Rainbow-fro!

"Someday we'll find it
The Rainbow Connection
The lovers, the dreamers and me"
(Kermit the Frog)

I am a little obsessed with colour at the moment...

I was recently hired to create a logo and business collateral for a small business selling all kinds of art and homewares. The brief made mention to water colour paint. So I went and bought myself a new water colour paint brush and set up a station of exploration and play. I made quite a delightful mess splattering colour on the parchment. I ended up with dozens of splotches and splashes and drips. Was so much fun and the end result looked great! I was so taken with the process that I have spent the last couple of nights mixing water colour creations with my drawing. 


This picture was a late night doodle to unleash the colour within!




And here is another little illustration I created last night that also mixed my water colour drips with digital drawing:

I think the above was influenced by my morning exercise under the Autumn trees here in Melbourne! I am also reading Lord of the Rings at the moment and there is mention of an Elven kingdom where the trees turn gold and hold their leaves until the green new leaves are already in place. Only then will the golden leaves drop. Very fanciful!

In keeping with this new delight of colour, I have a new design up on my Red Bubble store!
Available on t-shirts. Organic, regular fit, babies, kids, v-neck, 3/4 sleeves - all sizes, many many colours to choose from too!
Also available on device cases (phones and tablets) and stickers and cards and prints.

I call it Rainbow-fro.

You can purchase your own copy here

one two caribou!

"Courage and willingness to just go for it, whether it is a conversation or a spontaneous trip or trying new things that are scary - it is a really attractive quality"
(Alanis Morissette)

So it begins! I have just opened my first ever online shop!

Introducing.....

one two caribou - Original Prints by Lou Endicott

Here is a screen grab of my little online shop:

 













 
A few months ago I was asked by a Facebook friend if I sold prints. My answer was "Not yet" - which sounded better than no! I had for some unknown reason had the phrase "one two caribou" stuck in my head over the last few months. I love a good rhyme and a bit of nonsense so the catchiness of the phrase stuck. So when it was time to name my shop the words just fell out onto the screen.

It's been a little bit of a challenge to open this new store. On a student budget, test prints and paper are worth as much as my weekly shopping bill - so it was a risk to put the money forward before having an actual sales.

But I decided that it was worth the risk. I have belief in what I do and have had such incredible feedback from friends and strangers alike since starting this illustration journey. It was time to step it up a notch and to see myself as a professional and begin to play in the market place. 

So far, I have sold five prints. FIVE! This may not seem a lot to seasoned shop owners, but to me (only three days in) it's a cause for celebration. My best seller so far is my Back Stroke Maiden (whose creation I shared some months ago here on my blog). She has remained a favourite with me - and obviously others like her two :-)

Here she is on her side, just enjoying the water....

I go back to college on Monday after a 3 week break (which has been heavenly!) I am excited to be learning new things again but also a little nervous as this term my design course heads into the direction of multi media and coding. Not my strong point. 

But I have to trust that if I don't know how to do something I will have the courage to just ask for assistance.

Recently I decided to be a little brave and contact a Melbourne illustrator for advice and tips on working in the industry. You can check out her beautiful work here:Laura Wood Illustrations  

She most graciously replied to my email with lots of advice and even gave me the name of her printers (which I have used for my shop). I subscribe to her blog and a few days ago received a blog entry that mentioned she gets contacted by students from time to time and she wrote up even MORE tips and advice. Legendary. I hope that when I am working full time in my field my door will always be open to share what I have learnt. 

Among her pearls of advice on her recent blog posting was this one:
Where should a person start if they want to pursue this career?

Regarding starting out, my first tip for someone that is about to get out of college is to not wait until you finished college to promote yourself or find the first commissions. An art degree doesn't make any different in the illustration world, so my advice is to start now, immediately, do not wait any more time to actively start behaving like an illustrator and look for work, commissions and possible clients to contact. 

