General

Wow I can’t believe I’m already into my second week at home! Time flies when you’re having fun! :o)

I’ve really been wanting to make more posts/fun illustrations during the week but things have just been so busy - but don’t worry, I’m right on the ball when it comes to Illustration Friday ;) I guess I’m just catching up from all the work piled up while I was working a full time job. My hubby and I are also moving into our brand new house at the end of the month! So I’ve been packing and planning in my spare time. This is our first house so it’s pretty exciting - the construction started last year, so we’ve been waiting a while to move in! Click here to view a few progress photos.

On another note, now that I’m a new mama-to-be, I’ve been browsing the internet for cute baby stuff. There is so much darling stuff out there, I think I might go broke on softies alone - hehe! My mom told me she bought some cute little booties from a company called Kaloo. She said they were soo soft and cute, and she just knew I’d love them. I immediately googled them to come across their website. What a lovely company! Their toys and furniture are not only gorgeous, soft, and precious but also so inspirational! I love being inspired by softies - I’ll just have to design my own line one of these days. I’ve attached a few photos below, but feel free to browse their website - and they also have a fun games section!

Let me start off by saying ‘YAY!!! I’m free from work!’. It’s so exciting to finally be able to dedicate my full week to illustration. I have so many projects I’d like to start and can’t wait for my first full week of freedom & fun!

On another note, this week’s Illustration Friday topic is Seed. (Click here to rate this illustration) This topic incidentally coincides perfectly with my big announcement! I’m three months pregnant! This is part of the reason I wanted to quit my full time job - so I can take care of myself during this important time. What a perfect Illustration Friday topic to make this announcement :o) I hope you enjoy this week’s submission. And you’ll be hearing a lot more from me in the next few days. Hope you all have a great week!

As of May 3, 2008 I’ll be a free woman! I’ve put in my notice at my full time job and I’ve decided to become a full time freelance illustrator. I have so many dreams and aspirations as an illustrator and it’s been so hard to work towards any of these dreams with a full time job in the way. I want to dedicate all my time to establishing myself as an illustrator! One of my dreams is to illustrate a children’s book. I’ve had no time to contact publishing agencies or anyone to get into this area - this will finally be my chance!

I also plan to post on my blog MUCH more often! I want to attempt to get at least 2 new illustration posts done each week and also include lots of updates on my progress with various projects and marketing ideas. I am so thankful for all the wonderful people that read and comment on my blog. I really enjoy receiving your kind emails and feedback on my work. This is going to be such an exciting time for me - I can’t wait to get started on all the wonderful plans in my head. I hope you will enjoy the journey with me!

I’ve received a number of requests from bloggers over the past couple months to use one of my illustrations in their blog header. As much as I’m flattered by their requests, I’ve had to turn them down. The reason I’ve had to turn them down is to do with copyright issues - isn’t that always the issue? ;) The problem is, if I ever sell the rights to any particular image, I won’t have the authority over that image anymore - meaning that everyone I gave permission to use that image - I’ll have to track down to remove it. I’ve promised many of these bloggers that I’ll design some headers especially for them… but until then, I’ve found an incredible resource!

Smashing Magazine has just posted some awesome blog headers for FREE. Some of these headers are absolutely gorgeous and have been created by designers from around the world. Click here to visit their site and browse through these beautiful creations!

And stay tuned - I will hopefully have some Rachelle Anne Miller headers in the works very soon ;)

Ever since working on the Sugar Nellie rubber stamps, I’ve received a lot of new crafting visitors! I love card-making and all sorts of crafts so it’s really wonderful meeting all these new creative people! Paper Babe recently tagged me with the Excellent Blog Award. I am honored to receive this award! Thank you thank you!! Seeing as the award was from a crafter, I thought it’d only be right to pass this on to another crafter. I would like to award Carrie Rees from Pinkadoo. She’s just started her blog and it already has some really awesome and creative stuff on it! She’s so very talented and her blog design is pretty spiffy as well!

Thanks for all your wonderful support!

Yay! Kathy Weller over at Wellerwishes just awarded me the ‘You Make My Day‘ award and I couldn’t be more flattered! Thanks Kathy - you’ve just made MY day… corny but true! :o)

So to continue the trend, here are the details:

1. Write a post with links to 5 blogs that make me think and/or make my day.
2. Acknowledge the post of the award giver.
3. Display the “You Make my Day Award” logo
4. Tell the award winners that they have won by commenting on their blogs with the news.

I follow so many wonderful blogs that it was hard to choose only 5 recipients! I pass on this wonderful award to the following uber-talented, inspiring illustrators that always make my day:

Jannie Ho | Paige Keiser | Kathleen Rietz | Penelope Dullagnan | Anette Heiberg

I’ve always been very inspired by this quote from Nick Meglin, from his book Drawing from Within. Just thought I’d share it with you! I’m super excited for Illustration Friday tomorrow!!

“In our society we have become so achievement-oriented that we measure our efforts by results rather than by our own feelings of satisfaction. We have been encouraged to succeed through imitation rather than expand upon the individuality we naturally possess…All too often…artists interfere with that natural response and become concerned with outside considerations, especially this desire to achieve. This misdirected path usually leads to compromise, imitation, and contrivance and, ironically, actually prevents true artistic ‘achievement’…Satisfaction in any art form doesn’t come from achieving perfection, since perfection doesn’t exist in art. Satisfaction can be found instead, in the experience of aspiring to an internal form of perfection that’s measured in ‘fun’ and not some external measure, i.e., ‘Best of Show.’ ” -Nick Meglin

Just a quick note to let you all know that I’m back from my Christmas break and will be posting again very soon! I miss illustrating and can’t wait to get back into the swing of things :o)

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday break and I wish you all the best for the coming New Year!

Hope you all have a very wonderful and meaningful holiday with all your friends and family! I won’t be posting too much in the next couple weeks as I’ll be on vacation. See you in the New Year!

Wow, I am just so excited to finally have this blog online! I don’t think anyone understands (except for maybe my husband) how long I’ve wanted to do this!Let me start off by introducing myself. My name is Rachelle (pronounced ra-shelle), I’m 23, live in Ontario, Canada and am married to my wonderful husband, Brad.

I love art, anything and everything creative and adore all things small and cute! I currently work as a Graphic Designer but would love to get involved in Children’s Book Illustration. I studied Design as NSCAD University in Nova Scotia, Canada so my background is mostly in design, but ever since I could hold I pencil, I’ve loved drawing and painting.I am just reeling with ideas for this blog and website and I can’t wait to bring these ideas to life. I want to use this blog to track my journey to becoming a children’s illustrator. I am also looking to connect with illustrators/editors/publishers in this field and hopefully get a contract for a children’s book! I plan to participate in Illustration Friday, Monday Art Day, and other online groups to get to know everyone out there, practice my illustration skills, and build my portfolio.

How this site will work:

Now if you’ve looked through my site, you may be surprised to see that there isn’t much illustration content. I’m going to try something new - I want YOU to help me build my illustration portfolio! I will post an illustration in my sketchbook where there will also be a star rating system. You can rate the illustration out of 5. Any illustration with a score of 4 out of 5 or better will be moved to the portfolio section (with a minimum of 10 votes). I’m not sure how well this will work so I’m just going to try it for a few months and see how things go!

I will talk more about myself and all of my exciting ideas very soon! Thanks so much for stopping by!