Inspiration Post: Delectable Donuts!!

Hey everyone!! April is winding down to an end and it was one crazy month!! I'll admit, I really slacked on posting but I couldn't forget the monthly "Inspiration Post!" Once a month I post a set of 5 visuals that inspire me in hopes to inspire you!! Even if you aren't the next Picasso I hope this set makes your Spring day a little bit sweeter! This month's theme is everyone's favorite office food, "Delectable Donuts!"

If you haven't gathered this yet, I freaking love food. Especially sugar. So I love donuts. I've featured them in my artwork before on Thank You cards, celebrated National Donut Day last year and on a set of Valentine's cards I created. Frosted, covered with sprinkles, filled with frosting or glazed they're the sweetest way to start your day! Grab a cup of coffee, kick back and scroll through our post!!

Alternative Portfolio - Jerry Bennett Photography

This photograph filed under "Alternative" by Jerry Bennett, is of a pink-haired Miss with six donuts balancing top of her head dated 2007. Her hair is crazy, her jewelry is giant and the pink and purple hues are subtle and harmonious. Not many people can pull off model + donuts + alternative style but this shot proves the craziest ideas can turn out the most eye-catching portraits.

Donutella and her Friends - TokiDoki by Simone Legno

Meet "Donutella" and her group of equally sweet friends! Drawn with thick dark outlines, vibrant colors and in a clean vector-art style Simon Legno's "TokiDoki" line is something I always indulge in! More than just an icon in the the delectable world of Donuts, Donutella includes her own backstory of traveling the milky way and stumbling upon a plantery home for herself and species. I couldn't resist including her in my post!! Simone's work can be found on all sorts of merchandise in the form of bags, stationary, plushes and heaps more available at a variety of stores!

"Pandora's Box?" - Eric Joyner

I love this piece. In fact, I love all of Eric Joyner's Robot & Donuts pieces. The robots open "Pandora's Box" releasing the unstoppable evil of sprinkle-covered frosted DONUTS upon their universe. Joyner draws inspiration for his art from his passion for old tin toys, specifically robots exported from Japan, and our universal love of donuts. I really respect someone who has a seemingly strange vision and follows through with it successfully. Marvel at his entire gallery at http://ericjoyner.com/.

Donut Monster Sneakers - BobsMade

Next is a custom pair of kick's covered in donuts and monsters!! BobsMade which was founded in 2007 by an art student who dropped out of school to do things her own way, specializes in custom pieces from sneakers, to heels, to phone cases, nearly ANYTHING with a decent amount of surface area! Vibrant color, thick outlines and doodle-like qualities make the BobsMade brand a style I dig. The cartoony donuts are really fun and the monsters all look friendly and silly.

 

Smoke Rings illustration by Mark Ward

And last but not least, the catalyst of it all, this graphic illustration inspired me to think about those "Delectable Donuts" differently. I originally saw this on Pinterest with no information on it's creator. But with a little investigative work I found out it was created by Mark Ward, a Graphic Artist & Art Director creating distinct works of art in London, England. The concept is extremely clever, slightly grimy and intensely magnetizing. Bravo Mr. Ward!

 Image via donut-porn.tumblr.com/

That's it for this week I hope this "Inspiration Post" got you inspired (or at the very least super hungry). If your still hungry for more delectable donuts be sure to check out the Pinterest board I have dedicated to "Inspiration" sprinkled with extras that didn't make this month's cut! Head over to http://pinterest.com/nerdycupcakes/inspirations/ to check it out!! Have a great week everyone!!

Illustration Friday - "Farewell" Mr. Cupcake!

Happy Monday everyone!! Why not start the week with an "Illustration Friday," post? Founder "Penelope Dullaghan" announced last week she would sadly be moving on from "Illustration Friday." She left the artists the weekly topic of "Farewell."

Saying "Farewell" is always a sad event. But I hate being sad so I decided to try to spice up the sweet sorrow that is parting. Making friends as a cupcake must be hard; you can't trust anyone. Hope everyone has a super week!

KaraKreative's Birthday 2013!

Hey everyone one of my best friends Kara just so happens to also be a blogger and I wanted to write a post of how we celebrated her birthday this year. This was back in March when it was still super cold outside, and rainy . . . and just dreary. We still wanted something fun to do to celebrate so we picked Bowling!!

 It was no surprise that Kara slaughtered us all look at that form!!

Much like any other sport, I really stink at bowling. It's pretty bad when the owner suggests using bumpers after looking at your scores. But we all still had a really fun time and believe it or not, I was the first person to get a strike! That victory was quickly overshadowed since it was Kara's birthday we let her win. That's not true at all, Kara won both games we played out of pure skill.

 

But if you haven't gone bowling in a while and need something to do on a day where you can't do outside activities I highly recommend it. After our thrilling games we headed back to the house for some cake and presents. I got Kara an extendable jewelry holder and a cute elephant antibacterial holder for her purse. The awesome thing about the jewelry holder was that it held all her OTHER presents she received!!<

The party's theme was "Owls" and I was lucky enough to find a "Cute Owl Cake" tutorial from Leave Room for Desserts at http://leaveroomfordessert.com/2011/01/cute-owl-cake/. The recipe I used was a super fudgy chocolate cake that I let cool and then followed the step by step photos from the post. With a little modification and a dash of imagination the owl cake came together:

Kara loved how it turned out and it was delicious! We had such a fun time celebrating Kara's birthday and are planning more creative parties and DIY projects for the summer time. Be sure to check out Kara's blog where she posts about Graphic Design, Movies, Books and more at http://karakreative.blogspot.com/ Hope everyone has a Happy Friday and a great weekend!!

