October Newsletter

Hello friends and happy SpooOOky Season. This is my favorite time of year- more so than December and all of those other holidays… ;) I like the turning leaves, the pumpkin treats, the Halloween decorations, and the thinning veil. It’s not too cold, but the air is crisp and feels like new beginnings, even though it’s also the end of the growing season and everything will look pretty dead, soon.

This Fall marks 5 years since we launched The Spacious Tarot on Kickstarter. Carrie Mallon wrote a wonderful post about the serendipity of our collaboration in 2016, and the different Spacious Tarot Eras. It would take 3 more years til August 2019, when we had a deck ready to print and share with everyone.

I call Carrie my work wife, and I’m so glad I married her! She’s talented, so very knowledgeable in the world of Tarot, a creative bosom friend, and a gentle spirit. It’s been a joy navigating these waters with her- the good, the weird, and the difficult.

I wanted to share some fun sketches from early on in the collaboration process. Let’s go on a jounrey, shall we?

The Beginnings

When we started the project, neither of us knew what we wanted. I had thought an oracle deck would be cool, Carrie liked the Tarot. I think both of us just wanted to make something together. When I’m lost I just have to start drawing. I sent her some illustrations to get a “feel” for a deck. It was helpful to make some art and look at it together. Eventually we landed on some images that felt good, and Carrie took off with these great concepts for some of the majors and the ace cards. From there, we’d hit some road blocks (the 4 of Pentacles, the Chariot), but most of the time ideas just started to pour out.

The Fool, an early sketch on paper.

Another sketch of the Fool, trying to get an idea for the look of the deck and what imagery would come through.

I used to draw a lot of paper back then. I guess I still do, but for bigger projects like this, I now use my ipad. Below are some very early pencil sketches when we thought, maybe the deck would be created in pencil and watercolor.

After a while we got into a nice rhythm with Carrie’s sketches and my final drawings. We enjoyed this flow and allowed ourselves and space to take time off, to mull over certain cards, and let life happen in general.

Carrie’s early concept of the High Preistess.

One of my early iterations.

As we sketched out more cards, we started laying them side by side. My eyes want to bleed now at the differing contrast of all these sketches, but hey. In a world where so many people now draw digitally, including myself, it’s realy nice to see the ole “pencil and paper”.

Eventually I did move into digital sketches with Black and white, and I still really like the look of these. When we got to this point, I knew I was probably going to work in Photoshop. It was so much easier to make changes and to produce all 78 cards. Plus, everything needed to get digitized for print anyway.

With lots of concepts done, we moved into color and things flew! The world had been established and I knew what I was looking for now. I kept my line art, added some texture, and didn’t think about it too much. I let me Spidey Sense lead the way (others would call it intuition). It’s a wonderful way to work, and I was able to do this because of all the early prep work.

Final images!

Carrie started printing them out and trimming them to look like real cards. When we were well on our way to having a finished deck, she started posting them on instagram. She’s smart, that one. She built a lovely community who would go on to support the kickstarter and help us really get our business going.

Finally we had most of the cards ready, and I went out to Utah. I got to pet all of her furry loves and see their beautiful mountains. It was a wonderful trip. We recorded a video of ourselves, trying to be serious and cool, wondered if we were “ready”, and hit publish together. You can still see the launch page here. We talk a little bit about our story, share the cards, and sweet Nanners makes an appearance.

The rest is history!

I love working with Carrie so much. Even though this current edition of the Spacious Tarot won’t be reprinted, we hope there’s a special edition some day, and we’re clearing some S P A C E to work on the next project. This feels good and right for us.

Thanks for walking with me on this journey. I hope you enjoyed seeing all the old sketches. Toodles!

-Annie

August Newsletter

Hello all- looooong time no write.

I had a baby, and she's almost 4 months old- it takes time to get back into the swing of things but we're swinging now. This is Abigail.

Let's see, what has happened... We had a very hot Summer with lots of fun play outside. My auntie got the kids a water table and I bought a slide after my Dad helped us "install" some lawn, bless his soul. It was a family effort and the backyard was a haven this Summer. I'm so grateful! There's not much to do in this small town when it's 100 degrees out, so the best thing to do is drench yourself and sit in the shade. Luckily Mom and kids like this a lot!

I also did some painting here and there when I was on maternity leave. I’m into flowers right now. I painted a sister piece to my other still life, and yet another one. Now I’m working on a master copy of Monet’s meadow for the house. My goal is to slowly cover my walls in paintings of beautiful nature.

I started back at work, where I’m making art for Fly.io. It’s great to be back, as I love my coworkers so. I' don’t have much time yet for working on some children’s book projects (I have a few in the works), but I’ll get to it as my routine allows for it.

I remember taking a photo several years back of a pink sunhat, that was run over on the road. It was totally flat and I stopped to photograph it. Although it wasn’t anything special, to this day I still really dig the photo. Last week I went for a morning walk and saw these two white gloves on the sidewalk, also abandoned or lost.

Did the white rabbit peel them off his fingers so he could devour some ripe blackberries from our neighbor’s yard? Did he forget them when he scampered away at the clamor of their car starting? We’ll NEVER KNOW.

….

I hope you all are having a great end to your Summer. Eat the last of the sun-warmed fruits, savor the warm evenings, and see you soon,

Annie

Why Can't We Find Our Voice?

Singing is not easy, but at least you have YOUR voice to use. You don't really have to "find it," you just have to learn how to use your body and vocal chords, and then sing in a way that feels good. You own it, it comes from you, and it’s simple like that.

