I made several trips to the States last year and I must say, I’ve fallen in love with the warm weather and beaches. I often draw inspiration from my trips. The photo above was taken at Santa Monica beach back in 2011. There’s a lot of snow where I’m staying right now so last week while brooding about the cold weather, I decided to do a personal sketch inspired by the warm, sunny beaches. The image is still very incomplete but I will be completing it very soon.

If you would like to keep posted on the progress of this image, be sure to follow me on twitter, google+ or facebook. Have a fabulous week and for my readers living in colder climates, I hope this image gives you some warmth!

~Christina

Valentines day isn’t just for couples, it’s for anyone who feels love and appreciation for the people in their lives. I feel so grateful to be able to create art almost everyday and share it with you. As a sign of my appreciation, I’m preparing a special gift for you all. It’ll be a week or so before I post the surprise so stay posted.

My New Website

And I’m sure you’ve noticed the new website! If you follow me on facebook or twitter than you know about my accident a couple of weeks ago. I accidentally deleted my entire website and I didn’t have a back up… I was devastated for a good 10 mins, but I tried to make good of the situation and got immediately excited about the opportunity to build a new website that is more user-friendly.

There is a rule that as illustrators, we should post our best 10-15 illustrations. However, being an art lover myself, I love to see all the artist’s work and it makes me sad sometimes when certain images start to disappear from their website. So for those who are interested in my old images as much as my new ones, I have an image archive in the main menu that dates back to 2007. For those who just want a quick portfolio, I have my quick portfolio that you could also view.

I’ve also integrated my blog in my new website so that everything is more conveniently located in one place. If you followed me in my old blog, then remember to update your bookmarks!

Let me know if you enjoy my new website. I’m personally excited because the interface is more organized and allows me to post up more artwork in an orderly manner so I will be updating more frequently.

~Christina

Last night I pulled up an old sketch to work on. I posted up snapshots of my progress on twitter, google+ and facebook as I took the sketch to final. Here it is:

Here’s 2 version of the final illustration.

And here’s the one I decided to go with:

Let me know if you enjoyed this post by commenting below.

Here are 2 of the images in fuller view.
The first one is about Keeping your portfolio in balance & the second one is about Dividing your equity and and fixed-income investments into many categories or asset classes.

And for those who are interested, here’s my process work for the two images,

Hope you enjoyed this post!

I usually like to write down the key concepts from the article that I’m trying to depict beside the image.

That’s all. I hope you enjoyed this post.

P.S. If you enjoyed this post, please let me know by sharing and commenting below.

I stumbled upon an article this morning on CNN Money called, “Unemployment claims fall to lowest level since April“. The article reports that “14 million people remain unemployed in the United States.” What’s shocking is…

There are 3 000 000 jobs that are unfilled in America. CNN suggests that problem may lie in the fact that most Americans do not have the right skill sets to get a job.

I find that hard to swallow. Because I personally believe that most people are overqualified and it’s their job that stops them from reaching their full potential.

And this is what I want to convey in my image diary this week. I wanted to show the disconnect between a man’s potential and the job he actually performs.

But now for some really GOOD NEWS..

To all freelancing illustrators. If you want to learn more about the industry, I highly recommend you check out NOOK COLLECTIVE. The same teachers that taught me all I need to know about illustration and how to run a freelance business are holding seminars in the Toronto region.

My best advice to any artist is to continue to grow and learn so go check them out.

Cheers,

~Christina

And the Canadian Version :)

The rest of the illustrations also depict specific behavioral patterns and beliefs that hinder people’s ability to make sound financial decisions. Since there are so many, I’ve posted them all together from process to final:

I hope you enjoyed this post. Have a Fabulous Weekend!

~Christina

And my Progress work: