New Plushies!

So I started with a few animal designs for little crochet plushies. The most popular right away was the corgis (no surprise there).

Their success got me thinking of a whole slew of other animals I could try making in this chibi style. So we have a sloth, elephant and owls!

I must admit, I'm pretty smitten with this minty green/aqua color!

Now, I'm working on a hedgehog pattern inspired by this doodle:

So we'll see how things progress! I'm thinking of doing a pug dog next, but I'm open to suggestions!

Critter Jokes

I've been playing around with some jokes among my critters as I try and slowly accumulate fun ideas to include in the pattern book I'm working on.

So here are a few that I like especially for my fruit and veggie critters:

Oh and if any of you out there have any jokes you would like to see the critters perform, let me know! 😊

Maker Faire

Over the weekend, I participated in the San Mateo Maker's Faire!

Now, when ya think Maker Faire, I'm sure you naturally think of science, engineering or general inventiony-type stuff; however, there were many tents that had many lovely artsy and crafty things! Including the tent I was in, SF Bazaar, where there were tons of handcrafted goods!

Outside of the drone racing and robot inventing, there were some interesting crafty things! There were many 3D printing stations that were printing all kinds of shapes for people to decorate. My favorite was the booth that was making origami pieces with masking tape! There were all kinds of shape like animals and flowers to make.

So I think my critters fit in for the most part.

There were 10 different zones, meaning 10 different large building and tents for people to weave in and out of all day. As a vendor it was overwhelming to find my spot and get set up, but I can't imagine how it must have been for the public trying to make it to each attraction!

SF Bazaar was more towards the outskirts of the Faire, so I don't think we got as much attention as the tents along the main path got. However, it was sill a lucrative show! A little slow, but steady and consistent.

All in all, it was not a bad place to be at all weekend, there was never a dull moment or lack of something to do!

The critters had a blast and give a very special thank you to all those that came out to support not only Ria Art but all of the other lovely vendors at SF Bazaar.

Critter Activities

When my little critters are not getting ready to be shipped off for Etsy or getting ready for a craft show, they are up to all kinds of things.

Like this penguin, who decided the arctic was not enough for him.

So he grabbed his little piggy friend and high-tailed it to France for a little vacay!

A Little Treat

It's Saturday! The morning typically consists of me dragging my poor tired booty to the gym *sigh** and then some errand running. I know, epic Saturday morning-just kidding!

However today, was pretty nice because I went to Daiso! (Hey, you gotta appreciate the little pleasures in life!)

For those of you who don't know what Daiso is, it is the equivalent to a Dollar Store, only everything is from Japan! So all the items in the store are way more kawaii 💞

I like to save my change-as Sweet Peg is demonstrating here:

Hmm, not so sure he approves of my savings method here...😏

Anyway! Since everything is so cheap, I can treat myself with some fun things from Daiso and my collected change!

So I got myself some washi tape! I know, I know, the last thing I probably need, but I can't help myself! I adore the cute patterns on washi tape and have all kinds of fun using them for scrapbooking, letter writing or making my Etsy packages look cuter.

Mr. Oragne and Arty Heart agree that this was a Saturday morning well spent 😄

Doodles

In the midst of any deadline, I think it is important to just find a little time to do some mindless doodling.

I think the moments it takes to just sit down and draw freely, can be rejuvenating and help the quality of the work that needs to be submitted to an art director because I was able to take a little time and step away from the task at hand.

Especially if you ever get stuck with certain project, I think it can be helpful to put it away for a little while, no look at it, and concentrate on something else. When I go back to the project, I find that my fresh eyes help me to see things clearer.

Orders!

In the midst of creating drawings for the few books I'm working on, I've also been handling Etsy orders.

Etsy is usually at its peak for me right around the holidays, but I've been pleasantly surprised at the slow but sure consistency my shop has had over the last month. Considering I have not really updated anything or included any new listings since January, I have been enjoying the few order that have come my way!

My favorite is the custom order critter sets, since I adore seeing which critters pick!

Each of these customers picked the carrot! In my mind, the octopus is my favorite, so I always think people would pick them, but it's always something different!

There was also an order for one of my pig plushies!! This is exciting for me because so far, only my Corgi plushies are selling, but this time it was the pig (Yes!)

You can see a cute boomerang of a Corgi plushie that was ordered this last month here:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BSwf5bVgF2f/?taken-by=riaartworld

This Corgi went all the way to Denmark! However, the package arrived damaged sadly and the customer didn't get their Corgi 😥   The images looked like the package was a victim of mail theft-so sad!

This has never happened to me before on Etsy, and even though I realize that there is always the risk that a customer could be taking advantage of the situation, I prefer to just give the benefit of the doubt.

After all, this is a rare occasion, and I would rather have a happy customer than suffer a bad review of my shop! So I refunded the transaction. and I chalk it up to the cost of business.

I would be curious to know how others handle situations such as these on Etsy though.

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I also received an order for some fun Ria Art Fan Art! I love Adventure Time and this was also a first purchase for my Adventure Time buttons. They went all the way to Canada!

The second piece of fan art was a crochet Totoro and I made a boomerang for that too:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BTmEdMPAUOk/?taken-by=riaartworld

Hopefully, I will have time to upload new things to my shop this summer so that I can keep things fresh! I especially would like to start including crochet patterns too. Suggestions are always welcome!

https://www.etsy.com/shop/RiaArtWorld?ref=shop_sugg

Drawing!

So I began sketches for a new children's book back in April that I've been hired for.

The book is about a little girl named Margo who is told that she will be an older sister soon. Naturally, she is not the most excited about this, but after seeing one of her friends bullied and her older sister comes to the rescue, she starts to have a change of heart.

Here are some character sketches for Margo, her dog, Fin and some of the other characters in the book!

I think it is kind of fun to see the process behind how the illustrations for a book come together and its many stages. So I want to share the first round of roughs soon, so stay tuned! 💖

April Showers Bring May Flowers

I wanted to share the images I posted throughout April, that are really sweet and springy!

I usually post fairly regularly to instagram, but I have to admit, I haven't been the best with my blog lately. 😓  Sorry blog! *pats blog on the head**

Even though we are in May, my shower of April posts are bringing in a full-bloom May!

This little pink chick is welcoming her cousins from out of town!

Spring critters are having all kinds of fun together 💓

 

Easter Bunny!

Someone said that these look like school pictures of my critters! I thought this was so funny! I want to draw 'school pictures' for all of my critters! 😂