First Post!

Well this is the obligatory first post. I intend to use this blog primarily as a means to keep people updated on my artistic endeavors. I do also have a website (www.joannasteege.com) but I feel it would also be practical to have a place where I can post images and talk about the process in which I created them. Something a little less formal and easier to update than a website. I may also be posting a lot of photography since I always prefer to take my own reference photos. A lot of my inspiration for my illustrations come from things I have seen and then photographed.

As for what I've been up too lately, I've recently been accepting a lot of mural painting jobs. I do enjoy painting murals and hope to do a lot more in the future. Having to go on site and paint is a nice break from locking myself up in my studio. It keeps you fresh.

The most recent mural I've completed was for a little girls room. She had a new bedspread from Ikea and her parents wanted something on the wall that matched the characters on her bed. Other than that, I had full creative control!

Here's a couple of samples from the bed spread:





Needless to say, the bedspread was adorable and completely up my alley. Ikea always has the cutest stuff. The characters reminded me a bit of the circus so I decided to take various design elements from the fabric pattern and create a carousel for the characters to ride on. I painted this over her bed and then to tie everything together I copied the juggler character and placed him over the window and had his juggling balls fly through the air over the carousel. Here's the final result:




It was a lot of fun to do. I'm a firm believer that kids things are always the most fun. When your designing for kids your allowed to use the full range of your creativity whereas for adults you have to me a bit more restrained and style conscious.

Next I've got an illustration that I'm working on for a friend of mine. Its a bit of a challenge because I have to design a house to go in the picture, and my strengths lie more towards the whimsical than the architectural. All's possible with hard work however and I like the way its turning out. I'll be sure to post it once its completed.