Outside Again

First, thank you all so much for your kind words on my last post and/or facebook about my senior thesis! It's been a ton of work and it's great to know that I saw this whole thing through.

Anyway, I am so excited to be shooting outside again!

My sweetie mommy got me a new tripod for Easter (the one that Michelle recommended me actually) and now I can go out of my dingy studio to take photos. Obviously I was so pumped to be outdoors that I didn't adjust the brightness properly and now my dress kindof hurts my eyes. But other than that they turned out real cute! I can't wait to go on adventures with this baby.

Good old Cotton building, I will miss you. It seems I'm down to my last few weeks at Winthrop ever, which is freaking me out a little. Mile markers like graduation always get me thinking about the past. I've changed so much since highschool. Like I used to be super uncomfortable with poop jokes and I corrected people's grammar all the time. I had a pair of black Converse I wore every day that were full of holes. Drew on my jeans, too. I was really into musical theater, and not really into makeup.

Still a cat person tho.

Dress: Target

Jackets: Thrifted

Shoes: Urban Outfitters

Socks: Uniqlo

Necklace: Forever 21

Looking forward to the bright new future rn.

Art Lately: Change is Good

for inconnumag

for a zine I made that I'll put in my shop soon!

did some book covers

my new favorite

Since I'm graduating and all I've been thinking back on (my life) a lot.

Specifically, since I'm about to get a degree in Illustration, I've been thinking about my art style in particular and how it's changed.
I used to be really into fairytale illustration, and illustrating things I read about in books (especially couples, I was all about couples). My art used to be really escapist and whimsical, and though there are still elements of that in what I do, I think the focus has changed.
As I learned more about feminism and racism and discrimination in college, my art developed with my mind. My art has always been really important to me, like it's an extension of myself. It's why I'm not good at taking critique on my personal work, because I feel like if you don't like my art, you don't like me. And if someone really gets my art, I take it as a major compliment, like "Rachel, I like your SOUL."

In the past year, my art has taken a turn towards a more girl-power oriented deal, and it's definitely more concept-driven. I used to paint things just because they looked pretty (there's nothing wrong with that, btw), but now I think, "What message can I get across with this piece?" I paint more portraits now, I actually have a hard time painting anything but, because I love faces so much.

I think a good way to summarize the changes in my work is that I'm much more interested in painting real things for real people than imaginary stuff.

Memory Lane

Holy crap, guys! I'm so happy to say that I am done with my senior thesis project!

Memory Lane is a collection of clothing hand-stamped with patterns that center on the them of nostalgia.

Click to view on Glossi.com

I started this in fall when I designed my patterns. I then cut my own stamps and printed them on ethically sourced clothing. I thrifted the shirts, and the fabric for the skirts, which are hand sewn. I then found some models and conducted a photoshoot with them in my clothes. I made some illustrations from these photos. Lastly I designed a lookbook for them!

You can now purchase the shirts and skirts on Etsy!

Also, just for my blogger friends, I'm selling totes, too. The totes I made didn't hold up well in the wash, so I decided only to sell the ones that didn't smudge, and at a discount ($8). If you're interested in purchasing the Lights, Fishies, or Dandelion totes, please contact me! I'm also going to take custom orders for these, so please email me at rachelsullivanillustration@gmail.com if you want one!

Mod Skirt

Today I wore this fabulous mod corduroy skirt that made my legs look buff..?

I've got about two weeks left at school here and less than a month until I've graduated and am on my way to Italy! Thank god, too, because being here is wearing me out! Now is a complicated time.

Shirt: American Apparel

Skirt, Necklace: Vintage

Shoes: Wanted

Bow: Made by Me

Guest Post at Cuddly Cacti

I've known Dus through blogging for awhile, and she is sweet as can be! She just did a interview with me about my art, so go check it out!

Sunshine and Rainbows

Today I'm going to talk about some things that I am happy about, because I feel like I do a lot of bitching and complaining on the blog, and yeah ok my life isn't always sunshine and rainbows, but it is sometimes!

1. My parents take care of me.

2. I'm good at painting rad ladies.

3. I have pretty dresses.

4. My friends make me laugh.

5. Travis is my soul mate.

6. The weather is nice right now.

7. I'm going to have a college degree in a month.

8. I get to go to fuckin Italy!

9. I have pretty lipsticks.

10. I have a rockin bod.

What do ya'll have going for ya?

