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It’s been about 4 months since I’d last posted anything on this ‘ere blog. With back to back deadlines and prepping for the arrival of our first newborn, the end of 2014 throughout the beginning of 2015 has been at the least to say chaotic and life changing..

If you follow me in any of my social media accounts you’ll notice an exorbitant amount of pictures {I apologize by the way..new mom syndrome you know..} of this little peapod,

Meet the new little addition to our growing family, Aria {yes we’re Game of Thrones fans} Rose. Born March 25th 2015 at 3:15 in the morning. It’s been a whole month since her arrival and aside from being sleep deprived, the late night feedings, milk vomits and spit ups, and her constant need to shriek at the top of her lungs..like ALL THE TIME…she hasn’t stopped putting a smile on our face since then.

she finds this all too amusing..

Now to top all that off I’m officially back to work! Hopefully the transition from old schedule to new schedule won’t be too bad

…who am I kidding!?..

..Ah well..wish me luck!

In the meantime here’s the artwork I did for Highlights this past month!

Happy Monday!

Yay! I finally received my copies of the January spread I did for Highlights Magazine! Love love LOVE how the colors came out on this one.

I hope you guys get to pick up a copy! 

So for those that don’t know yet, we’re expecting our first baby!! Yipee!!! I’m nearing my final trimester, there are two books in the pipeline with very tight back to back deadlines so I’m trying my best to beat the 3rd trimester fatigue and getting as much done as I can while I CAN!

I’ve been so wrapped up with work lately it’s been challenging to find the time to indulge in any holiday fun. But this weekend I put my foot on the breaks and was finally able to let myself indulge in some seasonal goodies. It was a nice and much needed break!

All the while I was working over the weekend on sketches for them, I received this little fun card from the team at ABDO. Thanks ABDO!

We finally found time to actually buy a tree (his name is “Monty”) and make some christmas cookies for the postman and a few of our dearest and nearest…I wrapped them fast this year, or else they’d all end up in my belly..hee hee. I tell yah, there’s nothing like taking in some holiday music and the smell of cookies and pine to get you caught right up in all this season cheer!!

Happy Holidays!!

It’s been quite a busy weekend full of baptisms and weddings and creative events. So exhausted, but it was all worth it.

This past Saturday we attended the Carousel for Kids event at Dixon Place (NYC) which was hosted by R. Sikoryak and Neil Numberman. It’s a yearly event where these wonderful writers and illustrators read their zany comics and other creations to kids of all ages! It was pretty entertaining!

The best part was when they picked some kids in the audience to help them read their comics. And most of the kids were so gung-ho about volunteering.

This past Sunday I attended my first ever CBIG portfolio review where we were all given the opportunity to speak with 2 editors or art directors of our choice and share our work with them one on one. What a great experience!

An editor from Penguin Group suggested I venture into drawing for older kids and experiment more with lettering. It’s actually something I’d been meaning to explore a bit more so you might be seeing more tweens  and tween themed illustrations in the coming months.

My favorite part of the afternoon was seeing other peoples work and book dummies. It was all so inspiring. Here’s hoping I get inspired enough to write a story myself soon!

Oh and don’t forget to check out the December issue of Highlights for Children to find this little dittie I did over the summer!

Wishing you all a Happy &  Creative Week!!

It’s been a great year so far. I can’t believe it’s fall already. So much has been happening in my camp lately it’s a bit too much to take it all in sometimes.

Highlights Illustrator Workshop

Last week I was invited to spend the weekend at the Highlights Foundation in Honesdale, PA for the Highlights Illustrator’s Workshop specifically for new for New Highlights Illustrators! From the moment we arrived till the weekend ended it was such a memorable and amazing experience.

I  had the privilege of staying in the founders original home which was so beautiful, everything remained intact and well-preserved including the family library which had their collection of child psychology books from 1900′s.  Pretty darn neat!

Most of the weekend activities were spent at The Barn, an open space specifically for workshop activities and dining…Oh! speaking of dining..the food was an absolute treat! There was something for everyone’s palette and most of the food was locally grown and organic. It was one of the most refreshing dining experiences I’ve ever experienced.

Now I’m to going to go into detail about the workshop itself just incase you are one of the newer artists that happen to stumble onto this blog looking for insights on what to expect at a Highlights Workshop. I’d like to keep you guessing and excited for whats waiting for you! But…if you are a bit more curious about the details of our weekend check out Rich Powell’s blog post about our weekend here. Just know that it’s an amazing time with a great group of people who share the same passion for children’s art as you do. The camaraderie you build in such a short amount of time is just outstanding and leaves such an impression.

