Illustration Competition: Did You Win the Wacom Tablet?

Hello everyone and happy Monday, I've got some exciting news for you! :)
Do you remember last week's blogpost about my new Wacom tablet and the illustration competition? One of you was able to win a Wacom Intuos Pen & Touch tablet (Size M) and the same person plus two other winners were able to win prints of their illustration.
Many of you handed in their illustrations in the course of the last week and yesterdy evening was really overwhelming for me, because it was hard to pick three favorites out of all those pretty, creative and super cute illustrations!
If you're not among the winners, please don't be sad, I could only choose a few of you and hey, you didn't waste your time, because even without winning something, this competition inspired you to get creative and to create a pretty piece of art! :)
So here are the winners:

First place, getting a Wacom Intuous Pen & Touch tablet (size M) and 40 prints of the illustration:
Krokodilina and her winter girl in the snow: I was super impressed by her blogpost, not only because of the super pretty illustration she created, but also of all the steps which were involved (I can totally recommend reading her blogpost). :) A well-deserved first place!

Second place, getting 30 prints of her illustration:
ars pro toto and her incredibly cute animal friends win the second place and Sonja will receive 30 prints of her pretty illustration.

Third place, getting 20 prints of her illustration:
Papieraugen and her lovely winter girl & cat win the third prize, getting 20 prints of this pretty illustration in candy colors.

Fourth place, spontaneously getting a small surprise package put together my me:
Jay Bee's Colorsplash and her cute cupcake are chosen for a spontaneous fourth prize. It simply didn't feel fair not to send her something, because the wrote a great blogpost with a step by step guide about how she created this winter cupcake illustration.

Dear winners, I'm now gonna send you an e-mail with all the details, have fun with you prizes and especially Dania with your first prize, the tablet! :)
Dear all other participants, thank you soooo much for participating and thank you for sharing all your pretty illustrations! Don't be sad about not having won and hopefully you will still inspired to draw more often, even without a new tablet!

Happy Christmas season!
Lu

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Shop Update: New Christmas Postcard.

Hey friends, here's just a quick update for you: I just added this new postcard to my shop, it's a candy color reindeer illustration for Christmas. You can find this postcard here in my DaWanda shop. :)
Moreover, there's currently a discount special on DaWanda in which I am participating and you get 12% discount on many items when shopping in my online shop. Make sure to have a look if you are still in need for some Christmas presents. :)
Happy Monday!
Lu

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My New Toy from Wacom // Win a Tablet in my Illustration Competition

