Inspiration Post: Mouthwatering Mac & Cheese!!

Hey everyone!! I've missed way more "Inspiration Post," than I'm proud of but I'm going to pretend I didn't and moved onto July 2014's post. The "Inspiration Post," is the reader's chance to check out at what peaks MY artistic interest and motivates me to create such crazy imaginative illustrations!! There are so many things that inspire me it's always difficult to pick just one theme. After much deliberation I decided to choose "Mouthwatering Mac & Cheese!!"

Nothing beats a hot bowl of super cheesy and savory Mac and Cheese. I love Mac and Cheese like nobody's business. If I could I would make and eat it everyday of my life. In fact, I've featured a classic as well as more wacky recipe for mac and cheese on my blog before. Digging further back into my history you will even discover an early illustration I created as an ode to my love for the comforting noodle dish. So grab a piping hot bowl, sit back and let me be your guide through "Mouthwatering Mac & Cheese," heaven!!

Mac Loves Cheese Graphic - Meghan Draws Weird tumblr

Since this is an illustration blog, I decided to start things off with an adorable Mac & Cheese illustration. A little elbow noodle embraces his best pal CHEESE! Talk about comforting comfort food!! The simplistic use of color and shapes make this illustration a winner in my book!! Designed by Meghan Murphy this piece even made it's way to Shirt WOOT! in their comfort foods derby. No lie, I'd rock this apparel design in a heartbeat!

Macaroni & Cheese Soap - SoapsationalFavors Etsy Shop

It's amazing what you can find on Etsy with just one simple keyword. I dug up this super creative handcrafted soap in the SoapsationalFavors etsy shop on my quest for Mac & Cheese goodness! I applaud the creativity that went into even fathoming this comfort-food cleanser. And it looks so realistic I'm half tempted to eat it. Thankfully the artisan labels the final packaging with "glycerine soap" on the back to avoid and incidental digestions! because I would more than likely just dig in. SoapsationalFavors offers all kinds of unique soaps so check them out on Etsy!!

Timeless Treasures Fabric Mac & Cheese Fabric sold at greatfabricfinds Etsy Shop

I love me a good textile print!! Check out this delicious fabric by the "Timeless Treasures" company! The print features different little individual dishes of Mac & Cheese crafted with a variety of noodles. The photographically realistic casseroles stand out on a contrasting black background. Just think of the possibilities you could sew with this beauty!! Although I find it highly unlikely I would ever be able to craft anything with this WITHOUT drooling all over my project.

Robot Flying Saucer Mac N Cheese Abduction Card -  RicksRobots Etsy Shop

I LOVE the creative concept of this print of a young girl balancing a pink tea cup effortlessly a top her head. A task I'm sure I'd never be able to accomplish with the ADDED challenge of a ship sailing carelessly around the tea. The print is created by the husband and wife artist team, "Marisol Spoon." The scalloped edge and gold details of the tea cup and microscopic components of the ship are amazing!! And her extremely long neck and haunting eyes keep this piece unique and memorable. Purchase it on Etsy or see more of Marisol Spoon's pieces at http://marisolspoon.com/

Kraft Macaroni & Cheese "Super Heroes" Shapes - Bat Blog

Holy Macaroni Batman! Last but not least is an ad featuring my favorite caped crusader, Batman! But not just any ad, a Kraft Mac and cheese ad that dates back to the late 90s. This ad combines 2 of my most favorite things; Mac and Cheese AND Batman. I can't say that I taste tested this back in the day but I'm sure it was delicious. The signature Kraft Dinner boxes tower over gotham city like skyscrapers. How clever! I also dig the tagline. "Big Cheese," get it?! Oh puns!

Drooling for more?? Check out my Pinterest board titled "Inspiration" for bonus pieces that didn't quite make my 5 piece limit per post. And who knows, maybe NEXT month's theme might already be in mixed in there! Follow http://www.pinterest.com/nerdycupcakes/inspirations/ and stay inspired every month with lots of goodies to keep you from creative constipation! Have a super week everyone!!

