IF Topic : Wheel

My Illustration Friday submission for this week:

Picking Out a Lawn Ornament, Colored Pencil and Ink on Bristol Board

Here's a little bit of the process:

Lately, I've been missing summer (I always miss summer as soon as Christmas is over...). This is a farmer character I've been working on. So, thinking about summer....and wheels..and yard art (who doesn't love yard art?)...I decided this farmer needed a pinwheel for his yard. Here he is picking one out.

FLAMINGO GIVEAWAY

Every Saturday, for the next few weeks, I'm going to announce a new art piece or illustration I will be GIVING away!

This week's giveaway:
  Upcycled Art - An original colored pencil drawing on a 1930's dictionary page
  This Illustration will be cased in a clear, protective sleeve and sent by mail to the winner.


There a few very simple ways to enter this contest:


- Mention this Blog through Twitter, FB, or your Blogsite and then give me the link (you can leave it as a comment on this post or Tweet it to me). Don't forget to make me sound extra-great by telling your friends/followers something along the lines of: "Hey check out this crazy awesome illustrator...http://almiart.blogspot.com/"

- Follow me on Twitter and tell your friends to follow me, "Wow... follow @almiart - she can draw!"

- Comment on this post and tell me something interesting, like "Sweet! I never knew what a Dormer window was until I read this illustration's background!"


For each way you enter you will get a chance to win this print! (So, if you want to rack up the entries, just enter as many ways as you can - post on FB, Twitter, blogs, comment here and you will be off to the races!) All entries will be put on a list and then I will use Random.org to draw the winning name.

Check back in at the end of the week to see if you won this print and what I'm giving away next!
This giveaway ends Friday, July 20th at 11:59 PM.


The whole point of these giveaways is to get some extra hype going for a project I will be announcing in a few weeks. If you enjoy my illustration, even the tiniest bit, or if you like free stuff - PLEASE get the word out and help me get this going!


-ALMI

Mug Giveaway WINNERS!

WINNERS!

So, the time has finally come to announce the winners from the giveaway!
All entries were put on a list in the order they signed up, and then Random.org was used to generate number picks.

First up is the GRAND PRIZE winner of the hand-painted Walter mug:

Annnnddd it's HAPPYGRAPE! @happygrape2
WoooHOoo!

Next are the following 10 winners of prints:

1. Cindy @oxcindyxo
2. Heather Peagler @bestgirkfriend
3. Melanie Chan @MLCillustration
4. Plantie Bee @Plantiebee
5. Tara Lazar @taralazar
6. Shawna @shawnajctenney
7. Cathy Hatterman @catinhatt
8. happygrape @happygrape2
9. Lydia Ondrusek @littlefluffycat
10. beadsofcambaydotcom @beads_of_cambay

Congratulations to all the winners and a HUGE thank you to all those who participated!
I will be contacting the winners to get print choices as well as mailing addresses!
You can follow me on Twitter: @almiart for the latest updates and announcements.

Look out for more giveaways to come - for the next few weeks I will be giving away ORIGINAL drawings every Friday! I have a huge project coming down the pike and I'm hoping to get lots of people paying attention to this blog before I make the announcement! So, stay posted!

ALMI

What a Stretch...!

This week's Illustration Friday topic - Suspended

He thought up such a great plan.

Everything was set..but there was a slight hitch in the process.

Still undaunted, but slightly suspended from success:

Not sure how he will get out of this one, but as long as the cat stays away he will be fine.

I was going to add a background, but changed my mind...seemed like it might get a little busy and the tension would be lost. Working on this little mouse for my upcoming project... (still a secret!)

What's Yours Is Mine, What's Mine Is... Mine.

Yay! Just finished a new set of hand-painted coffee mugs, and I'm really proud of them! I meant to take pictures of the process, but sort of got swept into working on them before I remembered. I did manage this:

And now you can check out the mug set:

You can see them for sale in my Etsy shop by clicking here.

***************************

Exciting piece of news! I'm going to be having a blog giveaway starting Friday. Here's a tiny sneak peek! (so get excited!)

Be sure to check back in to see more and find out how you can win the secret giveaway! And come follow me on Twitter @almiart !

IF - Puzzled

Here is the story of Bronton the bird.

All his friends call him "Watt," but until you know him better you can call him Bronton.
Is this the face of a Puzzled character?

Certainly not.

He's called Watt for a reason - he has an answer for everything and lights up like a lightbulb at a challenge.

He's read the dictionary front to back 7 times and has it memorized pretty much word-for-word.

