Inspiration Post - Retro Space Astronauts

Hey everyone!! Every month I collect and showcase pieces I find online that I hope will inspire you to CREATE something great for what I like to call the "Inspiration Post." As busy as this month was, I ALWAYS find time to stay inspired. For May, I found myself constantly being pulled to all things space. This month's post is dedicated to "Retro Space Astronauts!!"

3-2-1 blast off (to the past that is)!! Space travel, anti-gravity, pets suited up in astronaut apparel, space camp?! When it came to the future, with a little imagination the possibilities always seemed endless. These aren't boring schematics from rocket ships, or museum quality photographs of the planets. These are imaginative and fun retro space travelers with unstoppable imaginations. Journey with these brave soldiers by scrolling down!!

Puffin Biscuits ad posted on Dying For Chocolate Blog

Is it weird that I have been a fan of this ad for many many years?! In fact it was one of my first desktop wallpapers on the PC I am currently writing this post from. "Puffin Biscuits," presents us with an atmosphere of flying buttermilk biscuits. The little boy in the ad dons an astronaut's helmet while the little girl looks on with wonder. Is he really an astronaut? Probably not but the imagination that went into this ad is admirable and the artwork is excellent. Those Puffin biscuits look good enough to eat!!

Explore the Universe poster by Moustafa Khamis on Behance

I originally came across this piece on Pinterest and it took me a bit to track down the original artist. Created by Moustafa Khamis, a designer and artist from Abu Dhabi on Behance, this poster is included in a set called, "Posters of a New Century." Although designed more recently, this as well as the other posters in the series have a very retro feel. With a simple color palette, distressed textured paper and clean layout this poster's friendly illustrated astronaut welcomes you to join NASA and see the universe!! I'm in!

Space Cat by Ruthven Todd - Image on The Toasted Scimitar blog

Not ashamed to say that I own this book. Yes, I am, in fact, ancient. I think it was something my library gave away when I was in elementary school. An original inspiration I absorbed into my brain as a young lady, it fondly continues to spark my imagination to this day! The first book in a series of feline space journeys, the book tells the story of Flyball, a cat who is rocketed into an outer-space adventure. Why can't they make more kids book like this anymore?!

1985 Astronaut Barbie - "Barbie Works" VOGUE UK Blogpost

I love Barbie. If you think she isn't a proper role-model for young girls, I think you are wrong. The woman was in space (and still looked stylish doing it). This photograph of the 1985 astronaut Barbie was grabbed off of VOGUE UK's blogpost titled "Barbie Works," by Lauren Milligan. In a hot-pink space suit complete with fish-bowl helmet and futuristic poofy-sleeves, Barbie looks perfectly content and ready to claim that planet in the name of Mattel! This girly and sleek re-imagined space suit is something I would definitely don myself!!

Collier's Magazine April 18, 1953 issue - image via PaulMalon on Flickr

And last but not least, an authentic piece of nostalgic space history, the April 18, 1953 issue of "Collier's" magazine. This was the piece that was the main influence behind this post and one of the first pieces I came across this month that really inspired me."Collier's Weekly," was an American magazine that roughly ran from 1888 to 1957. If you search for "Collier's Magazine Cover" you will be bombarded with brilliantly illustrated works of art similar to our space cadet above. This cover has it all!! A top-of-the-line ray gun, a crazy "space helmet," and a brave space traveler in awe at an alien species.  

That's it for this month's "Inspiration Post!!" If you're looking for MORE creative retro space travelers be sure to check out the Pinterest board I have dedicated to "Inspiration." The inspiration board always has extra pieces for each month's theme. What are you waiting for?! Rocket over to http://pinterest.com/nerdycupcakes/inspirations/ to check it out!! Have a great week everyone!!

Illustration Friday: "Tension" Elephant & Mouse

Hey everyone!! As difficult as it may be to keep up with my blog posts while working 2 new jobs I am staying committed because I love to illustrate AND blog!! And that includes participating in "Illustration Friday!" This week's word was "Tension," and this is what I came up with:

A little cheddar-colored mouse just wanted to make friends with this baby elephant but got more than he bargained for!! As our elephant tries to escape the little mouse hangs on to his new friend's tail just as frightened. I know elephants really aren't THAT afraid of mice but I couldn't help myself!! Hope you enjoyed the illustration and have a super day!!

Happy Memorial Day / Sunscreen Day!!

