■これまでの占いとは違う
電話占いが人気です。
占いというとわざわざ占い師のもとに出向かなくてはならないものと考えている人も多いかもしれません。
でもそれでは、忙しくて時間が取れない人や近くに占い師がいないといった人たちは占ってもらうこともできません。
そんな人たちがたくさん利用しているのが、インターネットを介して占う占いサイトです。
パソコンやケータイ、スマホなどアクセスしていつでもどこでも占いが受けられるのは非常に便利ということもあり、多くの支持を集めています。
しかし、占いサイトではサイト側の質問に対して入力して答えそれをコンピュータが診断する「自動鑑定」システムを採っているところが多いのです。
そしてその方法では、満足な鑑定結果やアドバイスを受けられないのでは…と思っている人も少なくなく、そういった人たちが利用しているのが電話占いなのです。
電話占いは直接占い師と会話を交わしながら行うので一般的な対面式の占いと同じ、異なるのはお互いの顔が見えないことくらいでしょうか。
■ヴェルニのメリット
そんな電話占いのサイトはたくさんありますが、「ヴェルニ」はその中でも大手業者といえるでしょう。
利用者数も多く、口コミや体験談を見てもその評価が高いのがわかります。
高評価の理由の一つが在籍鑑定士の数の多さ、その数200人を超えます。
そしてそれらの鑑定士の得意とする占い方法もタロット占いから四柱推命、姓名判断など一般的なものから霊感占いや透視など多岐に亘るので、自分の求める方法で占ってもらえることでしょう。
さらに電話占いだけでなくメールでの占いもＯＫ、それも自動鑑定ではなく鑑定士による個別の鑑定なので期待を裏切ることはありませんよ。
「でもあまりたくさん鑑定士がいては却って探しにくいのでは？」と考えるかもしれませんが、そんな心配は無用です。
占い師検索といった機能もあるので、それを使えば希望の占い師がすぐ見つかるはずです。
利用方法も簡単ですし、利用の際に掛かる料金も明瞭ですから安心です。
悩んだり迷ったりしているなら、ヴェルニに気軽に相談してみてはいかがでしょう。

I've been thinking about children's illustration and animals. I've been too chicken to try it. I know I need to for my portfolio. I'm drawing upon inspiration from Canadian children's book illustrator Renata Liwska for guidance.

I'm the type of illustrator that doesn't feel comfortable with anthropomorphism. Do I appreciate it when others can illustrate that way? Yes! But for me, I can't draw an animal fully dressed head to hoof standing upright. For me, it's confusing to draw an animal using human anatomy and make it seem real. Each animals anatomy is different; add that to showing emotion in a way that is natural to the animal but understandable to the viewer and I'm exhausted already. I just haven't had enough practice in this yet. I'll get there.

That's why I love Renata's work... there is a blend between what is true to her animals and the animals having human qualities. Plus her characters are adorable and I love that there isn't too much alteration from the original sketches to final illustration. 

Inspired. Guided. Done. Time to illustrate.

Here is a new illustration I made recently:

 DANCE MOVES EXPLORED: 

 The Elvis, The Twist, and The Carlton.

 TEA USED: 

Cinnamon and mint Jamaican tea + Twinnings Lady Earl Grey

 WHAT I LEARNED: 

I planned most of the drawing before working with pen and watercolor except for the blue wall I left bare (void of clock and photos) and the background behind Grandma and Grandpa. I realized as I was in the first stages of the drawing, some decisions about the image needed to be made while in the middle of working with color and pens/pencils.

I've learned that it's important to keep the energy of the characters alive which can be lost in the final stages of illustrating. This is why many illustrators scan their drawings into the computer, print them on paper and paint on top of the print. For the way I work, this is an extra step I personally don't want to do. If you're a graphic designer, you know the computer doesn't necessarily mean saving time.

I like illustrating in combination with planning while also allowing space for other elements to unfold. It keeps me moving on my feet and it keeps the characters dancing.

I'd like you to meet the Boho Family. I spent a lot of time with them, so much so that I hated them at one point. But they taught me some very valueable lessons about how I illustrate. Here's version 1 and version 3 (the final): 

I expected this illustration to be easy to finalize because I was excited about the family, the fun, the movement, and the love. These people schooled me. You might think I'm crazy when I write that I still think I overworked them too much. That's what happens when paint is involved-I work a piece until I OVER paint it. I feel I did find the harmony of elements but it wasn't easy.