I would highly recommend you to get a proper professional website (behance is good to share stuff with other peers, but not so much as a professional window for your work to show to a client). Having one helped me enormously. 

Then you could start emailing the clients you would like to work with. A nice brief email introducing yourself with a link to your new shiny website will do. 

Most of them might not reply but some will do! And those might become your first clients...

I particularly resonated with this as it is on the same track that I feel I have been on the last few months. Apart from this blog I have a professional portfolio on The Loop, a Facebook page, an instragram account and even Twitter (though this last one is still a little confusing!)

I am feeling like I am on the right path. It's a bit rocky and the going is uphill, but the view is exhilarating and every bit of encouragement from my friends and peers helps.

I hope that wherever you are today the going is easy and the view is a delight.

- Lou

DRAWING DRAWING DRAWING

"Luck? I don't know anything about luck. I've never banked on it... Luck to me is something else: Hard Work - and realising what is opportunity and what isn't."
Lucille Ball.

So here I sit and type this on a typical Melbourne day. It's sunny. And cold. And rainy. And windy. And still. And hot. 

In fact, it's all of the above. Which can make it difficult to decide when to go out for my daily bike ride!

The last few months have been a little like the weather in Melbourne. There's been a bit of everything everyday. But not much time to do my blog. So here I sit smack bang in the middle of my few weeks holiday finally getting back up on the saddle.

It has been a huge learning curve studying graphic design this year and the last three months have been exhilarating, challenging, stressful, inspiring, exhausting yet rejuvenating. I passed all my subjects and got some wonderful compliments from my illustration teacher (yay!) I have been drawing almost everyday and have been happy to see that my hand and eye are moving more in tandem with each other.

Here is just a sample of some of the work I have done over the last few months. A couple of the illustrations were for assignments but a lot of these were done just because I wanted to keep drawing...

I recently joined up to Instagram to share some of my work. This has been a wonderful opportunity to connect with other illustrators and admire and be inspired on a global level with what artists are up to. I have put a lot of pencil sketches onto Instagram in their raw form just to keep my pencil and imagination active. My instagram page

And of course I keep updating my Facebook page with my sketches too....Facebook Page

With just a week left of holidays at my disposal I am doing research to start selling prints of my work. I have had a lot of encouragement and support from family and friends with this idea. So fingers crossed, by the end of next week I will be launching an online store through Etsy.

The end of my course is now not so far away. I am about to embark on my third and final term of my course. Next year I will be launched out into the world looking for work. This is a very exciting (yet terrifying!) thought! I am hoping to find a way to make a living doing what I love to do. My greatest ambition is to be a full time freelance illustrator in the next few years. But in the interim I hope to gain work with a design studio to learn the ropes and be in a supportive and creative team. I feel that I am on the right path - however scary it all may seem going off into the unknown. But any time I get the nervous I just remember this:

I have to keep going forward and trust that the feeling deep in my core to be an illustrator and a designer and have a creative career that I am proud of - and ENJOY - is one that can't be ignored.

I hope that whatever you dream of, whatever your core calls out for you to do... I hope that you walk bravely down your dream path with courage in your heart to give it your best.

LOu

Swing set of Silly

MAKING ROOM FOR NONSENSE AND PLAY

“A little nonsense now and then, is cherished by the wisest men.” 
Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

Ahhh.... nonsense.  One of my favourite concepts of being human. Children play at this game well. They know that it serves more than to pass time. They know that play is an essential part of nonsense. Just being there in that moment of time. It's not an experience as in something that happened in the past. Its EXPERIENCING. Being right there in that moment. Catching the wind in the face. Laughing from the belly. Feeling the rush of blood flowing through the body.

And enjoying the silliness.

Someone once said to me "life is rarely as serious as we believe it to be". We spend too much time worrying and fretting. The first three months of my course this year I think I spent a lot of time with my head down mumbling under my breath "this is toooooo hard!!" I didn't leave room for play or for the spontaneous. 

