Year-end wrap-up

Looking back on this year, it’s been a very busy one. Unlike some people out there, most of the chaos has been good. Crazy-making sometimes, but usually for good reasons. I have lots to be grateful for and despite the current state of things in the world I have a good deal of optimism for 2009.

As far as this blog goes, the thing I’m happiest about is that for the most part I’ve been able to keep a steady schedule, in part thanks to Illustration Friday. At the beginning of this year I committed to posting something every week based on the IF topic. I didn’t quite make that, but given my horrid track record for diary-keeping I’m amazed I did as well as I did.

Out of 52 weeks in the year:

  • I posted IF illustrations for 43 of them (only missed 9, although technically a couple didn’t make it to the blog in time to post on IF)
  • 39 of those were new, original drawings, three of which never got further than a rough sketch.
  • 14 were existing work I’d done for another purpose but were appropriate for that week’s topic (and one of those was significantly edited for IF)

I’m pretty happy with that. The hardest part was getting back into the habit when I missed a whole month over the summer due to my insane schedule.

I don’t know if I can make the same vow this year, since I may have more illustration projects coming in. However, I do promise to post something to this blog every week, and participate in IF when I can. I’m also going to start merchandising my existing art more, making better use of my redbubble account and my CafePress store, and making more art that is directly in line with that. Toward that end I’d like to redo my website (including this blog!) but that’s a secondary priority to making more art.

Is anyone else making an “art resolution” this year?

Illustration Friday: Clandestine

 

Leda and the Swan

Another from the archives for this week’s Illustration Friday topic. Click the image to enlarge it! This image illustrates the ancient myth of Leda and Zeus. Zeus, also known as Jupiter, was king of the gods but had a weakness for mortal women. His wife, Hera, was the jealous sort so he had to be sneaky about it. He took the form of a swan and seduced a noblewoman named Leda (this sort of thing happened a lot in the old Greek myths for some reason) and she ended up birthing two eggs which resulted in four children who all went on to become legendary figures as well:  Helen and Clytemnestra, who were key figures in the Trojan War, and Castor and Pollux, the Gemini twins. I’m not sure how Leda ever explained all this to her husband…

This picture is available for sale at my redbubble site, in a variety of sizes and formats.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and a fabulous start to the new year!