 THIS IS WHAT I LEARNED ABOUT 

 ILLUSTRATING: 

1. Make an environment for the characters. I wasn't thinking in the beginning, I just wanted to draw and ink in color and an environment just seemed boring until I realized I could make trees and stars (one of my favorite things to draw). Lapse in judgement that first time. Oh well.

2. Breadcrumbs. Black ink has to balance with white spaces. I've been fighting myself over my use of black ink...because I use a lot. Is that too heavy, too dark, too serious for children's books? Maybe not. I tried not using it and that looked awful. I forgot to apply a valueable lesson from my beloved Fred Wessel: the art of breadcrumbs. That's where you have little pockets of really dark areas placed around a piece...a trail of visual breadcrumbs to move your eye around a composition. Hansel + Gretel knew what was up. If there is anything I learned in art school, that is the number one lesson I apply every time to a piece. I just never realized I needed to apply it to white space and color, which brings me to the next lesson...

3. Color is a flavor not a whole meal.The same can be said about glitter. Anyway, I am not a painter. I use line, not color to express emotion or a scene. For me, shading and dimension occur through pen and pencil work, never through paint. Color is a seasoning, not the whole meal. So it's ok to pick a few spices and distribute them evenly through the visual dish. Breadcrumbs!

I have this obsession right now over using more color in my children's book work. Like, USING EVERY COLOR. Maybe I'm not giving myself enough credit for using only a few color ingredients opposed to trying to fit an entire spectrum into one little piece. I should be proud of a limited palette. I don't know why I'm ashamed of that. I'm working on overcoming that shame.

4. Everything starts with a cup of tea. And if it doesn't, it's not right. Case noted: first illustration. No tea base. If there's no tea base on paper then there's no tea for me to drink and if there's no tea for me to drink there's no caffeine or mental concentration and if there's no concentration there's

 Little Emma Muffet sat on her tuffet eating her curds + whey 

 When along crept a spider 

 Who belly flopped down beside her 

 and splashed little Emma... 

...away! 

Recently I met Spanish illustrator/designer Pablo Ientile on paper. I set a tea tasting up for us. He's a cool guy but he had to bounce quickly though, he had other appointments.

Word.

Also, I do have some artwork to share, but I'm going to wait until the sequence is finished. Therefore, here are some quick links: I posted about Angela Fox recently on Pikaland and I am in love with her artwork so please check more of it out. PeculiarBliss has been poppin' lately, retweet it if you love it because that makes Vaughn happy. I just did an interview with Kathy Tran on LAND which was fun plus I like that site A LOT (art, music, design, culture). And at last...my cousin told me about The Internet's Rectum so that's probably going to hinder my illustration progress this week. Don't expect too much posting and artwork sharing. 

Whoa, this is how we win the future. I'm all for the KNO, this cool little electronic-notebook-computer-e-reader-laptop-educational tool-hybrid-thing for students. Carrying books was a HUGE problem for me growing up and don't get me wrong, I love a good Trapper Keeper, and notebook doodles. In fact I am a bit worried where the doodles would belong? And can they be archived and printed? BUT, this does make a lot of sense. 

That gap isn't very helpful though for a children's book layout but the concept of having an entire library of children's books on one gadget, I think, is pretty cool. 

Print is still my top choice for a children's book however. Turning pages is a religious experience. 

Here are two books that have helped me out these past few weeks while working on my children's illustration portfolio. The first I think should be required reading for all chilldren's book illustrators...Writing with Pictures by Uri Shulevitz. This book was life changing. Or something like that.  

 This second one, The Encyclopedia of Writing and Illustrating for Children wasn't conceptually Herculean for me, although, has been helpful with logistics. Side note...I've been letting my word nerd run free lately. Have you noticed?

Will have some new illustrations to show later in the week. I know, I don't know how we will manage to survive until that moment either, but all 6 of us who read this blog (that includes you Granma) should try to be strong.

One does something mean to the other, the next minute they're friends, then without warning the other one retaliates back...you know, that old story.