Hello everyone! Eeeeeks, this is so damn exciting, a blogpost about a really special cooperation!
I recently got contacted and asked if I was interested in receiving and testing a Wacom tablet and host a competition for giving away a second one. We thought about a few ideas and then this cooperation was born. I got two tablets c/o Wacom, one to keep and one for one of you lovely readers. I got the Wacom Intuos Pen & Touch M and the Wacom Intuos Pen & Touch S. I decided to keep the latter one and a lucky blog reader will get the first one, but more about this at the end of my blogpost. :)
When I was contacted by Wacom's PR agency, they told me they got attracted by my creative work, my past illustrations and the tutorial for how to turn a simple illustration into a print which I posted a few weeks ago. Before I first heard about the Wacom tablets, I knew that these things excitest, but I never really thought about them, neither did I recognize which new doors they could open for me concerning my creative work. The more excited I was when I did some research and when we then started talking about this cooperation, I couldn't wait getting started! :)
When the tablets arrived, I couldn't wait to try them out and first of all to find out which size works best for me. After unpacking both, I installed the software and it was super easy to get started (well, to be honest, at first I tried getting started without the installation cd - what a dork - and wondered why the pen didn't work... :)) and to find out how it works. During the first few minutes, working with this pen instead of a mouse was a bit strange, but I got used to it really quick and now I simply LOVE it!
This pen can perfectly substitute your normal mouse and it makes photo editing sooo much easier, because the pen is way more sensitive and responsive.
When I first opened photoshop with it, I made a few doodles (upper left photo) and of course it looked as if I had made it in paint. ;) But no one becomes a master without practicing and only a few hours of working with this tablet made a huuuge difference. 
What I absolutely love is that I can now add notes and doodles to my photos, thus using my handwriting and showing off my really personal style, this is fantastic!
Moreover, writing onto photos adds a super personal touch and makes them look fresher and more fun.
The very best thing is that - with some practice - I can now make illustrations directly with the tablet, because this electronic pen substitutes my normal pen and I do not have to scan every sketch and illustration. Instead, I can make them directly on my laptop and finish everything in photoshop. Of course there will still be days when I traditionally draw by hand or make sketches on the train, simply using pen and paper, but now having this new technology makes many things easier and offers a wide range of new opportunites for me.
What is more, I love learning new techniques and skills and I'm always so happy about enlarging my horizon and doing something I haven't done before, there's hardly anything more satisfying! :)
After some first doodles, I made this simple illustration only using my tablet, I made it about an hour after I first got started, so you can see the progress which can easily be made with some practice. :) Wow, so much fun!
On my second day working with the tablet, I drew the four items on this Christmas card, also only using my tablet and pen. Only the letters have been added as normal font in photoshop. I'm super happy about the progress I have made within only one day and I can't wait to try out more and to make hundreds of cute illustrations and I'm super thankful for this new toy I can now call my own! :)
When I had to decide which tablet to keep, I decided on the smaller one, because my workspace isn't that huge, my laptop isn't, too, and I like working at different places, so it's important to stay flexible and not to need too much space for the tablet.
The features of both sizes are the same and as you can see in this blogpost, they offer lots of varieties for design and photo editing. After this one day of using my tablet, I even got used to do normal photo editing (like adjusting colors, contrasts and brightness) with the tablet, because it's much better to handle than the normal mouse.
How much I love my new toy! :)
So after reading all of this, I hope you are now super inspired and want to get started with your own illustration and maybe the following competition will be interesting for you:
Get creative and make your own Christmas illustration!
Design a recipe card, a gift tag, a postcard, your personal wishlist, a piece of wall art or anything else which comes to your mind and is related to the upcoming holiday season and then win a Wacom tablet and prints of your illustration. Here's how it works and what you need to do in order to take part (make sure to read the conditions carefully!):

Because I wanted to have equal chances for advanced people and those who are new to this, you can either make your illustration by hand and then scan it or take a good photo of it or you can make it on your computer and even use a tablet, do it any way you like! This illustration competition is not about technical perfection, but it is about a pretty, original, creative and aesthetic idea for a Christmas illustration and it's more about what you make of it than about how technically advanced you are!

So be creative, make an illustration and blog about it (yes, you need a blog in order to take part in this competition, but if you don't already have one, feel free to create a new blog) and link my blog and Wacom in this blogpost, telling your readers about this competition. Then post the link to your blogpost in the comment section below this artice until next Sunday, December 8, 6 p.m. and also leave your e-mail adress. I will then decide on the three winners.

One person will win the tablet and the people with the three most creative and original illustrations will also get them professionally printed. So this is what you can get:
First place: a Wacom Intuos Pen & Touch M (worth 199€) and 40 prints of your illustration
Second place: 30 prints of your illustration
Third place: 20 prints of your illustration

The winners will be contacted by December 10.

So here's your checklist for taking part in this competition:
- Make an illustration (by hand or on your computer)
- Blog about it and link to Wacom and my blog and mention this competition
- Post the link to your blogpost below this article in the comment section
- One entry / illustration / submission per person
- Don't forget to also leave your valid e-mail adress in the comment section
- This competition ends on Sunday, December 8, 6 p.m.

Can't hardly wait to see your ideas!

Lu

P.S.: Thank you a lot to my dearest friend Anja who took those photos of me working on my desk with my new tablet. :)
P.P.S.: Although this blogpost / the items in it are sponsored, this doesn't touch my personal opinion and of course I only write what I really think, getting a tablet for this cooperation does not change this!

