On the Ninth Day of Christmas...

Here's my take on nine ladies dancing. They are wearing their green Christmas polka dots.

Check out he rest of the Twelves Days of Christmas on The Story Book Bugs blog.

On the Sixth Day of Christmas

My illustration on The Story Book Bugs today. Check out the rest of the Twelve Days done by my fellow children's illustrators!

Check out The Story Book Bugs 12 Days of Christmas

The gang at the group blog I belong to The Story Book Bugs is posting an illustration a day with the 12 Days of Christmas theme. Today is the day 4 - check it out! I'll be posting on Sunday and the following Wednesday.

Check out Holli Conger's Illustrator Tips and Today's Giveaway!

Check out Holli's great tips for illustrators on her blog. She's also giving away a consultation! Holli was one of the first children's illustrators I came across when I started getting interested in children's book illustration. She has always given great advice and encouragement to others.

Friday Favorites

When life gets too overwhelming and I start to feel down, I try to practice gratitude to stay positive. So, I make myself focus on the good things that happened in the past week that made me smile.

• Had a nice lunch with children's illustrator and Twitter buddy Wendy Martin. We've been trying to hook up for a while and life kept getting in the way. We did wait for each other for at least 20 minutes in different parts of the place we were meeting though!
• Met some great peeps at a Biznik meetup. Got some great encouragement and advice from another very nice graphic designer in the area.
• Got my first article published on the Biznik site – and it's featured on the home page today!
• Got another great testimonial from a happy client!
• Thought like an author and got a book idea for PiBoIdMo from an unpleasant situation.

What good things happened to you this week?

Create Your Own Newspaper from Your Twitter Lists with paper.li

I just discovered paper.li. You can use one of your Twitter lists (or your whole feed) to create a newspaper of all the stories mentioned from your feed in the last 24 hours. I think it's so cool! I'm following so many different types of people that it's impossible not to miss anything. This way, it's all organized in a newspaper format for me to read every morning. I do miss reading a newspaper. And you can read other people's papers, as well.

I have three papers so far:
"The Redheaded Stepchild Daily" – updates from me and everyone I follow
"Red’s Illustration Inspiration Daily" – updates from my illustration-related tweeps
"Red’s Biz Motivation/Inspiration Daily" – updates from my business/entrepreneur tweeps

You are welcome to subscribe to my papers, and create your own! I just had to tell everyone about this cool service!

Custom-Designed Website Header

I finished another client project! A custom-designed header for a website called Computer Savvy Granny. My client is an older woman who is really technically knowledgeable and gives advice to those that aren't. Check out her site!

New Illustration

Here is an illustration I just finished for a client who wanted an illustration of his son and his favorite toys. This was a really fun project!

Friday Favorites

Things that made me smile this week.

1. Having a very happy client! Before I helped her, she was stuck and couldn't move forward with her business because she didn't feel good with the logo and the look of the materials. I got her branding the way she liked it. I love that I helped her feel good about her business and got her excited about it again!
   
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   This little diva dancer on Ellen. So cute!
   
3. Frosty the Gourdman comic by Dani and Nicole Jones. I finally got around to reading this - it is so cute. Dani is one of my illustration heros - I'm SO not worthy!
   
   
4. Beautiful weather! I love having the windows open and seeing all the trees changing colors.
   
5. Skype. I know I'm a little behind but I just signed up with Skype and had a nice, FREE conversation with one of my clients who is in Canada (yeah, I'm international now-gotta love Twitter!!)

What made you smile this week?

Friday Favorites

Things that made me smile this week.

1. Have you seen this flash mob video from Ohio State? I just love the idea of flash mobs! It's just such a fun and joyful thing to do. I hope I get to witness one in person sometime. I love that they used the Glee version of the song "Don't Stop Believing"
2. Speaking of Glee, I LOVE that show. I am so glad that singing and dancing is cool again - it just makes me smile. Grilled Chesus was funny, and Jane Lynch, you crack me up!
3. Heidi Klum, you rock! I am a big fan of Project Runway, and one of my BFFs and I get together and watch it every week. I love how Heidi dressed down Gretchen - that girl needs to learn some humility! Don't be dissin' The Body, Gretchen! "What your line is missing..." I CANNOT believe she said that!
4. Amandin Piu's work.
5. The inspirational video of Pascal Campion talking about art below. Thanks Tracy Bishop! 

Inspirational Artists: Pascal Campion from Onyx Cinema, Inc. on Vimeo.

