7.23.16 New Posters, New Book, New World!

Hi there,
Welcome back to me studio after a very long hiatus!
I moved to Los Angeles at the beginning of this year so I'm in a new world and figuring my way around.  LA is an interesting place.  I feel more aware of the earth and the fragility of our world living here because every now and then the ground rumbles or there is apocalyptic-looking smoke rising on the horizon from whatever wild fire is raging.

Not a tornado sky, a wildfire sky--they look pretty similar.

It's....interesting.  But what I love about being here is that there are so many talented visual artists, this is a huge creative community and they are doing work that inspires and challenges me, I love it!  Also, I'm engaged now and pretty happy about it so impending apocalypse aside, I like LA alright.

Me and my baby!

The big news is that my first book, "Joseph, the Dreamer"  is now available for pre-order on Amazon!  It will be in stores October 1st, 2016.  Hey!  Look!  I already got mine----------------------->


I'm so excited!  It's already been reviewed by Kirkus!  here's a link:
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/becky-laff/joseph-the-dreamer/

I'm so flattered they mentioned the Egyptian backgrounds--I wanted it to look as close to what we think it looked like as I could get.  I will be able to share my work from "Joseph, the Dreamer" as soon as the book is publicly released in October--and I have SO much to share!!


In fact, have so much to share that it will take a few posts to catch up on everything I've been doing since I got to Los Angeles but I'll start with my new set of posters for Columbia Children's Theatre.   It's going to be a fun season!  Check it out:

"Miss Nelson is Missing,"
Poster art for Columbia Children's Theatre, 2016

"Duck for President"
Poster art for Columbia Children's Theatre, 2016

 "Miss Nelson is Missing" was one of my favorite books as a kid and I also love the Cows That Type series that "Duck for President" comes from.

For this poster of Cinderella, I really wanted to capture her survival spirit.  A person living in horrible conditions, who is still kind, still helpful, still good and who never gives up hope that things can change and become better and that dreams can come true.  I love that aspect of her story and I believe in it, too:

"Cinderella"
Poster art for Columbia Children's Theatre 2016

"James and the Giant Peach"
Poster art for Columbia Children's Theatre 2016

One of my favorite books with so many fun visuals to play with! But the image of the birds is the sky and the epic journey to a new and better life are what inspired me with this image.  Haha I guess I can relate to that!














I've done a few posters now for the Commedia (now RagTag Theatre!)  and I think I really nailed the characters now--in fact I was told that they use my illustrations as a guide for the costumes now which is one of the best compliments I've ever gotten!  I think this poster really captures the tone and humor of this show and its troupe of characters:

"The Commedia Sleeping Beauty"
Poster art for Columbia Children's Theatre

You can get more information about Columbia Children's Theatre as well as tickets their shows here:

http://www.columbiachildrenstheatre.com/

Check them out!  They do great things.

I've got so much more work to share but I will save it for the next post--so come back soon! 

Don't forget, to follow me on instagram!

http://instagram.com/beckylaff

Thanks for the visit, web-friends!

More to come....

Love,  Beckaroo!

11.27.15 Welcome back!

Hello!
Wow, it's been so long since I posted but I am finally done with my book, Joseph the Dreamer--it will be out next fall of 2016! (published by KarBen books and Lerner publications) Don't worry, I will let you all know when you can buy copies.  I can't share any of the art from it until then--which is SO hard!!!--but I have been playing around with some sketching and other things to decompress, so I have some fun things to post...The first thing I wanted to work was more of my galactic dancers.  I love them, right now I'm working with our closest neighbor, Andromeda:

Andromeda Galaxy 1

Andromeda Galaxy 2

I love drawing dancers so much!  It's the thing that comes most naturally to me.  So, of course, when I am drawing just for fun that is what I will likely do and here are some ballerinas for you:

Prima Ballerina Alessandra Ferri, Graphite and Ink Wash 2015

Odile, The Black Swan, graphite and ink wash 2015

 Here are some drawings of the dance of the dying swan...I love Swan Lake!

The Dying Swan, graphite and ink wash 2015

Recently a a friends of mine comissioned some drawings of The Nutcracker, for an ad she is designing (I will post that when it's completed)  Here are the preliminary drawings, I am going to add a wash to it and a little pop of color, too, but for now I do love how they came out:

The Nutcracker, studies 2015

 Another one of my obsessions is Once Upon a Time....okay when I first saw the show I didn't like but then something happened and now I love it so much--I even love the parts I hate--what's wrong with me???  One of my favorite things is how multi-dimensional the characters are--especially in the first season when they are all under the Evil Queen's curse--their cursed selves are so different from their normal selves. it's really fun to capture that.  My first attempt at some character design for them is Snow White/Mary Margaret:

Snow White/Mary Margaret, graphite and inkwash/sketchbook 2015

Ooooh YES, I'm getting back into the swing of things!  Also I am finally on Instagram so you can follow me here (and I am posting daily--or I try to, anyway!)

https://www.instagram.com/beckylaff

I am also keeping an account just for my sock monkey work and I'm finally finishing up "The Sock Monkey Tarot," which is both awesome AND functional! Sock Monkeys make everything better.
You can follow that progress here:

https://www.instagram.com/sockmonkeyworld

Check it out, follow it and love it!
Thanks for the visit!  Much more to come, so be back soon, friends!

