Clay

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Recently I have really been getting into making things out of clay, mostly for myself or friends. I was thinking of starting up my own Etsy store, mostly so I could just fund the habit really, to buy clay and bits and pieces.  I can't wait to make some more monster and dinosaur key rings and chains. I love monsters. :D In case you can't tell... I will be making owls of course too....

click to see facebook page

Here are my little angry bird (soon to be attached to keyrings) figurines. These were made for family and friends who are a bit obsessed and thought they might like a little key chain. :D

I haven't given up on my 30 days of drawing challenge either. Just having a little break, while I focus on other things. :)

6. Whats in Your Bag?: 30 day drawing challenge

The above image is my bag contents which include:

• keys
• headphones
• lucas pawpaw ointment
• extra gum
• scrunched up receipt
• paper note
• 5 pens
• tissues
• 2 lip glosses
• owl purse 
• regular purse

So nothing too exciting, but it was fun for a 20
minute quick sketch!





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Eckersley's Christmas competition

This isn't part of my 30 day drawing challenge. I did it for the Eckersley's Christmas competition which is running in Australia at the moment.

So far, everything that has been submitted is quite decorative, so I decided to submit something a bit quirky and funny. Who doesn't want a gangsta Santa delivering their presents? He'd probably sell the presents so he can put hydraulics on his sled.

I hope you found it funny.
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5. Childhood Memory: 30 Day Drawing Challenge

This is my latest drawing for the challenge. When I was little, I spent a lot of time at the beach and collected many shells. For the challenge I decided to draw some of the shells I collected, to illustrate my fond memories of the beach.

I am really loving watercolour paints.

4. A Monster: 30 Day Drawing Challenge

 

I decided to draw a monsta-saur! A combination of a monster and a dinosaur. I've drawn SO many monsters lately in my children's book, I decided to take a different angle with this guy and draw an 'Xray' type of drawing, showing what goes on inside a monsters body!!


And yes... There is an elephant in there, didn't you know a monsters diet is mostly elephant??

3. Most Recent Dream: 30 Day Drawing Challenge

Ooookay. So no where in the challenge did it specify that the drawings had to be 'good.' haha. I found it SO difficult to interpret my dream on paper. Dreams are always changing and it was really hard to remember the details, but it was the feeling i tried to capture in this one. The distance i felt from the other people.

It was a really weird dream. I was presenting my story book "Oliver" which has been my latest obsession, to a panel of judges. They all seemed thoroughly disinterested in my or the book and were playing on their phones and reading the newspaper.




I remember all the pages fell out of my book and I forgot my que cards and I had a cold in my dream. It was so incredibly odd. anyway, that 2 minute doodle above is a rough idea of what the layout of the dream was like. :)

2. Imaginary Friend: 30 Day Drawing Challenge:

I never really had an imaginary friend as a child. So I chose to draw Santa, everyone's imaginary friend. I like to think he isn't all that imaginary anyway! ;P

1. Self Portrait: 30 day drawing challenge

So of course the challenge starts off with one of the most difficult tasks!! self portraits! Noooo! I have never enjoyed drawing myself. Even back in primary school for homework. I could never make my drawings look like me!

I think I always tried to change the way I looked, my nose and hair and they never seemed quite right... I always tried to draw my face pointing to a side or downwards. I guess I, like many people have never been happy with the way I look.

In this challenge, I decided to base it off of a funny Photobooth photo I took of my cat stalking me, probably plotting my death. My face was all retorted and pushed in and my hair was a mess. My lips were twisted in an odd grimace and I'm wearing a dressing gown! But I went for it and this is probably my favourite self portrait so far!

It's a bit silly and not quite accurate, but I captured the quirky humor which is what defines me.

30 Day Drawing Challenge

I am taking up a new challenge.