Illustration Friday - Zelda's "Disguise" Cupcake

Hey everyone!! Hope everyone had a good week. I really am cutting it close with this week's "Illustration Friday," piece. The topic chosen was "disguise." I thought pretty long and hard about disguises and settled on my favorite alternative personality:

Sheik from the Legend of Zelda. If you've never played the Zelda games, spoiler warning, that guy who helps you out along the way named Sheik? Yeah that's Princess Zelda. . . in disguise. Dun dun DUN! I decided to keep on imagining and create a Sheik-cupcake. And now I'm half tempted to create other characters in the Zelda universe as cupcakes! Have a great weekend everyone!

Back to Blogging - Illustration Friday "Time"

Hey everyone!! If you haven't noticed, I have really neglected my blog for the past couple months. Art will ALWAYS remain one of my biggest passions. These past few months have brought a whirlwind of change into my life. Here and there I've created some hand rendered pieces I'm pretty proud of but I've really missed creating digital pieces and sharing them online.

I made the illustration for an "Illustration Friday," theme from a few weeks back. The word chosen was "Time."

A pink gummy bear being consumed by ants. Ants are extremely clever creatures. If you leave any form of food out they will find it and they will eat it no matter how long it takes them. And unfortunately for this little gummy guy time was not on his side!! Hope everyone has a great week and be sure to stay tuned for more illustrations!

Illustration Friday: "Fresh" & Ready for Class!

Hey everyone!! Hope your week is going really well so far. Can you believe we're already halfway through August?! I decided to participate in this week's "Illustration Friday," theme which was "Fresh." At first I was drawing a complete blank. But thanks to a suggestion of one of my friends I came up with this little doodle:

 
A "fresh" piece of fruit with a super fresh mind ready to get back in school!! Ready to hit the books, he's got his glasses on, and his ruler out ready to learn! The background is the scanned texture of a composition book to match the school theme. I'm contemplating releasing this as a blank card in my shop for educators and students. I hope everyone who goes to school enjoys their last bits of summer freedom. Have a creative day everyone!!

Illustration Friday - Space "Travel" PRINT!

Hey everyone!! Man is it super hot here in Pennsylvania. I hope everyone is staying cool where they live. I have some exciting news to reveal in this post. My Etsy shop, VioletInk, has been re-opened and I am ready to sell some art prints of my illustrations!! The first illustration I added for your purchasing pleasure is "Space Fish," which also happens to work swimmingly with this week's Illustration Friday theme, "travel."

The first Goldfish to ever TRAVEL to outerspace!! Space can't be that different from life underwater. Our little guy glides his fins effortlessly through the stars. I will admit, I did cheat a little. This was an original piece I created back in 2010 but this is first time I am releasing it as a 8x10 print!! If you are interested in checking out my shop or purchasing this particular piece of artwork, just go to http://www.etsy.com/shop/violetink. Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Illustration Friday: "Sweet" Ballerina

Hey everyone!! I nearly ran out of time to do an illustration Friday post but the challenge word was WAYY too tempting for me to pass up this week!! This week's theme was "Sweet." I love cupcakes, candy, sprinkles, sugar just EVERYTHING sweet. I wanted to combine all my favorite sweets into one piece so I created this illustration:

A SWEET little candy girl with peppermint stick arms and legs, a donut tutu, chocolate frosted hair, gumdrop torso complete with a cherry on top!! She's dancing a ballet routine on an equally sweet pink frosted cupcake. Mmmm!! I'm really happy with how it turned out, with what little time I had from start to finish. Hope everyone has a super weekend :)

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!!

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!! 

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!!

Happy National Ravioli Day!!