Boys like to retaliate on the physical realm. Now girls, well, that's aaaall psychological retaliation (like duh, haven't you ever seen Mean Girls?). See, I did it right there. I made you feel inadequate. BUT the saddest and most confusing of all is the adult retribution, 'cause they do it big by employing both physical + pyschological tactics. I guess that's just grown-ups being grown-ups!

Right?  :(

In my opinion, anything with Pharrell should be listened to but top it with comic book style art...I'm guaranteed to be plugged in.

FINALLY Netflixed Art & Copy. RENT IT! It's empowering for any creative person regardless of which table you eat at in the cafeteria. Furthermore, I'd like to one day have lunch with George Lois. Not like at a fancy restaurant or anything, but rather a skeezy NYC diner where the coffee is burnt and there's cheese on everything.

 "Research children's books? That's ridiculous. You are funny." 

Oh children's book humor, how I love you! I'm not going to the upcoming SCBWI winter conference this year but man do I hope one of the speakers will open up with this video. It's a sweet dose of reality in animation form.

Oh my God you guys; I got a Barnes + Noble Nook Color for Christmas and I LOVE IT. I don't understand what the big huff is over e-books, even for children's books. I'm so in love.

 B.N. Times (Before Nook) 

When it comes to legit books (by that I mean novels 'n' such) I spend waaay too much money annually. The alternative is the library but my library sucks. All the new stuff I want to read they either don't have or have but is taken out by someone. Now I can buy on the cheap AND I can share them with other Nook users. Plus the way we read has changed. If an obscure fact is mentioned in a book and I want to know more about that, I can just Google it right there. In BN times I had to find a piece of paper to bookmark my place, get out of my comfy reading spot, go to my desktop, turn it on, Google it, go back to my reading spot, read. Pfh! So old school!

Of coarse some books just need to be read in print like art + design books and I'm always willing to pay money and make storage space for those, as I feel many artist and designers are. 

I would also enjoy being able to watch the movies that are made from the books I read on my Nook. Just throwing that out there because Netflix doesn't work...yet

 Kidlit + e-books 

I think it's a smart move for the teen/YA market. Not many kids whip out a book in public. Lame. But a little gadget that can hide a secret book obsession because it's disguised as a little computer? Awesome.

Now with the kids books it makes sense to take out a Nook and read an e-book if you're waiting at the doctors office and have a restless little one at your side. It's a healthier option than killing their brain with a computer game. And if you're feeding your children e-books when they are bored then I'm certain those same parents are feeding their kids a healthy dose of print before bed or at home.

I would however like to get the authors or a few actors for each character on bored to read a story. Now publishers have the option of controlling the presentation of stories, so, let's make it worth while.

Print is an art. Art will die with the last person and digital isn't dying any time soon. We adapt or we die.

This is Harold. He's a North Pole employee. He works in the Department of Candy as a Licker. Best. Job. EVER!

Wishing everyone a lovely, fun, warm, giving, and deliciously sweet Merry Christmas! XOXO

I made this for Issue 4 of Peculiar Bliss (check it out....awesome interview in there with illustrator and wolf enthusiast Sandra Deickmann). The topic was travel. 

 Now to go off topic. 

I spent the day yesterday Googling children's illustrators and rather than feeling inspired and motivated, I ended up frustrated. Tons of children's book illustrators are using this method of draw-scan-print on watercolor paper with paint wash overlay for kid lit artwork. I've had professors and even other artists pushing people (even my fellow art buddy!) to use this process. What gives? Do you all have stock in scanners and printers?

I get that it's a time saver but never tell a graphic designer that using a computer is going to make your illustration process easier or quicker. I hate to see a computer only used to just scan, edit and print. I also hate when a designer doesn't experiment with hand made techniques off the computer.

I'm just bent because half of my heart belongs to graphic design. The other half children's illustrations and I don't like a cookie cutter illustration making process because it never makes for a happy marriage. The two of them are like a divorced husband and wife. Neither side wants to learn or be compsssionate with the other but they freaskin' need to work together for the kids.

For. The. Kids.

