We hope you’re enjoying some time off with family and friends this holiday.  The agency represents artists from all around the world and here are just a few greetings from them to you… From as far as New Zealand and Taiwan to Portland Oregon!

Clairice Gifford in Utah

Rebecca Jones in Australia

Rebecca Bradley in Baltimore Maryland

Zoe Ingram in New Zealand

Hising Ping in Taiwan

Tara Lilly in Portland Oregon

Flora Waycott in New Zealand

Have a wonderful holiday week and we’re looking forward to working with you in 2016!

xo,
Reine and the Studio Ladies

Whether it’s book covers, children’s book illustrations, magazine spots, or lettering treatments, artists particularly love to illustrate for editorial as it’s exciting to riff off of the concept of a given manuscript. Here are a few for you to enjoy.

Mike Lowery for Putnam

Flora Waycott for FLOW Magazine

Daniel Roode for Editions Milan

Flora Waycott for Live Happy Magazine

Clairice Gifford for Boston Globe Magazine

Bonnie Dain and Carolyn Gavin for teNeues

Bonnie Dain for Midwest Living Magazine

Trina Dalziel for Marin Magazine

Contact us to see more work, commission, or license some of the very best art for your next project. We’re happy to hear from you.

Warmest,
Lilla and the Studio Ladies

“The Gingerbread Man Loose” series illustrated by Mike Lowery published with Penguin Kids is wildly popular and getting all sorts of terrific press!

Some of the great things people are saying:

“A heartwarming holiday message to share… Gingerbread Man will make read-alouds a treat.” –Booklist

“A jolly treat with a sweet acknowledgement of the gifts teachers give their students all year long.” —Kirkus Reviews

“The emphasis on generosity and humble, heartfelt gifts makes for sweet holiday reading!” –Publishers Weekly

“With its fun, bouncy text and comic book panel-style illustrations, smart cookies will…eat this one up.” –School Library Journal

You can read about the books here on the Penguin Kids Gift Guide for 2015.

Penguin Kids is doing a sweepstakes on Pinterest with a giveaway of a collection of cookie-themed picture books! Check out the link to the board here: They ask readers to pin something inspired by the prompt (in this case, gingerbread treats!) for the chance to win a prize (cookie-themed picture books).  #Gingerbreadmanlooseatchristmas

You can also buy the books here.

xo,
Reine

We love sharing our artists amazing work and don’t think it gets much better than that. But a cherry on top is when the media is also sharing how cool our artists and their work is too! Sarah Walsh’s new “100 Things to Draw with a Triangle” by Quarto publishing is now available.

Sarah is also having fun with her new book and was feeling in the winter spirit. So she decided to do some holiday based doodles with her new book. Her doodles and sketches were featured on the hip Bored Panda! Check out the full article here and purchase the book here.

Fantastic creativivity with these triangles Sarah. They’re awesome. Order the book today for a terrific holiday gift!

xo,

Reine

Hallmark sent me this kit “Handmade Hallmark” to play with. It’s my idea of a dream job. Here’s what the kit contains: 4 wooden ornaments, 4 embroidery floss skeins, 1 needle and 4 adhesive felt backers.

First, I wanted to cover the surface with color, and as I love embossing powders, I started with a good red one. They make a shiny, thick coat and are fun to use. So I first stamped the wood with Versamark pad which is sticky.

I sprinkle the powder on the sticky wood.

Next, the fun part which is melting the powder (which is like a waxy resin) with a heat gun. It takes about a minute.

To rubberstamp on top of the melted embossing powder (which is now shiny and water resistant), you need to use a permanent ink pad like StazOn. It’s like Sharpie ink. (Note: The melted powder is actually shinier than it appears in this photo. See end of blog post for other examples.)

How many different media can I use? I select Martha’s glitter which is really vivid and fine. First, I painted glue onto the piece and then sprinkled glitter.

I want to add an unexpected texture so I rummage through my trims and find tiny fuchsia pom poms which I glue on with Aleene’s tacky glue.

Let’s try sewing some of that thread into the holes. It’s quite fun. Then, I stick on some self-adhesive gems.

Let’s look at the mess as a whole:That was really fun. Here are some more pieces I made. I’ll go ahead and sew into the holes later.

It was fun to carve into the paint on this piece below.

For more inspiration from Hallmark artists, check out their blog, Think.Make.Share.  Purchase kits here.

xo

Lilla