Frizz from Illustrator Group Soup tagged me! She asks me to tell 5 things about myself here, and then to tag another person in another blog. Hmmmmmm.
ONE
I loooove potatoes – for anyone who doesn't know yet. I could live off just veggies, cheese and potatoes. Actually I have, over longer periods of time. THAT's the original reason for my business and blog name – no fancy deep meaning behind the name "PotatoMammaDesign.com". Sorry to disappoint you :-)
TWO
My friends know me a mile away by my laugh. At one of my last jobs, the cleaning woman would hear me laugh all the way down to the parking garage, and that's when I had my office in the second floor. Second floor in the European sense, meaning we don't count the exit level as a floor, you walk up 2 levels and THAT'S the second floor. That's either impressive or embarrassing, HAHA.
THREE
Yes I'm Swiss, but no, I don't ski very well. When I was a teenager it grew too embarrassing for me to ski because I never got the sexy hip swing down and remained scared I'd cross the tips of the skis and fall. I can snowboard, but not very well either, grin.
FOUR
No, I'm not a lesbian, even though I do prefer to illustrate women. Women are just cool and elegant – so easy to draw them in style. How do you do that with a guy? Lol.
FIVE
One of my dreams is to become rich and live in a house with my sweetie pie with view on the ocean, a great window front, and a porch with a jacuzzi with sea view! Very modest, I know.
Let's see... I'll tag Michelle Lana!
I've been tagged...
PotatoMammaDesign in custom52 contest
Custom52.com is featuring a card deck contest for illustrators. The illustrators who get the most votes for their card submission(s) will be published, plus they'll win a set for themselves!
Winners are evaluated by voting right now. I also submitted for this round.
If you like my designs, I'll appreciate your vote! :-)
Retro Beauty
by: Astrid Mueller, PotatoMammaDesign
Zoe
by: Astrid Mueller, PotatoMammaDesign
See all custom52 designs in the contest here
For all you illustrators out there who will participate, I wish you best of luck!
found a christmas card contest, win 2000 $
Check this out: submit an illustration or holiday photo, and win 2000$. Just saw this when browsing the really cool moo products.
Got stickers?!! Yess!
Details on the holiday contest here.
Good luck!
Astrid
PS: I have nothing to do with the contest, I'm just forwarding the information to anyone interested.
Illustration Friday "Halloween"
This is a Halloween picture I started for the german magazine LAURA, then played with it on my own time and added the watercolor mood and touch. Happy Halloween!
new illustration technique
Here's a new technique I developed for a customer in Sweden, with a classy hat and purse business for the woman with style. Check it out, done all-digital, but it looks like watercolor on paper with ink! Or do you see the difference? Tips and feedback welcome :-)
back from my vacations
Hello! I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while – I was on vacations! And before that it was hectic like crazy :-) Fitting my current mood and situation, here's a recent illustration I did for the German magazine LISA. It visualized a known problem we all have after vacations – what will we do with all our digital photos?? 1500 in my case (and I was gone for just 3 weeks!?!)
Hope you like the illustration,
Astrid
PotatoMammaDesign.com
call for entries in a digital magazine!
Interesting for you illustrators and artists out there? On coroflot.com (portfolios and jobs for creative work), I was contacted by the group VectorMagazine, who is looking for artwork submissions.
Check it out, many types of artworks can be submitted, and for free! I don't know anything about the magazine yet, but I submitted illustrations – what can I lose?
Good luck!
Astrid
PS: on the recent post about the contest on gizfolio.com, I won 2nd prize (gold portfolio membership for 1 year). Can you imagine!??? Yay =)
neat treat: found an easy contest online
Hello fellow illustrators!
I came across a little contest on gizfolio.com which, as it looks, is easy enough. Just send artworks via email, and one can win a 2 year's worth of an online portfolio site. Watch out, deadline is August 10th!
Good luck!
Astrid
Glimpse of Children Picture Book Dummy
On August 1, I submitted my contest entry for the children book contest www.der-meefisch.de. I was contacted by the author of the story, who asked me to illustrate it for her. Since the market custom doesn't seem to welcome the submission of illustrated stories (unless the author is the illustrator), I agreed to "just" take part in contests with her, creating a dummy for her (Of course I will later also submit the artworks to art directors). Here, you see a small glimpse of the dummy, as well as a preview of the finished illustrations. It's my first children book illustration project! What do you think? Questions, thoughts and comments welcome! (Click the images to enlarge).
Astrid
astrid@potatomammadesign.com
Illustration Friday "Discovery"
I did this illustration for Swarovski online, where the Stella illustration – that's her name – appears monthly to her fashion column. I thought it fits okay to the topic "discovery", wonder what she just discovered? Bear with me if I didn't create a brand-new illustration =)
Happy Potato Greetings!
Astrid
PotatoMammaDesign.com
gelaskins rock!
