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Birds in Hats

Top Hats Erika Schnatz
| Erika Schnatz

It’s been some time since I’ve had my work displayed anywhere. There was that one time I had a piece up in a robot-themed show at a taco shop, and then someone STOLE MY PIECE OFF OF THE WALL, so maybe that’s the reason it has been a while? Or perhaps having a full-time job was the culprit.

In any case, I drew some birds in hats for the Tiny Wonderland show at Leanna Lin’s Wonderland in Eagle Rock, CA. The rule was nothing larger than 5″x 5″, so I found some 4″x 4″ panels and was plagued with indecision until several days before I need to mail out my work (nothing like artistic procrastination). I quite like these silly little birds, and if you like them too (and would like one to hang on a wall), a few of them are still available on to purchase: https://leannalinswonderland.com/collections/tiny-wonderland-art-show

 

Here Be Dragons!

| Erika Schnatz

For my Book Design class this term, I had to design an entire book (it was awesome!) so here are the cover comps I came up with:

This first one had some nice elements, but it looked a bit old for the target audience of this book (middle-grade level readers).

I really liked this design as well, but it looks like an adult book.

This one was the clear favorite of my peers. It was by far the most age appropriate, and since it’s a book for younger audiences, I could get away with having an image-based back cover. The author photo and bio is much more of an adult book element anyway.

Here’s the final! I made some suggested improvements, like handlettering the text on the cover and adding the dragon’s arms to hold the banner. I obviously redrew the front and back illustrations as well, and added some cracks around the dragon butt to add to the illusion of the dragon breaking through the back of the book cover. My classmates liked where the colors bled outside the lines in the comp, so I replicated that in the final. I moved the ISBN box to a more sensible place as well.

I had some trouble finding reference images for the dragon’s butt, but as multiple people reminded me, dragons aren’t real so I could draw it however I liked.

All of the Cats

| Erika Schnatz

Here’s something I did a few months ago for the Independent Publishing Resource Center (IPRC) in Portland. They needed a half-sheet sized catalog cover to promote classes and events offered in February and March of this year. To the surprise of no one who has skimmed through this blog, it features cats.

The Valentine’s Day image was the front cover and the St. Patrick’s Day cats occupied the back cover.

Mr. Tea

| Erika Schnatz
A fun 80s mashup between Mr. T (who pities fools) and Mr. T (who has tall teeth) at a tea party (naturally). This piece was part of “Jibbart Jabbart: A Mr. T-Themed Art Show & Experience” at the PhilaMOCA in Philadelphia.
Line art

Picture from the show (c/o Ben and Amy Leach)

My art on the wall! (c/o Ben and Amy Leach)

Another view (c/o Ben and Amy Leach)

Readin’ with Sasquatch

| Erika Schnatz

Here’s the final art for my Powell’s tote bag submission. I really liked it, but it didn’t crack the top 10. Since a very similar idea did make the top 10 (and was way less cute, in my humble opinion) I have a feeling my design was passed over because I didn’t make the Powell’s logo big enough. Whatever! At least I got a nice little portfolio piece out of the contest.