Happy April!
Spring is finally arriving in Boston! Actually.. I wrote that sentence, looked out the window and the tree is still as bare as ever. BUT! The sunsets are now past 7pm, and that alone makes it feel like warmer weather is on its way.
If you’re new here - this is the Monthly Newsletter where I share updates about the past month. It’s also great when I get to hear about your month, so feel free to leave a comment below.
What I have for you this month:
NEW: Free Shipping anytime you want to restock on cards
I recently packed an order of cards and realized how many florals and springy colors I use. Maybe I’m just in a spring mood, but if you’re looking for any cards to fit the season, check out the shop!
I have also made a major change: free shipping on all orders over $35 (in the US). That’s free shipping if you buy 7 cards! Use FREESHIP35 anytime you need to restock.
Free Monthly Sketch Party!!
A big shout out to Noreen Stass for inspiring the name of these zoom meet-ups. After attending last month’s, she said it felt like being invited to a birthday party.
The Monthly Sketch Party will always happen on the 3rd Wednesday of every month at 11 AM EST. A lot of clocks are changing right now, so please verify the time in your time zone.
What is the Sketch Party? I lead a 15 minute sketching activity, and then we stay on the zoom and chat while working on various projects for the remainder of the hour. I hope you join us for some community and art! All levels are welcome, and it’s more about hanging out with other artists anyways :)
The link will be sent on in the Wednesday Newsletter on the morning of the zoom.
Weekly Artists Newsletters
In case you missed any, here’s what I talked about last month:
Updates on last month:
Book updates!
I just put the finishing touches on the dummy for the fairytale book! I had some fun with the side characters, such as the knight’s horse. The horse is mentioned just once, but I had fun including him on multiple pages. I imagine he’s first worried about losing his best friend to a romantic relationship, like Tamon and Pumba in the Lion King, but he comes around at the end since the princess is quite a lovely match for the knight. Similarly, I got to design some little cherubs and hide them on each page. All the research of medieval texts and illuminated manuscripts has also been super fun. I included many of those details to make it really feel like a fairytale. And as an art history major, I was in the zone with all the digging and researching.
And for the other book, I am in the process of designing the characters. There are a bunch of adorable little golf clubs to draw along with two golfers. I’m working on how to make the golf clubs shine with personality despite being simple shapes. I’ve been drawing in my sketchbook, and I did a few color tests today. I should have more to share about them next month!
Commissions
Despite thinking I would close commissions with the two book projects, I have accepted three more because 1) the ideas were really cute, 2) it feels refreshing to have quick one-and-done projects mixed it with the big book projects, and 3) one commission is a project that I pitched months ago and now the client has a use for it. I’m still figuring out how much work I can take on as a freelance artist. Hopefully it’s not too much, but it feels good to be booked! That being said, commissions are full until June. Sign up here if you’re looking for a summer project.
Classes
The final assignment for Bootcamp with Make Art That Sells was to create a page from an “arty book,” meaning a book that is art driven. I was inspired by books with simple layouts and lots of white space. I find myself picking those up at bookshops, so I decided to go that route for my design. I imagine this book would be titled something like “The Secret History of Florence” and have lesser known facts paired with an illustration on each page.
Bologna Children’s Book Fair
I attended the Bologna Children’s Book Fair and it was a dream. I wrote a whole post about it here. And made a few reels. I really hope to attend again next year!
And lastly, your monthly pup-date…
That’s it for this month! Thank you so much for being here and supporting my art. It truly means so much, and I so appreciate taking time each month to reflect on everything that has happened.
If there’s anything about your past month that you’d like to share, the comments are always open! You can also respond directly to this email anytime.
Have a great beginning of April, and see you Wednesday for the next newsletter!
- Katie