High in the Sky

This drawing makes me happy :)

Zombie Kitty

Hello, Zombo :)

A couple more trading cards from last month. Each card is drawn with marker and ink on 2.5" x 3.5" illustration board. Also, like before, these original artist trading cards are for sale ($20) and all proceeds go to the local food shelf in Wayzata, MN. If interested, shoot me an e-mail at taylorsmith03@hotmail.com

Thanks for stopping by!

"Shiver Me Whiskers!"

Going with the pirate theme here. :) Just another drawing that makes me happy and also, a new t-shirt design over at my RedBubble store.

Also, I'm really happy to share that there's a new roommate with me at Wayzata Lake Apartments. Meet, Tootsie! (a.k.a. Gato Meowpur) She's 4 years old last month and was adopted last Saturday. I've never had a pet before so it's been an experience this last week, but a good one for sure! Here's a couple picks of her at the new home. The picture of her on the window ledge is her looking down at a muskrat (I think) outside. And the picture of her on the toilet cracks me up thinking of Jinkxy the cat from "Meet the Parents." :)





8/13/2011 (Blog Post Update)

This just in... Tootsie is actually a guy!? This blows my mind! Some how the animal shelter seemed to miss this one, and so did I! Wow... I don't know if that's an insult to my cat's "manhood" or a mistake in the paper work, but oh well. I took my cat to the vet today for a check up and it's confirmed... she is actually a he! So from this day forward, Tootsie is renamed to Stimpson J. Cat (Stimpy).

:)

Mindfulness

In art school, there's something really awesome about being in a classroom environment with other like minded students who are all eager to grow and learn and be inspired by one and another. It's also really awesome to have great teachers around to nurture and foster these students into well rounded artists. But what happens when you leave that scene and move on to a new chapter in life? With out the school, how do you continue evolving, improving and growing as an artist? Our first thoughts might be, "thank God for the Internet." :) A second thought might be, "what if there is a way to continue improving as an artist, even when we are not drawing/painting?" Perhaps there is a way we can teach ourselves!

I believe one way is to become more mindful.

A good theory I heard from another artist was about how our experiences in life are all rapped up in the art that we create. When we are not in the present, our minds are often traveling back and forth between the past and the future and consequently we miss a lot of things that are going on around us. As artists, we can be more mindful in our observations through out the day to help us continue to grow. When you're traveling to work, what car or building designs inspire you? When you're waiting in line at the grocery store, who has a great face or interesting character for caricature and how would you exaggerate it? When you're walking outside, what color schemes and environments do you love and how would you make it into a composition? When we ask questions, it almost "tricks" our mind into finding answers and this helps us stay in the moment. Like anything worth having, this takes a little bit of effort (being more mindful) and thankfully it gets easier the more you practice it.

Another cool thing about being mindful is that with it comes peace and happiness. When we keep our minds focused and alert on the present (rather than listening to thoughts in our heads) we're more able to appreciate and enjoy the moment we're in. So not only do you build upon experiences and memories to plug into your art, you feel better, too. Kind of a win win situation for the artist. :)

On a side note, I want say a big THANK YOU to everyone that bought trading cards this last month and for their support. Together, we raised over a hundred dollars for the local food bank in Wayzata, MN. It's a real joy to be making art and doing it for a good cause, so from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Gratitude

Two of the greatest words my parents ever taught me while growing up were "thank" and "you." At the time, it seemed like a polite thing to say when someone else did something nice for you. As I grow older, the significance of these words becomes more understood.

Gratitude can be thought of as a multiplier of good things in life. By the law of attraction (also known as the law of love) what we give we shall receive. Gratitude is also a form of love, and by giving thanks we are giving love. This is a really great way to bring more positive people, circumstances and events into our lives. The cool thing about this is that you can feel and think this way any time you choose! If it's hard to find something you're grateful for, you can always fall back on the things we might take for granted (running water, health, eyes, ears, friends, pets, nature, etc.) By really dwelling on the things we appreciate and love, we can turn around a tough day or create better days for the future. :)

In closing, a certain inspirational figure comes to mind on this subject. Is it any coincidence (if you believe in coincidences) that one of the greatest minds that ever lived, Albert Einstein gave thanks at least a hundred times a day? Could it be that life revealed so many of it's mysteries to him because of his understanding and practice of gratitude on a daily basis?

"A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life depend on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving."

