Desktop Download: Red Floral

I have come to LOVE designing patterns.

I create patterns for work and it has opened a whole new avenue for me to create art.

Thinking about pattern definitely influences the way I illustrate overall.

I designed this red floral inspired by one of my favorite artists: Dinara Mirtalipova

This pattern is available for sale at my Society6 store as a:

 Print

Greeting card

or iPhone case!

I wanted to REALLY share this with my blog followers, so this pattern is also available, just for you to download for free HERE to spruce up your desktop! 

(copyrights belong to Rani Bean, please use for personal use only. Thank you)

Thank you for all you support over the years!

Hope you have a great Holiday season!

Tulle Skirt

I can't believe how fast this year has gone!

November is practically over.

I plan on posting at least once next month before the year is over.

I have been busy with commission work, which is great, but leaves me with very little time to do my own art.

This is a quick piece I did between projects earlier this month. I'm on the computer all day at work, so it's always a nice change to pull out my traditional mediums. I painted this image with acrylics on black cardstock.

I have a white tulle skirt that I'm excited to wear over the holiday season and on into the warmer months. Fashion to me is a another fun way to express myself. 

Haunted House

Happy Halloween!
It's the end of the month and I made it through the whole 30 days of inktober sketches!
Some days were harder than others (time wise) but, its done!
I have pieced together all the images into one final haunted house. You can check out all the separate pieces on my instagram.
Also, I am SO excited to share an Artist Spotlight, the incredible artist who inspired this image Mr. Alastair Graham, on my blog.

 

October-Inktober!

Happy Anniversary month!
I started this blog 3 years ago on 10/25/11... how time flies!
All month I will be participating in Jake Parkers Inktober.
I didn't do it justice last year, but this year I am committed to doing ink sketches for the whole 30 days!
Yes, I said 30... I know there are 31 days in October... but for the final day, I will be posting all the sketches I did over the month in one finished image.
My inspiration for Inktober this year came from one of my all time favorite books as a kid, "Full Moon Soup" by Alastair Graham. I would pour over those pictures on rainy days in the school library for hours.
I know I could never come close to this man's genius in both ideas and execution, but I thought it would be fun to do my own Halloween 'cutaway' image inspired by him.

I have been posting these images daily to my Instagram if you want to see the progress.
Stay tuned for a very special Artist Spotlight this month!
Toodles!

Nefertiti

I have always been fascinated with Ancient Egyptian (and Greek) history and mythology
In my Art History classes, they were definitely one of the more exciting times to learn about.
You can learn more about Nefertiti here.

Salt Lake Comic Con 2014

What an awesome experience!
I'm really glad I decided to have a table at Salt Lake Comic Con this year. I got to meet a ton of great new people, reconnect with friends and family and share my art with the Salt Lake Community. The event was super fun, but I have to say, the best part for me was seeing people emotionally react to my art... it seriously gave me warm fuzzies all over! Thank you to everyone who came by and supported my work. It's made me excited to get working on more new pieces to share at the next SLCC. I also need to say that I couldn't have done any of this without the help from my beautiful sister, (my booth babe) and my sweet mother-in-law and my incredible husband who all helped me so much behind the scenes.
Here are a few captured moments at the Con:

Setting up the booth

Me and Han

My sister got me a Comic Con T-shirt and Back to the Future hat!

Cats

This is going to be a card for the cat lovers out there!
I love playing with different shapes and I will definitely do more of these with different subject matter. If you have suggestions as to what you'd like to see next, just leave a comment below!

"I Dream of Jeannie"

That Jeannie! She was always getting into mischief because of her jealous nature and misunderstandings!

Mary Poppins

"Rosy cheeks and everything!"
I always wished I could snap my fingers to tidy up my room, but alas... it never worked.

Gamora

I watched "Guardians of the Galaxy" last weekend and loved it.
It was funny, action packed and just totally entertaining.
The first time I saw the previews for the movie, I knew I was going to be Gamora for Halloween.