Today is "Memorial Day" in the states; a day to remember and honor all those individuals who were in the military and had passed away. People around where I live typically I have picnics with their families to celebrate. If you're having a picnic or doing a lot of outside activity do NOT forget to protect your skin because today is also "Sunscreen Day."

While Memorial Day falls on the final Monday of every May month, Sunscreen Day is always May 27th. It's all about raising awareness of the dangers of that happy little sun's rays. I wear sunscreen ALL THE TIME, it's my secret to staying super pale! Infact, when me and my friends went to the beach I was the only one that came back as pale as a ghost. Hope everyone has a great week!!

Lora Warnick "Dream Team" Illustrated Portrait!!

Good morning everyone and happy Monday!! It's been MONTHS since I featured an illustrated portrait I created on the blog so why not post about one today?? Fairly recently I was contacted by a previous client and one of my favorite photographers, Lora Warnick, to create an illustration of her team as a surprise gift!

Photo via Facebook Page

She imagined a landscape type-portrait featuring each individual member of her photography team that illustrated what their main job was when it came to photo-shoots. Her team consists of herself, the photographer, Sarah the Creative Director, Dawn her stylist, Harry the video guy, and Anthony a make-up and hairstylist! She gathered up some photos and I sketched her out a layout then immediately got to work to create her image:

The portrait came out really great! I loved it, Lora loved it and most important her TEAM loved it!! I even got some special thanks from individual team members. This was the first time that I even had drawn that many people in one portrait before. It was challenging and fun to cram everyone in there while still making their unique super powers shine. Here are some close detailed close ups of the portrait:

Each team member received an 8x10 printed copy for themselves and she even posted the digital copy it on her Facebook page. If you haven't checked out Lora's Photography yet she has a website at http://www.lorawarnick.com and a Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lora-Warnick-Photography/114375205268276. She is such a wonderful person and I was honored to bring her idea to life. contact her on both pages. Hope everyone has a great day!!

Laura Crafts: DIY MSI Tiara

Hey everyone!! Yesterday I posted about a concert I went to in April and I wanted to make a follow up DIY post spotlighting the tiara I was wearing to the concert. The headlining act was MSI short for "Mindless Self Indulgence," one of my favorite bands. They encourage fans to dress up as crazy as they please so I made a custom tiara for the affair:

I posted it on my Facebook page and got a lot of compliments so I figured I would make a how-to for anyone curious about making their own version of the tiara. This project came together with things around the house and started with a tiara from the dollar store. I drew the letters M-S-I out on leftover foamboard and cut them out with an exacto blade.

From there it was time for paint. Go bold, or go home when it comes to shows!! I had leftover "Scribbles" 3D Fabric Paint in "Flourescent Neon Pink," color from another project. With random brushes I applied coat after coat of the paint until it was blindly pink. I painted them on top of an old magazine and once done laid them out in front of the tiara before attaching them.

 

At first I was going to hot glue the letters to the tiara. But when I found some leftover pink ribbon in a drawer, I decided to tie the letters on instead. I laid the letters one at a time against tiara and weaved ribbon around the letters and between the openings in the tiara. Once the letter felt secure I knotted the ribbon in the back and moved onto the next letter.

After weaving, tying and knotting all the letters through the tiara for extra EXTRA reinforment and I went back and put hotglue over all the knots. And voila! There you have it! A custom tiara. It held up the entire day AND night at the show.

 

Try spelling out the name of your favorite band at your next concert. Or maybe your friend's name for their birthday. A lot of the stuff I already had around the house but I'm sure you could make it for around 5 dollars at the most. The possibilities are endless for this extremely cheap and fun project!!

Illustration Friday - S.T.A.R.W.O.O.D. band from the "Future"

Hey everyone!! Just wanted to update the blog with my "Illustration Friday" entry. This week's theme was the word, "future." It took me no time to come up with an illustration, I decided to create a cartoon of an awesome band I saw live back in April, called "S.T.A.R.W.O.O.D."

"S.T.A.R.W.O.O.D." stands for "Sociopathic Time Altering Robot Warrior Of Organic Design," and is actually a band made up of Vitruvian Androids from the futuristic year 2276 AD. They were sent back into time, our time, present time, just before their own planet was destroyed (by us, the human race). Their mission?? Alter the timeline and control the human race saving their planet from it's imminent destruction.