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DIY: Kids Memory on Cardboard Coasters

Hello, hello, here's a DIY for a present for little kids. :) You won't need many supplies and this easy DIY memory game is a great gift for your own kids or for those of your friends and it has a super personal touch.
You need:
Black pens / felt tips
Plain white cardboard coasters
Colorful pens
First of all, make a few sketches: collect ideas for items you want to draw on your coasters and try out your pens to figure out which works best on your cardboard surface and which has the best tip.
Then draw lots of cute symbols, items and motifs of kid's everyday life, use imagery which are interesting for their basic language aquisition so that this memory game can also serve as educational game. After having chosen many cute symbols, draw each one twice and then color all of them.
That's it, so easy! Keep the symbols and motifs rather simple so that it's easy for small children to recognize what's on their memory game. :)
After having finished all of your game cards, you could also sew a simple gift bag (gift bag sewing DIY here) to store the card in there.
My memory was part of the birthday present set for our friend's cute son who has just turned one. :)
Happy crafting and drawing!
Lu

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DIY: Simple Illustration Process - How to Turn a Sketch into a Postcard

Hey everyone, happy Friday! ;) Today I've got a special DIY for you, I'm sharing my way of turning a simple sketch into a postcard, this is my personal illustration process.
First of all, I think about a theme or a concept and make sketches which thematically somehow match the idea in my mind, it's like a visual brainstorming. Afterwards, I choose a final motif and make a first detailed sketch with a pencil.
 Usually it needs some corrections until I decide on a final version.
Next, I choose a black pen and make a few doodles to find out which pen with which tip is perfect for what I want to to.
Then it's time for the next version, the one with a black felt-tipped pen. This step usually takes most of the time and effort, because everything is drawn by hand and one can't use the eraser anymore.
After my black and white illustration is finished (yayyy!), I then scan it, save the original version as a backup and then open it in photoshop. There I adjust the contrast and finally add color, so exciting. I love this step, because then the original sketch turns into a colorful illustration and my idea I once had in my mind becomes real.
Afterwards, my friend Anja (who is a media designer) converts the file into a file which is ready for printing and then I go to my favorite copy shop where they print out my designs and finally turn the virtual project into posters and postcards, eeeeks! :)
Each time this process is super exciting, it feels like taking an anlogous photo, not knowing how the end result will look like! :)

Hopefully this blog post inspires you to make your own designs, can't wait to see them! :)
Enjoy your weekend!
Lu

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Shop Update: Postcards and Posters for Fall and Winter

Hello, hello! :) Eeeeeks, here's a shop update! These past days I've been working like crazy to finish each a postcard and a poster with an illustration for fall and winter. 
This is Frieda Fox, the colorful lady who lives in the forest. Her favorite season is fall and she loves cozy evenings. 
This is Rosa the Reindeer. She loves winter, the holiday season, long sleigh rides and crafty Sunday evenings at home, drinking some egg nogg.
Eeeeeks, which one do you like best?
If you want to call one of the illustrations your own, they are available as DIN-A-4 posters and DIN-A-6 postcards, you can buy them here in my DaWanda shop. :)
Happy, happy!
Lu

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New postcards and posters of my illustrations.

Hello! :) Awwww, I've got a little shop update for you! A few days ago, I finally got my new kitty illustration printed and you can now buy it as postcard or as poster in my DaWanda shop. :)
This kitty is so cute and I'm absolutely happy to have found a place where I can even print designs in a really small edition and don't have to order too many prints of one design. This makes it more flexible and offers totally new possibilities for me. Can't wait to print more designs! :)
Which color is your favorite one? There's yellow, rose, pink, turquoise, peppermint and apple green. :)
Happy sunny week!! :)
Lu :*

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Shop Update: A collection of cute magnets.

Hello! ;) Last weekend I've been working on several DIY projects and I also finished a little collection of handmade magnets.
All illustrations are drawn by hand, cut out and then I glued them onto magnets which I had also cut out myself. 
Some of them can also be bought as a set and I think they look so pretty on every fridge! :)
You can find all of the magnets in my shop! :)
Which one (or which set) is your favorite?
Lu :)

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One of those awesome surprises!

Last week, I got one of the sweetest surprises: My lovely blogger pal Anna of ann.meer got me a super precious gift, an illustration of Mogli and me in my favorite place, my craft corner. :)
I'm really one of those people who love the little things in life, the colors, precious moments, kind words, nice gestures and I really appreciate little favors and thoughtful presents, so this gift didn't only make me happy because it's so extremely pretty!
I simply can't stop staring at this lovely thing!
Thank you again, dear Anna! :*
Lu

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