I'm a nerd for a lot of things, one of those things is Conan O'Brien. Team Coco put out a call for fan art, and I couldn't resist!

Here's Conan having a bit of a chuckle at his desk.

You can see all of the other fan art here.

maybe the best thing i've ever drawn

i'm working on an adaptation of little red riding hood right now, and i've just been sketching a lot and today i did this--and made myself laugh out loud. it's so silly, i think maybe it's the best thing i've ever drawn, haha. i had to share it.

illustration friday: old-fashioned

sketches

a pattern's moment to shine

I made this folk-art inspired pattern for an illustration i was working on a few months ago, but i ended up not using it so it's just been taking up space on my computer waiting...waiting for it's 15 mins.

so, here you go pattern, enjoy. shine!

Di Johnston Cover Art

on September 14th, Di Johnston's new album 'dropped' (riiight? that's what the cool kids say?) and I had the honor of designing and illustrating the cover art.

Yay so exciting!! Check out the new album on itunes:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/fascinator-bonus-track-version/id385589861

I have to say, her music is really great, usually I'm not that into electronic type music, but hers is really whimsical and magical just lovely to listen to on a rainy afternoon :)

Summer's Over...

Tomorrow is the first of October so summer is definitely over,.. it must of been good, I haven't posted since May.  I went to the beach over labor day and played around with all the different colored rocks...

I also did some seaside animal stalking...

i think this last seagull was camera shy, either that or he's a little diva who is sick of all the paparazzi taking his picture all the time...it's a tough life.

illustration friday: early

I'm usually never early for anything, probably because being early means you need to wait. 

and i hate waiting.

me, but younger

here's a recent piece i did for an art show done by Tilbury House publishers for a book launch of their book, One of Us. The show goes up for all of next week (May 24-28) at Book Culture and proceeds from the show go towards Powered by Girl/Hardy Girls, Healthy Women

The idea was to do a self portrait of yourself, in anyway you'd like, about yourself as a kid. Which sounded really fun to me! I loved climbing trees when I was kid, and liked to imagine I was a great explorer, so this is what I came up with :)

Why Hello Utah...

...you look a lot like Nevada.

Some photos from a road trip I took with my mom last month from where she lives in Nevada to St. George, Utah. yay nature!

friend or foe

I keep thinking about this part in Where The Wild Things are where Carol asks Max if he has something stuck in his teeth, it's this terrifying moment where you realize things could suddenly go either way. and I was thinking about how we all have moments where we are faced with uncertain monsters and must decide if they are our friends or our foes...

a day of a lot of art

I had my first opportunity to volunteer with Free Arts NYC this weekend at the International Art Expo. What an experience! I've never been to the Art Expo before, it's interesting, a LOT of art, an overwhelming amount! I got there bright and early Saturday morning helped set up a bit before the children arrived. They were children from the Department of Homeless Services and we were working with them to make a mural about the theme of reinvention in New York City. The idea was to reinvent an object in the city and then add it to the mural. The kids were between 5 and 12 and we each got paired up to have a buddy. My buddy was Jeremy, a hilarious 7 year old who told me his favorite color is pink (with no shame! good for him!) and that more then anything in the world he just wanted to play tag. Here's a picture of (part) of the mural:

the piece i circled is what Jeremy added, i'm told it's a computer with wings that you can play 'awesome games' on and will 'do all your work for you'. haha, alright! He had sooo much fun mixing the paint and experimenting and just flat out playing. I'm very proud, it looks nothing like a computer but it's sooo much more awesome, I think it's the best thing up there! 

Jane Seymour (dr quinn medicine women!) was there as well, she was really into it, walked around and talked to all the kids and took pictures and video with her personal camera. She's an artist (random!) and had a booth up at the Art Expo. She also added something to the mural...can you tell what...?

 Also, that trash can with legs right under NYC that has the speech bubble? It says, "hey! I just ran away from that kid!" hahaha, also how awesome is that tree?!

After the kids left, I walked around the Art Expo and tried to take it all in. At the very back they were having something called an Art Battle! They have a website HERE

I didn't stay for the whole thing, but basically there were four artists set up with giant canvases each painting within a set amount of time in front an audience of people and they were given a theme. This theme was Picasso's Guernica, (rather depressing,....but oookay) and they could only use black and white. here are some photos I took of their progress:

I didn't stay to see the final pieces, so I don't know who won (apparently the audience votes) They were all doing different things, My favorite was the second guy from the right, you can't really tell in these photos but he had this really atmospheric cityscape going with tiny planes flying overhead.

Anywho, after all that i headed home feeling pretty exhausted but inspired. I wanted to play with and mix paint ala Jeremy and his flying computer.

Well, I'm a bit neater then him, haha. But I still had fun! Whew.

...and that's a fact

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis owned an extensive collection of beer cans from around the world.

i like how her expression seems to say, "damn straight i did!"

Two of my friends and I decided we would challenge ourselves by each week picking a random fun fact and making an illustration based on it. I picked this fact, mostly because i wanted to draw jackie O, although i don't think it looks super like her.  i think i got her hair pretty good though, and i had fun drawing in just pencil, it's been awhile!

 

illustration friday: subterranean

so, this is sort of bizarre, but i remember having this conversation with my cousin when i was little about how we'd decorate our graves when we were dead. Not, the outside of them, the inside of them. Like they were going to be these little apartment's that we were going to live in during our afterlife. I remember the inclusion of a TV set and a comfy pillow being vital to my ideal set up.

so, this is basically how I imagined my afterlife when I was a kid.

illustration friday: brave

it's so worth it.

perched

having fun with color, shapes and textures.

I also recently started putting up some of my work on society6.

where this piece is available to buy as a print.

www.society6.com/studio/sleeplatedreammore

new website design!

i redesigned my website! check it out and let me know what you think!

I'm also getting ready to start sending out self-promotional stuff.

yay freelance illustration career, it's on like donkey kong!

www.amymariestad.com

rabbit fever

gotta love rabbits!  here are two recent rabbit creations.

first is my first attempt at needle felting, (thanks to the lovely Stephanie 

  for the tutorial this past weekend!) 

here he is posing with his friend the garden gnome.

and second is just a rabbit enjoying a sunset

with his three favorite flowers...

Also, on a side note, i started listening to this podcast called Escape From Illustration Island. It's pretty good, and features pretty in depth and interesting interviews with working illustrators. The most recent episode has an interview with Jon Klassen who did the concept illustrations for Coraline. (ah!)

check it out here: http://escapefromillustrationisland.com/2010/01/26/podcast-episode-19-jon-klassen/

(the sounds a bit funky because i think they did it over the phone, but the interview is great.)

there's no place like home

I like to draw houses a lot, maybe because i'm a geek for architecture or maybe i have some subconscious obession with the idea of a home... either way. here's a recent illustration i did. (with some close ups, since its kinda big and hard to apperciate all at once, i feel)