Lost And Found: A Tail of Two Friends

Hi Pandas,

Another day, some more art. This isn't new art, but it's revised art. I will be re-releasing finished paintings/drawings of direct pages from my dummy for "Lost & Found: A Tail of Two Friends" (**I just thought of A Tail of Two Friends part now. Sounds like a good change in title.). So if you guys are fans, and you would like to see this published sometime soon in the near future somewhere, you can follow the previews of the book here, over the next few weeks. 

I am still in the process of sending out the manuscript and dummy out to publishing houses. No great news back yet. But I'm still optimistic. If nothing by the end of the year, I feel strongly about self-publishing this baby, and moving onto my next story. 

But enjoy my first baby story for now. It's my precious. 

Love, Erica.

P.S. All art and content on this blog is copywritten by Erica DeChavez. 2012. 

Princess Hiker Character Process

Hi Panda People,

Here's the finished art test I did for a "potential" client who wanted to do a children's book with his daughter starring as the main character, a princess with an inkling for the outdoors. This client never got back to me after I emailed him the finished drawings or after I sent him any follow up emails and phone calls to his listed cell phone. Kind of lame, but the reality to the world of freelance. I hate it, though, when a potential client lacks the courtesy and awareness to let us artists know if they went forward with another artist or if we are not the right fit for their job. It's not especially the greatest feeling being left hanging.

Yet it is these experiences that make landing that awesome freelance job with a nice client who is easy to work with seem that much greater of an accomplishment. 

Don't forget to click on each image to view a larger picture. 

Love, Erica.

P.S. I still think I would like to develop the character I designed further anyways because I enjoyed the process and the ending product. I would love to explore more outfits and accessories for this hiker princess chic. Stay tuned to see more of that! :]

The End Is Near!!!

So as you may have seen or read previously, you guys know that I've been working pretty much all summer long on branding a bubble tea cafe start-up business for my cousin called "Chibi's Boba Tea". Which will be opening soon now in Orlando, FL. Opening date details will be released soon, and I will be sure to post about that for all the Floridian readers of my blog. Definitely a new hang out place to chill, sip of boba tea and check out cool art/anime.

Anyways, it's been a trip doing the process work for this one little logo, but I think we've come to a conclusion. Listen to your illustrator/graphic designer. They know what they're doing/talking bout since they're been trained for exactly what you're asking them to do. That being said, here's the gist of all the process work I did for this logo. And I'm quite happy w/ the results. :]

So it all started from this little page in my sketchbook. This is where the idea for the logo and mascots came from. ^^;; All big things come from small beginnings right? :]

Then I mocked up the sign and my initial sketch into a hanging sign/poster format that can be seen in the shop window and outdoor greeting sign. And after I busted out a round of mascot options. Some "CHIBI" characters. 

And of course, I had to do some sign mock-ups w/ the mascot. And after looking them over my cousin and his team chose the 20's flapper couple. 

I came up w/ some final sketches w/ the boy and girl. And then I proceeded w/ some experimental color mock-ups. 

I think I went a lil' overboard. But I honestly was open in my direction with color and style. The shop concept was still very basic and this logo was going to be the jump off point to what the style, decoration, and interior decoration for the shop. So I tried to draw inspiration from other bubble tea shops and more of a retro color palette from old movie posters and old video games covers. But I knew it wasn't working out quite how it was supposed to. I got too caught up in the little details of the drawings and made it too complicated. It was no long "CHIBI" and I got feedback from my cousin's team saying they wanted the boy and girl to be cuter/younger looking. More SIMPLE, and less complicated. I admit, that's one of my fault, I tend to get caught up in the tiny details and have to stand back to see the bigger picture often.

So after that I started on the basic type development because the store needed the store sign soon, they signed the lease and were getting antsy.

They came to me after saying they wanted to try something new w/ the mascot. So I came up w/ a bubble tea cup after looking at some pics of other game company logos that my cousin showed me. 

And after a little tweaking I came up with these guys. :] Meet "Chibi" and "Boba". 

So once I got the type set I explored with making it a big more dimensional and I really enjoyed making them look "bubbley" for bubble tea.

I did a bunch of color palette options and in the end they liked the first colorway I made. :D Classic complimentary color scheme. :] A few tweaks here and there and VOILA! 

Here's the final product. And I'm still working on more designs and sprucing up the vertical design with the boy and girl. 

But I've got a bunch load of projects I've been working on this past August that I have yet to post about. And I've got a couple projects I'm doing with some potential clients. So I hope you guys stop by to check those out in the coming weeks! :D

Love, Erica.

P.S.  I'm giving away a free limited edition watercolor painting to the 100th like on my facebook page. I will be posting up the finished painting up on my  blog for all pandas to see. Spread the word and best of luck to the future 100th liker! XD Here's the link to my fb page @ https://www.facebook.com/PandaErica.