Poster for POLY

I'm happy to say that I have several projects to share in the upcoming weeks- this first one is artwork that I made for a future poster to be used by Nashville's POLY, a very whimsical and cute trio of musicians that make whimsical and cute songs. They were kind enough to let me run with some inspiration and create some artwork for them (without having any idea what I would make in the end). Below is the final painting and some images documenting the process.

Pug-Uh-Muh-Shirt

About...goodness...two years ago I illustrated two dogs that are the adorable mascots of Gulu-Gulu Cafe in Salem, Massachusetts, and are famous enough to have several shirts featuring them executed by different artists. I was happy to add to Gulu-Gulu's store with my takes on Jack (Boston Terrier) and Charlie (Pug). Jack's shirt came out pretty much right away, with Charlie being left for a later date. At the end of 2012, Charlie Shirt came to be! Steve, the owner, actually sold out of them, but he was awesome enough to make another small run so my boyfriend and I could have one. There are a few left- you can purchase one here.

And since we are on the subject of dogs, I can only say that at work I am happily working on some new pet-related products (although that's really all I can say. Working a year in advance means I can't talk about all the fun stuff I'm doing NOW). It's been a fun project to work on, and very close to my heart since I grew up with (several) dogs and volunteered at a shelter with my mom in Texas for a couple of years whenever possible.

Miss Penelope at Art & Invention Gallery

My newest painting! See it at Art & Invention Gallery in East Nashville.

Artists Tips: So you want to license your artwork?

I’ve been talking for a while about posting helpful advice for freelance illustrators and artists who are interested in submitting work for licensing at C.R. Gibson (and just in general). Read below to get some helpful tips and insights from an illustrator who’s behind-the-scenes in the licensing industry. Anyone who is interested can send a PDF file, mailer, or just a good old-fashion mailed portfolio to me at Lauren.minco@crgibson.com or…

C.R. Gibson

Attn: Lauren Minco

402 BNA Drive

 Bldg. 100, Suite 600

Nashville, TN 37217

TIPS FOR SENDING IN YOUR LICENSING PORTFOLIO:

Send your promotional materials to other art department members besides the Art Director.

This is something that I always heard from past teachers, and it’s so true! At C.R. Gibson, our art and marketing directors are so busy that they don’t always have the time to thoroughly look over the carefully constructed portfolio you send (or you get forgotten in the HUGE filing cabinet after a few months. Sorry). However, it’s not uncommon for a designer to pitch a new artist they discovered when certain jobs come up. For instance, every few months or so my team is asked to create a bunch of journals to pitch to a particular client. Sometimes we have a vague direction, but for the most part we are allowed to run wild and create whatever we want (whoopee!).  I end up creating my own artwork for some of these samples, but it’s also a great time for me to go though a folder I have of illustrators and see if there’s anyone I want to use.  

 Why not just make all the journals my personal designs? Well, mainly because that wouldn’t give the client as much variety to choose from. Another important factor is -and you’ll hear me talk a lot about this- time. My team usually only has about three days to churn these out (including time needed to make the mock-ups), so I’m more than happy to give an emerging illustrator a chance to score a cool opportunity (it’s just good karma, ya know?). Sometimes I contact artists I’ve found while cruising online, personal favorites, artists who have sent materials to us, former students, or even my own friends and colleagues who I think create amazing work. During the last batch my directors liked an old friend of mine from Providence and a local Nashville artist who I had the pleasure of discovering when I moved to my new city. How cool is that? And even if our client passes, we might end up using them again down the line on another project.

Research our products before you send artwork.

 You have to look at a company objectively and truly ask yourself if your artwork is appropriate for their products (Mind you, this advice applies to all markets, not just licensing and surface design). CRG does a lot of things, from colorful back-to-school notebooks to vintage-inspired home goods, so we do house a variety of styles and looks. BUT, if it’s pretty obvious your muscle-y comic book vampire women don’t fit in, don’t send it! Submitting stuff way out of a client’s focus just makes you look like you didn’t do your homework. Check out www.crgibsondealer.com to see the spectrum of items CRG makes.

You won’t see many figures in our work. 

 Oh, you’ll see them here and there, but for the most part our products feature patterns, great color combinations, and illustrations of things (like vegetables or teapots) before you’ll see figures. Think about it, having a blonde baby on a memory book when your friend’s new bundle of joy has red hair may sway you from buying it, so we use cute animals and sailboats instead. The same philosophy can apply to a variety of products. This doesn’t mean we don’t use people at all or that your portfolio should exclude them completely, but showing us a variety of subject matter will help us see more potential in using your work.

