I'm smarter than I look.

Well, this week took an unfortunate U turn.

I have loads of things to share and awesome news but none of it's important anymore.


My beautiful Grandma, Ruth Marie Durst, passed away yesterday morning. She was an outstanding grandparent. She never got cross with me when I was little and hyper, and had loads of fun activities for us when we came to visit. She was computer savvy. I bet if she could have she would have had blog and it would have kicked my blog's butt. She was crafty. She crocheted baby clothes for the preemies at the local hospital, made afghans for all of her grand kids, and taught me how to knit. Grandma D. was hilarious, and clever. Her laugh was infectious.
She had been suffering from the
cruelest disease, Alzheimers, for many years now, and had the personality that made her who is is taken away from her.

Worst. Disease. EVER.

Those who know of someone dealing with Alzheimers, my hear goes out to you. I recommend visiting the Alzheimers Society website to learn more about the disease and the steps being made towards a cure. Heck, you can even donate if you feel like it.

I will share my news as well. I'm excited to tell you that I will be going to New York City next week for the upcoming Printsource trade show! I will be going with my full time job, helping to organize graphics for the spring season. I'm going to be with family for the next few days, but will write from the show next week with all the New York greatness.

Rest in peace Grandma. I'll love you always.

A trip down memory lane.

Yesterday I mentioned that I would tell you the story of my first illustration... and here it is!

I will take you back to 2004. I was in year three, the final year, of my illustration diploma at Sheridan College. In the final year of my program I was to do a three week unpaid work placement. I knew as soon as I was told about it that I wanted to do it with a studio of working illustrators in Toronto that I knew were super talented and that I thought I could learn a bunch from. The guys in the studio were Steve Murray, Ben Shannon, Cameron Stewart, and Kagan McLeod. I couldn't have been more right. I owe these guys a debt of gratitude for the words of wisdom. It was my first exposure to the REAL illustration world. I spent most of my time in their studio, but I also had the opportunity to follow Kagan into the offices of The National Post, where he worked in office on Fridays. It was amazing to see the inner workings of a newspaper. I went with portfolio in arms, totally excited to show anyone who wanted to look at it. I was introduced to the art director for the Arts and Life section. He flipped through my book and he must have seen something workable as he asked me if I wanted to do a job for the paper. It was for a review of a book about bird watching. I was over the moon. The rush I got from that first offer was unforgettable, even though it was unpaid. I would have paid HIM! I called everyone I knew to tell them. I'm not sure what the due date on the job was, I remember spending my fair share of evenings in the computer lab at Sheridan and painting my butt off so I'm sure it was quick. I loved every minute of it! When the paper containing my hard work hit the newsstands I couldn't believe it. I knew right then that I was in love. What a high!! Over the remainder of my placement I did a few more freebies (I was not to be paid, remember) that eventually led to my first paid illustration through the National Post. It was the start of a long running relationship with the paper that will always take the credit for launching my illustration career and helping me realize that it can be done. 

Here is the paper that started it all!

I spent this morning updating artwork on clairemanning.com  and highly recommend checking it out. Hopefully I will have more to share soon!


Do you have any memorable firsts?

New year, new illustrations!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I had a bit of a rough morning, but had a great new year's eve with a bunch of awesome buddies! I hope you enjoyed a similar scenario for your eve. When I was "healthy" enough to venture of of my apartment today I was met with my very first illustrations of 2011. Remember two weeks ago when I nearly died from creating 13 illustrations in 7 days? Well, today was the day that The Toronto Star published ALL of them in their tribute to FIRSTS. They asked various contributors to write stories about significant firsts that they've had through their lives. Then, they asked me to illustrate as many of them as I possibly could in a week. And so I did. The prospect of this job was daunting but such an amazing concept- I couldn't say no. I have to say, seeing the finished project I am so happy that I sucked it up and went for it.