- Albert Einstein

Goals

Today, I wanted to share something that's close to heart and hopefully valuable to you in some way. It's nothing new. It's significance, though, can not be praised enough.

When I was 16, I went to a wrestling camp at the University of Minnesota. Along with the vigorous training, drilling and learning new moves, the camp instructors gave us booklets to work in at night. The booklets were meant for the wrestlers to figure out what goals they wanted to achieve as athletes and in our personal lives.

A couple years ago when I was living in California, I revisited my goal list from the wrestling booklet and to my amazement one of my goals was to "live in California." It blew my mind. I had written that goal maybe 6 or 7 years ago, forgot about it and was then currently living a dream and didn't even know it.

There's something about writing out our goals that is so helpful in getting to places that we wish to be in life. It helps us figure out what we really want and desire. In this short time we are here on earth, what is it that you want to do? Who do you want to be? You can think of goals as a bull's eye on the dart board. When you know what you're aiming for, it's easier to hit the target... otherwise, you're just throwing darts and it doesn't really matter where you hit the board. And that's OK, too.

On my computer there's several word documents with personal and career goals filled out. As artists and designers, we all ready have that creative muscle we use regularly. It can be applied here as well... and when doing this, just let it run wild! Have fun with it. Imagine yourself selling a painting for "XX,XXX" amount of dollars. Imagine yourself being published in a popular magazine and picking up the issue off the shelf at the grocery store. Image yourself eating dinner and having an amazing conversation with your favorite artist. Imagine your children's book or personal sketchbook being published and holding it your hands.

I could write about this for another hour it feels, so I'll try to rap up this post with some encouragement to make your own goal list. Look at it often and change and add to it as you go. Again, have fun with it! And don't wonder "how" you're going to achieve these... this isn't important. Just let go of hindering thoughts and dream big.

:)

Snowed in on a Sunday

Sketch Book Caricatures

Here's a couple caricatures pulled from the sketchbook. The first one is of the rapper, Emenem. I think it's funny how he looks so serious or doesn't smile in his pictures so I decide to "lighten the mood." As my project manager would say, "somebody needs a hug..." The second caricature is of the auther, Franz Kafka done for the Caricaturama Showdown 3000 over at Facebook. I haven't drawn a lot of caricatures in the last year and these were some challenges from my friend, Ricardo, so thanks for pushing me, buddy. It was a lot fun!

Animals with Balloons

Another animal design project for Embroidery Library. I have to say, my art directors are really talented and have a good eye for things. They see things that I can't in my own art and know how to tweak certain things to get them looking better than before. It's all a team effort and I'm really grateful to have the experience of working with them and the other artists at this job.

Thanks for stopping by and happy early Mother's Day!

Threadless T-Shirt Submission

New T-shirt design up for voting at Threadless.com

If you have an account set up at their site, it only takes a couple seconds to give it a vote. Careful though! My disclaimer is that voting on T-shirt designs is like eating potato chips... you can't just have one! By that I mean it's easy to vote for one, and then two, and then thirteen. But it is a lot of fun to see what people are creating over there. :) Good stuff, homie!

Illustration Friday: "Bottled"

This week for Illustration Friday the theme is "bottled." This is the first time I've participated with this group and it was a lot of fun and a good challenge. My personal goal was to do this as quickly as I could (thumbnails to a finish) with out second guessing my first instincts. Comments and feedback are welcome.

On a side not, I discovered another great resource for illustration online. At Illustration Mundo, you can listen to a bunch of great pod casts with artists, illustrators, designers, directors, etc. Definitely a HUGE resource for anyone who does illustration or is an artist. Can't emphasise that enough! Some how these pod casts are related to Escape from Illustration Island which is another great resource that I'm learning about.

I just wanted to say a big thank you to the people that contribute their time and efforts to these sites. What a great way to share with the community and be a hub for inspiration.

Nosferatu Drawing

My friend Ricardo and I live in different states (California and Minnesota) but thanks to the interwebs, we've been doing this thing were we sketch together using Skype. If you haven't used it before, it's a program that lets you call, instant message or video chat with other people. We both have web cameras so we can show each other what we've been doing in our sketchbook or just make weird faces at each other. It's a great way to catch up, do some drawing and share any thing new we've learned about art, life, etc.

This drawing is from the other day with Ricardo. I'm not familiar with Nosferatu, but I know of him from the early horror movies.