iPhone 4 Case

Like many Apple and technology enthusiasts, my boyfriend, Chris, bought an iPhone 4 in June. While learning about the iPhone Chris discovered Grove, a small Portland-based company creating bamboo iPhone cases. Grove offers several designs but also lets people submit vector art to customize their case, like so . . .

Comic Book Project Thumbnails

Here are my two best thumbnails for a comic cover assignment. I chose the Sandman issue that introduces Death, one of my favorite comic characters. I love the use of white space in the narrative so I'm challenging myself to carry that into the cover.

New Project

This is the progress for an illustration inspired by an article from the New York Times about Oprah's influence on women in the Middle East --particularly Saudi Arabia.


The drawing is executed in burnt umber and tuscan red Verithin pencils. Their precision was key in recreating the patterns throughout the piece.

Soccer Kids Final

Hi everybody,
The kids are finished! Yay! I am extremely proud of this piece and of how it developed.

The background is my favorite part of the piece. It seamlessly combines my two loves - painting and sketching - and embodies a direction that I plan to pursue. It also displays my continuing growth in distorting perspective and environments to create unique worlds without being tied to precise reproductions of my reference.
This illustration has been in the works for several months so it's a pleasure to be able to post it.

Please let me know if you have any comments or feedback. Thanks everyone!

Color!

Hi everyone,
I'm switching gears to a children's soccer piece that I concepted a few months ago. After deliberating between the two designs, I decided upon the simpler composition of the kids playing soccer in an urban setting. I felt this piece allowed for the most experimentation without overwhelming me. Here's the color study. I'm still working on adding and refining details but this will give you an idea of what's going on in my head.


I plan on returning to the second design in the future, the dog is just too cute to pass.

Thank you to everyone who gave me feedback on these when I initially posted, you guys help push me to make better illustrations.

Erika is going to be in Communication Arts!

Warren Buffet has been accepted into the Communication Arts Illustration Annual, due out this May! Yay, Go Warren!

Now I’m juggling five pieces -- the coffee shop debate and soccer pieces, as well as some new portraits and editorial images. There will be a new post soon, but I wanted to reassure everyone that I haven’t disappeared. I’ll leave these two images to whet your appetite.

New Color Study and Logo

I’ve been working on my color for the coffeeshop debate illustration and my basic branding materials.
For the debate piece, I pushed the color to be less literal and less busy. Too much fought for the viewer’s attention in the first piece, so I went back to my value study and reworked the colors and patterns. I also played with warm and cool colors to direct the viewer's eye and create a mood within the space.

As I’ve mentioned, I’m updating my style and my old website, postcards, and logo don’t fit anymore. I’m bringing these up-to-date, starting with my logo. None of the computerized fonts I’ve tried worked, so I decided to go with a hand-lettered approach:

I'm happy with the result and I think it really works with some of my newer illustrations.

I'd love to hear your thoughts, enjoy!