Okay this is not a hidden advertisement, but I truly love gelaskins - illustrated covers for ipods and laptops. And I'd love even more if one day I might get to illustrate for gelaskins. One of my dreams on my list...! These are a couple of suggestions that I submitted to gelaskins for consideration. No new artworks, I just used existing illustrations at this point. So far, truly great artists have been published on gelaskins, quite intimidating almost. Wish me luck, and good luck to you too, if you like to submit samples too. 
illustration friday "signs"
Recently, I've started to do illustrations and graphic design for the wedding market. Looks like there is a demand out there for custom tailored illustrations by artists who are published in magazines (you artists out there should try it out =)). This image here is in a style that I've never done before: the couple asked me to make them recognizable. I strictly don't do portraits, and don't advertise caricaturing (my deepest respect to all the portrait artists out there, I think this is so HARD!). Somehow I managed to make them kind of look like them, and the clients were happy (I'm not posting their photos for privacy reasons). The customers gave me a clear briefing and their photos, and put this image on the front of their wedding invitation card. They were not the pretty in pink wedding type, and asked to be portrayed on a tandem, travelling through Tuscany with their cat, following a sign that says "20 km to the registry office".
I'm posting it to the illustrationfriday.com theme "signs" because, well, it has a sign ;-) Hope you like it, even though it's different from what I usually do =)
Greetings! Astrid
The Little Bird Project
I was asked to contribute to the good cause project "The Little Bird Project". Illustrations of birds will be printed on a poster, sold, and the profit will be donated to UNICEF, to support their work against child labor.
The project still runs until May 30, check it out and take part! You won't get money, but they list artist's reference and website. More information here.
I did one illustration with background, and one without (no background is their requirement). I kind of like the one with the dreamy sky better though. Or does the belly get lost in the sky where it's pink? What do you think?
illustration friday "citrus"
Something enTIRELly different for once! I created this illustration specifically for the IF topic "citrus", so it's not commercial, but just crazy. Seeing the word "citrus", I instantly got an image in my head of a woman biting into a lemon. I started playing around in Painter, then Photoshop, and look what happened. You tell me!
illustration friday "neighbor"
Hi everyone! Okay this post is a little far fetched to the topic "neighbor", but I thought I post it anyways. The women are neighbors on the beach, and, in the case of the left one, very critical ones at that.
The drawings are done in a new style! I combined vector with Corel Painter drawing additions (fabric detail and swirls in the hair), plus airbrush-like shading. The 2 illustrations are part of a series of 6 drawings done for a swimwear special in the magazine Femina, Switzerland. I kind of enjoy this new style, more easy-going and friendly than just vectors - what do you think?
Astrid
PotatoMammaDesign.com
illustration friday "remember"
This is one of my character designs, Stella. She appears monthly on the Swarovski website, where she gives styling and decoration tips for the latest Swarovski glitz. I posted her to the topic "remember" of illustrationfriday.com, because she kind of thoughtful here.
We're currently in the process of modernizing her image, and giving her more lightness, fashion feel, give her attributes of the term "transparency", and a less rigid, but more sketchy illustration feel. Left is the current style, right one of the suggestions for the new direction. Which one do you like better?
Curious what you think!
Greetings, Astrid
PotatoMammaDesign
vote for illustrations and win!
On April 1 2007, "PotatoMammaDesign" turns 1 year old!
Celebrate with me, and win one of 5 great prizes! Elect Miss PotatoMammaDesign 2007 in the PotatoMammaDesign birthday contest!
Enter now: first 3 entries win a surprise gift
deadline for last votes: April 23 2007
(to get to the contest click here)
Good luck!
Astrid
-PotatoMammaDesign
my current favorite
This illustration was one of the suggestions for a manufactuer of gift products for the teen and young twen-market. They were looking for fashion-inspired, feminine imagery to print on articles like stationery, diaries etc. The artwork has not been published yet.
Astrid
-PotatoMammaDesign.com
illustration friday "crash"
Here's a little fun idea I did for illustrationfriday.com. Shall we call it the sweet revenge of all birds? (Click image to see larger). Greetings to you all!
Astrid
-PotatoMammaDesign.com
free publicity wanted?
Dear illustrator friends!
Via the great illustration inspiration source drawn.ca, I recently came across 49sparks.com. It's an artist collaboration community and free portfolio opportunity. I also got lucky: as soon as I posted an image, they asked me for an interview, which was even more free publicity.
Go to the interview on the 49sparks.com website, or click the play button twice to listen
powered by ODEO
I hope I have a few tips in there that are interesting to some of you. I'm only just starting out in the business (opened in April 06), so bear with me. If you have more questions or suggestions, feel free to comment here, on 49sparks.com, or to send me an email. I'd love to hear from you.
Greetings from an illustrator colleague,
and good luck to you all!
Astrid
illustration friday "sprout"
It has been a while since I last actually created an illustration for illustrationfriday... I finally got around to it again! This is a quick idea I created, to the topic "sprout". Hope you enjoy it, despite my minimalism ;-) Greetings! Astrid
happy winter season!
I know, Christmas has passed... but Christmas CARDS are being produced year-round! This is a pending greeting card design that I did for my agent. All was done in Adobe Illustrator CS2, with gradients for shading, and shapes that are set to "multiply" mode as shadows. Okay, and now let's hope for springtime =) Greetings! Astrid
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