30 Day Drawing Challenge:

• ^{1. Self Portrait}
• ^{2. Imaginary Friend}
• ^{3. Most Recent Dream}
• ^{4. A Monster}
• ^{5. Childhood Memory}
• ^{6. Whats in Your Bag?}
• ^{7. Hybrid Animal}
• ^{8. Scene From a Movie}
• ^{9. Siamese Twins}
• ^{10. Super Hero}
• ^{11. Super Villain}
• ^{12. An Elderly Person}
• ^{13. A Turning Point in Your Life}
• ^{14. Portrait of a Pet}
• ^{15. A Dinosaur}
• ^{16. Draw Something with Your Eyes Closed}
• ^{17. A Delicious Food}
• ^{18. ZOMBIES!!}
• ^{19. Sea Creature}
• ^{20. Your Dream Job}
• ^{21. A Guilty Pleasure}
• ^{22. Favourite Cartoon Character}
• ^{23. Actor/Actress}
• ^{24. A Collage}
• ^{25. Best Friend}
• ^{26. Instrument}
• ^{27. Something with Sentimental Value}
• ^{28. Your Zodiac Sign}
• ^{29. The Meaning of Your Name}
• <sup>30. Favourite Outfit.
  
  
  I am super excited about this challenge! Some of the topics will be very challenging and difficult! I know I will gain a lot out of this, like I did with my one drawing a day challenge! wish me luck!!</sup>
  
  
  
  

free falling

So yay! After my portfolio interview tomorrow, Uni is finally over! And what a full on year it has been. Probably one of the most chaotic years of my life so far... except maybe moving house during uni and having a PC that crashed all the time when I tried to do my essays. haha. It has been so full on, almost like I have been constantly drawing and under the pump for this entire year.

I'm looking forward to going away in January, that is if I don't get a job before then. I would like to have a break, but I feel so redundant not doing anything, apart from working at my local supermarket, which pays the bills, but is the least bit exciting, unless the local crazy comes in and yells at everyone...

I'm really looking forward to the exciting things coming up. Hopefully I don't get too anxious in the mean time and learn to relax and enjoy a break. I have the rest of my life to enjoy full time work...

I'm a bit nervous about the possibility of moving interstate to find work. I have always called South Australia home, and the idea of living somewhere else still seems a bit surreal, but also exciting.

Anyway, here's some of the work I have been up to over the year.

Oliver

So I have completed all my illustrations for my story book Oliver!! YAY! I now need to add type and fix up my cover design. We have sooo many assessments coming up this week, it's madness! Here's a preview of a few of my pages from my story

I am sooo excited to finish my degree in the next few weeks!

Illustrating an illustration inside an illustration on an illustration...

Yay, so uni holidays are almost here! I'm so excited to have a day off, but I will be working fairly solidly throughout the holidays to get stuff done! Here's what I have been up to this semester...

Underwater vehicle design for game/animation. CONCEPT STAGE.

My final identity concept

business forms...

32 line drawings for my story book 'Oliver.'

And I have begun the final renderings of my book. So it has been a very productive semester, I will have plenty more to include in my portfolio when we are finished.

This weeks lecture was about where to go next year, and we had several speakers who have previously done this course. I am thinking of doing a 12 month diploma of visual arts and design to help me establish my own business or prepare me for the real world by working with real clients. Things are looking good.

Last Day of Winter

Yay! It is the last day of Winter in Australia! So excited, spring is on its way!!

As a little treat for myself, I was considering buying these books...

left image: "Made & Sold"
right image: "Postcard"

image above: "The 3D Type Book"

All the books are created by FL@33, a visual communications studio in London. I only discovered this studio this morning, the work they do is incredible! It would be amazing working for a studio like that! Combining illustration, typography and craft! just wow! It would be great to do something like this in Australia!

Identity Project

I have been working on my identity for the last few weeks. It has been incredibly difficult finding a sign or logo that can truly represent myself in a business sense. Trying to create something authentic, that can draw attention, but still feel comfortable to present in a professional way has been quite hard.

I decided to focus on something I love, which is monsters. This little guy is still a concept, which will need further development. I'm really excited by this, and can't wait to see the end result. I love watercolour paints and character development, which can be pretty tricky to merge sometimes, but I think this works really well.

I will base my portfolio work, business cards and promotional piece off of this creature. I will put him in the corner of my C.V and business forms too. Looking forward to the progress.

