season's greetings and stuff

Once again, I didn't quite get it together to send out Christmas Cards, much less paint something new for a card.... so I grabbed some pieces from a job I did last year for Home Depot and made this nice little seasonal salutation for y'all. I think I did the lines in Flash and then colored everything in Photoshop. I had to make elf heads and bodies and hands and arms all interchangeable for the ad people to set them up however they wanted. I never did see the final set up, but it was supposed to be a big end cap for cleaning supplies, hence in my files these are called the Swiffer Elves. :-)

Have a wonderful season of festivities, and I wish a wonderful new year to you all!
-Maryn

interesting internet facts

So every once in a while, it's fun to Google your own name to see what comes up. It's interesting, and maybe a touch creepy. Taking a little break from some sketches, I thought I'd see what came up. I learned some interesting things.

1. Apparently there is another Maryn Roos out there with a Facebook account. I don't have the time or inclination to deal with Facebook or MySpace or sites like that, and the whole friend thing makes me uncomfortable. But I wonder who the other Maryn Roos is. I wonder if she's the good version, and that makes me the evil bizarro Maryn.

2. Apparently I have a middle name, and it is Boyde. Huh. When I little, I was always self-conscious over the fact I didn't have a middle name. I have kid drawings where I wrote different middle names all the time. Guess I was trying them out. The favorite that seemed to stick was Rosie, and all through college I would sign my paintings M. Rosie Roos. The Boyde bit isn't that out there though - my dad's middle name was Boyde, so somehow it's gotten attached to me. I actually get junk mail for Maryn B Roos all the time.

3. I stumbled across an illustration I did earlier this year in someone else's portfolio. (It's all legit - no worries.)

4. A website all about wine sells my books.

And that's enough of that diversion for the evening. Back to work so I can enjoy some free time over the holidays! Also, above are some illustrations from The Can Dance, a book for Imagine Learning. Can't have a post without a picture of something...

*bonus points if you can correctly guess the actual city used for the map in the top illustration.

Friendly Miscellany

Hey - finally something not Sugar Plum related! And some of it even seasonally relevant!

Above is an illustration I did for the December issue of The Friend magazine - always a great job. The initial illustration was done in Flash. Different layers were then imported into Photoshop. Once in Photoshop, I did a bit more shading to the solid areas than I have before. I think I like how it turned out. I like the flatter style as well though (see below).





This batch is from another article from The Friend. I think this was from the August issue maybe? I forgot. Done the same way - initially in Flash, then the layers are taken into Photoshop. A few touch-ups are added like rosy cheeks, plus a shadow is added by way of the Layers Blending Options. And finally a nice texture is put over the top of the whole thing.

And btw, moral of the story, in case you didn't piece it together: Stealing is Bad! :-)