Valentine's Day Stationery

I stopped in Homegoods today and was excited to find several of my Valentine's Day designs that I did last year for Molly & Rex. They may also be available at TJ Maxx and Marshalls for a limited time. ©Molly & Rex | Designed by Anne Was Here

Tutorial: Photoshop Photomerge & Levels for Scanned Artwork

Happy Friday! Brand new free tutorial on my YouTube channel today showing how you can use Photoshop's Photomerge and Levels to stitch together and adjust your hand painted artwork in seconds! Click here to watch. ©Anne Was Here 2015

New YouTube Channel & Tutorials

Hello! I have started a YouTube channel where I will be posting process videos and tutorials aimed at helping other artists. I have learned so much from artist friends sharing tips and tricks about their processes, I wanted to find a way I could give the same kind of support to other artists. I have two videos up so far. The first is showing my process for creating a half drop pattern repeat in Photoshop. The second shows how I go about doing a reverse image search on google to check for unauthorized instances of my art online (previously posted). Click here to visit my channel or the image below to start watching! Screen Shot 2015-01-06 at 9.38.23 AM

Merry Christmas (belated) and a Happy New Year!

Hope you all are having a lovely holiday season. Wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas, it's not really over until tomorrow, right? I also wanted to share with you my advent illustration round up. This was a fun and daunting project. A true exercise in discipline, but well worth it. I've already got some products in the works that will feature some of the artwork, which I will share with you when I can! Have a lovely NYE and start the year off with a BANG! ©Anne Was Here

Custom Pet Illustrations

I have always been an animal lover and as a child literally dreamed of having a dog. Growing up my family moved around A LOT and it didn't make sense for us to have one. In 2012, as a married adult, I finally got my first pup, Midji. I am now officially a "dog person." Getting Midji unleashed a passion in me that I didn't even know I had. I create art with a lot of different subject matters, but I keep gravitating back to pets and more specifically, dogs. When I opened my society6 shop back in 2013 I didn't intend for it to become a dog art shop. But of all my art I put up there, the dog art is what sold. I think it's because I love drawing dogs so much and that shines through in my art. Due to the success of my doggy themed art, I get a lot of requests to do custom pet illustrations, which I love to do! I wanted to share a few recent projects. If you are interested in a custom pet portrait, email me for details! PS - Even though I am a "dog person," I love cats too!

CustomPetIllustration_AnneWasHere

Keeping Track of and Protecting Your Artwork Online

Are you an artist who posts images of your work online and wants to monitor how and where it is showing up on the internet?  One reason for wanting to keep track of your art online is the ability to track positive instances of sharing, such as finding that it has been posted on a popular blog. My Society6 sales have been boosted unexplainably a few times and I was able to find the reason for the boost by doing a reverse image search on Google Images. The second reason for tracking your art online is to make sure no one has copied or stolen it. My artwork is stolen off of my Society6 shop by a new person or company on a regular basis and I've found that I have to be vigilant to keep track of it. If you'd like to know how you can do a reverse image search with your art you can watch my video here. Every time I have done this process, I have found an illegal instance of my artwork! I hope you find this quick tutorial helpful.Screen Shot 2014-11-19 at 1.17.17 PM

Who Inspires Me

My friend and fellow designer, Mary Tanana, asked if I would be a part of a blog hop all about people who inspire creativity. I was thrilled to be chosen as someone who inspires her! You can read her blog post here. Mary Tanana is a designer who is inspired by many things; art, photography, gardening, landscapes and nature. She approaches her work with a boho, edgy flair. She’s had a life-long love affair with anything patterned, and after a long and successful career as as award winning jewelry designer, she has once again embraced her first love of surface pattern design. Mary originally studied fashion illustration, and has adapted her fascination with textures and patterns into a unique design style. Her style is influenced by the diverse art and architecture she observed while traveling and living overseas. She currently resides in Providence, Rhode Island, also known as the “Creative Capital”. A very appropriate city for a very special designer.

I met Mary in an online class I took last fall called, Make Art That Sells, taught by Lilla Rogers. I have stayed in touch with several of the artists from that class and we have become great art friends. A few of us join in on weekly skype calls with artists from around the world and talk about art, business and life in general. It's something I look forward to every week! Mary is not only a talented designer but she is also a caring friend with a hilarious sense of humor!

Below are a few of her magical designs! You can see more at her website, www.marytanana.com.

