Geese Doodle

Playful color studies for some geese doodles.

Yellow Weave Doodle

Playing with some weaving doodles I made a few weeks back. We totally have that rug in grass green shag!

New Layout Coming Soon--and Rive wraps

So, I'm working to get my current design site, www.designbyzoe.com made into a more business-friendly format over the next month or two, probably something related to Wordpress. While that is going on, you can expect to see a similar-looking visual format change here on the blog too!

Also, here are some of the latest Rive designs!

Tree Branches with Teal Lanterns

Canary Pineapples of Goodwill

Wicked Twisted Grape Vines

Hippocampus art to be inlaid on guitar

Here's the preliminary images, the final pics will be posted with credits when they are finished!

Original Art: Mine, the Merhorse design (hippocampus)

Resulting Art: Hippocampus mother of pearl inlay on black guitar headstock.

New Rive Damask Photo!

This photo was just sent to me by Rive, my completed Damask design!

Observational Botanicals

The new apartment is steps away from an amazing block of public gardens, children's parks, and dog parks, so I went out recently and did some quick observational inkings of the plant life.

BACK FROM HIATUS: Summer Designs

So back to work. I've moved apartments into a beautiful area, but that meant sacrificing a decent amount of workspace, so it took a bit longer to open up the sketchbooks than expected...but it happened!

So the name of the game is blues and purples:

Narwhals are easily the strangest non-magical creatures out there, and I was thinking they would make a nice addition to the lure line for the fall/winter, so I have started inking some fun, chubby little 'whals.

A bigger narwhal, although he does look a little depressed. I might give him some bubbles or fish or something, as his shape seems to be calling for a spiraling pattern.

Whales, yeah, had to do one.

Sand dollars, by popular request. Realized that these are the creatures ideal for people who have a terrible time drawing perfect circles (me).

An Australian Spotted Jelly, inspired by some of the awesome critters in the New England Aquarium. They are insane looking, like a cross between a plastic glow-toy and a vegetable. I'll upload a pic.

CRABS. I know I had to do shells because we're in New England and people love their shells, but to make a design work for me, I have to add a quirk. Meet the hermits.

A more serious botanical doodle that I think will work its way onto my new line of vases. More to follow.

RISD Alumni Art Sale Next Weekend!

NEWS!

I will be sharing table #37 with Bronwyn Lewis at the RISD Spring Alumni Art Sale next Saturday. I'll be selling the following:

Shark Coasters/Saucers: $25/set, $8/ea

Marlin Coasters/Saucers: $25/set, $8/ea

Kite Coasters/Saucers: $25/set, $8/ea

Nest Coasters/Saucers: $25/set, $8/ea

*new* Dinosaur Coasters/Saucers: $25/set, $8/ea

*new* Hedgehog Coasters/Saucers: $25/set, $8/ea

*new* 2 Types of Cat and Birdcage Necklaces: $18/ea

*new* Marlin Necklaces: $15/ea

*new* Antler Earrings: $18/ea

*new* Small and Large Typography Earrings: $12/pair of small, $18/ pair of large

Here's photos of the new saucer designs:

Planning on bringing 5-7 sets of each coaster design, plus a good handful for singles. There will be a good 25+ pair of the smaller typography earrings available, but most jewelry will be 5-10 pieces total, as they are an explorative run.

Come by and say hey!

New Rive Designs

Been working on some new line art stylized work for Rive's awesome glass water vessels. Here's the latest and greatest:

Chicago Cityscape in lines

Gingko Leaves (Organized)

Gingko Leaves (Disorganized)

Gingko Leaves (Layered)

Past, Present, and Workspace

Going through a lot of my old stuff today, as we'll be moving into a smaller place come June with less storage...

Some cool older business card designs for a freelance client, Diana Armbrust

More designs for a freelance client, Diana Armbrust

Shay takes over my workspace on a regular basis

the constant state of my "toolbox"

yay! new experimental clasps came in from Fire Mountain Gems! Silicone and stretchy!