Love, Beckarooo!

08.21.15 Galactic Collision!

Hey there!
This will be a little bit shorter of a post.  I'm in the middle of coloring "Joseph, the Dreamer" and it's consuming my life!!!!!  Joseph  has 11 brothers and I've been drawing and coloring so many bunny brothers that I'm seeing them in my sleep now. So to fend off the bunny madness and cleanse my palette a bit, I've been playing with my ballerina series and you know, spiral galaxies look like tutus to me.  I am always seeing ballerinas twirling in the cosmos AND so, here is my WIP series, Galactic Collision:

"Galactic Collision"  WIP 2015

"Andromeda Galaxy"  WIP 2015

Eventually, inevitably, the Andromeda Galaxy will collide with our galaxy, the Milky Way, and then, after a swirling, spiraling cosmic dance, they will become one even bigger and more amazing galaxy–together.  It’s really sweet!!!!  

Science is fun!  (and sometimes romantic.) 

Now, back to all of my bunnies!  (And sometimes the Paris Opera House.)

Thanks for the visit and, as always, more to come!!!  

Love, Beckarooo!

07.12.15 Ballet!

Hi there!
Thanks for visiting my blog, which I am terrible at keeping up with....I've been buried in my book, "Joseph, the Dreamer" and I needed a little break so I decided to play around this week--and that means I have new work I can post!  I am in love with drawing ballet and so I spent most of my time working on some ballet art.  Here are some sketches:

Fifth Positions, sketch

ballet sketches!

I've been having a lot of fun playing with color in my book so I used this as a color and pattern exercise, too.  Here are a couple of more in-depth drawings.

"La Fille Mai Gardee, fifth position" 2015

"Don Quixote, arabesque" 2015

I love them!  I am going to make more, more more!  I have been thinking about ballet so much lately and I love the music of Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky so I played a bit with that and I love what I came up with:

"Swan Lake" 2015

I love the direction this is going in, so I will surely be creating more of this in the future.

Don't worry, I've also been working on "Phantom."  I'm working on the scripts and the layouts but here is a new piece of conceptual that I think turned out nicely:

"Anywhere you go, let me go, too..." 2015

More of that on the way, too.

And, hey! I also played around with some images of Xena, the warrior princess.  My dad is a big Xena fan and he introduced me to her.  I love her!  I don't know why it took me so long to draw a picture of her!

Xena, sketches

Well, I've had a fun break but it is back to Ancient Egypt and the story of Joseph.  I can't wait for you to see it!  (In so much time from now....ugh!!!)  but it is going to be a beautiful and adorable book!  Till then, I will post what work I can, I've got some new theater posters to share, soon, so come back, soon!

Thanks for the visit--more to come!!
Love, Beckaroo!!!!!

05.06.15 More Phantom Fun!

Hey there!
I've finally finished the layouts for the un-masking scene from Andrew Lloyd Webber's  "Phantom of the Opera."  I have only had time to bring one of these pages to completion and I love how it looks, I will show you that first--here it is:

"Stranger than you dreamt it..."  pg 4

I love the lighting!  With this work I want to create a sense of being in a theatrical setting, as opposed to an actual room or environment.  This book is about the experience of the play and I hope that will come across, strongly....here are the layouts:

"Stranger than you dreamt it..." pages 1 and 2 

"Stranger than you dreamt it..."  pages 3 and 4

"Stranger than you dreamt it...."  pages 5 and 6

I love it so much!!!!!!  I love Phantom.  I love Opera, too.  I love playing with lyrics, music and poetry, so I've been really inspired by this project and now I have a thousand million more ideas!  HOWEVER, since I'm about to be completely bogged down with work (goodbye any thoughts of summer fun times!) I won't be able to take these pages much further past this point for a few months. :-(  I do love how it's coming along, though! And BTW the next scene I'm going to jump in to will be  "Notes/Twisted Every Way..."  Another scene with great emotionality and lots of musicality to play with--plus all the main characters! I'm SO looking forward to it!  (and so are you!!)

 Before I sign off, I would love to share these character designs for Meg Giry.  I am working on the look of all the characters but I decided to start with Meg because she is totally beloved.  She is a bit in the shadows at first but she is such a badass in the end.  This what I'm thinking she'll look like:

Meg Giry, character ideas, 2015

So far the reaction on the inter-webs has been great, so thank you so much for all the phantom love and encouragement!  It's great to know that there is a strong audience out there for this work and I can't wait to bring you more, more more!!!!
BUT!
For now, I must get back to other projects!  I'lm working on more theatre posters (YAY!!!) as well as another coloring book and, of course, MY book, which is now called  "Joseph, the Dreamer."  which I like because that's what he is and that's what I am, too. :-))))  Back to work!

