Shameless promotion for my handmade soap

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For those of you that don’t know, in addition to my illustrations, I make soap.  I am rather proud that my “Give Good Face” soap is doing rather well and is well received. You can purchase some at the Laughing Devil Designs etsy shop.  Most people that have tried it have never gone back and say that it leaves their skin soft and smooth.

I’m excited to be making a new batch this month and a matching lotion that I have been testing for year. I also have finished testing some fun scented novelty soap like “Pirate’s Hideaway”.

I make soap in small batches (I only produce 24-48 bars at a time of each) to ensure that I can produce a quality, ph balanced soap that closely resembles the ph of skin. My soap is handmade from raw ingredients and not made from any type of purchased melt and pour base. Even those with the most sensitive of skin-types can usually use this without irritation because the base of each of soap consists only of saponified plant oils and natural extracts and does NOT contain synthetic ingredients, artificial dyes, perfumes or and preservatives (parabens). The color of the soap is a direct result of the various oils, butters and extracts. Each recipe is tested on myself (I have ultra sensitive skin), my family and my friends.

I think what makes my soap so special is the particular attention paid to the use of sustainably sourced non- gmo oils and organic (often local) herbs and extracts. It is important to me to provide a great product while simultaneously being conscious of our planet. So try some you’ll love it.

Happy 2012!

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So I’m a month late wishing you all a happy new year, but since today was the start of the Chinese New Year I think it can still count.

As you can see, I have moved my website and blog together, which has consumed all of my free time in the new year so far. So I haven’t done any extra art to post yet.  Soon though I’ll update with some new art.

2012 looks promising. I have a few pending offers out there that I hope will come to fruition and I’m continuing to work on my bullying graphic novel for middle schoolers. This is an exciting project as it is my first project that will be presented as an e-book only. New formats are always exciting and I have been learning a lot along the way.

I have lots of  personal projects, portfolio facelift projects and mailer ideas planned for the year too, so stay tuned, it’s going to be a busy year.

Art show, workshop and portfolio facelift

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So I have been working on my “Sirene de la Mer” (left) for a local art show, that I can never say no to because I like to remember my roots. No matter how in demand my work ever becomes, I’ll still enter this community art show and price things accordingly. She is also part of my portfolio facelift and I think she’ll make a cute summer mailer for next year.

I have also been asked to lead my first workshop on October 15th, it which I will demo how I make this collages and 30 participants will get to hunt through my found object loot to create their own reclaimed/ found object collage. I super excited and have a reason to visit my favorite, “found object loot” finding spots to bring all sorts of sweet stuff to the workshop. Hopefully someone will come take pictures for me so I can post it.

Anniversary and Update of Sorts

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Monday, August 15th was my 2nd Anniversary with Chino. Having been busy this summer with lots of things I can’t show yet, I created this drawing for him and printed it on canvas, to give to him as an anniversary gift. Last year I also presented him with a drawing and hopefully I can make it become a tradition, we will just need more wall space one day.

Aside from enjoying a much needed day off at the lake with my love, I have been teaching art this summer to children age 5 though 14 and working on a huge interactive graphic novel that addresses bullying in middle school and high school. The bullying graphic novel is a departure from my regular style and work, but I have been enjoying it. I have been also working with a group of middle schoolers to make sure it is visually appealing to their picky age group. It has been a rewarding and eye opening experience, and I would love to do some more work geared towards tweens and teens in the future.
I have new mailers coming out this month too. I veered away from my normal back to school mailer and used my cute little swimmer. August – October are actually the best months to take swim lessons in California, so I always equate swimming with back to school since this is when the East Bay and San Francisco has the best weather of the year.

Next I’ll be working on my  ”Don’t forget my name promotion” I’ll be sending out postcards that are themed for various holidays.

Asleep- Illustration Friday 5/27/11

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There are 2 champion sleepers I can think of when I think of sleeping ( something I myself do not do nearly enough). Those sleepers are Rip Van Winkle-who sleeps for 20 years and Sleeping Beauty ( aka Briar Rose, Talia, Aurora)-who took a short
nap of 100 years

For this week’s Illustration Friday I present Briar Rose, Talia, Aurora whatever name you give to Sleeping Beauty, doing what she does best… sleeping.
So this is of course not done, it’s my color comp for the piece since I once again ran out of time this week to produce a finished version. The final will be coming soon as part of my portfolio facelift series. She’s based on how I sleep, so that may not be very princess like. I feel like I need to fix her little claw like hand.

I love all the versions of Sleeping Beauty. One of the darkest is Basile’s “Sole, Luna, e Talia” Basile’s version, the sleep did not stem from a curse, but was prophesied. The prince did not wake Talia from the sleep with a kiss, but raped her, and when she gave birth to two children, one sucked on her finger, drawing out the piece of flax that had put her to sleep, which woke her. That is a crazy version.

In Perrault’s version The Prince wakes up Beauty, they get secretly married, have 2 children, the Prince ascends to the throne and her now mother-in-law is found to be of ogre lineage and wants to eat the children and her. Luckily the cook substitutes the meat with lamb, goat and hind. The ogress finds out the trick and preps the tub in the courtyard and fills it with vipers. Of the course the King returns in the nick of time and the Ogress throws herself into the tub of vipers. What an ending, What a Happily ever after!

Man! Disney, you forgot all the awesome parts that would have scared me into submission of being the best child on the planet, FOREVER. I digress… but fairytale origins are AWESOME!

Time for a nap…

Soaked- Illustration Friday 5/20/11

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Idioms are so fun and so hard to understand as a child. I remember being really little and seeing my mother look out the window when it was raining hard and say ” It’s raining cats and dogs out there,” it took me a year to understand that she didn’t literally mean cats and dogs where falling out of the sky. So here’s what happens when it literally rains cats and dogs.

I ended up liking this sketch so much, that I’ll be refining it some and using as a piece in my 2011 portfolio face lift series. So stay tuned, a final is coming soon. :)

Lesson- Illustration Friday 4/29/11

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“The Swim Lesson” – Acyclicand Enamel on vintage textbook paper.

Well I managed to get this one in the proper category. Anyway… I use to work in an office beside a city pool. While pool rules did not allow floaties inside, kids would always come to the gate with all sorts of the goggles and floating devices on, and a parent would have to return all that stuff to the car. I always imagined what would happen if the kids got past the gate and waited poolside in their silly garb for a swim lesson, so here is one all dressed up and ready for her 3pm lesson.