Make your work easy to use and know your programs.

Repeat business with a company can depend on how easy it is to work with your artwork.  Illustrators and artists working with traditional mediums should explore scanning their images and setting up layers in Photoshop. Obviously we have plenty of artists that simply scan their images and send them along, but we love, love, love our outside artists that know their programs and can set up things properly when needed. This makes turning last year’s note card into this year’s tote bag soooo much easier, which means faster production time and directors who are not stressing over deadlines. 

For instance, if you use Adobe Illustrator, have you outlined your text? Are your shapes all closed? Have you grouped things in a way that makes sense? If any of these questions make you go “huh?”, it may be wise to take a class or order a pizza and ask your digital-savvy friend to come over and show you the ropes. 

Create some secondary art or a collection.

When selecting art and illustrations to license, it’s more enticing to see something being submitted with additional patterns and such, even if it’s just dots or stripes. One reason is that it helps envision a finished project for marketing and creative directors when they see it. The second reason is that when we license artwork, we can’t add even a simple pattern- it all has to somehow come from your art, so the more you give us from the beginning the more we can realistically use it on multiple products (and give you more money. Thumbs up!).  If we license a painting of your snowman and you have a candy cane in there, I can take that candy cane and make a fun little toss pattern to make additional art for a product we’re working together on, like the inside of a recipe book or the packaging for Christmas cards. However, this obviously takes up time, and sometimes there just aren’t enough elements to pull from an image (I was in a meeting where we picked our second favorite piece of art for a tableware collection simply because our favorite one had too little to work with).  Let me stress that this is not necessary, but it will improve your chances of getting a deal on a whole line of products rather than just one or two.

Also, if you can’t set up your paintings, collages, and other traditionally made images in Photoshop layers, making some additional secondary art/patterns is the other thing you can do to make your work more flexible for a variety of products.

Have a (real) website to send us to.

Not deviant art, not a blog… directors want to see a website with your work on it. It makes you look professional. It’s okay to have any of the above mentioned things in addition to a website, but you have too much competition out there to not look as professional and serious as possible. 

If we say “NO”, it doesn’t mean we don’t like your work.

Rejection is never a fun thing, and everyone hates that horrible feeling when you approach a potential client and they say “no thanks”, and you swear that you can feel your soul deflating ever so slightly like a sad balloon.  However, you should know that all the companies and publishers, etc, that you will contact have many reasons to say no, even if they love your work. Perhaps they already have another artist who has a similar style. Maybe your work doesn’t match the company’s focus. Maybe CRG just bought a bunch of safari children’s art and we don’t need any more cute monkeys and alligators at the moment, no matter how cute your animals are (and Lordy, do we have to pass on some cute ones! Too much cuteness!). Don’t take “no” personally, and don’t let it stop you form resubmitting down the line. My illustrator friends and I all have stories about courting clients for months, sometimes years, until they finally said “yes” and gave us a chance. Keep in touch and send a revised portfolio 6-8 months later, or even just a mailer notifying us of new work on your website.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me at the email address listed earlier in this post. It may take me a few days to respond, but I will get back to you. 

Cheers! 

Tomato Fest! Delicious!

My Nashville debut was this past Saturday at the awesome and highly acclaimed Art & Invention Gallery for their annual Tomato Fest Art Show. I was happy to have two paintings up amongst some very talented local artists.  A big HOLLA to Meg and her staff for organizing a great show!

C.R. Gibson Favorites

It's amazing to think that about a year ago I was applying for my current job at C.R. Gibson. So far I have worked on many different products and licensing lines for the company, and I thought I should share a few of my favorites. Behold, some of my must-haves from CRG:


1) IOTA 

The wonderful Iota ladies in Colorado create amazing patterns and palettes for their art that goes on everything from notecards to baby bibs. With contemporary colors and a modern feel, Iota products are very popular amongst our staff.




2) CID PEAR

Artist Tina Givens has created sweet watercolor illustrations and patterns for several CRG products , but Cid Pear brings her work to a whole new level when it comes to a product line featuring her whimsical imagery. A completely different look than Iota, I enjoy the handmade, high-end aesthetic and the use of feminine, delicate touches.