Did you know that TODAY is National Ravioli Day?? Mmm carbs! I drew this illustration to celebrate and help spread the word:

Me, personally, I've never made my own pasta. I heard it's a lot of work. A lot of kneading. And involves some sort of "pasta machine" I can't afford. I'll stick to the canned kind. If you haven't had any ravioli today, what are you waiting for?? Treat yourself to the yummy pasta dish to honor this day!!

200th Post!! NerdyCupcakes Print Giveaway!

Hey everyone!! I promised the 200th entry of my blog would be a giveaway. Since this is an illustration blog what better prize to give away than an illustration!! One lucky winner drawn at random will be the recipient of their own custom NerdyCupcakes illustration!

What do we mean by CUSTOM you ask? The winner will get the chance to be the designer!! You choose your favorite cake flavor, frosting flavor, one topping and your cupcake's wrapping color!! Peanut butter NerdyCupcake with strawberry frosting?? Why not! Chocolate NerdyCupcake with Vanilla Bean frosting and rainbow sprinkles?? Heck yes!

 
But just like any bakery we have a few limitations when it comes to "flavors." Frosting and cake choices are listed below. Toppings can be anything from candy, to sprinkles, to a slice of bacon; it's all up to our winner!

How do you enter?? Just leave a comment on this blogpost to be entered into the random drawing for your chance to win your very own 8x5" x 11" custom NerdyCupcakes print shipped to your home! Hang it in your home, office and even locker!! DEADLINE TO ENTER IS FEBRUARY 25TH 2013!!

RULES: Please only one comment per entry. Make sure to leave a VALID e-mail IN YOUR COMMENT so we can contact you by. The winner will be contact via e-mail by VioletInkDesign. Remember this is just a PRINT not something you can eat!! Any entries that do not follow the rules or past the deadline will not be accepted. Good luck everyone!!

Cute Little Monster Valentine's!!

Hey everyone!! February seems to be flying by as Valentine's Day, this Thursday, quickly approaches!! Since I'm a Graphic Designer and Illustrator I feel it is practically my duty to create my very own custom Valentine's Cards FREE for you to print and put a smile on someone's face!!

Seeing that a lot of people find my blog by searching for illustrations of cute little monsters, this year, I decided to revisit the concept and bring you "Monster Valentine's Cards!!"

 
They're fluffy, slimy and even scaly and ready to express their love and admiration!!  Don't be scared!! These little guys won't bite. All you need is a printer and some scissors to and you're on your way to handing out some creepy fun to your friends, family, classmates and maybe even your secret crush on that special day, February the 14th!!

There are 8 total per sheet, download the PDF and start printing by clicking on this link: http://violet-ink.com/Printables/MonsterValentineCards.pdf

Don't forget to change your printer settings to "LANDSCAPE" so it prints correctly!! This is our third annual set of Valentine's cards. Itty bitty monsters not your thing?? Two years I also created Lady Gaga themed Valentine's card. Hungry for something else?? Last year's cards were all about Breakfast Time!!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!

"We are the PERFECT Pear" Illustration

Hey everyone!! Valentine's day is right around the corner; another one of my favorite Holidays!! As I'm busy working on my Valentine's cards for all my friends and fans I nearly forgot about an illustration I created as a gift recently! Some people like puppies, some people like rainbows and then there are just some people who like pears. Yep, pears. Don't think I'm being serious?

 
Exihibit A, the pear cake, made especially for my friend's birthday last year. She's not obsessed with pears but she DOES have a pear themed kitchen so I couldn't resist creating and framing a pear-themed illustration as a gift. One of my brain storms from last year was a valentine card that said, "You're the perfect pear!" I recycled the idea to create this illustration:

A cute little girl pear and a handsome boy pear falling in love. She loved it and it hangs in her kitchen to this day! I also announced on the Facebook page that our 200 post will be a "give away!" Something this blog hasn't seen in probably 2 years or so haha! So stay tuned for all the details, this is post #194; 200 will be here before we know it!!