My illustration is of lead singer, G7ANGEL591S (aka Gabriel Starwood) standing over planet earth. If you haven't heard them before, their entire album is up online for FREE to download right now at http://starwood.bandcamp.com/ Also be sure to check out their Facebook http://www.facebook.com/StarwoodBand and Twitter http://twitter.com/S_T_A_R_W_O_O_D. Hope everyone has a great week!!

Mika Doodle Contest 2013 - Part II

Hello everybody! Just wanted to update the blog with the continuation of my "Mika Doodle Contest" entry from earlier this year. If you missed my previous post about the competition, let me catch you up. The contest was open to all illustrators, artists and anyone else who wanted to doodle select tracks off the album, "The Origin of Love," that were posted on the MIKA Facebook fan page every week. I made it my mission to submit an entry for EVERY one of the songs posted. This post contains the other half of my entries below!!

Song 6: Popular

This track was based off the original tune "Popular," from the musical Wicked. I love the production Wicked and this song sang by Galinda to Elphaba. MIKA's version has a similar melody but the message was less about BECOMING popular and more a stab at the "popular" kids that put down the other kids at school. I resisted the urge to create something girly and cute and based my drawing on the the line that said, "Dunk me in the toilets now it's you that cleans them." Your typical queen bee trades in her tiara for a little janitor's bucket printed with the song title and filled with cleaning solution, a sponge and a toilet brush. 

Song 7: Love You When I'm Drunk

Next was a song called, "Love You When I'm Drunk." My doodle depicts the chorus, which is exactly the same as the title of the track. I drew a bottle of whiskey with the lyrics written on the label and a half empty shot glass with heart-shaped ice cubes beside it. The entire drawing is surrounded by little broken hearts because as happy as the melody sounds the theme is pretty depressing. The text was based off of 3 different fonts from my computer. 

Song 8: Stardust

Next up was a track called, "Stardust." My original concept was going to be a silhouette of the singer made of little tiny stars taken as a Polaroid picture. After a few sketches, I was convinced it looked much better as another cartoon Mika instead. As for the colors, I was going for galaxy; purple, dark blues and dark pinks. Once I was done, I realized it looked A LOT like Coraline and her star-covered pajamas. Oops!! I still think it came out pretty good though.

Song 9: Emily

I loved the style of the video which starred "Fanny Ardent," dressed in red playing the part of "Emily," that went along with this song. The video's artistic interpretation of the song was spot on but didn't want to translate that too literally into my piece. "Emily" seemed to me from the song, to be a woman under an identity crisis. I wanted to play with the idea of changing identity by illustrating a mannequin head complete with wig and hat labeled "Emily." The curly short haircut and bright red color of the hat tie in with the look of the music video. Elegant yet still fun this is a stand alone piece and an illustration I'm really proud of!

Song 10: Make You Happy

When I heard this song for the competition I immediately thought . . . robot! And that's not just because I love robots and think about them 56% of the time I had a valid reason. The line, "all I want to do is make you happy," is constantly repeated throughout the song in mechanical sounding-auto tuned voice. Much like a robot. But this isn't just any robot, this is a MIKABOT. He comes equipped with a bolted-on suspenders, a fancy top hat and a mop of curly locks underneath it. Beep boop beep!

Song 11: Underwater

The competition wrapped up with a song called, "Underwater." I thought about what could be underwater and came up with an oyster. The oyster is open to reveal a precious pearl, shaped like a heart to symbolize love. I hand-lettered the lyrics, "put your lips on me and I can live underwater," above the piece and added some bubbles to surround the piece.

I love challenging myself artistically by entering contests and competitions. And it was fun to see everyone's different interpretations of the songs off the album. Not only that I made some new artist friends along the way!! Hope everyone has a good week!! 

Illustration Friday - "Tribute" to "Bun"

Hey everyone!! Hope last week was a good one. I'm still getting pulled in a lot of different directions in life but I DIDN'T forget about "Illustration Friday." This week's topic was "Tribute." I thought long and hard about this one and decided to create an illustrative tribute to my favorite childhood stuffed animal, a pink bunny named "Bun."

"Bun" was my favorite toy as a baby and I took him everywhere I went. He had pink fur, purple ears, blue eyes and a pink nose I distinctly remember I thought was a jellybean (yes, I chewed on it). "Bun" taught me to be imaginative and I always made sure to include him in all my silly adventures. "Bun" took your typical battlescars; went through the dryer, lost a lot of his pink fur and his stuffing. In my book, he deserves a tribute!