The musical part is kind of hard. How do you write a song that’s truly you? I might argue that you put yourself in the story, you use your own words, you sprinkle in melodies and beats that you like. Again, it’s not easy, but I can see how to approach creating an original song.

But illustration—making art—I hear from so many illustrators that they are trying to develop a style, or they are trying to make a consistent portfolio. I have never had a consistent portfolio and it irks the heck out of me. Why can’t I just KNOW my voice and use it? Or…am I looking at it wrong?

…

I was at a conference this past weekend, and I saw lots of artists that know who they are and how they draw. And their work looks like one voice, one album of songs that wind and play together. Mine looks like several different channels but perhaps with the same character in different genres? I don’t know why. But I’ve been told by lots of people that I have several styles and it keeps being a problem.

There’s a, Illustration podcast I listen to, that talks a lot about how frustrating it is to try and stick your work into one “style box” in order to get work from clients. But you know what- it’s really how you get work from clients! The podcast host will interview agents and art reps, and they always say they look for artists with a consistent style. The host hates this, but he’s always polite about it. He knows it’s true. Clients want to look at artists as products that they can buy or hire, because they have very specific needs.

So then- how do we find our own voice in the visual arts? Instead of a physical instrument, we have an imagination and a hand. The artwork you create is a separate thing from you altogether. Many times, no one sees you when they are looking at the art. So your artistic voice is automatically disembodies and abstract, but it’s there.

“Do what feels good,” they say. “Draw what you like,” I hear. Ok….maybe they’re onto something.

Three Determining Factors- Something to Ponder

Dan Berry, cartoonist and creative renaissance man, was on the same Illustration podcast for a different episode, and he said that your style/voice comes from three things: your circumstances, your ambition, and your tolerance of failure. For example, you might only have an hour to draw in the last hours of the night, when kids are sleeping, or maybe your fresh out of college and you have 8 hours a day to futz around. Time and stress levels will probably find their way into your work with how much detail you use, what you choose to draw, and even what type or projects you work on.

Right now I find myself with little to no time, lots of ambition, but a low tolerance of failure. I’m a perfectionist, but I also don’t have large swaths of time, so failing = wasting time in my little ratty brain.

Not Just How it Looks, But What it’s About

Your voice is also about the content you’re making. There’s a story or character that you’re drawing, right? And this comes from a place, just like in songwriting, that requires your own life experiences and emotions about a subject. This is a great article that refers to some writers and how treating your work like it’s a hobby can be beneficial. Do it because you enjoy it and fuck everyone else. In kinder words, Stephen King says, “Write with the door closed.”

So it seems like LOVE is a huge factor in finding your voice. So is synthesizing your life experiences. Could it be a lot more like music than I thought? You definitely want to sing in a way that feels good. If you’re trying to sing like Mariah Carey and it’s killing your alto chords, then quit it. Embrace the Karen Carpenter and move on. Maybe this is the same for drawing and painting. I love you Shaun Tan, but I may not have it in me to paint like that in this season of my life.

Where to Go From Here?

I don’t know. I’m not including art in this post because I want to write for a little while. I think writing and ideas might be the place to start for me. But for others, it might look like doodling for several weeks, trying new mediums. What do you think? I’m writing this post because I don’t know! Haha. But taking one step forward is better than no step. And a weird step toward a stone bridge you’ve never explored, is probably better than heading toward the same road you drive down every single day.

Annie

Galettes for Dayz: September

Hi guys. I'm keeping this one short since the boy is playing in my office and I can only hope he'll be content for the next fifteen minutes!

This Spetember I've made at least 4 galettes (and an illustration, too!) They are simple to make, seasonal and delicious. They get me into the mood for Fall and they also remind me of France. In France, I made a few galettes for my friends and this might be the first time I've made one since! I have such great memories of France that it's nice to relive a few while making this treat.

P.S. apple galettes are the BEST. I used fuji apples, but you can use granny smith, or any other fresh apple. I really don't think it matters too much for this dish!

I hope you all have some wonderful September mornings with tea and something warm and delicious to savor the slanted light with. Lots of love,

Annie

Good-Bye, July.

July has pretty much come and gone. It’s been hot, and we did get in the pool a bit, but I fear that we might not get there again before the man goes back to work. The boy, however, has no work to do, and is antsy. He’s crawling and wearing us out! Oh, pool, I wish you were right out my back door. Maybe the sprinklers will do?

I’ve made some progress on the B. Tull Mysteries, a collection of short stories starring B. Tull, Private Eye. I thought I would have finished illustrating it this Summer, but I’ve only completed this piece (above), and I’m still working on revisions to the text as well. It’s always slower than you think!

My saving grace this last week, when the boy was screaming and teething and writhing around, was this podcast, Creative PepTalk. Making art is lonely sometimes, and childrens books take a really LOOOOONG time, so it’s bound to be challenging. Even though I love it, no one thrives on multitudes of isolation and concentrated efforts. Sometimes I wonder what the heck I’m doing. Does anyone care? Do I even care anymore? I think that’s the tiredness sometimes, but it’s also the isolation, which comes along with “working from home”.

Alas, artists make progress, though, and one day we have something to share with others, and we get an “Oh cool!” or “This is fabulous!” and our hearts kind of melt like the doldrums were worth it! I’m making this book for my baby boy, and I cannot wait to read it to him. :) He makes it worth it.

Here’s another image I made for my tech company, fly.io. I do feel like that I get to draw cartoons all day.

Have a wonderful rest of your Summer, and a longer update on the new book is coming soon! Here’s a recipe of my favorite snack/breakfast before I go. It’s from a cookbook I just bought and LOVE, and is geared toward athletes, so it’s got lots of power-packed treats.

-Annie