2012 Facebook Cover-Illustrations!!

Hello everyone!! It is almost the weekend, yay! I wanted to update the blog with another one of my 2012 projects. Ever since Facebook made me make the official switch to timeline I challenged myself to create a different illustrated cover photo with my name and title. I am an artist afterall and wish to show off my skills and remind all my friends what I do, graphic design and illustration!!

The first month I created for was August. I started out with my favorite thing, cupcakes!! The cupcakes are an original illustration against a stock background.

Next was September. This was an official premier of my NerdyCupcakes characters. We have strawberry on the left and cherry chocolate chip on the right both original illustrations of my creation on a stock swirly vector background.

October was next and I am such a huge fan of Halloween!! The little NerdyCupcakes were such a cute concept I couldn't resist dressing some up for the season! Pumpkin spice is on the left with a spooky little black cat cupcake on a stock background.

Even though it's plenty cold out in November I couldn't keep the idea of a sweet little couple of Ice Cream cone kids in love!! The illustration is based off of a sketch I created on some notebook paper on some downtown at my job at the time. The background is a stock photo of a chocolate swirl mmmm!

And last but not least my cover photo for December!! This little kitten character was inspired by a pair of pajamas I saw while Christmas shopping. This entire illustration is original with no stock elements this time.

I had such a fun time creating my different cover photos and already have a new one up for the month of January on my personal Facebook page!! If Facebook keeps timeline for the year 2013 I will make sure to make a review post of all the ones I create this year!!  Hope everyone has a great day and a safe weekend!!

"Let Them All Eat Pizza" Illustration

Hey everyone!! Still playing catch up at this point throwing some rare doodles from 2012 on the blog. This piece demonstrates why searching for inspiration is important to me. Every month, I do "Inspiration" posts on the blog starting last year. Among the ones I wrote there was "Sugar Sweet Wigs" featuring delicious looking and creative wigs and another called  "PIZZA PIZZA"  on well. . . pizza. Both posts inspired me to create this illustration:

The actual origins of this illustration come from a conversation I had with one of my friends. We both love Marie Antoinette and her stylish wig. We were discussing the famous quote, "Let Them All Eat Cake," and somehow turned it into, "Let Them All Eat Pizza!" I just couldn't resist creating this!

She's decked out in pizza and toppings ready to chomp down on a slice!! I added a royal purple background and a golden frame to give it the look of a painted portrait. See what happens when you seek inspiration?? Your imagination runs wild!! Hope everyone has a great week!!

"Thor Walrus" Acrylic Painting

Hey everyone! Time to play catch up and post some of the projects I worked on in 2012 that were made especially for the Holidays! A great perk of being artistically talented is that you can give gifts that you can BE SURE no one else got, because you made them yourself!!

One of my friends, if I haven't mentioned before, is a big fan of both the aquatic animal the "Walrus" and of the Marvel hero "Thor." In my head the only option for a gift was creating a Thor-Walrus. I found some source images of Walruses on the computer as well as of Thor's helmet used in the Avenger's film and combined them for something truly unique!

I created the painting with just white, black, brown and red acrylic paints. The paints weren't any special brand, just the craft paint you can pick up at Michael's Arts and Crafts. She really loved it!! Hope everyone has a wonderful and safe weekend!!

Hedgehog Waffle Cone Illustration

Hey everyone just wanted to update the blog with a silly little doodle I created yesterday. I drew a picture of a hedgehog long ago and put it in my portfolio. The drawing I created is probably over 2 years old. I figured it was time to update it with a new hedgehog.

Hedgehogs are such cute little balls of spikes! I wanted to combine a hedgehog and an ice cream cone because well, they have the same shape as a scoop of ice cream. I put the little guy in a waffle cone covered with sprinkles, my ice cream cone of choice. And I couldn't forget a cherry on top!!

It won't stop snowing here in Pennsylvania so I am stuck indoors again so expect more drawings coming! I also picked my topic for the inspiration post, just need to narrow it down to 5 pieces of art! I hope this little guy brightens up your weekend and be sure to stay safe everyone!