Once again, it's Twoodle Wednesday...now in color!

That's right I did some color work on these guys. I colored it in photoshop because it was quick. This week I went with "risky" from Takako Fisher, "mini-car" from C.S Jennings (both of whom are crazy talented, so you should check them out!) and "poodle" which was my suggestion. The poodles started to look a bit naked after staring at them awhile so I drew some shorts on them. Maybe I should have gone with tutu's though?

The Flying Frenchies need a little help if they're going to make it in the big top...


Aren't these twoodles so much fun?? If you would like to join in check it out here! Follow me on twitter to see my twoodles every week! @amandadsorenson
Also if you're new to children's illustration check out my aspiring children's illustrator, self mid year review ;)

Aspiring Children's Illustrator: Mid-Year Progress Report

Sounds pretty fancy doesn't it...mid-year progress report. It's smart though having goals to achieve and actually achieving them. I don't have anyone telling me what needs to be done and by when, so I need to figure that out on my own. The reason for goals is to make them achievable, while still making them challenging.

Let's take a look at the goals I made at the beginning of the year:

Strenghthen my brand - Design a logo, redesign my website, redesign my blog - Completed

I created a simple logo for my business and gave it a pop color. I also completely overhauled my old website and streamlined it, to make it more art director friendly. My home page is my portfolio; I have my email address on every page making it easier to contact me, an About page focusing on not only my background, but including my strengths, and a fun page that I can play around with and give a shout out to some other great illustrators. My plan is to also include some freebies; digital downloads, coloring pages, etc. so it's not so static. I decided to switch my blog from the old Wix flash site to blogger, and I'm really happy that I did. It looks much better, and I can now track views and comments.

Join SCBWI (Doing this today!) - Completed

I joined SCBWI in January. I've been pouring over the book, soaking up any information I can and collecting a ton of names to send out promotional materials to.

Go to Regional SCBWI in Syracuse (planning for March) - Completed

Had a great time at this mini conference. There were only about 20 people there so it was very hands on and I learned a ton of information. Presenters were Suzanne Bloom and Ellen Yeomans. They brought years of experience and a wealth of information to this "Nuts & Bolt's " conference. Suzanne and a small group of illustrators gave me some great feedback on my portfolio. I think I was the only one who didn't have a book dummy to present...

Save money to go to the Winter or Summer International SCBWI in 2014 (NYC or LA) - On-going
Saving, saving, saving...

Complete a consultation with Holli Conger (planning for April/May) - Completed
This was amazing and I learned so much from her. I won't elaborate on the details, you can read about my whole experience here.

Strenghen my portfolio (currently working on this…OK, always working on this) - On-going
Yep and still working on this. Before the end of the year I'm going to get some black and white pieces done and finish up my alphabet series.

With a stronger portfolio I'll join the Children's Illustrator.com portfolio site - On-going
At this point, I'm not ready to join yet. I need to step up my game if I plan on doing this so I don't waste my money. Want to see some great watercolors, check it out!

And if I'm really ambitious, I'll create an Etsy site. (This is really an extra goal so if I don't get to it, it'll be OK) - meh
This is looking less likely. I'm not sure I have enough time to focus on this and keep working on my portfolio. There's always next year.


Wow, I completed most of my goals! Time for more...
OK, so let's see:

Continue to strengthen portfolio
Add some black and white pieces, more kids and finish my alphabet series.

Keep tackling social media
At least 1 blog post a week, keep tweeting daily, try to twoodle every Wednesday, keep connecting with other illustrators, update facebook regularly, continue participating in Illustration Friday

Send out another postcard and email promo around October
Wait and see how the response to the first postcard goes before designing the next one

Well I guess I have enough stuff to keep me busy so I better get to it!

Any thoughts on more goals to add? What did you have to do to get where you are?

Thanks for the read everyone!

Illustration Friday - Liquid

Here's my Illustration Friday submission this week for liquid…

So I know it's a bit of a stretch, but pirate ships sail on liquid right? It's part of my alphabet series that you can see here.

