MATS Bootcamp recap!

Hello!

It's been ages (as usual) from my last post :) It's always so challenging for me to juggle with client work, courses, motherhood, exercising and a whole other bunch of things! It's all in balance & making priorities :)

But, what I wanted to share here with you today is the recap of my Bootcamp year in 2015!

It's been another great artistic year with Lilla's assignments. I always tend to look at those as my Portfolio pieces 1st and foremost, cos they all end up on my site. I also always end up discovering my strenghts and weaknesses thru her courses...some areas I've improved a lot and some areas were new to me this yr but I handled them better than some we've repeated. I guess we each have areas in which we are more relaxed and more, well, 'ourselves' ! :D

So, this is how my Bootcamp year started:

Our 1st Bootcamp assignment this year-Journal

So our 1st assignment this year in Bootcamp started off with creating an illo for a Journal and our inspiration was 'Edwardian brooches'. This was my version. I went for the feminine central character wearing typical Edwardian hair ornament. She herself was a brooch or a placement within a brooch :) And I went with the dark velvety bckg so my diamonds could really pop from it. I loved this assignment and I think I did quite well.

Our next assignment was:

2nd Bootcamp assignment- wood art

Wood art! We were prompted to actualy paint on real wood...and since I couldn't get a hold of a wooden slice for this assignment, I got myself an actual log :D So this here is gouache on wood. I did an entire new illo for my online portfoilo inspired by this piece here that I love dearly, so I was mega happy with this assignment's outcome!

Next:

3rd Bootcamp assignment-Poster art

It was a real assignment for 'Global Art Gathering' which was held in Brighton, UK this month (June). Mine didn't get picked but I really was happy with the outcome of my poster. I invested a LOT in lettering making sure it relates well with the topic. I love clean design and love using shapes in my lettering like in 'GLOBAL' for an instance the 'O' is actualy the globe (stylized) and then the 'A' is a person, in this case Lilla :) I wouldn't call my Poster design unsuccessful just cos it didn't get selected as winner-the work from everyone was extremely awesome!

May assignment:

4th Bootcamp assignment-Homeware

My most favourite assignment of all-homeware! And our inspiration were crustaceans and colourful patterns! I love Interior Design, Homeware, Furniture Design etc. Loved it since I was little! It fascinates me and I love how things have more than just a decorative purpose, they are functional! It might be cos of my enthusiasm over Homeware or I don't know what else, but I really felt a surreal atmosphere while working on it-as if I'm doing this forever. So natural. Needless to say I ADORED this assignment. Loved working on my pattern and the plate designs!

And finally:

5th Bootcamp assignment-Editorial

Editorial based on an article on how to succeed at being a digital nomad. I've never heard of this calling before but when I read the article I wished I could be one :) My dream was always to live on some tropical Island and work remotely from there...surf the waves in between jobs :) I loved creating my person, I loved drawing the scene but I dreaded the composition!!! I dread editorial in general. I just don't feel at ease at all....haven't a clue why! I have no idea if this illo of mine is successful at all, but at least I know I'm comfortable drawing people, to me that's a great plus!

And with this I'm wrapping up this MATS Bootcamp 2015! It's been a great year, filled with great assignments, new awesome friendships, and some cool new jobs in between :) Now I'm turning to my new adventure and hopefully I'll have more great news in my new post :) 

Hugs from me from a very windy place today! :)

xox

Ant

MATS Bootcamp is back!!!

Hello lovelies!

It's been almost a year since Lilla's 1st Bootcamp in 2014 and I was so happy I was part of it cos it brought me nothing but good stuff-and I really mean good, it changed my life arround!

And at the begining of January this year MATS Bootcamp started again-of course I've signed up again! :)
Our very 1st assignment was Edwardian brooches, that is, diary inspired by Edwardian brooches.
I didn't have time to start on my sketches until the 2nd week of Bootcamp, and I was really trying to stay away from checking all the work others were posting, it was very hard but I think the good thing was that I was swamped with client work so I kept myself busy :) These were just some of my inspirations for my final piece:

I wanted my diary to be feminine, classy and sofhisticate. I have been doing my 'cute' stuff for far too long and one of the things I wanna explore and get in touch with in this Bootcamp is exactly that-my feminine side! I don't want people to just think I can do cute stuff I wanna dig deep and be able to deliver strong, feminine, delicate and sofhisticate art too!

