Iggy the Iguana Alphabet Illustration

Iggy the Iguana by Gina Matarazzo

I’m at “I.” After “J”, things will get better. “J” can be a difficult letter. At work, I hate when people request a script font for their name if their name begins with “J.” Often the typefaces have silly looking “J”s. Quite irritating. They often look like “I”s or “T”s, so I find myself adjusting the letter or adding a curly cue or whatever to make it look like the right letter. But I guess that goes the same for “T” and “I” names too. They all look like each other! Ah, a designer’s dilemma! The things we fight against on a daily basis. What else do we fight against? Ugly titles. People ought to pay attention to how their titles look in type before committing to them. Haha. That gets me burned up too. But that’s another story.

I started laying all these out in book form with text, and they are looking quite colorful and fun. Will be great to see all 26 letters done! But I have no idea what the cover would be yet. Hmmm. We’ll see. The theory is finish this by the end of the year. Only 17 more to go! Doh! Better get ta workin’!

Have a good weekend!

Harriet the Hippo Alphabet Illustration

Well. I admit it. I got stuck on “H” for a while. The symmetry was challenging me. Darned H. So strong, and sturdy. It needed an equally sturdy friend. Here we see “Harriet the Hippo,” trying to look light and feminine.

“Harriet the Hippo” by Gina Matarazzo

On the oil painting front, I’ve just started dabbling and hope to make real progress in the next couple of weeks. I’ve had some obstacles in my way that make the time I can dedicate to my personal work difficult at times, but I’m hoping as the painting starts to take shape, that I get momentum going. And yes, I will confront the next symmetrical letter “I” in the coming weeks as well.

Mouse Paradise Color Study

Color study complete. T-minus 24 hours to oil painting kickoff time!

Digital color study for “Mouse Paradise” oil painting.

G is for Giraffe Alphabet Illustration

“Gilbert the Giraffe” by Gina Matarazzo

Gilbert the Giraffe. Now I’m wondering how he wrapped the gift without fingers…

 

Mouse Paradise and Valentine’s Day

“Mouse Valentine” by Gina Matarazzo ca. 2004

A Happy Valentine’s Day to you from my vault of art! Without knowing it, I just realized mice have been a common theme of mine. You’ll understand in a second or two as you scroll down…

“Mouse Paradise” sketch by Gina Matarazzo

Above is the new idea for an oil painting I hope to get started on in the next week or so. I call it “Mouse Paradise.” I’ve been tossing this one around for a while in between working on the alphabet. Here’s a semi-rough sketch in progress. Now to work on pushing the values and figuring out color. I’ll do that digitally, so you’ll see that at another time. On the alphabet front, I’m about to finish up “G” as well.

Right now, I really just want to sit and listen to the rain, but I’ll force myself to get some work done. Sigh. How I long to be lazy…

See you next time and have a Happy Valentine’s Day!!! Don’t take your beloved for granted ever!

Foxy Alphabet Illustration

“Frances the Fox” by Gina Matarazzo

“F.”

Album Design: Space and WXPN

Finally got approval to show this album design from last Fall. WXPN produces great compilation CDs every few months and I think this is the first one I’ve done for this series. It was one of those things where, after having shown them several different cover design options, I was sweating it a little when they chose this one, because I wasn’t quite so sure how I’d be able to tie the theme throughout the whole package. Usually while I’m working on a cover, the ideas are swirling around in my head on how I’d carry through a theme, but this one was a little shy. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out, though. Rarely get to do such vivid color.

Cover Detail

Jewel Box Design and CD Label

Too cold for further musings. That’s all for now.

See you next time!

E is for E-lephant Alphabet Illustration

“Ellie the Elephant by Gina Matarazzo”

E.

It has occurred to me that these are starting to become stories all on their own. I’d bet any creative parent could really make up something good here at bedtime. Ellie the elephant was eating eggs elegantly, when unbeknownst to her, an earthworm was nearby, delivering an envelope… (you finish the rest!) Of course, I’m not sure you can eat eggs elegantly, but no matter.

See you next time!

Life Motto in Hand Lettering

Colored pencil drawing by Gina Matarazzo

I was driving home from work the other day, thinking about my life and lifestyle and how I’m sure MANY people, including my family and friends criticize it for one reason or another. I thought about how happy I’ve been with the major choices I’ve made and how I look forward to all the things I hope I’ll get to do. While I was thinking, this sentiment popped into my head. Typographic quotes are all the rage these days, so I figured I’d do my part to offer one up to the design gods too. Anyway, next time you find yourself saying something about poor so and so who never blah blah and if only she could blah blah blah, think about this, because what you think doesn’t matter if the person is content. Even if your life is awesome – which it  just might be – it’s not necessarily for everyone. One lifestyle isn’t necessarily better than any other. (Of course, let’s pretend there’s no life of crime or complete selflessness like the life of a monk. I’m talking average people. We could open up a huge philosophical debate on this, but I’m not going there.)

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There’s truly more than one way to live a life!

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See ya later!

“D” is for Doggy Alphabet Illustration and Thoughts on NYE

“Dainty Doggy” was completed over this long weekend and I’ve also started considering the whole book, getting more serious about this thing. I decided it was time to make sure I had enough animals to choose from for all the letters. X is tricky, but when I researched other alphabet books, they had to do weird animals that no one’s ever heard of too. So, I should be good. In addition to this, I think I have two new ideas for smaller paintings that I am looking forward to doing. Can’t wait to get back to painting! This winter will be good for it. I just hope I can move my hands up here in the arctic of our studio. It gets pretty rough up here sometimes.

“Dainty Doggy” by Gina Matarazzo

This New Year’s Eve, I thought about new experiences and meaningful moments in life and how we don’t always recognize them while they’re happening. They all don’t have to be life altering moments like the birth of a child. Simple, beautiful moments like the first time your love said “I love you,” or the first time you saw the sun rise over the ocean count. We rang in the New Year with a bunch of family and friends, watching all three “Lord of the Rings” extended director’s cut films (about twelve hours worth!) I remembered how moving and meaningful to me each movie was the first time I saw them – particularly the third one  – and how it will never be the same as watching it for the first time. There are a lot of movies like that. I mean, how can “Planet of the Apes” (the original version) ever be as good as the first time you watch it? I wonder how many more impactful moments I can look forward to? Some other great moments of mine were bottle feeding my kitties when they were only ten days old, climbing a mountain in Connemara Ireland with MS, standing beside the Eiffel Tower as it sparkled, fixing up our house to get it ready to move into, the moment MS admitted he intended to marry me, and the first time I read “Oliver Twist” and “To Kill a Mockingbird. What are some of your favorite moments or experiences?

Here’s to a great New Year filled with amazing moments!

See you soon!