Happy Monday everyone!

Illustration Friday - "Train"

"Train"

Here's a little sketch for Illustration Friday. I'm working on developing my children so I thought this wasn't half bad. I'm going to work on coloring this one and hopefully get it into my portfolio soon.

Illustration Friday Submission "Wild"

It's been awhile since I submitted anything for Illustration Friday, but here it is. Just a fun little piece of animals gone wild. I don't know why I picked a tiger and a dog...I just felt like drawing them I guess. Anyways it's fun to just draw whatever comes to mind with the IF project and gets my creativity going. I wonder where these two are going...?

Happy New Year!!

Well another year has come and gone; 2012 was a great! The highlight of the year was the birth of my son in April and it seems like since then time started going in fast forward. My son will be 1 in a few months and my daughter is turning 6 in August.

My second highlight: Last September I started working towards becoming a Children's Illustrator. Illustration is something I've always been interested in, but felt that I just didn't have the time to devote to it. I thought it was something I could get into after I retired. But I just couldn't wait! I had an ever growing passion to do something more with my life.

Then I googled "How to become an illustrator"… Boom! First hit was Holli Conger's blog "Becoming an Illustrator". Talk about inspirational! Here was this woman with a full time job and a new baby trying to do the same thing! She found the time to work on her portfolio, market her work and deal with everything else that comes along with being a mother. I had to find a way too…

So I did.  When the kids go to bed I stay up for 3-4 hours working on my portfolio. I wake up early to create and update my website. I use my lunchtime at work to write blog posts (I'm doing that right now in fact.)

It has been 4 months now since I made that decision. I now have a Facebook page, Twitter Feed (with over a hundred followers, yay!), website, and blog. Not too bad for someone who only has about 20 hrs a week to work on them.

2013 here I come!

I completely understand that my road is a very long one. I don't have as much time as I'd like to work on my portfolio or update my website. I need to make postcards and marketing materials to get my name out there. It may take longer than a year to get work, but I'm in this for the long haul.

My goals for 2013:
Strenghthen my brand - Design a logo, redesign my website, redesign my blog
Join SCBWI (Doing this today!)
Go to Regional SCBWI in Syracuse (planning for March)
Save money to go to the Winter or Summer International SCBWI in 2014 (NYC or LA)
Complete a consultation with Holli Conger (planning for April/May)
Strenghen my portfolio (currently working on this…OK, always working on this)
With a stronger portfolio I'll join the Children's Illustrator.com portfolio site
And if I'm really ambitious, I'll create an Etsy site. (This is really an extra goal so if I don't get to it, it'll be OK)

Well, I've got an exciting year ahead of me! I guess I'd better get to work…

What do you have planned for the new year?? New projects? New resolutions?
I'm always happy to hear from you!!

The end of Sweet Squares...the beginning of something new!

Well, I wish I could say that I completed all those sweet squares for November, but I didn't. This isn't the first time I didn't accomplish a goal nor will it be the last time. I need to re-think what types of goals I set for myself. Maybe instead of commiting to draw a sweet square everyday for 30 days, I should have given myself a more attainable goal of creating a portfolio piece by the end of November. OK so what? I didn't acheive my goal. The world still turns AND I did actually make a portfolio piece! In the future I'll make my goals more relevant and challenging, as well as attainable.

And now here is the remainder of my sweet squares...

A little mouse. Probably looking for a morsel of food. Graphite.

A mouse with a mustache of course. Why not? Graphite.

Just a quick little doodle. My daughter decided it needed some color. Graphite, colored pencil.

I got an awesome scarf at Old Navy that has all these great colors in it. It's so bright.

A little comic joke. :)

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm so thankful for my family. They've given me so much support on my illustration journey.

And here's all 20 of my "Sweet Squares"! Looks very pretty all together.

Illustration Friday submission for the week: Mirror

These two mice are just "mousing" around!