I am making a dedicated commitment to being easier on myself and to find a healthier balance of work, downtime and play time. To remember that balance is the key to a life well lived. As Dr Seuss says:

"You'll get mixed up, of course, as you already know.You'll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go.So be sure when you step. Step with care and great tact and remember that Life's a Great Balancing Act. Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.And never mix up your right foot with your left." 

 (from Oh! The Places You'll Go!)

So to remind me of this balance and this sense of play today I drew a picture of a girl on a swing set. Her pup looks up at her enjoying the sight.

How long has it been since YOU swung on a swing set?  

PASSAGE OF TIME

A WEEK OF DRAWING - in reflection

“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.” 
― Mother Teresa

This has been a jam packed week of study for this little graphic design student. I have been in the thick of learning about the design industry, publishing, tech specs for finished art, advertising and of course my favourite subject of all, illustration. I also was on TV for a little feature part (and I mean LITTLE!) for the Australian TV show Offspring.

And I have been fortunate enough to spend time with old friends that mean the world to me.

In betwixt all of these classes, assignment work, study groups, readings and catch ups with beautiful people, I have managed to find time to let my imagination out through dedicated doodles. I admit, some of them were created initially during class! In fact, I find that I concentrate better in class when I have my lecture pad in front of me to take notes and a blank page of a journal next to it to let the subconscious go into flow mode whenever it needs to reset and focus. It's almost like my ears prick up and I take in more of what is being said when my hands are occupied and the "stuff" in my mind has an outlet. Perhaps this allows more info to come in? Info goes in. Imagination flows out..? A theory worth exploring anyway!

My imagination keeps surprising me with the imagery and ideas that are being brought out. As I am given regular practice to this creative flow I am feeling that the blocks I once felt are smaller.  My first post on this blog stated that I was setting out to find creative flow. And finding it I am! 

I have seen a theme emerge this week as the passage and the passing of time. The over riding feeling that is coming through me is to seize the moment. On a train, in a cafe, before bed...  whenever I can. Draw, draw, draw. Practice, practice, practice. And to notice everything around me. Be awake and aware. And alert. The world needs more lerts...

I am feeling more and more that my future dream is to be an illustrator. Drawing fills me with purpose and light and gives me hope that my future on the other side of this student journey will be one filled with pens and pencils - and hopefully work!! Being a student this year is a challenge financially. I am embracing living only on the basics and seeing my sketch book as my palace of promise. But it is a nice thought to imagine not worrying about how to pay rent or feed myself! Ha!

Here are some of my drawings from the week. First up: Little Red Riding hood as a child.

And here she is as a teenager (on her phone of course)

And again here she is as a mother:

The next doodle is an image that popped onto the page before I knew what was what. 

As a side note to this next picture: One of my favourite artists of all time is Brian Froud. Brian worked extensively with Jim Henson creating the creatures from the film The Dark Crystal (among other things). 

He writes in his book Good Faeries.... Bad Faeries that "My paintings are not illustrations drawn from specific stories or folklore texts; rather, they are images painted intuitively, springing directly from visions guided by faery muses, a paradoxical mix of chance and intent".  What a great teacher Mr Froud is to artists like me, finding their feet and their flow.

Here is what appeared:

I am starting to see a style for my figures emerge. I almost am at the point where I would like to name them. They are humanlike - but not quite humans. My proportions and scale are purposely different to real life. They are innocents. Trusting and open. Of this earth, but perhaps not of this world. Not sure what it is about naming things. But I guess it's giving a life and a license to creations. This next doodle I call "One woman's journey".

And here is "One man's journey":

And my last doodle to share with you this week was inspired by my daily commute on the train.
The caption for this one is "Sometimes I want to dance on the train like a pixie and shake up those asleep".

Happy weekend to you readers. May you find your flow, your people, your creativity and dance your own unique dance. x