It ended up that my work ended up not only in the Living section of the paper, but also the FRONT PAGE of the paper and much to my father's delight, the Sports section. The latter is a first of my very own!


Due to the speedy nature of the job I was pretty much given free run on size and shape of each piece by the art director. I was sending them in to the Star as I finished them and so I didn't know what their vision was as far as layout goes. I was blown away by how they fit them all together. It truly looks amazing!


I will be updating my website tomorrow with all of the illustrations from this spread so you can have a closer look at them all. In the meantime here are a few of my favourites.

This one is my ultimate favourite- My first alone.


My first catch.


My first typewriter.


My first brush with death.
My first regret.


I hope you like them! You still have a few more hours to run out and pick up a copy of the paper if you feel so inclined to.

In the spirit of the theme of these illustrations, tomorrow I will share with you the story of a very important first for me- my first published illustration! It's hard to believe that it's already been 7 years since I hit that landmark, but I remember it like it was yesterday.

Now I will go back to nursing my new years hangover. Unfortunately not a first for me.

Auld lang syne to you my friends, and thank you so much for reading my babbles in 2010. I promise some exciting posts in 2011.

Rear end of the year.

I hope that you all had a merry holiday, whatever you celebrate! It's hard to believe that the year is nearly over. 2010 started off so promising and ended, well, like a rear end. I let my world slip out of my control, and I promise to get it not only back on track, but hopefully get myself ahead of the game. This goes way past resolution, my friend.

My holiday when by in a flash. In fact, I'm already back to the carpool and the full timeness of scheduled life. I had said that I would post my holiday card on Friday. I wish I had time, but Christmas shopping needed to be done and then I was off to Ronaldo's parent's house and from there I was in full celebration mode, and heck, I just got caught up in the fun of it. And it was indeed a very fun past days, with lots of family. Here it is, albeit a little late.


I really wanted to do an ocean theme this year, and settled on a happy mermaid and her star fish. Hope you like it!

I have some exciting posts planned for the next week, including a glimpse into my process from concept to final, plus some very exciting news. I'll also share the illustrations I worked so hard on last week that hits the newsstand on Saturday. Until then, enjoy the tail end of your year!

'Tis the season to be jolly!

Merry Christmas to all of you! I hope that you make wonderful memories with your loved ones and have a fun, food filled day! Thank you for reading my blog, and I promise to write about lots of exciting topics in the new year!

Love, Claire


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Claire loves... illustration!

Even though I lose sleep, miss out on fun events, and my house looks like the Tasmanian devil spun through it, I love illustrating. I just finished a really challenging project that really tested my concentration abilities being able to put my head down and plow through it. At the end of the day I was really pleased with the end results! Here is a sneak peak of some progress work I did on what ended up being my favourite piece of the series:


It's for an article about being alone. To be an artist sometimes you need to spend large stretches of time in solitude so I really connected to the concept. Check out all of my hard work next Saturday January 1st.

I really can't wait until I can say that illustration is my full time job.

Oh, and by the way, Christmas eve is tomorrow. Excited much?

Just when I thought I was in the clear.

So, usually at Christmas time I will get at leastone illustration project, whether it be something Christmas related or a rush job to complete before the office clears out for the holidays. This year, I didn't think that was going to happen. I actually thought I would have ample time to complete my ambitious Christmas crafting list AND bake a few batches of cookies to boot!

I was wrong.

Thursday I had a phone call from the fine folks at the Toronto Star. I don't want to ruin any surprises, but know two things. First, pick up a copy of the Toronto Star on New Years Day, and second, I will be working every moment of the day until Christmas eve. This project is HUGE in multiple ways.

Anyhow, this was where I left off my crafty pursuits, and how I used my Gocco supplies:



Here are some pre- drawings.


Here is my messy creation centre, and Gocco machine.



End result- and ornament.


Here is my holiday card in progress.


You'll get a closer look on Friday when I can unglue my hand from paintbrush.

Have a good Monday peeps!