Top 10 Things I’ve Learned from International Freelancers Day (in no particular order)

Just got finished attending the first International Freelancers Day online conference. It was so informative! Had fun tweeting with other attendees while the presentations were going on. There was so much I learned, and a lot I missed (will catch up when the replays are available). But here are just 10 of the take-aways I can think of right now (my mind is swimming with so much information) that would be helpful to many kinds of freelancers – illustrators, writers, graphic designers, marketers, entrepreneurs, etc.

1. Pricing Implies Quality – Jonathan Fields
2. Paradox of Choice - don’t overwhelm your clients with too many choices – Jonathan Fields
3. Present your pricing from the highest to the lowest, because people will compare the new price in relation to the one mentioned before it – Jonathan Fields
4. FUF: Follow up Forever – Michael Huggins
5. ABP: Always be Pitching – Rebecca Matter
6. NEVER miss your deadlines. 75% of new freelancers Rebecca Matter hired missed their first deadlines. WOW!
7. Get listed on top influencers’ resource directories – Ed Gandia 
8. Milk the freelance life – Peter Bowerman (favorite quote - a t-shirt to be made?)
9. People Don’t Buy What You Do; They Buy Why You Do It – Simon Sinek (by way of Peter Bowerman)
10. Never discount, instead offer economical alternatives by taking out line items. – Michel Fortin

New Halloween Designs on my Pingg Page

I added two more designs to my Pingg page. If you plan on having a Halloween party or get together, you can use these for free!

Lynn Alpert Studios is Now on Pingg.com

I now have a gallery on the pingg site so people can use my art on their invites.  So far, I have baby shower invites and the Halloween one shown here. Check it out here.

Don't Work For Free Under the Guise of Good Exposure

I don't believe in doing spec work, or work for "an opportunity for your art to be seen" or promises of "a lot more work in the future" or "it will be a great piece for your portfolio!" I don't think any other profession has to deal with this issue and I don't understand why people think it's ok to ask graphic designers and illustrators to work for free.

As artists, we are able to create something that someone wants, right? Then why not treat it as any other profession? You wouldn't go to the doctor and tell her you'll only pay her if you like what she says. Hell, if that's the case I would NEVER pay my doctor!!

Ben Crick is the designer of this wonderful image here, as well as three others about spec work, and he has a brilliant post about it here.  I hope he comes out with these images as posters, because I want one! I feel like he should put them on t-shirts and I'm sure he'd have a lot of graphic designers and illustrators wearing them all the time!!

Add Copyright Info to Your Images: Photoshop Tutorial

We artists know that as soon as we create something, it is copyrighted, which means that as the creator, we own all rights to that image. Some other people may not know that, and steal our images (or they do know that and do it anyway, but I'm not going to talk about that). But if you find someone using your image and you want to take them to court, the lawyers say you have to have gone through the process of registering your piece at the copyright office (and paying a fee) in order for you to be able to collect damages. Doesn't really make sense to me, but ANYway...

Some of us are too money-impaired to do that with all of our stuff. Adobe has addressed this starting with Photoshop CS4, by adding a feature that may* help you protect yourself a little more. I think it would protect you against instances where people claim that they don't know who the creator of the art is, as stated in that ridiculous Orphan Works Bill that was introduced last year. 

 * I am not a lawyer, this may not mean anything in a court of law, blah, blah, blah.

So, with your document open in Photoshop, go to the File menu and select 'file info.'

You'll get a new dialog box. Go to the description tab and there are places you can enter your information. The most important area, in my opinion, is the copyright status box. Here you can say that it's protected and add your name in the box underneath it. I also add stuff in the next tab over, the IPTC tab, to protect myself even further. I don't completely understand the IPTC stuff, but you can read about it here. I don't bother with the other tabs but there are a lot of other options to add more info about the image.

Now, you have your info for your original PS file. To get it on your web-safe image, when you go to "Save for web & devices", make sure that you check that you have selected copyright and contact info in the Metadata box. Hit save and you're done!

What's really cool about this is that when you open your new web-safe image, there is a © symbol on the name of your file!

Buzz on Over to the Story Book Bugs

Announcing the Story Book Bugs. We're a group of eight illustrators crawling with creativity who love to illustrate for children. Buzz on over and check out this amazing group of talented women who never cease to inspire me!

Oil Spill Capped? Maybe, But We Still Need More Ripples.

Hopefully, the cap will work to stop the oil, but the animals will probably need help for a long time. I've created 3 more sketchcards for Kelly Light's Ripple blog. I feel privileged to have been able to contribute to this wonderful cause.

Each sketchcard on Ripple is $10.00. The $10.00 is a donation to help the animal victims of the Deep Water Horizon Gulf Oil Spill. Every penny is donated. The three Non-Profits that are benefiting are The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies, The Sea Turtle Conservancy and The International Bird Rescue Research Center.

Illustration Friday – Giant

What kind of purse does a hippo need to go shopping? A giant one, of course! Her friend Gary Gator offered to be her purse for the day!

More Ripples

I had so much fun creating my sketchcards for Kelly Lights Ripple blog, I did a couple more. I think the ripple has grown into a huge wave! I could imagine how busy Kelly is trying to keep up with these! I have to get my other cards that sold out in the mail today.

The top card is of a pair of Northern Gannets. They look so sweet – they are known to perform elaborate greeting rituals at the nest, stretching their bills and necks skywards and gently tapping bills together.
The bottom card is a Roseate Spoonbill. Aren't these beautiful birds??

Ripple

We don't have to feel helpless. We can help. Our small actions together will ripple outward.

I did some sketch cards for Kelly Light's project Ripple to help the animals affected by the oil spill in the Gulf.  Check out the site for a lot of great art and inspiration.

They Draw and Cook

Here is the final version with some minor tweaks. Check it out on the They Draw and Cook site today!
This is a really good recipe for anyone wanting to try something a little different. The 'marriage' of tomatoes and strawberries is unexpected but delicious. :–)

Another Illustration for the Zero2Illo Challenge

I've been working on this for the site They Draw and Cook. I love that site! Before I submit it, does anyone have any critiques? Click on image to see it bigger.

Nighttime Ladybugs

I started this illustration for a secret project (coming soon!) and thought I'd make it into a little nighttime scene. I'm loving working with textures - I created this one by collaging some magazine articles and painting over it with watercolor, then scanning it in. Then I got to play with it in Photoshop - one of my favorite things to do.

Happy Earth Day

Have you hugged a tree today??

Visualizing my Goal

In working on my OGSM for the Zero2Illo challenge this week, I imagined myself in the place I dream of! So, I sketched it out and included it on my plan. They say visualizing it can help it happen!

Get Rid of White in Your Scanned Drawings in Photoshop

If you want to use your scanned drawings and color them in Photoshop, here's a fast and easy way to get rid of all the white in the background.

Open up your scan in PS. It will automatically be on a layer called "background." This layer is locked, so double click on the word "background", then you'll unlock the layer and can rename it in the dialog box.

Then add another layer and move it under your initial layer. On the original drawing layer, go to the layers palette and change the layer state to multiply. This will get rid of the white!! Then you can paint on the layer beneath it. Easy Peasy!

12 Week Challenge

Getting geared up for the 12 Week Challenge over at Zero 2 Illo. It starts on Monday, April 5 and I'm hoping it will help me get my illustration career going. Here is what Jonathan says about it:

The 12 Week Challenge is an opportunity to make amazing progress towards your goal of becoming a full time professional illustrator. But this time you won’t be alone.

Here are a few things we hope to achieve with the 12 Week Challenge:

• Life-changing progress for as many participants as possible
• Community spirit and a collaborative effort to get “there”
• A platform and spotlight for those on the journey

Please join us!

Sketching Today

I was sketching today while watching my favorite daytime show. Can you tell who it is?

My Website is Up!

Yay! I finally got my website up! After a lot of work, it's live. I have both my design and illustration samples on it. Let me know what you think. Click here check it out!

Music Poster

Between the loss of my computer, getting food poisoning, buying a new computer, getting it set up with new software, etc. and trying to get my website done, I've neglected this blog - I'm so sorry, blog. I have been doing some sketching and my brother requested a guitar-related sketch to use for his Facebook avatar. My husband, also a musician, liked it so much that he incorporated it into this poster. Check out his music on here.

SUNSHINE AWARD

This Sunshine award was given to me by Ginny of Designs by Ginny Baker - thanks Ginny!

So, as part of the rules I must pass this award on to 12 bloggers. Here's my list of bloggers that are like a ray of sunshine to me:


Vanessa Brantley Newton
Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw
Debbie Meyer
Sarah Jane
Amber Alvarez
Jannie Ho
Kelly Medina
Steve Mack
Kathleen Rietz
Manola Caprini
Colleen Madden
Deborah Mori

Here are the rules, so please pass this award along....
The rules for accepting the Sunshine Award are:
- Put the logo on your blog or within your post.
- Pass the award onto 12 bloggers.
- Link the nominees within your post.
- Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
- Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.