I just saw an interview with the director of the film Never Let Me Go, which is based off of Kazuo Ishiguro's book Never Let Me Go (it's on my bookshelf queue). I liked the title of the book and film but I started thinking about how much I don't like the concept behind those exact words; Never. Let. Me. Go. Weirdly enough, it led me to consider how much I hate Facebook.

Why do I hold on so tight to people from my past? For what reason? What are my expectations here? Facebook creates ghosts of people. I could know intimate details about someone's daily life but not REALLY know them as a person or talk to them at all. The people I still have connections and relationships with exist outside of FB. They are real and tangible relationships. Everyone else just haunts me, why be on the site? It's ok to let 300 ghosts go. So, I deleted my Facebook. They weren't real to me (and I wasn't real to them) anyway. I have never felt so free.

I had some down time over the weekend after finishing up some jobs (Woop woop! Just in time for the holidays!) so that meant making one of my favorite things: PORTRAITS!!!!!

 CHECK THE TECHNIQUE: 

I wanted to see what would happen when I combined my usual black tea splashes (this time around I used Whole Foods brand of 365) and Tazo's Passion Fruit tea. I'm trying to work out putting in more colors into my artwork. Although the Tazo tea is in fact a lovely burgundy red in my teacup, it dries uber purple. SURPRISE!

 DOUBLE TAKE THE FACE: 

Maybe I was exhausted or something but none of these portraits look like who they were intended to be. Louise Brooks looks like no one in particular. My Feist turned into Esthero. Louisa May Alcott feels more like Princess Beatrice, and Coretta Scott King looks like Whitney Houston (post Bobby Brown?). Isadora Duncan and Annie Oakley...got close but not enough.

They still turned out pretty cool even though they didn't exactly turn out how I wanted them to... ya know, like most children when they grow up.

I made this illo/doodle because plain + simple: I was dismissed from a freelance job which left me feeling defeated. So I made myself a little Underdog momento to keep going. I sometimes feel like my icon for life is the Underdog. Partly because my personality and my artistic style are both young, innocent, and quirky and people mistake that for Racheal Anilyse the illustrator, designer, writer, blogger, and publisher as naIve and maybe even an immature individual.   

I've gotten used to being underestimated, rejection and doubt from others are a part of the world. I've had friends doubt my choices to pursue art in school, I've then had professors doubt my capability. It just becomes annoying after awhile because I know they have no clue what they are talking about! Their judgements on my abilities are terribly wrong.

I know the truth and not only about my capabilities but also my potential to move past them. This is why art exists; to express your grievances with those who give you grief, and it's also why I have a blog.

If you ever find yourself feeling defeated on the art + design path, there's no need to prove anything (to others or yourself). Just keep making, keep expressing, keep expanding, and keep moving forward.

I thought most of my childhood momentos were lost in the Great Basement Flood of '92. I had come to terms with my deceased Mario Lopez and Mark Paul Glossaar "signed" photographs. They were classic relics of my healthy Saved by the Bell obsession, perhaps it was time to move on. But it's hard to part with your first loves. 

(Please note two forms of young love: Mark Paul/Mario Lopez and hand drawn typography)

With Thanksgiving approaching, I'd like to take a moment to thank my parents who were awesome enough to let me borrow $10.99 when I was in 5th grade to get a little piece of love mailed to my house. Furthermore, I'd like to thank them for saving my loves from the flood waters and for keeping them dry by holding them hostage in the bowels of their house for 15+ years while I grew, graduated, moved out, came back, worked, cried, laughed, left, got sick, and got better.

Wait, what? That's not love you say? You cannot find love in a material object? Oh yes, yes you can. You're just jealous of my love.

"I'm too scared!" Pudding whispered to his Mom.

"It's ok dear. Just be yourself," encouraged his Mom.

"Ok," Pudding paused and rang the doorbell, "TRICK OR TREAT!" he screamed.

"Oh Carl," Pudding's Mom turned to Pudding's Dad, "look at our little baby boy! Just yesterday he was screaming for a diaper change and now he's screaming at our neighbors for free candy." 

"I know Carol," said Pudding's Dad, "those were the simpler times. Like when I understood what our costumes were! Uh, by the way, what are we supposed to be?" 

"Carl I told you," Pudding's Mom said with disappointment, "Lady Gaga and Edward Cullen! Now look brooding," she commanded.