Mystique

Another one for Comic Con.
I grew up watching the Xmen cartoons as a kid.

When the first Xmen movie was released several years ago, my favorite character, hands-down, was Mystique. Not only did she look ridiculously awesome with her blue, alien-like skin, but her powers were cool and she totally kicked butt (I think I've mentioned I like strong female characters!)

Princess Leia

I will be posting new images I've been working on for Comic Con over the next month! I had to start with one of the most iconic female characters of all time, Princess Leia (who also happened to be the topic for Sketch Dailies today!)
I sketched her on Star Wars Day (May the Fourth) and knew I had to color her.
I wanted to draw Slave Leia for a couple of reasons.
First, because her outfit is just fun to draw!
Second, because even when Leia is bound in chains and being held prisoner by the evil 'Jabba the Hut', she still kicks butt! (no spoilers here, just sayin!)

Craft Lake City

This weekend I participated in Craft Lake City's DIY Festival!
It was such a fun experience.
I shared a booth with my incredibly talented friend Melissa Moyle.
Melissa is a graphic designer that specializes in hand lettering.
We got a chance to meet a lot of great people as well as share and sell our art.
Each of my illustrations has a story behind them, based on my personal life experiences, so having others appreciate them is such a rewarding feeling. Thanks to all of you who stopped by and supported us! It was so great to be a part of the festival the celebrates the local artists of Salt Lake City.
Here are some pictures I shared on instragram from the event:

DIY Festival!

Today and tomorrow I will have a booth set up at the Craft Lake City- DIY Festival in Salt Lake.
My hubby (who gets the 'Husband of the Year Award") has been helping me like crazy to get everything ready. We have been printing, cutting and packaging until the wee small hours of the morning. Each and every piece of art has been handled with care just for you to take home and enjoy! The DIY Festival is a family event, with craft stations for the kids, food trucks galore and over 200 vendors selling all sorts of goodies. Admission is free! Hope you'll come by and say 'hi!'

(designed by Courtney Blair)

Appreciation

If you love a flower, don't pick it up.

because if you pick it up it dies and it ceases to be what you love.

So if you love a flower, let it be.

Love is not about possession.

Love is about appreciation.

~ Osho

Head in the clouds

When I start daydreaming, I think about all the things I love about life... mostly I just think about food!
But other times I get inspired to create illustrations.
I usually have to write the ideas down and come back to it when I have time. My drawer is full of post-it notes and scrap papers with scrawled messages that eventually become art.
Here is a piece I created about being a daydreamer that will be available at the DIY Festival next week! Hope to see you there (admission is free!)

Under Water

I know I'm not going to have a chance to post to my blog for a while. I will be diving into getting everything finished up for Craft Lake City-DIY Festival, which is just around the corner!

If you would like to to stop by, the 2014 DIY Festival will be held at the Gallivan Center, 239 S. Main Street, on Aug. 8th from 5pm to 10pm and on Aug. 9th from 12pm to 10pm
When I do come up for air, I will get to share more new art with you as well as a brand new artist spotlight that I'm really excited about! In the meantime, enjoy your summer and here is one of my new pieces: 

Tink

Hope you had a lovely long weekend!
I spent most of my time getting caught up on projects. I'm excited to share some new artwork with you over the next few weeks. For now, here is one I really wanted to have for Comic Con. I love drawing fun female characters and I couldn't resist my favorite spunky little fairy, Tinkerbell:

“All the world is made of faith, and trust, and pixie dust.” 
― J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

Alice

I've been meaning to share this Alice piece for a while now and I finally had a moment to do so. Things have been a bit of a Wonderland in my world lately, lots of ups and downs and unexpected changes. I recently moved and started working at a new place (more on that in a later post). I have had a lot of random things happen too, but I guess that's just life!  This print will be available at my booth at both Craft Lake City and SLC Comic Con!

“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense.” 

― Lewis Carroll, Alice Adventures in Wonderland

Summer!

Summer is finally here! So many plans...
I was accepted to be a vendor at Craft Lake City this year with my awesomely talented pal, Melissa Moyle. And I will also be sharing a table with my ridiculously skilled buddy, Meghan Bellomini, at this years Salt Lake City Comic Con.
We will have lots of goodies for you including some art prints, bookmarks, magnets, cards etc.
I'm excited and slightly overwhelmed because it is going to be a busy time for the next few months, getting things ready for it, but I'm excited to share our art with more people!
I hope you'll be able to join us at these events and stay tuned for images on what I will be selling!
Happy Summer!

Circus Horse

I like to spend my free time drawing fun things...

Thoughts

“The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it.” ― Neil deGrasse Tyson

I love watching Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, hosted by astrophysicist, author, and science communicator, Neil degrasse Tyson. The series is a remake which airs every Sunday night over the next couple of months. Each time I watch it, I get lost in thoughts of how incredible our universe is and how amazing it feels to be a part of it, or as the original Host, Carl Sagan put it, "We are made of star stuff."

New Prints

I wanted to make a few images that I've had in my head for a while that included quotes on it.

This was inspired by my little sister, who loves putting similar prints up in her room.

I painted the images with acrylics and ink. They are now available in my Etsy Store! 

Frogs

One of my favorite scenes from the movie E.T.

Spring Fever

Happy Spring! I drew some flowers:

Old Friends

I know, it's been a while since I've posted!
But hopefully things have calmed down enough that I can post more...
I was sketching on my lunch break today while sitting outside with my friends at work.
We were playing "would you rather" and I sketched a fire hydrant that eventually turned into this:

When I got home, I decided to give it a little color:

Have a great weekend!

Roman Holiday

Here is an Illustration I did from an old movie I love, "Roman Holiday". This romantic classic stars two of my all time favorite actors, Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn. The print is now available in my Etsy store!  I'm working on a few more prints like this at the moment, so stayed tuned for more!!!

IF: Spark

Seamus Finnigan: Eye of rabbit, harp string hum, turn this water into rum. 
[he checks the goblet, then tries again] 
Seamus Finnigan: Eye of rabbit, harp string hum... Harry: What's Seamus trying to do to that glass of water? Ron: Turn it to rum. Actually managed a weak tea yesterday! Before... [explosion] 

IF: Voice

I have some pretty talented friends.
One of whom is Brenlie Bagley.
I worked with her on campus while I was at school and got to know this incredible girl.
She has a unique voice and I thought I'd do a quick sketch of her for this week's illustration.
You can check out her music here.

IF:Space

I saw an image similar to this a while ago and I had to do my own version for this week's Illustration!
I decided to put it in my Etsy store, along with prints of the ABC poster I made.
I'm thinking I want to do a couple more images like this because it was just so fun to do!

...XYZ

I started a project a couple of months ago by request of my sister-in-law to create an Alphabet display for her baby's room.
I finally finished up the project last night and wanted to share it with you!
I sketched the images over time, posting them on Instagram.
Then I created all the shapes I needed for the cut-outs in Illustrator. After cutting out all the pieces, I laid them out and glued them down. The original is hanging in my nephews room.

There is a print version available now for you to own at my Etsy store!

It was a long and tedious process, but this cute little guy was worth all that effort!

Mermaids like to read

I love drawing mermaids. My little sister and I used to spend our summer afternoons in our backyard pool, pretending we were human fishes...
Or we would just lay out in the sun and read. If we were really talented, we could have done both at the same time...underwater!

IF: Twisted

What's more twisted than a maze full of riddles that need to be solved in 13 hours or else the goblin king keeps your baby brother? And the goblin king is played by David Bowie!

I remember watching 'Labyrinth' as a kid. I thought it would be fun to draw Sarah in her costume from the ballroom scene. Gotta love the 80's!