This week I decided to give myself an editorial assignment. It’s work I love to do but I don’t get nearly as much practice as I would like. This is an illustration based on a recent article in National Geographic. The article explored aging and the discovery of genes in our DNA that could possibly protect us from chronic diseases and enabling us to live longer. I’ve been doing a lot of experimenting with technique lately and this is one such experiment.

Here is a quick little painting I did for my husband for our recent anniversary. He’s a huge fan of bees and dreams of having his own hives one day. I drew the bee in pencil and then painted the comb right over the top. This is available as a print in my Print Shop.

Over the weekend I did a new recipe comic for Herbed White Bean Dip with Toasted Crostini. This is a really great recipe when you’re having some friends over and it’s something a little different than, say, hummus or spinach dip. Trust me, with the bacon mixed in, this won’t last long.

Enjoy!

I have been working very hard the last few weeks and months to up my illustration game. I’ve been pushing my composition skills and experimenting with new techniques and this is another piece that has come out of that experimentation.

I was inspired to paint this by my little sister who is having a baby next month and moving to their new house next week. I particularly enjoyed painting the food and containers on the coffee table and the Nintendo sitting on top of a box. These little details can really make a big difference and they’re fun to draw.

Alisa’s blog is an all vegetarian (often vegan) recipe comic blog and she has been posting comics of her own for some time now. They are always fun recipes and I encourage you to check out the rest of them.

I loved creating this recipe comic and I hope to do more of them in the future. Illustrating food is something I really enjoy so for any of you out there that have a food project you need illustrated, let me know!

Sheesh, I just realized that my last blog post was from the 27th of February! Talk about getting behind. I apologize for the relative silence. I’ve been doing a lot of traveling and work has been very busy. Naturally, that means I’ve been doing a lot of client work that I can’t share and haven’t had much time for other stuff. Though, if you follow me on Instagram you can see a lot more of my sketching/painting.

So this is one of my latest watercolor paintings. I am currently obsessed with using my one Kuretake waterbrush pen. It’s made mostly for painting on the go, but I also really like it for my other painting except  that it’s a little small. There is a line of about 4-5 of them and I’d love to get them all. I feel like it gives me more control over how much water I put on the page and it has such a smooth feel. Not to mention the portability factor.

Anyway, after reading Glyn Dillon’s The Nao of Brown, which is a gorgeous book that you should all read, I decided to try painting with watercolor over pencil. Dillon creates his comics in pencil but then prints the pencils onto watercolor paper so I was just sure that painting directly over the pencil would lead to a smeared lead distaster but it didn’t. Lately, I’ve been feeling like my process is too complex – I draw each illustration in too many stages and the resulting image can be stiffer than I intended. So by using pencil as the final drawing stage I get to leave off one round of redrawing. I do still love inking, though and I will probably go back and forth between the two techniques.

And if you didn’t noticed, I added a Print Shop tab to the navigation on my site. If you’re looking for prints of my work, hit it up!

Tentiko is a new Denver start-up that arranges unique, Denver-based experiences with local people. Working with them, I have created a “Paint a Recipe” experience that I will be teaching on March 23rd at Water 2 Wine. You can read the full description and get all of the details here. Sign up if you’re local or tell a friend who might be! There will be wine and food and you can bring in your favorite recipe or a family recipe and we will all paint together while I teach you a bit about technique, composition, and color.

Cannoli – illustration for DaVinci Wines

Earlier this week I had the good fortune to be featured on the I Love Your Work, Jonathan Fenske blog. It’s a lovely little feature and you can get some insight into how I work and whose work I’m really into at the moment. Thanks Jennifer & Jonathan!

I’ve had a crazy freelance schedule the last couple of months (which I am extremely grateful for) and this week things only got crazier. Since Monday I have been working in New Jersey for Merck Pharmaceuticals. I can’t tell you anything about what I’m doing yet, but it’s an incredible opportunity and I hope to continue working with them in the months to come. For now, I will be here for two weeks and I am staying in an adorable farmhouse in rural New Jersey. I may be away but, don’t worry, I am still available for commission!

Some of you may have seen me post this on Instagram but I did want to mention it here as well. I ordered a print of my work from InPrnt as part of a gift and I was so impressed with the work that they did. Below is an unretouched picture of the print I received.

Not only is it gorgeous, but this is printed larger than the size it was painted at and it looks fantastic. If you are interested in prints from me for a very reasonable price, my InPrnt shop is the way to go! And if there is something you want a print of that is not available, let me know and I will get it up as soon as possible.

Ricoh USA Digital Imaging Services Whiteboard Illustration from Michelle Kondrich on Vimeo.

Late last year I was hired by Words at Work to illustrate a whiteboard video for Ricoh USA’s Digital Imaging Services. The more of this type of work I do, the more I enjoy it. I love the storyboard process, the video shoot, and seeing the final product come together. These videos lend themselves to somewhat dry subject matter and are great for Business to Business communications but they are also great for complex TED talks and can liven up process descriptions.