I can’t say this enough, I had the most amazing time that a week later I’m still riding the Highlights high! 

Hi there! boo on me for lack of updates! Summer’s been busy for me.

Working on a few things I can’t wait to share, but it probably won’t be for a while. In the meantime here’s a spread I did last November for National Geographic I believe it was published last March so I’m assuming its ok to share. More to come for this year and next! Can’t wait! I hope you guys are having a great a summer as I am! Cheers!

“The Sun Song”
© National Geographic – Learning Cengage 2013.

This makes for quite an interesting voyage!

Working on fun things this week. Starting with a fun little spread about a family of birds. I love that I get to flex some background work in this one..I always loved working on buildings and such.

 More work talk of work to come.

Until then Happy Week!

Just finished up these Ocean themed critters! My fave is the whale. 

They’re available now in the Etsy Store!

get them now at:
Etsy    or     TpT

I’ve been busy working on my digital shop over at Etsy lately. It’s so addicting coming up with new items, themes and sets..who knew I’d have such a fun time making these little ditties! Check them out at the new digital download store on Etsy!

get them now at:
Etsy    or     TpT

New addition to the blog!

FREEBIE FRIDAY!

I’ve been obsessing over creating cute little clip arts lately. Mostly ’cause I never have any handy when someone asks me to make invitations, birthday cards, etc. In doing so I thought I’d share a free downloadable file to you every friday. Here’s this weeks download:

click here to download

Enjoy!

I thought this would also be the perfect time to announce
I have a new store on Etsy!

Beautifique Digital is where you can find all sorts of digital downloadable goodies.
It’s a little bare right now, but come visit me often. More updates on the way!

HAPPY FIRDAY! ..er FRIDAY!

Earlier this year I’d gotten the heads up {YAY!} that I’d been given the opportunity to contribute to On Deck 9 an annual art auction by the good people of the Missoula Skatepark Association {MSA} to raise money to upkeep their beloved MOBASH skatepark. I love being able to be part of a community that promotes outdoor activities and I get to paint on a skateboard once again, which is always pretty pluckin’ rad! 

So just finished this piece and is on its way to Montana to be displayed at the Brink Gallery from April 18th through the month of May.

If your interested in bidding on this piece or ANY of the wonderful work in the gallery the bidding starts on April 18th and ends on May 1st.  For additional info visit our friends at MSA: www.montanaskatepark.org/ondeck .

 Happy Bidding folks!!!

xoxo,
Ninz

Working on a quite a few things this month. Including this nautical themed illustration. And what started off at a day in the beach for these kids..

ended up a day in the backyard..

 then a flight on a magical bath tub and a bird stealing their lunch..

I don’t know what sparks these ideas in my head..they just demand to be created sometimes. hehe. Can’t wait to see them finished though.

Until next time!

HAPPY TUESSY KIDS!

Another fun family portrait commissioned by a beautiful family. I loved that they had a vision for this portrait. This scene is inspired by their beautiful 2 year old daughters love for duckies. I love duckies too! Which made this such a fun project to work on.

This baby’s ready to be shipped off to its permanent home in Ohio!

Hope you like your new print Tobias Family!

Hugs & Kisses, Nina

Last month the good people at the Montana Skatepark Association invited me to create work on a skate deck for their annual fundraising gallery show called ON DECK 7.

The money raised will go towards construction and maintenance of  Missoula’s MOBASH skatepark. The art decks will be displayed on May 4th, at the Brink Gallery in Missoula, MT where they will also begin the silent/online auction. So lookout for that come May! Visit the MSA website for more information.

Anything that keeps us active and off the streets is A-OK with me! 

I was super psyched to be given the opportunity to create work on a skate deck since I’ve never worked on a surface like this before. Prior to receiving the skate deck I had a few ideas in mind but nothing sounded as fun as creating a tree house and possibly a place where Animal Chin lives! (Special thanks to the BF, for telling me the Legend of Animal Chin.)

Here’s the fun process of finding Animal Chins House:

Step 1:  I started out with a quick sketch of the tree and a faint mapping of where I’d like to see the leaves.

Step 2:  I painted a thin layer of gesso on top of the sketch.
Step 3:  Laid out some color for the grass and painted layer of green as an underpainting for the tree.

Step 4:  Started to lay in some actual color for the tree trunk..There goes my boss…micromanaging.