Now I know this takes practice like anything else but I'm willing to learn, to explore, and to work hard but also to have fun on this journey!
Whether I was successful you can judge yourself. I'm very happy with my end result. For now, that is :) It could always be better...but like I said, the most important thing is that I've had fun creating this piece (after a day of headache and feeling non inspiration on the matter) LOL

I knew I only have 2-3 days to start and finish my diary cos a lot of client work was awaiting me and I was even a bit behind on things. So the piece I submitted was not exactly perfect. I knew I'm gonna want to revamp my work later when I had proper time. I still think it's not that bad but little details were bugging me-like the layout of my floral pattern. It was a bit off in some places...the lady wasn't quite finished. The colours were a bit too pale, I wanted to make them even more bright since my bckg was dark. The gems were just a tiny bit smaller that what I wanted and the details in general...LOL

So here's my piece I submitted:

©Antoana Oreski

And here's my re-designed diary :)

©Antoana Oreski

Sending you all hugs from afar!

xoxoxox

Ant

Global Talent Search-Wall art ''Little Terrariums''

So, I'm writing this post on a night before the big reveal of Lilla's top 50...I know I wouldn't be able to do this 2moro. Why? 'Cos I'll be too nervous to even check the list, let alone write a post. A part of me says (the cool part) -'' so what, just chill, it's not like it's the end of world or something! You've never been one of those who panic and act silly!'' and then another part of me says-'' yes but this isn't just some competition, this is more than a competition!'' But you know what, neither is true...after all it's a competition which for it's goal is searching for a unique artist who's gonna be a great addition to Lilla's Studio. She knows what she's looking for but the road for so man of us doesn't end there!

I had to remind myself that I have some goals for this year and that entering GTS was something I didn't even know I was gonna do. But here I am, and doing it, no matter the outcome I know I have given above what I thought I could give for this specific brief and had I the chance of redoing it, I'd change nothing about it! It's the 1st piece I did that as the time is passing by I keep falling in love with more than in the beginning...usually I see stuff I'd love to change and I could have done it better...you know how the story goes!? :) But with this one I love it the way it is! The lettering part could always be better...but not talking about that now :)

I have already shared my process of how I got to my idea what I'm gonna create...and in my world of ''all things are possible'' I decided to put in a small terrarium an elephant! Elephant is huge, so this alone makes things without any sense, but not in my world...In my world I'm riding on an elephant who is my best friend and my place of comfort and peace.
This part was inspired greatly by Antoine de Saint Exupery's 'Little Prince' and the relationship little Prince had with the fox. There's a line there where the fox says to him:

“I am looking for friends. What does that mean -- tame?"

"It is an act too often neglected," said the fox. "It means to establish ties." 

"To establish ties?" 

"Just that," said the fox. "To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world....” 
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

I thought that's so beautiful, cos ecpecialy in todays world people don't want any ties...people are afraid of relationships, of getting hurt. But the relationships are the most essential part of our existence! 

So I have tamed in my terrarium garden an elephant and I've become responsible for him and he is unique to me in all the world! :) Also it's our little world within a world...which leads me to my inspirational quote by E.A.Poe- ''everything we see or seen in but a dream within a dream..'' I thought this is so appropriate for my piece...a dream within a dream! 

Each day when I sit before my sketchbook or my comp. and I draw and paint I embark on a voyage which is far, far away, yet still here, part of this world. It's possible to do that, to be here but also to be present somewhere alse...I live a dream within a dream-every single day, and I LOVE IT!

Great adventures with little terrariums!