Birdies

Thinking of a lovebird or budgie design for my next coaster/saucer design. Here's some color keys...

Rive Citrus

Something fun and springy with bursts of citrus color for Rive. Playing with varying palettes and application methods below.

Check out Rive!

Hey so this is pretty cool! Check out www.RiveUSA.com and see what pops up! The first four designs are live now with their specs and awesome photos. See my bamboo and birdies in there? Pretty flippin' sweet...

new cameras!

More vintage cameras for Rive, this time a different art style.

Personal Art: Laser Cut Prototypes

Awesome white acrylic laser cut birdcages with and without kitties hanging from them. These are pretty big, so I'm debating calling this particular round 'ornaments' or not. No matter what, the future orders will be downscaled and made into pendents and earrings.

Cameras!

I've been working on freelance and 38 Studios work all day, so I decided to have a little fun indy art time for myself as the evening draws to a close.

That is, until my pen died. :(

These might actually become a pattern for Rive if I ink them all and find about 5-8 more designs. Shouldn't be too difficult, as the world (and Etsy) is filled with awesome vintage cameras.

General Updates

So, I will be selling specially packaged 4 saucer sets of the Marlin and the Shark design at the RISD Alumni Art Sale on April 30, 2011. The sale will be on a blocked off quarter of Benefit Street in Providence, RI from 9 am-5pm. Other products will include special Cats, Dogs, Dinosaurs, and Sea Life magnets, as well as special stationary maybe special fabric and jewelry designs, provided that these proofs go well.

I will be sharing a table with the always lovely Bronwyn Lewis: http://bronwynmaguirelewis.com/

Also coming up on May 14th is a Farm Tour at the Hillborne Farm in Princeton, MA. I will be selling art with the wonderful Chad Gowey: www.chadgowey.com

Expect more magnets, possibly some saucer sets (provided that the RISD sale does not deplete my stock), and maybe something else fun and crafty. For more details on this farm tour, feel free to e-mail me at info@designbyzoe.com

Boston Block Pattern

I think I've gotta get these printed...

Etsy Store

Just a small note that I've added copies of my 'POUND' book and several prints from the book to my etsy store here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/DesignByZoe

Rive Design: Sexy Lace

Ok, so...

I needed some good floral reference for a sexy fishnet/lace, so I might have scanned some stockings for better inspiration. Anyways, two palettes.

Charcoal and Silver

Chocolate and Gold

RIVE Prague Design and Lace Design

Some more exciting variations designs for the awesome company Rive! I've got a new twist on Victorian Power Room with Lace and some finalized options for a Prague cityscape.

Victorian Lace w/ Lady's Cameo and black ribbon.

Victorian Lace w/ Two Ladies' Cameos

Final Prague Cityscape Design

Different Prague Cityscape Design (not the final but still fun).

New Rive designs: 2nd snow day *1 New Image*

So in a classic New England turn of events, today marks the second snow day in two weeks that I've had from my office job. Last snow day I was able to lock down a good design direction for my Prague design (I'll show it eventually), and get the Turkish Thistle design to a great testing phase. Today, I've got these, all for Rive.

'he LOVES me'

No 'nots' here! A VERY pink, very girly, very whimsical design with pinks and oranges. Top two blocks of color reflect silicone cap/boot color suggestions.

'nerd glasses'

Nerd is pretty 'in' right now, so I played with the idea of Star Trek/sci-fi silver (all gray=silver) plus a vintage 3-D glasses color palette. Most of the glasses are actually relatively modern or vintage-popular, so I tried mixing the red stripes with the silver bands to make a pseudo-plaid background pattern.

'nerd glasses--old gold'

Recent addition of ochre and gold.

'mix tape love'

I guess I've got a pretty romantic theme going on right now, as my boyfriend and I just celebrated our 5 year (dating) anniversary...well, here you go. A cute/vintage punky throwback to mix tapes and journal scribbles. Cap suggestions shown at the top (sparkly silver or watermelon pop).