Happy National Plumber's Day!!

Time to celebrate another obscure holiday you probably weren't aware of, "National Plumber's Day!!" Got a leaky faucet? Maybe a busted toilet? Today would be the day to get that repaired!! I created this fun square graphic to remind everyone to celebrate spotlighting MY favorite plumber: 

 

That's right, Mario from Super Mario Brothers! Keeping it within my artistic style I sketched everything out including text layout on paper first, then scanned it in and rendered it in illustrator. I was originally going to hand-letter the text but I played with some fonts instead and I think it turned out super! How will you celebrate today?

Illustration Friday - Yummy Candy "Train"

Hey everyone!! My blogging hasn't been few and far between due to some personal struggles I've recently been put through. But fear not, I am still drawing, baking and just being the creative crazy girl that I am!! In fact, I just finished up my SECOND "Illustration Friday," post. This week's theme was "Train," and my contribution is this illustration:

A sweet and delicious candy train! Choo choo!! This cakey locomotive chugs along covered in orange frosting on some sweet candy, cookie and donut wheels. Ready to deliverying a fresh batch of GIANT cupcakes to the nearest town. I cranked this out super early and can't wait to see what they pick for next week. Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Mika Doodle Contest 2013 - Part I

Hey everyone! Just wanted to update the blog with a contest I participated in during the beginning of the year. If you caught my previous post about musical artist "MIKA" you remember me mentioning how fun it is to illustrate to his tunes. So boy was I psyched when I stumbled across a "Doodle Competition" posted on his official Facebook fan page.

The tournament worked like this: nearly every week from January through mid-February a song title off the album "The Origin of Love," was announced giving fans the chance to submit artistic interpretations of the featured song and its lyrics. A doodle could be any sort illustration of the song's message whether it be digital, painted or just scribbled. I made it my mission to submit an entry for EVERY one of the songs posted. Scroll down to check out a set of the entries I submitted!

Song 1: The Origin of Love

This was the title track off of the album and the first revealed in the competition. I wanted to render all my doodles by hand while keeping consistent with my normal artistic style. I chose crayons and marker as my medium to create fun pieces reminiscent of coloring book pages. After listening to the song I created this sugary candy and pill coated heart encompassing some of the most vivid lyrics such as "some love is a candy cane it tastes so sweet but leaves you feeling sick with pain."

Song 2: Lola

This is one of my favorite doodles I created for the competition. I went for simplicity and tried not to get too literal. The particular lyrics I based it on were, "when you find your love's for real you'll beg and borrow, cheat or steal, trying to get the money just to call her." The red phone's cord twists and knots to form a little hidden heart at the end. The word's "Lola" coming out of the phone were also something I hand-lettered which I've been challenging myself with more often instead of relying on fonts to keep my work unique.

Song 3: Three Steps

"3 Steps," was appropriately chosen as song #3 (COINCIDENCE?!). This track was extremely light and airy similar to a day-dream. My main focus was the line, "this love's delicious like home-cooked dishes." I included the text in my doodle since I'm not one to turn down a warm home-made meal and it was SUCH a super simile. I drew a little cartoon MIKA up in the clouds surrounded by hearts and comfort food swirling around along with the "3 Steps."

Song 4: Heroes

"Hereos" was a bit tougher to translate into a crayon doodle since it was more serious and I like to focus on fun and happy things. The song addresses war and inner conflict among other hard topics. Since it was so sad and meant to honor our heroes what personally came to mind for me was a cracking war medal. On the inscription are the cold lyrics, "you don't have to die in your glory to never grow old." I'm pretty proud of how this turned out.

 Song 5: Celebrate

The next song revealed was an almost an exact opposite of the previous track. It's extremely upbeat and cheery titled, "Celebrate." So whee, fun! Celebrate! Balloons! Party! I hand lettered another set of lyrics on this doodle, "I want the whole world to celebrate." Little cartoon MIKA floats off into the sky to spread joy to the whole planet.

I decided to split this post up and save the other half of my entries for another date. If you are ever game for spontaneous contests that flex your creative muscle I suggest "like"ing the MIKA fanpage at http://www.facebook.com/mikasounds. Hope everyone is having a super week and keep your eyes for Part II coming soon!!

Illustration Friday - "Urban" Heiress

Hey everyone!! Today I am excited to announce I decided to participate in the website "Illustration Friday." I heard of it in a book that I read recently called, "Breaking into Freelance Illustration" by illustrator Holly DeWolf. If you are unfamiliar with the concept it is a site where creatives can submit a piece based on an ever-changing weekly theme that changes, you guessed it, every Friday!

 logo via "Illustrator's Lounge"

This week's theme was "Urban," and my contribution is this illustration: 

A super tan blonde Urban heiress with the big city reflecting in her designer sunglasses. A big city means BIG possibilities, even if it is just shopping ten thousand different shoe stores! Cannot wait to see what next week's theme is!! Hope everyone has a great day today!

National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day!

Happy April everyone!! We all know yesterday was April Fool's day but know it or not, today is ANOTHER April Holiday!! Today is the day to celebrate the most iconic pair to hit the USA; it's National Peanut Butter and Jelly day!! I took time out of my week to create this fun typographic graphic to celebrate:

I created the peanut butter bread illustration from a sketch and even took the time to hand letter the jelly looking text in Illustrator. Not something I typically challenge myself with but it was well worth the effort! I also spent an hour making these yummy Buttermilk Peanut Butter and Jelly pancakes:

And yes they tasted as delciious as they look. So pick up a jar or two and celebrate the classic taste combination of Peanut Butter and Jelly today!!