Playing with edges 'n' stuff!

Started as a quick narrative illustration for a client, then got revamped as a more finished spot.

First up is a redo of an old editorial piece for an article about kids spending too much time in summer camp. Next up?? Who knows. Perhaps a giant cat in a business suit– you always need at least one business suit in an editorial portfolio, right?

Score this design: “Medusa’s Bath,” to help it get printed on Threadless!

Also, I’m excited that Sleeeeeep is doing really well and has the second highest score in the Loves Patterns competition. However,  it could really use some more votes, as the sheer number so far isn’t huge. Thanks again, all!

Score this design: Sleeeeep,” to help it get printed on Threadless!

Score this design: Cat Attack,” to help it get printed on Threadless!

The SCAD Sidewalk Arts Festival has come to an end, and my dear Song Lion managed to place first in the Alumni Cyberwalk category. Not as much fun as actually making it to the real Festival, but close! I like this pose of him uku’in in the sunset, so he may soon become a colored pencil piece.

You can take a look at the list of winners here, or view the winning entries directly here.

Also, my friend Alexandra Clotfelter took part in creating this little beauty. Cat mermaids? Waaaaant!!

Alexandra and friends' Cat Mermaids

This blog post by a shopper has a good rundown of some of the neatest vendors.

Print section of my Odd Duck Booth and 1/4 Matt's head (Larger prints were in a floor rack)

Magnets 'N' Stuff and a tiny view of the Maqet catgirls!

A terrible photo of the Maqet.com catgirls. People were really into them!

Speaking of Maqet Catgirls– now that I have some samples I’ll get some better photos and info about them. Look for it soon!

In what seems to be an increasingly more common trend, I’ve redesigned Jadefrolics.com yet again! My goals with this redesign were to make it simpler and give a greater focus to the artwork, and since I just began using my first Android smartphone, I wanted it to work on mobile devices as well. If anyone else is looking to update their portfolio site, I’ve listed a couple of changes I made that might be helpful for other artists to keep in mind:

Portfolio thumbnails

My old site featured a bunch of small thumbnails on a single portfolio site. I tripled the size of the thumbnails to give a better idea of what each image is. A while back, file size was a real issue on the internet, so small thumbs were pretty much a requirement. Computers are fast enough now that the extra size of large thumbnails doesn’t make much difference. I also separated each section onto a different page. This way, people looking at the children’s section don’t inadvertently notice the giant cat boobs, unless they choose to look at the other sections. I was always worrying about which art directors I’ve scared away, but I didn’t feel I had enough work to separate each section. The larger thumbnails fix this issue.

Lightbox Change

I moved from Lightbox 2 to Slimbox as the popup system to display images. Slimbox loads much faster, is way smaller, and it also downgrades wonderfully on mobile devices (at least on Android/iPhone types– I can’t imagine an Art Director browsing portfolios on a Razr), whereas Lightbox 2 just breaks on my phone. I considered getting rid of Lightbox altogether, but by tweaking the Slimbox it has become a very simple way to navigate the images.

Simplified Design

I got rid of the header and footer and minimized the navigation to put all the focus on the artwork. This way there are no distractions to art directors wanting to browse the artwork.

So far, I am happy with the new portfolio design. Hopefully this one can last a while!

Happycosmos.etsy.com

Rachellovespeace.etsy.com

the jadefrolics booth!

Here’s a look at my fancy new vinyl banner from GotPrint…

THANKS so much to everyone who came to say hi and supported jadefrolics and the other vendors (And to Matt for helping and being awesome)!