The Photoventures Continue

Early morning rainbow! {Hell's Kitchen}

Not a rainbow, but still pretty. {Hell's Kitchen}

Firehouse! {Upper West Side}

Speaking of patriotic... {Midtown West}

Sunset on the Chrysler Building, as seen from our conference room. {Midtown}

Riverside Boulevard in the sixties is a really weird part of town.

As is West End Ave when you get to these buildings that literally do not end.

Speaking of weird, I think I found an offshore division of Santa's Workshop. It's across from the post office on W52 st. 

Somebody has an eye for color. {Hell's Kitchen}

And somebody is clearly an amazing human being. When I find out who on my block owns this polka-dot scooter, we are going to be BFFs. 

Jungle Buddies!

The urban-jungle dweller meets the jungle-jungle dweller. :)
You know how you get cravings for certain types of food? Sometimes I get cravings to draw certain things, and it's a very similar sensation. I had been nursing this particular urge to draw a lion for many months, but none of the lions living in my head were good looking enough to draw. I knew I needed a new lion archetype, and I wasn't sure where to get one. In hindsight, I could have just done some research to see how other people were dealing with lions, but for some reason I decided instead to just sit down and see if I could feel it out. Much to my surprise, in the very first sketch, there he was! My perfect lion. I was pretty excited to meet him.

Design: Bridal Shower Invites

My friend Sara, like all brides-to-be, is about to get some showering, and, as designer-in-residence in the bridal party, I cooked up some invites for the occasion. If I had more time, I'd definitely change a few things about the execution, but I was pretty pleased with how the concept came together:

• The colors are the colors of the wedding flowers, feel to me like a spring afternoon event, and were carefully chosen so these could be printed on a personal inkjet printer.

• Sara is a master of hand-drawn type, so I had to get some of that going on.

• The white space on the inside makes a heart. 

• The white lace-like detailing around the edges was inspired by Mehndi henna designs typically worn by Pakistani brides {Sara's fiance is from Pakistan.}

• The watercolor texture is almost entirely self-indulgent, although in the end I did like how it lent itself to supporting the above goals. 

I IZ FAMOUS ON THE INTERWEBZ

So, this was pretty exciting. I was puzzled by a large jump in traffic showing up on my blog analytics, and was super surprised to find that it was coming from BuzzFeed! Turns out, I made it into one of their posts! They found one of my older cartoons and included it in one of their collections. BuzzFeed, if you are not familiar, is a heavyweight in the shaping of internet culture. They're an extremely successful content aggregator—they find content from around the web, editorially arrange it, and then sell ads against the traffic. They're a corporately operated meme-factory, which I find to be an interesting paradox. There are of course mixed feelings about this strategy in the internet-making and artistic communities, but I was pleased with the treatment. Their post got over 300,000 views, they both cited me and linked to both my blog and my website proper, and I got a ton of hits out if the deal. Plus I can say I was on BuzzFeed. :) Woo!

Oh So Pretty in the City

We deliver. {Hell's Kitchen}

Creepy building in the diamond district

Reporting for duty. {Hell's Kitchen}

Macaroni and cheese!!! {Chelsea}

This picture goes really well with macaroni and cheese. {yellow accents, Hell's kitchen}

Cranky little ghost, haunting Hell's kitchen

the über-west side {past 10th ave}

My favorite thing about Hell's Kitchen is all of the beautiful texture.

Like this. SO PRETTY.

There is not so much texture on the upper east side.

Bet you can guess what neighborhood this thai restaurant is in...

You can park in this midtown west lot when you are eating thai and going to a broadway play. I'm sure your car will be perfectly fine.

Design Work: Sanjay and Craig on Nick.com

It's been a while since I've frolicked in showpage-land; it was good to get back in the saddle with a show about a kid and his talking snake.

Mommy-Cookie Time

Today is my mom's birthday! We are a great cookie baking team: she puts in the flour {flour creeps me out}, and I taste test for poison {thus protecting her safety}. :)

Amanda, the Nutritionist

Clearly living in New York City all this time has greatly refined my culinary sensibilities:

Cupcake Meets His Baker

For my last Wheelhouse post, I succumbed again to my insatiable craving for cupcake-drawing. Cookies may be the undisputed king of edibles in Amanda-land, but cupcakes are way more successful at satisfying hunger for cuteness.

An Ode to Pom-Poms

I was cleaning cleaning out my computer this morning and unearthed this old gem. Doodles from church two years ago! You can see the inkling that led to the of my pom-pom guide two years later make its first appearance in the mix here:

Bunnyball!

Bunnyball was born in some doodles during a sprint planning meeting last week, and I felt compelled to finish him. I think I still like him a little better in doodle form though:

Bopping Around the 'Hood

 Cuteness sprawled out on 12th ave!

 Ready for war on the upper west side.

The bike shop on 9th ave

 Falling asleep on the job {poor little guy}

 ducks in a row

 Music Box's color-coordinated ladders

 Theatre district: packing up and moving on

 I thought this tree looked really lovely with this stonework

 SO CUTEEE. More of the perpetual theatre district comings and goings.

 Striking light on a nondescript side door

YES, cute graffiti swirly! 

Papercut & Watercolor Adventures

It's been a while since my last papercut funtimes. I was missing it, so I busted out my trusty knife and made this pretty hole. The next hole I make will probably not have all those swirly things, because I discovered on the first one that the inner curve on those suckers is pretty much the most difficult knife maneuver there is. At that point it was too late to alter the design, and there were a million of 'em left to go! I was sure I was going to slip and hack one off, but much to my surprise, it came out alright. After the hole was complete, I dusted off my elementary school watercolor skills {you just can't beat the old salt shaker trick for some lovely texture} to make the color it's mounted on.

From the side, so you can get an idea of the depth:

top down:

bottom up:

My studio assistant, assessing the work: