24 Friday Apr 2015
Posted in Uncategorized
Going forward my blog will be kept on my main site, annibetts.com (rather than annibetts.com/blog). It was finally just time to consolidate everything under one cohesive design and structure. All of the posts from the past are there, and it’s also where any new posts will be published. Thanks for reading!
18 Wednesday Feb 2015
Posted in Etsy Prints, Illustrations
I’m excited to tell you about a new series of prints I’ll be selling in my Etsy shop, Alphabet Animals! The first four in the series are now available as prints in three different sizes — 5×7″, 8×10″ and 11×14″. The smallest size is perfect if you want to frame a series of them all together to decorate a nursery or kids’ room, while the biggest size is great as a stand-alone poster.
Each illustration in the series will feature a fun, colorful animal along with an object or activity that starts with the same letter, accompanied by a decorative, bold, hand-illustrated letter. For A, it’s an alligator playing the accordion! B features a buffalo (or he could be a bison depending on what part of the world you’re from!) riding a bicycle. C is a fluffy fat cat wearing a golden crown, and D is a flame-colored dragon clutching a big, sparkly diamond.
I really enjoyed creating these illustrations in a brighter, more kid-friendly style, with lots of colorful line work and a bit more of a painterly texture than I sometimes use. I’ll be working with the same color palette across the whole series, so that they will always coordinate with one another. Each letter in the alphabet is planned out, so watch this space as more pictures in the series become available. I think these would make the perfect baby gift, either grouped together for an alphabet-themed nursery, or as a gift for a child whose name starts with each letter. I’ll also be offering bundles on groups of letters, as well as a special deal on the entire alphabet, once I get them all finished!
Thanks for reading, and I hope these colorful animals brightened your day!
13 Friday Feb 2015
Posted in Illustrations, Promo Pieces
For this Valentine’s Day email to my clients I illustrated this quote from Gandhi. I think it captures the idea of love in the broader sense, not just romantic love but love of all kinds, which I think is worth celebrating this February 14th! I’m also offering it as a print for sale on Etsy, here. Feel the love, everyone!
12 Thursday Feb 2015
Posted in Illustrations, Published Work
It’s that time again — time for the latest installment in Denise Swanson’s Devereaux’s Dime Store mystery series to be published by Penguin, featuring a cover illustrated by yours truly! The title this time was Dying for a Cupcake, and it had a Fourth of July theme so it’s lots of red, white and blue. Of course I love a good cupcake, so it was extra enjoyable to draw a big tiered display of sparkler-topped cupcakes. Each of these covers has a subtle “mystery” element, and this time it’s a spooky skull being formed from the smoke of an extinguished sparkler — fun to draw! I also had a delightful time working with AD Katie Anderson — thanks, Katie!
26 Wednesday Nov 2014
Posted in Illustrations, Published Work
In honor of it being the day before Thanksgiving, I’d like to share a fun assignment I had this year that is Thanksgiving themed! It’s a reusable grocery bag for Publix grocery stores, featuring their signature pilgrim characters. These pudgy little pilgrims are a perennial favorite for the Publix stores, and they appear as salt and pepper shakers and on other decorative Thanksgiving items. They even have a bit of a cult following!
Earlier this year Publix contacted me to illustrate a reusable bag featuring the pilgrims surrounded by other autumnal motifs. It was super fun to work on with talented art director Jesse Larson, and a good challenge since I had to work in a limited number of colors for silkscreening. I don’t have a sample of the actual bag to show you, and from a little online sleuthing it seems the final product was a more cropped-in version of this art, but even so I’m going to share the original design here. For those of you in the South, you could probably pick one of these up at your local Publix store! I hope these pilgrims help you feel the cozy Thanksgiving spirit, and enjoy your Turkey Day, everyone!
04 Tuesday Nov 2014
Posted in Etsy Prints, Illustrations
A new Etsy print just in time for winter!
31 Friday Oct 2014
Posted in Illustrations
Happy Halloween everyone! In honor of the spookiest holiday I drew this homage to one of the scariest characters out there — Dracula. In Bram Stoker’s original tale, Dracula is said to come to the shores of England at Whitby, during a foreboding, terrible storm. Whitby is just an hour and a half away from where I live, and I’ve visited it a couple of times and it’s a charming coastal town with some good seafood and that 19th-century-resort-town feel. So I liked the idea of combining a view of Whitby Abbey with Dracula coming to shore in the form of a bat. (I’m taking a little bit of artistic license — in the original story he comes to shore in the form of a large black dog. But I felt like drawing a bat!) I hope this adds to your Halloween fun today — Boo!