Shirt: Old Navy

Jeans: American Eagle

Shoes: Urban Outfitters (on hella sale, too)

Crown: Made by Me

Lipstick: Mac Morange

Anime Babes Part 1

I'm working on an ongoing series about my favorite anime characters. So here are all the anime babes I've painted in the past month!

Sailor Moon

Obviously. The most relatable character ever, she loves eating, sleeping, video games, and still saves the world. I wish I was her.

Greed (as Ling, FMA) 

Seriously, I have such a crush on him. Tbh I can't even really explain it, but when Greed took over Ling's body it was the most perfect and logical plot twist. And he's so cool, I can't stand it.

Asuka (NGE)

Okay so she's mean and bossy as hell (Travis always teases me for relating to her so much), but she's complex and has had to deal with way too much for a 14 year old. She's so strong, and I love her for all her flaws.

 

Homura (Madoka Magica)

It was really hard for me to choose between Madoka and Homura from PMMM, but Homura is really a badass. She seems stand offish, but she's really just had to harden herself against circumstance, and I admire her.

Kamina (Gurren Lagann)

He's such a babe, I can't help but love him. Girl power will always be my first love, but he's just the embodiment of masculine-friendship-power and it's adorable and inspiring as heck. He really stays with you for the whole series, if you know what I mean. 

That's all I got for now, but you can bet more are in the works (L from Death Note, Mako from Kill la Kill, and Jet from Cowboy Bebop to name a few <3!!) What are your fave characters??

Guest Post at Some Girl

I was so super busy this past week that I completely forgot about my guest post that went up on Emily's blog on Wednesday! To see the process work behind this piece, check it out here, and be sure to follow her lovely blog while you're at it!

Stress and De Stress

Ya'll, I'm tired.

Very pleased to say that my Senior Portfolio Show is done, thank God. We had a really great turn out and it was nice to show off all my work and get positive feedback. Our speaker, Nathan Yoder, did a great job, and was a total cutie imo. I'm not quite done with my lookbook, so you'll have to wait another week or so before my clothes are for sale (if my teacher ever approves the design, jfc), but I do have a shiny new portfolio site!

Now that the senior show stress is all over, I just have normal stress to deal with! I've been on my antidepressants for about a month and a half now, so I thought I'd let you know how that was all working out. I had headaches for the first couple weeks, but those went away. I've been dealing with some sexual side effects, and I've lost about 10 lbs because I just don't have as much of an appetite. I'm paying attention to my weight and how much I eat, but I'm not going to worry unless I slip below 120 lbs, because that would get me into the underweight territory. I'm mostly worried because a lot of my cute clothes are too big for me now haha!

Other than that, they've been really good! I still have some anxious nights and bad moods, but I feel much more positive overall. It's a lot easier to handle bouts of anxiety when you're not depressed about it. 

I feel like that all sounds like small potatoes when I can sum up my whole senior show into like a sentence and a half, because it really was a huge amount of work. I've mentally moved on to graduation, Italy, finding a job, and moving into an apartment with Travis.

Dress: Dear Creatures

Shoes: Wanted

Brooch: Made by Me

Campus Princess

I like how well these tights match my skin color. Almost fooled you into thinking it's spring weather here, huh! It's close, though. This week is supposed to be in the 70s <3

It's been awhile since I've worn this dress because it seems like a winter dress to me, but the short hem and no sleeves say otherwise. So I just had it hanging on my wall like the beautiful piece of art it is... It doesn't really jive with my ever more simplistic style these days, either, but it made me feel like a princess around campus!

So nothing is really new in my neck of the woods, just doing school things/trying to put off doing school things. I'm really looking forward to getting any amount of money so that I can use it to buy a new tripod. Then I can take photos outside again in the beautiful springy weather!! Been spending all my pennies on things like portfolios and business cards. Grown up things cost a lot. At least my business cards are actually adorable. I'll share them on here soon!

If you're wondering about the verdict on this hairdye, I used Splat and it's faded a bit after two washes in cool water. It still looks pretty even and it's still a nice shade at this point.

Dress: Romwe

Shoes, Cardigan: Thrifted

Petticoat: American Apparel

Hope it's warm where you are.