Love, Beckaroooo!!!

04.16.15 A Quick Birthday Post!

Just a short and very special post to say:
Happy Birthday to my twin sister, Elly!
I made this for (y)our birthday:

Elly's Birthday Turtle!  2015

Elly loves turtles and she has a little turtle named Yertle with a super fancy tank--he lives SWANK.  She also has one tatooed on the top of her foot (OUCH!!!)  I couldn't even watch it happen, I had to leave the room!

Being twins is awesome, Elly is more than my best friend, she's also my worst enemy, biggest fan and the one who knows me the most of all.  I love her SOOOOO much!!!  that's why she gets a whole post from me to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY, twinsie!!!!  I hope you love this silly little guy!  Mostly I hope you have a wonderful, fabulous day!
You are my favorite and also you are a super hero.
I Love you!!!

Love, Beckarooo!!!!

3.12.15 Sock Monkeys!

Hey there,
This post is all about my sock monkeys!!!  I love making sock monkeys and because recently a friend gave me a sewing machine (thanks!!!) I have been making more and more.  I don't know why, but making a monkey is a very relaxing activity for me.  People seem to like them, which is always nice.  I like to give them as gifts--and only my most favorite people have one--but mostly I like seeing them.  They are so cute, I love taking pics of them...They are best in large group shots like this:

Monkeys, monkeys everywhere....

Many Monkeys...

Of course, I have also made a few traditional monkeys....but they aren't as much fun--except for the second guy from the left--he's got a bit of a drinking problem...:-/

Stranger in a Traditional Land...

The traditional monkey holds a special place in my heart--they often figure into my stories..

....but I love my monkeys more, of course...I love all the different patterns and colors--and no two monkeys are alike!  (which is why I hate selling them!!!) Lately, I've been trying to be good about documenting them, but it's not a big deal so I tend to forget and plus I have other, more pressing deadlines, usually...but here is a small sampling...

I have thought a lot about making little  monkey selfie portraits, like these:

My monkeys give me a lot to think about!  I have a lot of different ideas for them, so in time you will see my sock monkey--tons of them, everywhere!!!!! So, I thought they deserved to have a little blog post, since they inspire me so much--it's the simple things in life, you know? ;-)
And now, back to Joseph and lands of Canaan...
Thanks for the visit!
Love, Beckaroooo!!!

12.31.14 One Last Post for 2014!

Hey there!
welcome back to my studio....for this, my last post of 2014, I thought I would focus on the other work I do that gets tons and tons of hits--my dancing drawings!  This year I had my first solo exhibition featuring these drawings. Normally, I view drawing as a means to an end because as a story-teller, I am using it as a visual language to communicate but this project was just about the act of drawing--and drawing the thing I love to draw the most which is the figure in motion.  I'm not much of a dancer but I love to watch it and even more, I love to draw it.  I'm not a fine artist and I never had any ambitions of being a gallery-type artist so it was a really nice treat to have had this experience. Thanks, Altered Esthetics, for putting it on!  And here, direct to you, is the full collection:

Company BLU, 2013

Dancing Arms, 2013

Saut de Chat Arabesque, 2013

Twirling, 2013

Twist, 2013

Spiral Arms, 2013

Zenon 2, 2013

Zenon Arms, 2013

  And here is a bunch of solo poses:

Solo Poses, 2013

It was really fun to have an opening with all my friends and a bunch of strangers!  And overall the show had a super positive response, which was really cool...here's a pic of me at the show (this one is my fave:)

Beckaroooooo!!! 2014

But there was even more!  I submitted some other dancing themed work for a juried show at the Las Lagunas Gallery in LA and I got in!  Well...this piece got in:

Ballerina Graffiti 3, 2013

 I really liked the moody lighting in that photo so I made these, too:

Dancer Adjusting Her Shoe, 2014

Neon Tutu, 2014

I did a few more of these but I'm running out of time and space!  So those are the ones you get.

My favorite part of this project was getting to sit in on rehearsals and dance classes and to see and draw the dancers in action right in front of me--it was such a fun experience working on this series and huge ego boost to boot! haha  ...But, alas, I haven't been able to pursue it recently because I've been so busy with my book and other things and that's cool--I really enjoyed the experience--I'm sure I'll do more in the future, in the meantime--thanks for all the hits and all the encouragement and compliments--I love compliments!! :-)))

I hope you had a good 2014, mine was pretty cool, I must say.
Thanks for visiting and I'll see you next year! :-)
Love, Beckaroooooo!!!!!