Rare Bird Co. Studio Newsletter #3

Happy March, here’s some recent happenings from the Rare Bird Co. studio + some fun links and inspirations around the web.

The 100 Day Project

I’m participating in #the100dayproject hosted by Lindsay Jean Thomson. If you’ve never heard of it, the basic idea is just to do something, usually art related, for 100 days and share it. So far I’ve made 3 painted collage pieces, 3 digitally illustrated drawings, then 3 more painted collage pieces. I’ve just naturally been working in multi-piece chunks and switching back and forth between digital and traditional mediums. It’s interesting to take note of that, but I’m not tied to that format yet.

I’ve decided no rules for now, I’m just going to see where inspiration leads me. I run an art/design business, but the day to day aspects of running a business often leave me with little time to actually DO art. The goal for me is just to make art and creativity more of a daily practice, more front and center. More updates and reflections to come via the newsletter or follow along on Instagram if you’d like.

History Trading Card Game

History has been on our brains lately. My history loving son just competed in the history bee with his school’s history club. He finished second place for his grade and made it into Nationals! We’ll be going to Orlando for that event in May.

Lately our family has also been delving into the trading card game world. We’ve been playing Magic the Gathering, Lorcana, Pokemon, Star Wars, etc and playing in leagues and tournaments around Richmond, VA. It’s something my husband and I originally started to have fun with Maxwell, but we’ve surprised ourselves by really enjoying them on our own as well.

My son has merged his two interests by developing a trading card game with a historical theme and we’ve been working on the art for the cards together. He’s been sketching the images and I’ve been digitally inking them from there. I’ve been trying to keep it true to his original sketch with very minor revisions. You can see a time lapse of me inking a drawing here.

Two of the cards we’ve worked on are shown above. I don’t know how this project will play out, but it’s been fun working together so far. I love encouraging his art and creative ideas!

Art inspiration: Comic style artists

I’ve been working in a new line art style. Whenever my art style and interests evolve, I do a fair amount of research for artistic inspiration and references. I love seeing what else is out there in that style and what others have done with it. I then take that research and see what I can develop in my own style from there. Here are four comic style artist I’ve been inspired by lately.

• Kelcey Ervick - This artist creates visual stories and has co-edited a book about graphic literature - basically the art of combining visuals with words. I am excited to pair more words with my art practice.

• Malakan Gharib - Working as a digital editor for NPR by day, she uses imagery and words for journalistic purposes in such a fun way. Her memoir comics are lovely and fun as well.

• Grant Snider - Author of Poetry Comics, well known for his simplistic but profound comic poetry.

• Kat Schneider - The line work, texture and colors are sooo good.

Things We’re Consuming Lately

• Current library haul! The covers were vibing with the colors on my IG feed. Two fiction and two graphic novels. Currently half way through the new Sally Rooney, not my favorite of hers so far, I reallly loved Normal People. I’ve read few stories from ‘Through the Woods’ and have to admit, though it’s beautifully illustrated, they did scare me a little. And it’s in the YA section, so maybe I’m just a scaredy cat.

• I recently read Frizzy, a kids’ graphic novel, with my daughter and we both loved it. We personally both have somewhat ‘frizzy’ hair and are on our own journeys to embrace our natural hair. I love the conversations that this book brought up about conventional standards of beauty in our society and how we can choose not to follow them. Perfect for my approaching pre-teen daughter who is staring to become more self aware of these sorts of things. Lastly, the art and soft color palette are beautiful!

• Severance has been on my watch list for awhile and we finally to watching it a few weeks ago. My partner and I binged watched this fever dream/sci-fi/dystopian show and we are finally caught up and totally hooked. So many questions, so many theories. I’ve haven’t been this invested in a show in a while and can’t wait for the next episodes to come out. It’s spooky, funny, thought provoking and terrifying all in one. Truly recommend it if you aren’t watching.

‘Till next time. As always, thanks for being here,

Pauline Stanley
Founder/Designer
therarebirdco.com

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