Here is a story with StickFiggy the stick-figure that is all about the magic words “thank you!”  Remember, while you are reading this to children who are too young to read or read fast enough, you can always hit pause and then resume when you both are ready! Do send me feedback as well! What other basic childhood lessons would you like to see?

Cheers,

Jane & StickFiggy

the little stick-figure with BIG stories

Yesterday I saw this adorable flower bobbing around in the breeze! I captured it on my nifty ipod video camera- sweet huh!? While playing around in imovie, I wondered if I could merge that footage with a semi-animated StickFiggy .  The above YouTube short movie is the product of all this wondering.

Please feel free to pass it along to anyone with little kids who might want to teach them NOT to just pick any flower! I had so much fun making it- feel free to comment.

Cheers,

Jane & StickFiggy

Modern whimsey for endless childhood. Show, not tell.

See in real time the process of drawing StickFiggy action sequences. For those of you who golf, I would like to share with you my little discovery: golf and drawing in non-erasable ink are VERY SIMILAR! Let me explain with a list of similarities:

1. Solid basics. Like swing mechanics of golf  you need basic familiarity with tools and craft of drawing.

2. Visualization. You need to be able to picture what you want to do. Imagine the ball going in the hole…imagine the stick figure’s exact body position.

3. Feel : as you do the swing or make the pen mark, you must go by feel. You can’t watch and evaluate AS you are swinging or drawing. When I’m drawing, the scale is often so small that I can’t actually see everything I’m doing as the pen itself is in the way. This does not matter.

4. Don’t over-think.  This always leads to a mediocre result.  Instincts do need to balance out the learned basics.

5. Relax. This is when the successful results can happen.

6. Joy- the Golf Gods and Art Gods might reward you when you have this during your attempt.

7. If you mess up….you just have to let it go and go to the next hole/get a new piece of paper.

8. Addictive-quality. Once you taste that pure zing of flow and intelligence directing your ball to the hole or crafting pure visual communication, your own world- new characters  - you want it again and again and again!

So…if you like golf, you might also like making art!

Cheers,

Jane and StickFiggy

StickFiggy and the Birds

See what happens later this week. The story will include a little message on writing “Thank You” letters.

Cheers,

Jane & StickFiggy

It has been a while since we’ve checked in on Neiman! This monkey NEVER gets enough!  This character is designed to showcase bad bahavior and to create drama! He gets a lot of laughs and is a good contrast to StickFiggy.

The above image is an example of what I  have been up to with my general (non-story-bound) drawings. So, for those of you not in close contact, I’m developing a series to license!  The original sketch for this drawing comes from a doodle on a note that I made while preparing a fax. It is from a year and 1/2 ago. Just for fun, and to show you how things improve, I’ll post the original sketch below:

Other than that, I’m still trying to work little chicks into my style whenever possible. I want them to be irresistibly cute and thematically linked to the currently under-construction female character.

…and the dots go on!

Thanks for visiting,

Jane & StickFiggy

Simple, bright, fresh, StickFiggy.com presents modern whimsey for endless childhood.

Don’t worry! More is coming soon.

StickFiggy is currently collaborating with Memetales.com to create some downloadable mini-stories that can be used on the latest iphone and ipad platforms. Also, I’m working really hard on finishing up the the StickFiggy at Sea book for a July 1st submission deadline.

Cheers,

Jane & StickFiggy

Good news! An 11 year old  fan of StickFiggy.com wrote a book and  her publishing team hired me to create and license a “StickFiggy-like” drawing for her cover. Here is what is now published and soon to be available at u.bookstore.com! Already there are some copies at the University of Washington’s Bookstore.

And here is a little detail on the book’s spine:

Wow! It is pretty neat to see what this young Rachel has accomplished with a little loving help from her parents, and her relative Ali, a very talented and popular Seattle folk-rock singer!

When I got the opportunity of this project, I was worried about using my actual “StickFiggy” style. This is because it is a brand identity and it only keeps its strength when images are linked back to “StickFiggy.” Part of the appeal of the images, lies in knowing the character as StickFiggy.

In the end, I decided that in order to help Rachel get the feeling of  my website work for her cover, I would include as many “StickFiggy” elements as possible without actually using a stick figure. So, I used the same mediums of my trusty fountain pen, the same paper, and the same bright clear colors.

The scale was a challenge. In order to keep to the feeling of my StickFiggy work, I couldn’t  draw 4″ tall really cute fairies with detailed pixy faces as I used to in the margins of high-school notebooks. One inch is pretty much the max height. So, I scaled their heads to their eyes which I determined would be no bigger than a dot from m pen’s tip. Even their mouths are just dots! This way, everything stayed simple, tiny, and clean- all things that I figured Rachel was expecting from me the StickFiggy artist!

The only little trick that is new to this piece, is the photoshop editing to the below fairy:

I put her in a separate layer and adjusted the opacity to about 20%. That way, she looks like she is actually in the light from the crystal.

From this project, I learned that while StickFiggy is my main brand and an actual character, my style  is strong enough to convey the same positive, whimsical, young feeling even when it is adapted it to a  custom graphic without a “stick-figure” per se.  Success! Thank you Rachel, Ali, and Karen for this milestone!

Remember, age is a terrible excuse for putting off  your aspirations.  Too old…too young…it’s all the same- an excuse.  Let’s just go for it like 11 year-old Rachel! Congrats girl!

Jane & StickFiggy