In fact talking to him is like reading a dictionary. Or Thesaurus. Or Encyclopidia. 

Even when he hasn't read about it, he can make an educated guess to answer any question.

Who needs the World Wide Web when you have Bronton around?

Puzzled?

Just ask Bronton.

But you might get more than you bargained for.

For sale in my Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/listing/97733434/almi-art-bronton-aceo-vintage-book-page

Bronton on a Mug

A new illustration - a new product! Check it out at my Etsy Store.

Bronton is a brilliant little fellow. This sunny, summer day he is contemplating the garden, the flowers, and the effects of photosynthesis on the plants.

Etsy Mug

A new handpainted mug to add to my Etsy store! I had a lot of fun making this and I'm very proud of the result! I've been working on a lot of new things, and I need to start posting them!

This week's IF topic is "vocal." I had a hard time thinking of a scene for this, but finally chose to do these fish on this mug. I thought of it being a great conversation starter, and this is why it's a "vocal" piece. So far, everyone who's stopped by my house has certainly said something as soon as they saw it! :)

More Fish in the Sea
  Hand-Painted Ceramic Mug
  4.5" Tall

Here's the Etsy listing: http://www.etsy.com/listing/97317530/almi-art-more-fish-in-the-sea-hand

Oh, the Places I'd Like to Go!

This week's theme for IF was "Intentional" and today happens to be Dr. Seuss's birthday.

I absolutely love his work (he is very much an inspiration to mine) and have drawn him in the past. I see him as a very "intentional artist" with his bright colors and bold lines. He created a whole new genre of children's books that were nothing like the traditional "Dick and Jane" stories his generation was used to. Once, when at a book signing, he disappeared into a back room, where they later found him striking out the prices on boxes of new "Dr. Seuss" shoes and repricing them because they were too expensive. He never read his books in public, got very angry if reproductions of his work looked "cheap," and created all kinds of personal work that never was published.

Here is my "intentional" entry in colored pencil:

The time had come,

But Marvin said "NO!"

So Walter climbed on the Crunk-Car

And set it to "slow."

But slow was no fun,

Slow would not do.

So he cranked it to "fast"

and, boy, that thing flew!

I'm a little disappointed in how the colors came out when I photographed that one - in the original the blue is bluer, the owl is teal and the tree is orange. Also, I wanted to include the portrait of Seuss that I did two years ago for a Museum show. I realized I never put this into a blog, so I wanted to make sure I did! :) It's all colored pencil (no ink or any other mediums) and it's 18"x24" (poster size). I was illustrating his less-know characters with a little of my own style and coloring - little did I know they'd be making a movie out of the Lorax!

It's framed for my Office:

Wish I could have met him!

More Fish in the Sea

A new illustration:

4"x6" Colored Pencil on Bristol Board
ALMI Art

Dream A Little Dream...

Two new ACEO's for your viewing pleasure :)

   

Owls can dream too.
Colored Pencil on Bristol Board
ALMI Owls :: LeVert : Walter

A Plethora

A new illustration from my La Chat series:

Colored Pencil on Bristol Board
This is a small tribute to Dr. Seuss.
To purchase prints click Here (bid starts at $.01).

Royal Flush

I spent a couple days creating a set of 3 playing cards for a Monday Artday contest:

      

These illustrations are in colored pencil on Bristol Board. If you are interested in buying a set of prints Click Here.

Valentine Love

Valentine's day is also my birthday, so I had to illustrate some special pieces :)

Roses are Red, Carnations are Pink
He tries so hard, but she does not blink.
If at first you don't succeed

Perhaps another try you need.

Try again - it could be a while

But someday you might make her smile.

Prints of these ACEO cards are for sale Here and Here. 

It's A Spring Thing

Illustration Friday :: Tension

Love Hexagon
Colored Pencil
ALMI Owls (from left to right) :: Bradbury : Walter : LeVert : Oswald : Egbert : Gertrude : Regina

What creates more tension than undefined admiration around Valentine's Day? This was a great chance to put most of my owls on one page. I hope you enjoy viewing it as much as I did creating it.

My original drawing is for sale on eBay Here.

Leave me some LOVE! :)
P.S. Regina came out a little more blue in the photo than in the original - she is Parma Purple in person.

A Series of Bosco

So, I had a buyer request a full series of Bosco, after buying this one:

 So, I did a few sketches...

and colored in the lines....

and here is the finished product of his beauty shoot:

   

   



Well, I hope you enjoyed getting to know Bosco a little better! :) Leave me some love.