New & Improved

Welcome to 'Lisa Vertudaches Illustration Blog.' just undergone some huge changes! It appears my love for owls is well known to the public, but it's good because the people love my owls! haha :D and my owlster ( see right ----> )

Would like to thank everyone for supporting my 1 drawing, every day for 1 month challenge. Had lots of positive feedback on facebook. Hilarious conversations on the net and also in person from people who have been following my progress. Not long until the end. :( I will actually be a bit upset to finish that, but I will keep up my recreational drawing. It has been a huge challenge coming up with something creative everyday.

here are some updates of my illustrations for the drawing a day challenge:

thanks for reading. have a hoot.

1 drawing, 1 day for one month. Update

So I have been keeping up with my 1 drawing per day challenge. Some of the drawings are very average and rushed. Some are funny and some I have spent up to an hour on, but not much more than that as I don't have the time.
:)

here's some of my faves!

This was done on a particular bad checkout shift. I thought it would be fun to make a mini series of the mundane happenings in my life...

This is a monsterfish. Sort of like a lochness monster, but not.... because it has spots and the lochness monster isn't real. duh. This is a Monish.

I have been practicing with watercolour a lot lately, as I am working on a children's book which uses watercolour. :) This is some roses my wonderful partner gave me. So i drew them...

some lips done using pen and watercolour. :P

1 drawing, 1 day for one month.

So I have recently started an exercise where I have to draw something every day. It could be a doodle or a painting. Jess inspired me to get a move on and start this by posting her 30 day photo challenge, which is really awesome! She finds a photo a day which represents different things about herself. click the link to cheeeeck it.

So far I am up to day 10, and have already learned some different things about myself. I really LOVE water colour. It's an obsession. So I have definitely experimented a lot with this medium, and on more hectic days I have done some fun little characters. Here are some of the images I Have done so far...

I loooove drawing monsters and owls. So I combined my two loves to make this little guy, known as an Owlster.

They see me rollin', they hatin'. This image was based off the you tube video of the kitty riding a tortoise... That is what You tube is about to me.... hilarious cat videos.

here's some water colour balloons I did with my new Winsor & Newton paints! :D

and some more water colour.

well that's all for now. I'll try not to catch you ridin' too dirty.

Spec-work is uncool!

Last year I entered my work into a design competition, in attempt to win the major prize. I made the shortlist, but did not win over all.

I was saddened to see Fruchocs launch a campaign based off a design that also did not win! I read the terms and conditions after, and found out that once something was entered in the competition, it became the property of the company. :O

This has made me think twice about entering competitions. The company can pick from dozens of different designs and not pay the designers a cent! I think this is wrong!

I'm glad I have learned an important lesson. Graphic designers, artists and illustrators get screwed over a lot in their industry. What clients don't realise is that time is money. One unpaid job or cancellation can be devastating for someone trying to support themselves.

stay classy folks

floating

So the other day I got to paint just for fun. It wasn't for a client, or uni and I wasn't under pressure. And it was fun. I really love watercolour as a medium. It can be vivid or soft. It can be controlled, but it works best free. Digitally enhancing things can be fun, as long as it doesn't take away from the image.

Painting for fun is like floating free, like balloons in a sunset. Letting go, and not thinking about all the challenges in life; Deadlines, submissions, paying bills, car stuff or family stuff.

Post Card Project

I'm currently working on some designs for postcards that represent Australia. I decided to use Australian Animals, as they are a very unique part of Australia.

I wanted to break away from traditional postcards, where they are photographs of monuments, buildings or animals. usually laid out in a rigid grid, lacking movement and emotion.

I developed 6 characters for 6 different postcards. I was initially going to do 3 postcards with all the characters bunched up on the postcards, but thought they would be more successful each on their own postcard.

I used watercolour for the background and let it run and make 'clouds'. watercolour is one of those things you shouldn't control. and it took me a few shots to let it run and do its own thing.

anyway, here's an example of one of my post card fronts. The illustration isn't completely finished and not positioned quite right yet, but you get a good idea of what they will look like.

I also hand drew my own type on the front. I feel really happy with the type, it's not one of my strengths.