And I'm off into another adventure called GTS or Global Talent Search by Lilla Rogers. GTS originated last year along with Lilla's fabulous MATS (make art that sells) courses and it was a thrill to watch it, it was like Oscars but in the category of ART :) To be honest I never even dreamt that a year from then I will participate in it, but the path this year took me to MATS Bootcamp 1st and then I jumped into GTS as if the ride never stopped. I've been eagerly waiting for the 1st GTS assignment that landed in our email boxes on August 5th! And then I read the title- 'Little terrariums' and then WALL ART! What?! 'Oh, no!'- was my 1st thought...you see when you lack experience in a certain field it's easy to get frightened, 'cos the step into the unknown is always a bit scary...it's about trust and faith-trusting yourself that as an artist it doesn't matter what market you're creating for, you are good at creating and you can do it. And having faith that if you allow yourself to let go of fear you will find yourself in a natural flow of creativity. Letting go of fear and embracing the adventure releases joy into the creative part and joy mixed with faith moves mountains!

So I started to change my way of thinking and thought of possibilities I have with the theme...and then I thought to myself-'what if there were no boundaries, if it's the land of magic where all is allowed and there are no rules...what if I place into something so small as a terrarium something that is very much the opposite and could never fit in there if in a 'real' world, what if...' Cos when I was browsing thru all of the little terrariums on Pinterest they all looked so magical to me...like a whole another little world on it's own...and the idea was born along with the lines from a quote of one of my favourite writers E.A. Poe. I cannot reveal just yet those things cos I would reveal everything then but I will write a proper post on my GTS piece as soon as the gallery is unveiled. My aim from the beggining was kid's wall art cos that's where my strenght resides :) And I have chosen a very bright colourful palette to accompany my concept. I have battled with the lettering placement for 2 days however cos for some reason it didn't work as well as on my sketch...the lettering design itself I was pleased with tho. I managed to find a solution which I realise is not perfect but it's not the worst one either, and it'll be a great lesson for the future :)

Since we were asked to post our work only after the gallery is revealed I cannot post my piece here now but I will treat you with a little plant that didn't make the cut but I love it just as well :) it will find it's place in one of my future projects I'm sure...it's a little Orchid and I feel responsible for her just as Little Prince was responsible for his rose, cos in the words of Antoine de Saint Exupery-“It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.” 

xoxo 
Ant

Antoana Oreski ©2014

MATS Bootcamp summerized!

So our fabulous course came to an end...it's been crazy 5 months of emotional rollercoaster but I've enjoyed the ride like nothing before! It's good to get balance in our lives too and to break the restrictions of our limited perspective on things, that being said, I've really just soaked the whole thing in. There were days when I thought 'what am I doing here' and it would usually happen after everyone would start posting their gorgeous work in our group, but it wouldn't last for long and as the time passed by I've really learned to enjoy my art as well as art from the others...and then one day I've just decided to let go and have fun-something Lilla's been trying to teach us from day 1. And you know what? It really does work...cos when you have fun you create your best pieces and others notice too so while you watch all the incredible art flowing in from others you learn to relish in their art but also still loving your own and be comfortable in your own skin.

The most precious thing I've learned in Bootcamp is the importance of 'doodlin', drawing, sketching in my lost forgotten sketchbook...I've taken things way too far with digital, and there's nothing bad in being digital but doing stuff freehand in your sketchbook 1st is something I would recommend to everyone. It's liberating, therapeutic and it raises your drawing skills to a higher level...you gain so much in return. The pleasure of creating something with your own hand and the smell of paper is really something I've missed, and also by doing Lilla's mini assignments you really do stay open to a variety of ideas rushing into your head while you're drawing. It gets your creative juices going and you do create better art. I will never do things the same in my work :)

Of course there are a lot of other things that brought good stuff to me, and some precious nuggets of wisdom Lilla passed down to us, but the main part really is to HAVE FUN! 

It was an incredible journey I would gladely repeat again, so in light of those words I've signed up for Lilla's GTS (Global Talent Search) :) I am very aware it's something of a looong shot for me, but I wanna get the momentum going and just being the part of that buzz gets my juices going :) You can check out here all the goodie prizes awaiting the GTS winner, aren't they AMAZING?! It's beyond amazing, I know!

