Christmas Ornaments

Last year for Christmas I decided to make everyone in my family a special custom ornament.  I found some super cute ornament frames at a craft store, and I'm a sucker for small things!  Only, I didn't know what to put in them!  So I decided to draw everyone as an elf and give them a personalized ornament.  It was so fun to see their eyes light up and the laughter as they saw their portrait Christmas Morning.

So this year I decided to open myself up to commissions for your very own custom elf ornament!  Do you have someone in your life who is an Ugly Sweater Queen?  A Grouchy Grinch? Or just a cute little Elf Couple?  All I need is a refrence pic and you get to choose the style of your portrait, AND it comes with a cute ornament frame.  Isn't that the best?!?  Now you will know for sure you got the best unique present that nobody else can beat!  Message me to get started or email me at sketchoflifedrawings@gmail.com

      

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from Sketch of Life!

As always, we can do custom holiday portraits.  Halloween portraits are great, especially if your family has themed costumes!  With a Sketch of Life portrait you can customize your portrait to include your costumes, fun Halloween decor, and even if you had any fun (mis)adventures this year!  Sketch of Life portraits are meant to be similar to a story, so the more little tidbits and fun anecdotes you have, the better!

Obviously my family didn't have themed costumes, but getting us to take a decent picture together is always hard work! So let me take on the work so you can enjoy your holiday and order a Sketch of Life portrait today!

Sketch of Life goes to Salt Lake Comic Con!

I was so happy to have the opportunity to go to Salt Lake Comic Con this past weekend!  It was so fun to be able to show everyone my artwork and meet so many great people.

I love doing fan art, so this was a great venue for me and I got to meet so many people with a love for animation and characters we had in common. I was also able to display some of my Sketch of Life portraits and generated lots of interest in that! So, yay!

One of the special things I did was offer on-the-spot portraits.  It made my day seeing people's faces light up seeing them drawn as the character they cosplayed or in their original outfits.  One girl even cried she was so happy!

This was an amazing experience and one I definitely hope to repeat next year!

The New Vacation Portrait!

With a Sketch of Life portrait you can literally have anything drawn - but sometimes people need a little inspiration as to what fun a customized portrait can be and do.  I felt so inspired after a trip earlier this year to Disneyland with my family.  It was both my kids first times, and of course we took a ton of pictures.  But you know what? Pictures don't tell the whole story behind situations or why something happened.  That's what makes a Sketch of Life so special.  With it's special combination of quirky pictures, text and placement, it creates a fun unique portrait that is a great centerpiece, conversation starter, and relates stories without having to swipe through hundreds of pictures! Win Win for everyone!

I mean, look how cute this is!?! Every time I look at just this one scrapbook-sized portrait, I am reminded of all the fun we had at Disneyland.  How my kids freaked out at the first character they saw, which characters we did see, my son's funny face in It's A Small World and how my daughter sang the song the rest of the day.  Regular old camera pictures just aren't the same!

So if your family has had a fun vacation and you want to remember all the fun, adventures, good times, bad times and funny times, contact me to get your Sketch of Life Vacation Portrait started today!

               

         

     

Meet Kennedy!

Little Kennedy turned 7 this weekend! I was able to make her a Sketch of Life highlighting all the fun experiences she had being 6.  One of the best things about the custom portraits is seeing their face light up with recognition and happiness at seeing their favorite things!

This one was kinda different and I made a 'story path', because I know my kids LOVE following paths with their fingers in their story books. 

If you have a birthday coming up and want the perfect gift, order a Sketch of Life today!

Custom Portrait: Riley's Train

If you remember from last year, I got to do a Sketch of Life portrait for little Riley when he turned one.    Well this year, when he turned two, I got to do another portrait of him!  His mom wanted something special to combine his classic love of Mickey Mouse and his new love of trains.  Plus she wanted it a special size to fit into a frame she already had.  Challenge accepted!

It was fun to do a larger piece instead of lots of little portraits, and Riley absolutely loved it!  When he opened it up at his birthday party he had so much fun pointing out all his favorite things - especially himself!

That's the great thing about ordering a Sketch of Life - I work directly with you to ensure you get exactly what you want - sizing, information, and subject matter!  To get yours started contact me today!

