* New Etsy Shop Maebella Open! *

Hi all! I'm pleased to announce the official opening of my new Etsy shop Maebella by mtdesigns. Maebella is a line of handmade bows that you can clip to your hair, clothes, bags etc. to customize any outfit. Check out the shop here and leave me a comment with your thoughts.

Now is a great time to buy a Maebella bow for holiday gifts and/or stocking stuffers!

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* Fashion: Mike Gonzalez *

Paperfashion does amazing fashion illustrations. She recently did one look from Mike Gonzalez's new collection. I can see why she liked it so much. I love the patterns he uses and the cutout shapes. It really adds a lot to the somewhat muted color palette. It's a clever mix of African-inspired and military looks. Here are some of my favorite looks.

(images from here)

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* Video Illustration *

I created a little video in camtasia (demo version) as a sample for a work thing. I made the video to document the process of colorizing a sketch in photoshop. I like to sketch any cool fashion photo shoots I find in magazines for fun. This sketch is based on an image in an old urban outfitters catalog. Enjoy!

song is "Another Day" by Jamie Lidell

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* Friends *

My wonderful friend Jess (and avid commenter on this blog) has an interesting and funny post today about sacrificing your own personal vision as an artist in order to make money, in whatever form that would take.

"I suppose this is what every artist struggles with; we can serve ourselves up on a silver plate, quivering and real - or we can wrap ourselves in cheap leopard print and make a couple million.

At this point, I still want to believe I'll make those millions (and I do mean millions) without totally whoring myself out...but if this goes on for much longer, don't be surprised if I'm slipping on those five inch heels and giving them a literary lap dance."

Jess always has a way of describing things that immediately puts a hilarious picture in my head. The "literary lap dance" image is still making me laugh. Check out her blog here.

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