New image for sale on Society6

I haven't added any images to my Society6 store in ages, so it's about time! This was a cover I did three years ago for the Weekly Alibi and I've always been fond of it. It was for a feature article about fast food culture in America -- Considering how much Americans (and Canadians!) love fast food I figured having a mischievous cherub taking aim at the hearts of consumers with a ketchup-tipped arrow would be appropriate.

When I was in college the Harvey's value burger was a nice treat. At $1.70 (or was that $1.20?) it was considerably and suspiciously cheaper than the regular burgers. I don't think they serve it any more and I don't want to think too hard about why that might be. Cutting the beef with sawdust? Serving old patties? All I can say is that they were delicious and economical and never sickened me.

McDonald's fries are the classic choice, but I find myself gravitating towards the Swiss Chalet version. The bits of skin on the Swiss Chalet ones indicate to me that I'm eating real potatoes -- so wholesome! New York Fries serves Butter Chicken Poutine and it is terrifying. The large has 970 calories and 47g of fat.

Mmmm.

"Dorothy in the Poppy Field" print selected by Society6

Just a quick note -- Society6 chose "Dorothy in the Poppy Field" to be included in the Society6 shop. I can vouch for the quality of their prints, having ordered an "Umamihime" print of my own!

Eight years of watercolour cards featuring house cats

Cat Cards 2003-2011 by Julia Minamata | Make Your Own Book

Yup, right on the heels of my portfolio book debut comes something a little bit different! For the past eight years or so, I've been painting watercolour cards for family birthdays, Mother's Days, Father's Days -- all occasions, pretty much. These cards often depict family hobbies and always feature the Minamata family cats: Leo, Sparky, and Dido. Leo is the grey tabby, Sparky is the fluffy orange and white one, and Dido is the dapper cat in the black and white tuxedo.

The book has fifty-five watercolour illustrations of cats playing racquet sports, Yahtzee, Scrabble, gardening, birdwatching, shovelling snow...

Most of the originals are framed up on the wall of my parent's dining room, although there isn't enough room to have them all up any more. Not all of the cards are in the same place -- some are with my sister, some with my parents, and a couple with my boyfriend. The book is the only place where you can have them all collected together!

Sadly, Leo and Sparky are no longer with us, but Dido is still going strong. Expect to see more cards starring her in the future!

Portfolio book now on sale!

julia minamata portfolio by Julia Minamata | Make Your Own Book

Okay, so I'm pretty excited! I've just self-published my portfolio using Blurb. It's a great site that allows anyone to create their own books. The software is slick, there are lots of options, and most importantly, Blurb isn't a bunch of intellectual property pirates out to shake down creative people for all they're worth.

One of the most important courses I took when I went to Sheridan College was basically a Business 101 specifically for illustrators. Super-savvy illustrator Kathryn Adams taught the class and showed us how to read those eye-watering Terms of Service agreements. After reading Blurb's TOS, I was satisfied I could use their service with few qualms. Same goes for Society6, Artflakes, and Etsy. Even better, after I'd already decided, I discovered that Anita Kunz sells books using Blurb, too! If that's not the ultimate endorsement, I don't know what is. Anita Kunz is pretty much the queen of illustration and if you've ever read Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, Time, or any other magazine for the past few decades, chances are you've seen her work.

Got sidetracked, back to my book! My portfolio book has nineteen images in it, so it's quite skinny for the price. There's no denying it. But it's still cheaper than purchasing pretty much any one of my prints from Society6 or Artflakes, and MUCH cheaper than purchasing an original on Etsy. And I did go for the thicker, nicer, lustrous 148 GSM (100#) paper! If you're gonna do something, might as well do it right!

I have to admit, creating the book was possibly more for myself than for anyone else. I've always been a bit giddy about self-publishing, ever since I was president of the comic book club in high school and we got our stuff printed on the black and white copiers at Staples. Nowadays with the web and smart phones I always have my portfolio at my fingertips, but there is just something about real books and real paper.

One thing leads to another... And my March illustration job "A Brave New Book World" turned me on to this awesome new era of self-publishing. Funny how that works!

I'm on Artflakes.com!

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Recently I was invited to set up shop on Artflakes, a company that produces framed art prints, posters, canvas prints, gallery prints, and greeting cards. I took a look around their site was quite impressed!

I already have shop sites set up with Society6 and Etsy, so I wanted to make sure Artflakes was offering products and services that would bring variety to the types of products I'm offering. First of all, Society6 is based in California while Artflakes is based in Berlin. Right off the bat, depending on where you're located you may go with one over the other simply based on shipping & handling charges!

Both sites sell prints in a range of sizes, but they both offer unique products, too. Here's a helpful little chart (click to enlarge):

Art prints, iphone cases, and more!

Just started my Society6 store page, I love the site's features. I put up this centipede piece -- You can now enjoy it as a high-quality art print, an iphone case, or other fun things! Also put up another decorative piece and definitely will be adding more in the future.


Here's that other piece:

Work/Life

Work/Life is a celebration of Canadian illustration. I was so fortunate to be able to participate in this project. It's a gorgeous book and shows not only the work of some of of finest illustrators Canada has to offer, but their workspaces as well. It's a beautiful book.

Work/Life was published before I started my blog, so I hadn't posted about it! It's time I fixed that :). They're still available for sale, so pick one up if you haven't already!

Click here to purchase online at UPPERCASE Studio Shop.

Alice in Wonderland original prints on Etsy!

I've added my Alice print to my Etsy Store, check it out! Also for sale is my Rose Red print, here's the blog post I made for that one a while back. I hope to be adding more prints to my shop in the future. If you would like to purchase any of the prints I have on my site (that aren't for sale on Etsy yet), please send me an email and let me know. I'll take a look around my studio and see if I have extras!

Drawing Inspiration: Visual Artists at Work

A few weeks ago I got my copy of Drawing Inspiration: Visual Artists at Work, and it is really terrific. The project started off quite a few years back when I was still in school - me and whiz-bang Sheridan Illustration instructor and pro illustrator Rick Sealock got approached to be contributors by Michael Fleishman. After numerous back and forths and revisions and a bit of waiting, it's now out and available on Amazon!

Congratulations to Mike for his perseverance and passion.

Click here to purchase online on Amazon.com.

Rose Red, the less popular sister

Here's my Illustration Friday submission for the topic "Wilderness". I wasn't sure what the time deadline was, but the day deadline was the 21st and that's today. So here it is! This one isn't silkscreen printed because of aforementioned deadline, but I think I'll do it anyway and then repost.

Snow White had a sister named Rose Red, but she's nowhere near as popular as good ol' Snow. She didn't get a sweet movie deal. Maybe it was because the dwarves in her story were EVIL!

**EDIT** I finally finished the silkscreen print, so I've updated the image. If you like it, I'm selling limited edition, hand-pulled prints on Etsy!

Julia Minamata Illustration