creative circle thanks

Just the other day I got an email from my husband who works in the industry as a UX designer. The email had an email promo from Creative Circle. Below is the posting:

Karyn - SR. ILLUSTRATOR / DESIGNER (INFOGRAPHICS, PPT)

Karyn is a sr. illustrator / designer who is a career freelancer with 11+ years of experience working with brands such as Adidas, Crayola, Nike, Hewlett-Packard, Countrywide Home Loans, and more. Karyn has worked on a wide range of projects spanning photo retouching, infographics, trade show graphics, POS, post cards, web design, icons, brochures, mockups, PowerPoint presentations - the list goes on! Some fun projects worth noting - she created product and installation illustrations for HP, did some fabric design work for JoAnn Fabric, created illustrative desktop backgrounds for Windows, and even started out as a caricature artist at Opryville! Recently for Vinmotion she was filmed doing quick sketches for an internal video. She's fluent in Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Flash, Fireworks, and PowerPoint. Karyn is easy to work with, is quick as a wink, and is available for freelance and full-time opportunities. 

How awesome is that? Honestly, as much as I try and promote myself, the best work, and the best promotion is from other sources. I am so grateful to have made so many contacts in the industry. Most importantly, the lesson I glean from this promo, is that it is paramount to nurture these types of relationships. I don't burn bridges, I don't drop the ball. It is my highest priority to make good on promises. I believe this is my 'brand management' and it is what elevates my career from 'getting by' to 'doing well'. 

summer

The beginning of summer kicked off with an overwhelming load of work. I went to Turkey in July and since I have been home work has been manageable and allowed me to enjoy summer. What a stroke of luck.

Some of the work that kept me busy at the beginning of summer included a fun illustration of two sisters for an Apple Chip lable. I also had the good fortune to draw on white board for another video for VinMotion wines. That gig is always a good time and one of my favorite projects. Here is a nice logo for a Personal Trainer. Logos are a constant need and can be fun and this little logo was a great summer gig.

freebies

I am not sure the value of freebies but I do participate when they come along. A few months ago I submitted artwork for the Windows gallery for downloadable wallpaper. My art was selected and I submitted an entire gallery of designs that are all food related. Love that my artwork is out there, not sure if it benefits me as an artist or not.

But... I do think you have to share. Sometimes giving it away is what you do to get more eyes to see your work, and hopefully it turns into dollar signs. My artwork has appeared on calendars, in decks of cards and now wallpaper for computers. Will I keep submitting my work, yes. Will I make money from it? Maybe.

So, want to see my collection? Here you go:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/robmar/archive/2013/05/13/download-delectable-designs-theme-for-windows-by-karyn-servin.aspx

how does Chuck Norris illustrate?

I know not a good lead in to a Chuck Norris joke, but seriously I did finish a recent project for Total Gym. The illustration below was created for Total Gym to instruct users how-to use the machine. Taking photos provided by the client I created clean and simple line art that was somewhat androgynous. We wanted the look to be consistent with their brand colors and the human figure to be simplified so that the emphasis was on the motions of the exercises. The client was awesome, although I did not get to meet Chuck Norris. Next time.

drawing live

I have been so busy with projects lately that I haven't had a chance to share some of the awesomeness. Let me tell you about this one to kick things off.

I got a call from an past co-worker, Amy Hall of Grow Creative. Amy does wonderful work and is an amazing designer. She needed an illustrator to draw live on video for a wine company 'Vinmotion'. After meeting with the client and going over the project I realized this was going to require a lot of planning, and on the fly ability.

Essentially we had 16 panels that required drawing, both typography and illustration. I also would need to sculpt and create fun concepts for stop motion graphs. Working with a great team, Matt Franklin and Dan Pred and Amy Hall, we came up with a solid visual story and collected our props.

The day of the shoot I had 48 boards, just in case I screwed up on the 16 panels we needed to shoot me drawing. Long story short, after two full days of shooting, I had used only 16 of the 48 boards. Yes, that is correct we had no screw ups. Well none that required a new board anyway.

Below is a screen capture from the video of one of the more detailed drawings. I love my job.

a flashy annual event

I love getting an email in October from Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt. That fall email means the Flash holiday card is ready for creation. One of the best parts is I get to work with Susan Burr, who is a wonderful idea person and always has such fun concepts. The second best part is that I get to create a new style of art each November for the holiday card, telling a new little story.

This year was the story of a snowman and windy day. The snowman introduces the holiday gift of a monogrammed card to the viewer. Just a subtle nod that the recipient may not even know about. The style this year is in a faux watercolor look, thank you Photoshop.

Check out a frame from the card below.