Step 5:  Once I got the trunk texture down, I worked on the house, and added a thin layer of gesso on the stairs for later.

Step 6:  I started to work on the stairs, and the little look out point on the middle left making sure to use a slightly different wood tones for the stairs so the tree and wood wouldn’t blend.

Step 7:  I was really planning to keep the natural wood exposed for the finish but it was looking too brown and very monochromatic. (Boo.) So I placed some contact paper on the tree hou

This week I have the pleasure of introducing you to Nina Mata. You may recognize her first piece of art, since it is one that she sent in to be shown off with the other February Illustrations. Nina has been drawing for as long as she can remember. In 1996, she attended the High School of Art & Design where she concentrated in Commercial Arts minored in cheerleading, film, and boys. In 2004, she switched from Fine Arts and majored in Illustration at The Fashion Institute of Technology.

Since then she has been freelancing full-time in illustration and graphic design working with a variety of cliente. She currently is a 2D concept artist for a social gaming company. Nina says, “I love and truly enjoy what I do!” She specializes in character development, illustrating for the children’s market, editorial illustrations, children’s books illustration.

Here’s Nina: The Process

My process has changed over the course of 2 years, and it continues to change as I hone in my style, for example I have completely transitioned to digital from conceptual sketches to final works (though on occasions I will go back to a basic paper and pencil). Although my technique is constantly changing and ever evolving, there are certain steps that remain the same.

I usually start out with a few rough sketches, study the place, person, and or setting, and figure out the best way to execute the layout. I love close up shots of my characters I think the face can express so much more than the body sometimes. After I get a general idea of how I might want the finish to look like I start tightening up my sketch. Now days it’s been a lot easier for me to manipulate my sketches exactly how I want them (without wasting paper) since I can work with many different layers on Photoshop. If the work is for a client I’ll tighten up the entire sketch, but for my promotional pieces and personal work I’ll usually just sketch out the main subject and let it “tell me” about its background, it’s much more fun that way.

After the sketches are laid out how I want them, I’ll move on to coloring. Since I work digitally I usually set up a layer strictly for my color palette to save a little time looking for colors. I like to bring in my training as a traditional artist in adjacent with my digital work by first doing an under painting, especially with the skin tones, I’ll usually paint it a layer of under tone (cool purple) on top of the actual skin color.

Once I have a general rough coloring in place I would add a layer of texture on top to add a little body and a sense of hand painted look about it. Sometimes, I’ll add the texture in the beginning so I know how saturated to keep the color palette.

There’s no way FLUID would get into this super duper high tech waterproof submarine!

I wasn’t planning on putting anything up for this weeks IF, but this seemed to fit the theme. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do! The line work of this super awesome submarine was done by my nephew, Ralph Allen.

3 or so weeks ago, I came home to find this envelope in our kitchen table. Inside this thick envelope were awesome drawings of dinosaurs and other doodles from my 7 yr old nephew.

Tucked inside all these crazy dino sketches was this amazing looking contraption that I couldn’t keep my eyes off of.

His line work was so great and detailed and I thought how great would this be colored!? So I traced Ralph Allens line work, added some details and a background… It came out great!
This idea was inspired by Dave Devries‘s Monster Engine.

 It is such a rewarding feeling knowing I’ve made an impact in his creative explorations. I wasn’t going to let his work go unnoticed as this definitely deserved more than a simple “Thank You“. This was a perfect way to thank him for sharing his work with me!

Got a special package from the UK over the weekend! I’m honored to be taking part in contributing artwork for The Willow Foundation‘s “Stars on Canvas” charity event taking place some time this winter of 2012. Stars on Canvas is an online auction that raises money to support and provide psychological and emotional support for the seriously ill from age 16 to 40 years of age.

I don’t think I can tell you how much pleasure I get out of knowing that I’m able to contribute to causes like these, I really do feel grateful that I’m able to help out others the best possible way I know how! I can’t wait to get started.

This blank canvas is pretty intimidating. Not only is it smaller than how I usually work, it also takes me out of my digital comfort zone! There also seems to be no theme which I find quite challenging. Totally excited!! Hopefully I’ll come up with an idea soon! Will post updates.

In the meantime, if you’re interested in participating in this years Stars on Canvas do contact Hannah Doogan at Hannah{DOT}Doogan{AT}willowfoundation.org.uk. She’d be happy to provide you more information on this great cause!

Last month, I was given the opportunity to create a family portrait for an expecting mommy and her expanding family. This was one of the most enjoyable commissions I’ve received thus far. She was such a joy to work with and this is just about the most laid back family I’ve ever met.