Now going back to our last July assignment...we were told to create art we would love to hang on our wall or give to a dear friend as a present...basically it was all about making art for ourselves and our soul as I would say, so we were asked not to post any of our work and progress in the group to stay true to ourselves so to speak. And I really loved that! I was more focused and I found it easier to just make art for myself...I was so inspired I was done in 4 days with it...usually it would take me 3 weeks :) lol And don't get me wrong, I loved seeing all the work in the group from the others on regular basis but it was really great to have the last month for myself creating what I really loved and not be worried if anyone else is gonna like it. And the unveiling of the gallery was super sweet and special too, cos it was the feast for the eyes to see art from others I haven't seen before! And what amazing job everyone did...I found that a lot of my fellow bootcampers did better job in this last assignment than in all the previous, but that's just my opinion :) You can check all the gorgeous work from my classmates here!

Here's my work for the last month below:

Antoana Oreški ©2014

I truly am coffee kind of girl all the way! :) lol I had several sketches going on and ultimately went with this simple but down to the point one. After I finished it I got the funny idea to turn this into a 'family portrait collection' :) Cos my hubby is a coffee freak too so I've made one of him too:

Antoana Oreški ©2014

I liked this outcome so I'm currently brainstorming ideas for my kids too...I have a few ideas already so working on how to execute those now...will post updates here so you can see.

And voila, this would be all from me for now. Looking forward to GTS, working on some gouache drawings at the moment...I got drawn by the blueish palette so I'm experimenting with that now too. Will post updates on those too.

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

xoxo Ant

Updates :)

Antoana Oreški ©2014

OMG, where do I start from?! It's been way too long since my last post and I've been soooo mega busy with, well, life in general, that I've just had not time to blog as well :( This illustration you see above was done months before for my dear friend's wedd as an invitation...she's getting married this Sat. on the 28th so 'will be thinking of you Ivana and wishing you and Hari an abundance of love and kindness towards eachother in your mutual life!!!' xoxoxox

She had me design a tank top design for her maid of honour too and so I wasn't able to show that one to anyone before the maid of honour has seen it this last Fri. :) so here it is: 

Antoana Oreški ©2014

I've been entering some competitions too and to my most utter astonishement won 2 competitions...the 1st one was the Hallmark's Competition called 'COOL 4KIDZ' where I've entered my jelly characters from Lilla's Bootcamp only redesigned so they are more suitable for the brief. Here's my winning piece-yay!

Antoana Oreški ©2014

and here are my other 2 entries that were more card oriented:

Antoana Oreški ©2014

I have to admit I was beyond happy for these guys to have won...I love the strawberry gang and am glad they received the love back :) lol 

Then I've entered another competition from Tigerprint with the similar brief and it was called 'Kids Character Design' for Marks & Spencer this time and I won-again! 

Antoana Oreški ©2014

Now I was over the moon, not being able to believe it, cos let's be honest...c'mon 2 competitions in a row (ok 2 months apart)...no way!!!?? Those who know me know I'm too honest and too naive like a child to pretend being 'surprised' by all this! I NEVER won competitions before! Apart from Epicase, back in 2012 but I was not the winner, I was the 3rd place runner up. My major concern was-I hope this is not my peak!?! I wanna continue to grow and learn and build on my unique style...so I pray this is just a begining and an opportunity for me!

Also I wanna share the work from MATS Bootcamp May and June assignment...the May one was about Editorial design on Meditation and people who have an issue meditating. We were given an article and this was my submision:

Antoana Oreški ©2014

I really had fun doing this one...my prof. or how my fellow Bootcamper Petra calls him Dr. Freud is one of my fave new characters! I'm begining to really LOVE my pieces and that's something I've learned to do in Bootcamp. Like Lilla always says-people buy your joy! I guess it really is the truth! :D

Antoana Oreški ©2014

And this is my June submission for Wall Art! I know it's not a proper wall art per say, but I had tons of fun creating it and have come to love it also in the end as I played a bit with the letters size as suggested by a fellow Bootcamper Kelly :) You can tell how much I appreciate our Bootcamp community and just love being part of it-it's priceless!!! And I feel so blessed :)

Hope I didn't tire you with so much catching up :) Hope there won't be ages till my next post!