Child's Portrait: Acadia

This little cutie just turned 5, and so to remember all the fun things she did and liked when she was 4 she got a custom portrait!  Introducing Acadia!  Lover of frogs, cats and dogs, and not a lover of shoes!  It's fun to make a reminder of all the funny little quirks a child has before they grow out of them, and a Sketch of Life child's portrait is one of the best ways to capture that.

This portrait was done in an 8x10 size, which is large enough to get a broad idea of the child and their favorite things.  Perfect for framing and hanging in their room - because let's be real - what child doesn't like pictures of themselves?

To get your child portrait started today, email me at sketchoflifedrawings@gmail.com!

Meet Riley!

Riley was done in an 11x14 size.  He just turned one and his mom wanted to celebrate all the fun things Riley has achieved so far!  This one was more themed with a color scheme:  Mickey Mouse and the Mickey Mouse colors of red, yellow, and black.  Since this one had so much black in it, I ended up loving the black and white version and had to take a picture of it!

I really enjoyed doing this portrait of Riley and I love how the red and yellow pops with all the black!  As you can see, with an 11x14 you can get up to ten mini portraits plus tons of additional info on top of that.  Also, if you are interested, I can keep you updated on the progress of your portrait.  Riley's mom loved the progress shots and it was fun to hear her excitement for the final product!

To get your Sketch of Life started email me today at sketchoflifedrawings@gmail.com.  There is some back and forth emailing as I gather all the details you want included in your Infocomic (is that a word?  I am totally making it up, but it describes what these are perfectly!), so be prepared!

Meet Sophia

Meet Sophia Rae: a cute little blondie with tons of personality and imagination!  From one glance at her Sketch of Life you can see some of her favorite things: her baby brother, horses, Ariel, and playing with her toys.  

Sophia was done on an 11x14 piece of 140 lb paper.  The thick paper adds to the quality of the piece, as well as making it more durable and long lasting.  With the 11x14 you can get anywhere from 8-10 characterizations of the subject, plus plenty of room left over for some of her favorite things! (Colors, food, TV shows, even her height and weight at that age).  

An 11x14 is the largest size we have (though the 12x12 is comparable), and definitely gives enough information to keep the viewer fully immersed!

Mini's!

If you are anything like me, you see cute little things and buy them without having any use for them whatsoever.  Tiny toys? Check.  Tiny notebooks? Check.  Tiny picture frames?  Check.  The problem with those little mini frames is... what to put in them?  I don't know anybody who has the time to sort through all their pictures to find a perfect picture to frame and then go to the trouble of printing it out.  Thus you have to find tiny art to fill the frame - equally frustrating.

So I started to combine those two worlds - tiny portrait plus tiny art!  The mini portrait is a great way to emphasize a single aspect of someone, and also an easy way to get exactly what you want.

These tiny portraits can still pack a lot of punch, though!  Since they are so small I like to do a watercolor wash on the background; it really helps to bring more life to the picture.  And as always, they are completely customizable to what you want.  Specific color scheme? Head shot or full body?  Name? Accessories?  I can help you with it all!  Even the size is customizable on this one... 2x3, 3x3, 2.5x3.5 oval?  I can do it!

Email me today to get some mini portraits started - they are super cute and a great personal gift perfect for the holidays coming up!

5 x 7's

The 5 x 7 is a nice small size that still packs a lot punch!  With this size you will generally get two full body portraits of your desired character, along with all of the fun little extras.

As you can see with the Camden portrait below, with just those two portraits we can get a clear picture of the vivid imagination Camden has, what games he likes to play, and even the fun personality he exhibits.  Some of the little extra's include his favorite foods, how much he likes to color, and even all the words he is saying at the age of two.  My goal is to include all of these fun items without overwhelming the viewer and yet have there be enough that it is fun to come back and enjoy over and over!  You can even customize your portrait further by selecting a color palette and design elements you want to see incorporated!

The first sample I made was of my daughter Kylie when she turned five.  It was meant to be a snippet of who she was at that moment and what she enjoyed.  So there is a definite celebratory 'birthday!' theme in this portrait.  But when Kylie saw it she absolutely loved it because she could totally see it was a picture of her doing what she loved - riding her scooter on the way to go swimming.

There is really no set way I created these portraits - all are individually created from different people, different styles, and different interests!  That is one of the most awesome things about getting your own, original hand drawn piece of art!