branding project for Todd H Carlson Weddings.
I met Todd when he was my sister's wedding photographer in September. Let me say, Todd did a great job rolling with the punches of the inclemate weather that occurred on my sister's wedding day.

But, back to the project. We worked through a few rounds of sketches and in the end, we decided on a logo with a serif, hand-done font, with watery elements of gouache. For the images used on the main pages of his website, Todd wanted me to incorporate some organic, painted elements that were reminiscent of platinum printing. I added some brushed details to his bio photo (just below) and his testimonial photo (4th image below). All in all, I think it's a really nice touch.

I adapted his logo into a horizontal format and added gouache elements for his blog header.

In addition to developing the logo for his portfolio, blog, Facebook and Twitter, I had the logo made into a stamp at Casey's Rubber Stamps on E. 11th street in the city. Todd will be stamping these guys directly onto the CD packaging for his clients. 

I wrapped up the stamps and sent them off to Todd for his keeping.

These are the final promotional pieces that Todd sent to me. Including a business card with a full bleed on the back side, the CD packaging, and his promotional postcard.

 

Todd is great photographer in Cleveland and would be a great for shooting your wedding, engagement or new baby pictures. Check out his work here.
And, again, thanks Todd for collaborating on this project with me!

If anyone is looking for a rebrand of their business, I would be happy to talk!

Kate + Bret wedding invites

As I noted before, I designed my sister and her fiance's wedding invitation suite.

We wanted to keep the colors simple so that she could print them out herself to cut down on costs. Her fiance is a major fisherman, so Kate approached me to take the idea of 'kissing fish' and run with it.



Her full suite included the actual invite, reception info, lodging (accomodations), navigation (directions) as well as the response card. My mom also requested an invite for the brunch the following day. Both the invitation suite + brunch had an accompanying map with corresponding info-graphics.











This project was so fun to work on with my sister!

Congratulations Kate + Bret!

Mr. Takigayama

[photo by Tom Takigayama]

Speaking of pretty stuff...the special man in my life has his new portfolio website + blog live.

You should go check it out; you may even see some pics of yours truly.