3) POCKET ORGANIZER

If you're like me, then you get scraps of paper, gift cards, and receipts everywhere. Crammed in your purse. Lost under your car seat. EVERYWHERE. My coupon keeper helps me keep everything straight, and it's probably my favorite item from an organizational viewpoint. Love it.

Month 7

How I am happy to show you new work! It truly has been a learning experience and an awakening here in Nashville as I get cozy in month seven at C.R. Gibson. My co-workers are amazing, the hail damage to my car annoying, and I have a special someone to make my new chapter even sweeter. Some of you who have been in contact with me know that I'm getting an amazing behind-the-scenes view of surface design, the market focused on art and illustration for products like gift wrap, kitchen goods, fabrics, and paper products (think journals and stationary). I hope to soon post some helpful tips for freelance illustrators looking to submit work for consideration.

On a personal note,  when I moved here I allowed myself a full year to get comfortable with my new city and job (and I'm glad I did). However, I'm slowly creating new personal work that is positively influenced by my new job as a designer at CRG. My color palettes are getting richer and more varied, while I feel comfortable doing subject matter that is more directed by my interests rather than client-driven. In the next 6 months there should be new work (both painted and digital) that should expand upon the world of Lauren. Until then, enjoy this new colorful creation!

art THROB Magazine

A while back I was featured in Salem's Art Throb Magazine again thanks to the awesome Lilly mcCrea, this time a part of my The Giant Fox painting being used to convey the comfiness of home. If you are a local artist near Salem, feel free to contribute to the publication! Another illustration can be seen in the recent ASK magazine again- that image will be posted soon when I get my copy. Big thanks to Pamela Bonesteel for that one.

In other news, things at CR Gibson are going swimmingly. Nashville is starting to slowly get into springish weather, and I'm starting to see my first creations come back from vendors (or as I like to call them, "my children"). My co-workers continue to be great, and the newest of us (one from Alabama, the other two from New York City) are having a good time discovering more of Music City every day.

I'm lame and haven't been posting in regular fashion, but I hope to pick up my blogging pace. Bare with me.

ASK Magazine

Guess what? I can finally show you something! Recently I was published in ASK magazine for kids. I illustrated an article about archeologists using the internet and local citizens to help them find the long lost burial site of Genghis Khan. I'm currently working on a new article for them, this one about a new discovery in space.

BIG NEWS!

Well! I have been very MIA lately because the last several weeks have been dedicated to a big development in both my artistic career and life. I am now a designer at CR Gibson, a company in the gift industry focusing on paper goods and products such as stationary, photo albums, and gift wrap, although we also tackle everything from decorative ipod cases and melamine dish ware to purses and aprons. My first week has been a wonderful learning experience when it comes to art licensing and the gift industry. I've had to move from Rhode Island to Nashville, Tennessee (spent some of my childhood in Nashville), and so far the area has been beautiful and full of wonderful experiences, plus family and old childhood friends.

In other news, I am working on a CD cover for children's music and a new children's product which I am not at liberty to talk about. It's wonderful that I can still pursue these freelance interests on the side when time allows.

Still settling into my room, which is pretty much boxes and more boxes. The two cats that share my house like to hang with me, which I think is funny since I'm more of a dog person (don't get me wrong, they're cool and I love them). They have proved to be everything from breakfast companions to fuzzy alarm clocks.

Looking forward to week number two! FYI, CR GIbson is still looking for about 3 new designers, so if you have some digital savvy and a love for Illustration and/or design, send in your resume!

I promise there is new work!

Whoooooa, summer has gone by so fast, mainly because the 6 week RISD Pre-College program takes over my life (in a good way). I haven't really shared anything lately, but I promise new work exists! In the last few weeks I've done some fun holiday stationary for Paper Culture, as well as a children's editorial about Genghis Khan (insert Kirk's famous "KHHHHAAAAAN!!") for ASK Magazine and a book cover for girls in the YA market.

The truth is, a lot of stuff I just can't show because it hasn't been printed yet. The sneak preview above is all you're gonna get for now, but I promise I will post things as they become available.

In other news, Williams-Sonoma bought five illustrations from me that may be used for spatulas this Halloween season (I say "may" because those companies buy tons of work and just throw it in their "art vault". They may use one of my illos this year, all of them, or none of them. Not sure). I'm hoping at least one got printed this season, because using something that you've illustrated is an awesome feeling.