The folks at Words at Work flew me to Minneapolis for the shoot and they were just wonderful to work with and I would jump at the chance to do it again.

For those that are interested in this type of thing but might not have the time or the budget for a full video shoot, I am also able to make some very simple animation that mimics whiteboard videos. Get in touch if you’d like to work on one together.

I would also like to announce that I have a new print shop in addition to the shop where I sell my original paintings. I now have a limited selection of high quality giclee prints up at Inprnt.com. If there is anything you would like a print of that you don’t see in the shop (or that you would like a larger print of) let me know and I will get it up as quickly as I can.

I hit the ground running in 2013 with an incredible workshop at the Light Grey Art Lab with Kali Ciesemier. You can read Light Grey’s recap of the workshop here and Kali’s here.  It was an incredible weekend where I had the good fortunate to hang out with some great people, spend time with other illustrators, and learn a thing or two about myself and my work. I’ve learned a few things about avenues I no longer want to pursue as heavily as well as some that I want to put more concentration into.

As part of the workshop, we were all asked to create a piece for Light Grey’s newest show, Message in a Bottle. Above is my piece for the show, titled Secret Recipe. I’m working on moving all of my prints to another venue, but in the meantime the original painting is available in my shop.

**UPDATE**

This piece and others are now available as high quality giclees in my new Inprint print shop

Here is the pencil drawing:

And this is after I started inking the drawing:

The show will be full of secrets and messages and I’m disappointed I can be there to see it in person. It’s going to be a very interactive show and, believe me, the people at Light Grey know how to show you a good time.

]]> http://michellekondrich.com/2013/01/secret-recipe-illustration-light/feed/ 0 http://michellekondrich.com/2013/01/2013-goals/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=2013-goals http://michellekondrich.com/2013/01/2013-goals/#comments Tue, 08 Jan 2013 17:03:15 +0000 mschrad http://michellekondrich.com/?p=1785

A week short, but I’ve finally gotten a chance to sit down and write a bit about my goals for 2013 and how I did on my 2012 goals as well.

The year started off right with a wonderful illustration workshop at the Light Grey Art Lab in Minneapolis. The workshop was taught by one of my favorite illustrators, Kali Ciesemier. It was great to meet Kali who is incredibly knowledgeable and is also generous with her knowledge and attention. I was fortunate enough to spend the entire weekend with a group of illustrators from around the country (and Canada). We talked about everything from promotion, websites, Photoshop techniques, and types of illustration to more introspective topics about what makes us happy and what kind of lifestyle we utimately want for ourselves. I came away with some great goals for the 2013 and I’ve already taken steps towards some of them.

First things first, though. Did I acheive the goals I set in 2012? You can see last year’s post here.

It looks like I acheived them for the most part. I didn’t create anything new for Denver Comic Con and my secret project hasn’t been launched. That project shifted a bit and is now something I’m working on for 2013. I definitely drew a lot more in 2012 and not only applied for residencies, but spent a month at the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts working on a graphic novel project.

And now, on to goals for 2013:

1. Finish my graphic novel adaptation.
I have been working on a graphic novel adaptation of someone’s memoir since the middle of last year. I don’t want to say too much yet. It is currently under consideration at the original author’s publisher and once I know if they are interested it will allow me to make some decisions about what I want to do with it (take it to other publishers, self-publish, kickstart, etc.). I have also applied for a table at CAKE this year and hope to be able to sell the first few chapters of this book. Regardless of what the publisher wants, I want to finish the entire project in 2013.

2. Add more food and lifestyle illustration to my portfolio.
For much of my illustration career, I’ve been pursuing conceptual illustration in a big way. I’ve come to realize that that may not be the best route for my work. I would like to add more food and lifestyle illustration to my portfolio and begin pursuing more of that type of work.

3. Get hired to do more whiteboard illustration/video scribing.
In the last year and a half I have done a lot of whiteboard illustration (I don’t do the video production for videos, only the illustration). I find the work to be fun and challenging, and seeing the end result is always exciting. This year I will start by sending some examples of my work in this area to agencies I think might be interested and hopefully I can build a solid business on this type of work.

4. Experiment and make things with my hands.
I’ve purchased modeling clay and armature wire and I plan to start learning how to needlefelt. My goal is to try a lot of new things this year and maybe try my hand at sculptural illustration. Even if it doesn’t work for me, it sounds fun to try.

5. Develop alternate revenue streams.
Whether it’s more custom, original paintings, a different print fulfillment site, or handmade goods I can sell, I feel it would be valuable for me to develop some alternate ways of bringing in income. We are in the age of the entrepreneur and I want to take full advantage.

And there you have it. What are some of your goals for 2013? Did you acheive your goals for last year?

I would also like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy New Year and to thank you for following and sharing my work. I’m happy to have such wonderful followers and I wish you all success in your endeavors this year!