All my love to you! xoxoxo

Ant

Our jolly March of Jelly at Bootcamp!

So here comes March and with it our new assignment from Lilla-Jelly!
What?! Yes, I was surprised to say the least and I thought to myself- 'Why?!' But we got the mini and I decided to embrace it and see what I can come up with, surely I would think of something! Then I and my girls got very ill so that didn't help my creative process, cos I had none at that point! I haven't been ill like that for 15yrs and now I could not get out of bed...it was awful! On top of everything I had 2 munchkins I had to take care of and for 2 weeks it felf like I have a mini pharmacy at home :) Well I managed to create some sketches and after my antibiotics kicked in I finally felt like I was on a roll...until we got the main assignment-bolt fabric! I had a feeling it might be bolt fabric but bolt fabric & jelly?! And all I had so far were cute & funny characters, so I worried they wouldn't fit the assignment but thankfully my fellow bootcampers helped me see a variety of placements for it...a bib, or a kids apron...etc. I felt relieved and I was on a roll again :)

So to cut it short this was my initial work:

Antoana Oreški ©2014

As you can see I used some bright colours and I still like them, but when we got our colour palette and tip on our 3rd Mon. from Lilla I decided to try it out and give the 'nugat' a go :) I tried it and then I ended up mixing some of her colours with some of mine and this was a result:

Antoana Oreški ©2014

I didn't have time to do a proper pattern so I just placed my icons arround and since we'll have April off I will work on it and on some more coordinate patterns too. The gallery will go live on the 25th March and I'll post the link then. Until then this is the final presentation for my March Jelly pattern :)

Antoana Oreški ©2014

My ninja strawberry says hello! :)

xoxox Ant

Cuckooland :)

Yep, and this concludes our February assignment of Cuckoo clock covers for cell phone! I have had so much fun I think I might explode with joy on the inside :) Lol I'm a type of person who works well under guidance, I love guidance and I love learning new things. I can focus on the important things and not loose my focus on silly things, it's great to be under such awesome teacher such as Lilla Rogers! There's something in the way she preps you for the assignment and delivers each new step for you, not to mention her tips are of great value, I'm sure all at Bootcamp would agree with me! I have designed 2 covers in the end...1st one was the minty one below and then on the 2nd week I just had such inspiration I had to do the other cover I had in my head...so my crazy chicken space cuckoo was created as well :)

And then I was playing arround with bckg colours from Lilla's palette and these were done: 

I had such dillema which one to choose to submit to the Gallery...we're able to upload only one per month. Thanks to some of my buddies (Celeste) and my sister who made this task even more harder for me (lol-thanks sis-love you) hahaha I finally chose my fave...I was thinking 'which one would I love to carry arround as a cover?' so the choice fell down to: 

Antoana Oreski ©2014 MATS

Viola! My final presentation of the cell phone cover! I think I might upload it to Society 6 store along with all the other too...so if you're interested in getting one for yourself be sure to visit me at my shop- Antoana Oreski Illustration!

Cheers,

Ant xoxo

Cuckoo clocks at Bootcamp! :)

As I've promised, an update on Lilla Rogers' bootcamp :) The 1st week has come and gone and we got our 1st mini-cockoo clocks! I was delighted by our 1st mini assignment cos I NEVER ever drew a cuckoo clock before-funny right?! But it's true :) And I decided to give my wacom some time off, at least when sketching/exploring, so I did a lot of pencil/pen/guache thumbs. Anyhoo...the atmosphere is awesome, I love seeing everyone's sketches, drawings, finished works...there's such a variety of styles and techniques. I love it! Everyone is so kind and supportive and just inspirational! This is gonna be an amazing voyage! So here are some of my doodles and details and I decided to turn one of my sketches into a coloured one in the end, cos I wanted to give myself a chance to experiment with different texures/colour palletes. It's all about HAVING FUN as Lilla says, so I did. And in the future I hope I loosen up even more and learn to have even more fun.

xxx Ant