The thing(s) I enjoy most about private commissions, is that there’s a bit more freedom in terms of what I add to each piece, whether it be playing around with new textures or brushes or a new technique etc. Private commissions allow me to grow which is just about the most rewarding experiences one can receive as an artist.

Yayers. Hope the family enjoys this as much as I do!

It’s fun to separate a gang of pigeons and watch them fly off to different corners..

as long as they don’t poop on you on their way up.

Busy month and year ahead. Doing a series of these two kids and their adventure around New York City. Where will they end up next? Your guess is as good as mine. Preparing for next years SCBWI Winter Conference (which is less than 2 months away). Working on new art to show my agent, new promo pieces, new art for the portfolio showcase…busy busy busy. I’ve a slightly different style than what I started out with this year and a slightly different method of (digital) painting. I like it! Hope everyone does too.

I haven’t done a time-lapse video in a while…maybe I should for the next one. In the meantime, I’ve been posting work in progress captures on the Facebook page!

HAPPY FRIDAY!

The Queen of Toy Land and her purple court jester!
He doesn’t look like he likes this game much. 

A private commission from a good friend. A gift for his wife and daughter for Calista’s 1st birthday! (so sweet.) This kid unbelievably cute. Apparently this is exactly the kind of love that Calista and Chloe have for one another. It’s interesting how their cat doesn’t claw her, if I tried to do that to my cat I’d hear grumbling followed by an intense need to squirm and claw her way out of my grip…I tried this last week..

The final image was 15×16″ so it needed to be custom framed. Had a hard time trying to find a custom frame shop that would be able to finish the frame on time for her 1st birthday. But luckily we found someone who got it done 3 days after the Thanksgiving weekend.  They did a lovely job at that. I hope they love it as much as I do.

 Tabitha got a little jealous during the unwrapping.

Earl and his pet “dog” Lurkey, Wish you a Happy Turkey Day!

I sure do have a lot to be thankful for this year! But its all gone by so fast. I wish I could hold on to it just a little bit longer…

Oh well.

Thanksgiving lunch at my house. This year I’m going to go at it in cooking my very first turkey. Let’s hope it’s edible! Will post the outcome…

maybe!

Gooble Gobble!! Happy Thanksgiving folks!

Dear Dearest Snow,

———– You win. I snowrender. Now go away.

Love Always (preferably once a year),

Nina Mata

Brown paper packages tied up with string…

If you’re new to the blog earlier this week I decided to giveaway a copy of a skeletal sketch from one of my favorite 90’s cartoon character. And as many of you guessed it is in deed Babs Bunny from Warner Brothers Tiny Toons Adventures.

And without further ado I’d like to congratulate

Yileen

for being the first to email me her response and winning this weeks giveaway. And also a big thank you for the follow!

Thank you for all so much to those who participated!

I had so much fun reading all of your entries!  I’ll to set up another giveaway soon.

Until then … HAPPY FRIDAY!

I wonder if Michael Paulus and I had the same anatomy professor in college…

I thought  a skeletal study/sketch of a favorite 90′s Warner Bro’s cartoon would be a great spooky post for this week…but it still seems to lean towards cute (sigh). Can you guess who it is? This is pretty easy so let’s have fun with this one. First person who guesses who this character is get’s a free 8×10 copy to add to your Halloween decor.

Big Hint: I’m a girl…I’m tiny..I’m toony…we’re all a little looney..and in this cartooney they’re invading your TV..

Email me at [email protected] your mailing address and answer by the end of this week and I’ll announce the winner on Friday, or early next Monday. Good luck!

HAPPY MONDAY!

Christmas Radio’s playing on Pandora, drinking a nice cup of hot coco, doodling snow flakes, reindeers and elves …‘tis that time of the year again! At the studio at least. Lately I’ve been in complete holiday mode busy preparing for the season rush. Having a ton of fun creating illustrations and design ideas, but what I’m mostly excited about is that a lot of this years cards are predominantly inspired by Parols (traditional Filipino Christmas lanterns).

Growing up I’ve always been fascinated with Christmas Parols. I love everything about them, from the various types of designs, their intricate details, to the scent of baked ube in which I’ve somehow associated them with. Traditionally Parols have two components, the five pointed star and a pair of tails to represent rays of light (think shooting star) which symbolizes the star of Bethlehem that guided the Three Wise Men on their journey. Above is a sneak peek look at this years Parol inspired cards. More updates on this in the weeks ahead!

Happy Thursday!