EarthPrint(above images ©Mary Tanana)

Mary asked me to answer the following three questions as a part of the blog hop.

1. What are you currently working on?

I just finished building out my first fabric collection and sent it off to the manufacturer! That was a great learning experience. It was based on my Lady Bug Blooms collection pictured below. Moving forward I am working on building a solid portfolio of collections so that I can have my debut exhibition at Surtex 2015!

LadyBugBlooms_AnneWasHere

2. Why do you create what you do?

It makes me happy to create and I hope putting my designs on products can make other people happy too! :) It's fun and exciting to be in a profession where you can create something that the world has never seen before. An original piece of art is like a fingerprint, no two are exactly alike. CourageLion_AnneWasHere

3. How does your creative process work?

I like the thrill of a creative brief and having a problem to solve. I usually start out in my sketchbook doodling and brainstorming. Sometimes I move on to painting or I'll scan my sketches and bring them into Photoshop. Next I rearrange the sketches or paintings in Photoshop until I'm happy with the composition. Sometimes I'll start with a color palette pulled from something that inspires me and try to stick to it. Often it changes as I'm working on a design. To finish it off, I add details and textures.

AnneWasHere_DrawingTable

But enough about me! Let's talk about some more people who inspire me!

Dari Design Studio

Dariela and Dariana are two sisters, originally from Venezuela, who form the dynamic duo behind Dari Design Studio. Their impressive roster of talents include graphic design, teaching online tutorials, blogging and art licensing. And they do an amazing job at all of these things - wow!

I first met Dariana when I started working as an in-house designer at Punch Studio, a stationery and paper goods manufacturer. She was the first person to ever tell me about art licensing! We have  both moved on from Punch Studio, but continue to stay in touch and meet up at monthly Art Circle meetings that we share with other Los Angeles based creatives.

Dari Design Studio inspires me with how they have diversified their business to get the most out of their range of talents. They also have a unique portfolio of art which is created through their two differing creative styles that compliment one another. Check out some of thier work below and visit www.daridesignstudio.com to see more!

AmuletsandTreasuresCollection

Print

SpringDay_Collection(above images ©Dari Design Studio)

Victoria Johnson Design

Victoria is an English artist who studied fashion/textile design, worked 12 years as a print designer and co-founded a textile and greeting card design studio based in London and New York. She now lives in Rome, Italy and has a successful career in commissioned and licensed art. You can find her art on products on the shelves in many big name stores, and they are sure to put a smile on your face!

Along with Mary Tanana, I also met Victoria in Lilla Rogers's Make Art That Sells class last fall. As one of the more experienced members of our community, Victoria quickly became an invaluable source of knowledge and advice for many of the artists in the class. She is so generous with her wisdom and the first to offer a word of advice to anyone who needs it. Many of us have urged her to start charging for it! If she ever offers an online course, I will certainly share the info on my blog. It would be worth every penny. Victoria is also one of the most talented people I have had the pleasure of knowing. I have learned so much from her and feel blessed to have her as my art friend!

In addition to the delightful images below, you can check out more of Victoria's work on her website at www.victoriajohnsondesign.com.

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(above images ©Victoria Johnson)

I've asked Dari Design Studio and Victoria Johnson to also write a blog entry about who inspires them, so keep an eye on their blogs for a future post!

Let's Make Something

I am so lucky to have so many creative friends. One of the best of them is Lisa, who is a graphic designer AND photographer. She is equally talented at both and it's not fair, I know. Check out her awesome creations at www.wisteriadesignstudio.com. Last time we got together we said, "Let's make something!" So we went to Color Me Mine and hand painted some plates. Below are the before and after pics. Lisa's is the floral and mine is the goofy horse. It was fun but it also made me realize how talented traditional artists are. I am almost entirely digital these days and control Z (undo) has become my best friend. You can't control Z a hand painting. All you fine artists out there are amazing!ColorMeMine

Art Show!!

Hi Friends!  I am participating in my first ever art show this month! My amazingly talented friend and coworker, CJ Metzger and her sister, Miss Mindy, are headlining this show and have invited several artist friends to join them.  You can check out CJ Metzger's enchanting work at www.cjmetzger.com. ArtShowPromo

I was invited to create an ornament for the show and here is a peek at what I am contributing.  I had so much fun making these that, if I have time, I am going to try and make a few more.

Ornament