Head Full Of Bees

Completely literal self-portrait!

"Right On, Red" in Color

I finally finished coloring this piece! Read about the concept/inspiration here: "Right On, Red"

I'm so happy that it's done :) Please do click the image to view it in higher resolution...there's a lot of detail in there!

"Ram"

I tried to create a new "Women's Lifestyle" image for my portfolio, but this came out instead.

101 Reasons continued!

Just a quick note to let everyone know that there are a few selections from 101 Reasons To Shop on my website! Have a peek!
http://www.carlymonardo.com

101 Reasons to Shop

Remember just a few days ago when I said I was often secretly working on things I couldn't share? Well this was a big one!

101 Reasons to Shop was written by Jessica Waldorf, designed by Mary Austin Speaker, published by Harper Collins, and illustrated by yours truly!

As you may know, I'm a closet fashion geek, so spending months immersed in images of couture and runway shows was a fitting use of my time. I spent many a sleepless night working on this project. It's my first book and it was a wonderful and exciting challenge! I'm so thrilled that it is out there in the real world now! Kate Spade even tweeted about it!

You can sneak a peak at the book at the Harper Collins website! I will eventually (and with the author's permission) post some images here as well.

Thanks to everyone who supported and encouraged me throughout this process. Special thanks to Jessica Waldorf, Stephanie Meyers, Danielle Corsetto, George Baier IV, and of course my amazing husband, Christopher Hastings; I couldn't have done this without you!

"Right On, Red"

A lot of the stuff I work on can't be shared while the projects are in development, which often leads to a lot of radio silence over here. So with that in mind, I am throwing this drawing up in its inked stage!

"Right On, Red" is part of the fashion-inspired illustration series I kicked off in my last post. I chose to feature Cacharel's Pre-Fall line (which I lo-o-ove) this time around. I was immediately taken with the bold but simple colors and silhouettes in this collection, and the "story" came to me almost immediately. The title is a nod to Joanna Newsom's "The Book Of Right On", which I didn't hear for the first time until well after the drawing was underway; still it felt like a perfect fit!

I'd like to acknowledge the model who posed for all of the Cacharel shots, whoever she is. Her look was obviously a huge inspiration for the sisters' designs here. I think she's lovely!

Color will follow eventually!

Marc Jacobs In Space

I was having dinner with my friend Stephanie a week or so ago, and we were talking about our careers. I mentioned to her how I love the idea of working on the fringe of the fashion industry...illustrating fashion-related drawings but not doing fashion illustration, per se (though I would do that, too: hint, hint!) She came up with this fantastic idea of taking various designers' collections and illustrating them in a new way. So I started with Marc Jacobs, since he's the first name Steph mentioned, and I tried to create something based on the feelings I got from his 2010 Spring RTW collection. The results are now here for you to see!

Detail shots:

Machine Of Death

You may have heard recently of a little science-fiction anthology climbing the Amazon bestseller charts to #1. The book, Machine Of Death, was the pet project of two very good friends of mine, Messrs. David Malki(!) & Ryan North (it was also co-edited by a Mr. Matt Bennardo, who I do not have the pleasure of knowing, but whose last name almost rhymes with mine).

In any case, David and Ryan reached out to some writers and artists with this idea of creating stories and illustrations based around a machine of death: a mechanism which tests your blood and then churns out a slip of paper telling you the cause of your eventual demise.

The premise may sound bleak (and I suppose it is), but don't let that fool you! Thar's pathos and love and humor in them pages!

Particularly dear to my heart is, of course, the story I illustrated: NOT WAVING BUT DROWNING by Erin McKean.

The story is available, read by Ms. McKean, as the first episode of the Machine Of Death Podcast! I highly recommend giving it a listen. I'm about to! And if you're interested, please consider buying a copy of Machine Of Death from Amazon or Topatoco! Let's keep this success story going!

These Are Their Stories

I'm lucky enough to have been included in Brandon Bird's latest gallery show "These Are Their Stories", featuring artwork based on DirecTV synopses of Law & Order Episodes! I am in excellent company, and all of the pieces I've seen are fantastic! If you're in the LA area, be sure to check it out!

Here is my piece, "Goren Takes On A Chess Master" (I'm a huge Criminal Intent fan!):

"These are Their Stories" will run July 24 to July 30, 2010 at Gallery Meltdown, 7522 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90046. Prints for this and other pieces are currently available at Brandon Bird's site!

Cowgirls

It's That (McNinja) Time Again!

Yes, friends, it's here: the new and exciting third volume of The Adventures of Dr. McNinja! I was happy to repeat my duties as cover artist for the good doctor.

We did a lot of research before I started illustrating the cover this time, so we had a really clear idea of what we wanted. Basically, the cover is a recreation of two old movie posters:

We loved the composition of "Plan 9 From Outer Space", but preferred the toxic, fiery color palette of "First Spaceship On Venus". So we decided to combine these two elements into a new, more ninja-like design!

Dr. McNinja in the space helmet was a given:

But then we also had to decide which scenes from the book we wanted to showcase. We knew we had to feature the Ben Franklin Thriller routine:

(Incidentally, I don't think Ben ever looked better!)

Finally, we wanted to reference the training sequence with Gordito and Dark Smoke Puncher:

(Fun fact: I posed for both Gordito and DSP! I think I've found an alternative career posing as prepubescent/adolescent boys.)

All of these elements together made for a pretty cool front cover! After that, we just needed to design the back. I loved the colored squares on the bottom of the "'Venus" poster; apart from the aesthetics, I thought the captions underneath struck the perfect chord. I had a lot of fun writing the new ones for this book!

Last, but not least, title design was courtesy of George Baier IV, who also helped layout the interior of the book!

Put it all together, and what do you get?

Violà!

The book is up for pre-order right now at Topatoco.com! The pre-order comes with all sorts of goodies! Did I mention it's the biggest volume of Dr. McNinja yet? What are you waiting for? ;)

The Piece!

It just occurred to me that I never posted a picture of the piece I did for New Moon! How silly!!

Here it is! (Sans frame)

And here's a lovely shot of it on the wall, next to Scott C.'s Dog Amongst Dogs, taken by Steve Talkowski (AKA Sketchbot).

The piece is still available on the myplasticheart website (cough, cough!), though I'm not sure for how long. EDIT: This piece has sold!

Thanks again to John Wong, who curated the show, and to Kano for suggesting me!

Baby Dog

This is an illustration I did for a project that sadly never got off the ground. I still had fun with the drawing!

Pocus Whiteface

This is a gig poster I did for London-based band Pocus Whiteface! The lead singer, Theo, commissioned it from me, and he basically let me do whatever I wanted with it. For some reason this is what I came up with!.

Carly <3 Rene!

Rene Engström was kind enough to help yours truly when I was in need! So in return I drew her this little pinup! If you're not familiar with Rene's comic, Anders <3 Maria, you should MAKE yourself familiar! (Tis a bit graphic, though, so it's not for the kiddies or your workplace.)

For sale (Fo sho)!

Those of you born under a lucky star will be able to buy one of these lil beauts at the UK Web & Mini Comics Thing this Saturday! It is my first ever limited edition print!