July 4th

Happy 4th of July!

I'm busy working with two new clients- the wonderful Paper Culture and ASK Magazine through Carus Publishing. Hotdogs and fireworks for all.

Spread the Word

Looks like we're getting close to summer. I finished a job for Williams Sonoma and will be working on a book cover soon. This year I will also be teaching Illustration at RISD Pre-College, which I'm very excited about. This will be my fifth year- and I've loved teaching Design Foundations- but to teach the subject that I actually...you know, make a living with will be exciting. Plus it's just nice to have a change.

Surtex was great this year, and I left with a lot of inspiration and new ideas. There should be several things to post in the next few months!

Brushing Beauty

I'm really digging this newer painting, which is another adventure into constructing my images through abstracted space, pattern and color rather than thinking of my environments traditionally. People must like it, because I had 28 promotions in one day after it was posted on society6 (I think the highest I've ever gotten so quickly is 12, to put it in context). What is NOT posted is the first version, which was just wrong, wrong, WRONG. The figure, the colors...even the size was just plain wrong. It's bizarre how one day you can try to create something and inspiration doesn't strike, only to have a completely different creative energy the next day. In the end...I win! Take that, painting.

See "Tea Party" at Hive Gallery!

People in the LA area can see my painting at Hive Gallery's Second Annual "Alice in Wonderland Show!" I was so happy to work with Nathan and Romina again and am looking forward to future collaborations. Check out the link above for more details and directions.

"Tea Party" was fun to make. After the past couple of years, I'm starting to realize that I handle my illustrations more from a design point of view. I am especially happy with how the graphic elements combine with the more spacial elements (such as the receding table) and start to create a harmonious marriage between flatness and dimensional space.

Yee Haw!

The Illustration Department at Montserrat College of Art is having a gallery show currently. The theme this year was "Wild Wild West", and I just had to do a saloon girl.

Catch Up...Ketchup...

Looking back at older posts, I realized there is a lot of art I've been meaning to show but wasn't able to at the time due to publishing dates, etc.

So let's do some catch up, shall we?

The first one is a piece I did for a client based on the premise of solar energy and going green. Hopefully you could tell those are solar panels on the plant mixed in with the leaves. When I was looking up reference I wondered what the average person thinks of when they hear "solar panel" and if it's anything like the real thing. On a side note, I have to put more beehive hair do's in my work.

And next is a piece that was in my solo show at Gulu-Gulu Cafe back in November. I'm happy to say that it sold and is now in a permanent home!

Character Game!!!

My boyfriend and I have a friend visiting, and we started doing this exercise where we give each other 10 characters to draw. It was a lot of fun after a long day of work, but also an interesting chance for me to apply my style to different faces. Anyway, here they are! Mine are at the beginning and our friend's doodles follow.

Happy New Year!

The holiday season has come and gone, and it was great to be down in Texas with family for a while. Even with all the craziness, I found it to be a good time to achieve some clarity on issues (and isn't that a great way to start the year- with clarity?).

I'm back in Providence and some gallery appearances await my artwork, including the department show at Montserrat College of Art where I'll be showing as faculty. The theme? Wild Wild West! Around the same time, the RISD Faculty Biennial will be up in the mueseum. I think the piece above is the one I will submit for that show.

Awesomeness all around AKA December is here?!?

Thanksgiving was spent in warm, sunny Florida where my boyfriend and I WENT TO UNIVERSAL STUDIOS ISLANDS OF ADVENTURES AND SAW THE HARRY POTTER WORLD! Even though my fandom for the series has settled into a comfortable fondness (10 years ago I would have been one of those fans who had to buy the t-shirt....and the scarf...and the hat...etc, etc), I truly enjoyed seeing the series brought to life. Plus, the tiny kids in wizard robes were adorable (note: those robes are $100 each. Mom and Dad's bank account was hurting after that vacation). It was so crowded that we did not get to venture into the stores, just the rides (since we were staying at a hotel on site, our room key got us to the front of the lines, baby!). I hope to post some pictures soon.

Now I'm back in Providence, and it's mind-boggling how much stuff I have to do before I go home for Christmas! My RISD and Montserrat students are finishing up their semester, I have some commissions to take care of, and there is a secret project I'm starting (shh) for a company in NYC. Oh, and let's not forget holiday shopping! Still have to get those gifts...