echavarri's Xanga

Everything Princesses

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:31:07 GMT

I'm so excited to finally be able to announce the launch of the Everything Princesses website, and share the princess character and artwork I created for the site!

This was such fun project! Everything Princesses is part of Everything Imagination which designs themed based web stores for kids ages 2 to 8.

I created the surrounding artwork on the site as well as three spot illustrations, and some minor animations, I think a little bit more animation may be added down the line, but I'm not sure.

For this project I had the pleasure of working closely with Lisa Sylvester of Interrobang Design Collaborative who created the branding and design work for the website. She does some beautiful work, and is so wonderful to work with. Here's a little screenshot of the site:

To see the site in it's full glory you'll have to visit:
http://everything-princesses.com

If you'd care to see some of my behind the scenes sketches, you can view a few at my Everything Princess Flicker Set

You can also find Everything Princesses on Facebook & twitter
Now I can't wait to share what I've created for the Everything Fairies website coming soon!!!

So it seems I've neglected the blog yet again

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 17:56:30 GMT

Here's a recent illustration for a magazine I completed last week:

It's for a story about body complexes, this gal wishes she had dancer's legs.

Hopefully I will be able to share more new work soon.

I've got lots of fun projects which have been keeping me busy.
Princess illustrations for a secret project that I hope to be able to share soon, and now I'm working on some fairies!

I'm also enjoying my new group animation project! It's so nice to work with a team for a change. I'm so grateful for such great projects lately, and hope they keep on coming! (but not all at once )

The Making of "Albert the Great"

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 23:38:46 GMT

I really enjoy illustrating poem assignments, especially for a younger audience. Here's a little peek at my process for how I created the illustrations for "Albert the Great"

This was kind of a tricky layout to work with for a 2 page spread. Fortunately my art director kind of trusts me now and she gave me creative freedom to come up with a solution. I started with some very rough sketches, and a couple character design ideas for Albert.

This is how those roughs fit into the layout:

I have to give my art director credit for being able to see the potential in those very rough sketches :)
Often I can and do complete the final off of that rough of a sketch, but in this case since they were so rough, I tightened them up a bit:

Here's a little closeup:

And the final:

I ended up scanning some cards from a real deck for this illustration, I'm happy with how it turned out. Can you find the hidden items in the pic? Two scarves, a bunny, a wand, a top hat, and a rope? View larger HERE

*I noticed that in the end I accidently colored the mouse's tail like a rat, oops, I do know the difference... Maybe Albert turned it into a rat

A Basketball Story

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 12:18:09 GMT

I just got some magazine samples in the mail the other day!
I illustrated these a little while back.

Here's what the other spread looks like with text:

It's nice to get boy oriented stories every once in a while. Proof that I can draw boys too! (Or so I think). These came out a little dark in print. Do any illustrators have any suggestions for colors when designing illustrations that will be printed on more newsprint like paper?

By the way, did you catch the typo in the title? Those were those the initial layouts I was sent from the designer, but now worries, they caught it!

Poor poor neglected little blog

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:17:47 GMT

It's been too long since I posted! So many of my works I just can't share yet :(

But I can now show this commissioned painting I completed a few weeks back. My client has commissioned me for the past few years to do portraits of her adorable kids. Last summer she asked for a painting of her kids in a scene like one of my past illustrations which had been a cover for the now defunct "Up North Parent Magazine."

This was a similar commission for a fall scene cover I had done.

My new rough sketch:

And pics of the final:

Here is my original cover painting:

It's fun to get back into painting amidst all the digital work!

"The Girl With No Coat"

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:08:38 GMT

I colored this image start to finish on Friday, I love it when I can finish coloring a piece in one day. Some techniques and styles take longer than others. This one is created all in photoshop, and it goes a little quicker for me like that, vs when I start out in a vector program.

Does anybody have any tips on working faster or more efficiently? That's always something I'm trying to improve upon :)

Sometimes I do color comps first, but usually, like on this piece, I just kind of wing it.

This illustration is about a girl who gives away her purple coat to a classmate who had no coat.

(Thanks Brandon!)

Women of the Second Michigan Infantry

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:26:59 GMT

This is a 2 page spread for a story titled Women in the Second Michigan Infantry, and it depicts a Civil War field nurse. Apparently the field nurses didn't wear any special aprons or hats like the hospital nurses did. The open space to the left of the image is for the title and intro text. This was another fast turnaround project for me, I'm glad the art director was happy with the result!

It's kind of a sad illustration, anything war related paints a pretty sad picture in my head.

Esther Covers

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:35:09 GMT

These are some covers I finished recently for a magazine client of mine, Shine Brightly. They are covers for a series of workbooks for tween girls, using Esther as a role model.
Esther was a Jewish Queen of the Ancient Persian Empire. Read more about Esther HERE

Here's a peek once again into my process. After doing a fair amount of research on Esther and Ancient Persia I came up with these rough thumbnails to give my client an idea of the direction I was thinking of heading. They wanted portrait style illustrations depicting some of the main subjects that the workbooks will cover.

Once my thumbnails were approved I created these tighter sketches for the client before moving on to the finals.

I actually did some color mock ups for myself for these to pin down my color palettes before moving on to my finals. I don't always do that, but in this case they helped.

My art director was very pleased with these, however the Editor requested some major revisions after I had finished, pretty much a new younger character design for Esther. In the end, due to very tight time constraints and budget constraints they're sticking with these, but it's always a bit of a bummer when not everyone is completely happy. Hopefully the girls will like my Esther!

I'm not sure when these will go to print, but hopefully I'll get some samples to see how they look in print and with the titles on them.

"Safe for the Time Being" - Mason Proper video debut on MTV.com!

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:30:42 GMT

Mason Proper - New Music - More Music Videos

My brother in law, Brian Konicek's band, Mason Proper, has a music video debuting on mtv.com right now!
check it out!

Brian is the cute guitarist with glasses.
I love this song, their music is amazing.

For more Mason Proper visit: www.masonproper.com

Where the magic happens...haha, so to speak

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:11:17 GMT

This is my cozy little studio on today's cool rainy day. Witness my new friend Le Mac.
Have I introduced you yet? How rude of me. Mac and I have been good friends for a couple months now, we're getting along REALLY well

Every once in a while I feel a little guilt at having the old pc laptop stowed away... we had a good run little sager lap top and me...

Well, I've got a healthy, borderline hefty, amount of work in front of me right now, my other desk is covered in sketch work, so I better get back to it.

Hasta luego amigos.