Pudding could feel his bucket being loaded with delicious treats. He looked back at his parents. His Mom started to cry and his Dad was staring at things awkwardly. I LOVE THIS HOLIDAY! he thought.

I've just realized, there's a point in time in an art career where you become an a-hole in order to expand your vision for where you want to go with your art, and you just have to accept it. 

It really gets my goat when I have my mom call me saying: 

"Oh, so and so asked if you would be selling prints of that illustration you made of that building. The one from a few years ago? And you know that other person, well her mother called her asking if you were going to sell postcards this year."

That's when I lost my shizz. All over my poor mom.

"Ma, listen, I love that people are supporting me and all and that they want reproductions but I don't have the time to sit at my computer for a week printing ink jet images of an illustration I made 4 years ago that just won't effing die because it is the most commercial thing I've made. And I certainly don't have the funds to pay for a bulk order of postcards of recent work which probably won't even sell because all people want are a picture of a freakin' house. If you want random floating girls heads with hands, or an overtly optimistic hairy ghost, or a dog with a mohawk, or hand lettered Kerouac quotes or a girl drowning in water grasping a red rope for survival, then have them call me. But if that's not what they're looking for, tell 'em go buy a Kinkade."

I mean, she cut me off in the middle of my first sentence with "ALLRIGHT, I GET IT" but I'm certain my point was received.

I'm not trying to be Thomas Kinkade (and kudos to the man for filling the market where us too serious artists don't want to go) but I'm trying to make children's books here and it's my own fault for previously selling people crap.

I'm OBSESSED with Disney Channel's Fish Hooks. It's about 3 teenage fish friends living in asorted aquariums in a pet shop. It combines photo collage animations (think if Eric Carle and the Monty Python animations had a baby) with traditional animated characters. Children's book illustrator Noah Z. Jones is the creator. 

But what I'm really obsessed with are the supporting characters such as Clamantha the yearbook editor clam, Shellsea-the main character Bea's beastie, Mr. Baldwin-the pregnant seahorse teacher, and Jocktopus-the football playing jock octopus. 

The voice of Clamantha (who by far is my favorite) is by Alex Hirsch who made Off the Wall, a short about a doodle on a wall named Wallby. It made the rounds for awhile on art/animation blogs because he was a student at CalArts at the time, and because it's hilarious.

It's called obsession for a reason. You do your research.

I had a photo shoot with my artwork It was really great to work with. It gave a lot of face. Overall it was a good photo shoot. "Why take photography of your work" you may be wondering? Because I'm back in the Etsy game. I decided to only sell originals and maybe a few prints here and there of the originals that I choose to covet for myself, but don't expect too much as far as prints go. I HATE making prints. Unless they are giclees, they are not worth chezz. I'd rather do an original and make new stuff then constantly print old stuff, half assed, on the cheap. 

Yea, I'm anti-commercialism while trying to sell on the most capitalist website ever. I'm complicated. 

Back to the photo shoot, I'm not sure if I'm ready to sell my Witch of Blackbird Pond illustrations yet. They are still pulling me under.

I'm almost done with expanding my children's book portfolio. I know I had previously said this wasn't probably the best choice for an image for a book cover, but no one is sitting here in my studio telling me what to do so I do what I want. The second I traced the drawing on the Bristol board I was lost in the image. I just had to finish them. Couldn't let go of the rope.

CHECK THE TECHNIQUE 

It was actually a good exercise in technique and medium considering I've been trying to figure out how to expand my spontaneous tea/watercolor splash style and limp color palette that comes with it and the graphite work. 

I read somewhere that artists are either really great at color or really great at drawing. Rarely are they great at both. 

I used pen (that's new!) and my Dr.PH Martins dyes which I was forced to buy in art school to use on one project and haven't touched since. If I was allowed to do whatever I wanted with the dyes back then rather than the way it was presented in the demo, and if I had the balls to do what I wanted anyway, I may not have to be figuring this stuff out right now. But this is where I'm at, I have to go with it.

I'm a traditionalist when it comes to illustration techniques and the text illustration probably could have gone a lot smoother if I assembled the elements on the computer but there's no challenge in building up the layers by hand. I like having mistakes and irregularities. 

Now the hunt is on for a children's book rep.