inspiring quote... demoralizing situation

“If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies.”
— Anonymous

I was laid-off from my job (that I love and I tell everybody that all the time...) yesterday. I am pretty upset, but that is just part of the healing process. The hard part is not to take it personally; it was definitely for budget reasons (they had to cut our budget by 25%). I was the last of the Publication staff hired, although I was hired at a higher class then another person. My immediate supervisor is really upset. The scary thing is that we have four people in our office, and two of us have been laid-off... They have only laid one person off from our Anchorage office and they seem to be keeping all the writers and hatcheting the designers. It seems that "capital creep" strikes again. So, to the the Alaska State Legislature... my son and I thank you for putting me out of a job! So much for all our wealth and oil money if you see a need to cut already marginal folks, like myself.

I love the Dr.

“Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!”
— Dr. Seuss

frogs!

I found these frogs I did... it was after graduation when I started getting my "desire" to sketch again. It's funny, because I rarely sketched in school except for assignments, like for comps and concept drawings. I do have a handful of misc drawings that got into the mix. I guess I felt like I might use up my creativity and not be able to perform... I'm glad that is not the case. I have been more productive in my personal and private artwork since I've had my full-time creative job; it's actually a huge relief to know that the spring still flows and for the most part I don't get "creative-blocks" that I can't get around (so far).

I love how I did little circles, gestures really, for the large frogs toes... I can never plan things like that, it's just nice when it works out.

IF Seed

I have actually been inspired by the last two Illustration Friday topics... but since my Computer Graphics class ended on the firsst, this is the first one I've had time to sketch. For wrinkles I wanted to do a picture of an elephant... I love elephants and there wrinkly, tough skin and their slow (seemingly) gentle ways. I'll post it if I ever get back to it.

For seed this image just popped into my head. It reminds me of the majic beans from Jack and the Beanstalk. I could and may still try interpreting it in Illustrator; even if I don't I am happy with the way the sketch turned out:)