Hello!

Welcome to our new blog! We're four children's illustrators that are simply– messing about! Collectively, we are all on the same page, always experimenting and trying new things with our art. We've decided to come together on this blog to share these new experiences and techniques with you. With this blog we hope to not only document our progress, but encourage conversation. Think of it like an interactive art journal and please feel free to comment! Without further adieu...allow us to introduce ourselves:

Hi! I'm Tracy Bishop and I'm a children's illustrator in San Jose, CA. For the most part I do my illustrations digitally but there is a lot of experimentation and influences outside the computer. I always like to try to combine the best of traditional and digital art but the process can get quite messy! In this blog I'm hoping to show all the behind-the-scenes thoughts and experiments as I try to constantly improve as an artist.

Hello! I'm Christina Forshay, an illustrator specializing in creating art for kids. I'm coming to you from sunny southern California where I live with my husband and two kids. My art is usually super colorful and I love to create worlds of wonder for the viewer. My absolute favorite medium when painting is oils, but lately I've been working digitally to create my finished pieces. However, I've been getting a serious itch to use more paint, pens and collage in my work and I'm looking forward to sharing my artistic explorations here with you!

Hi there! My name is Renee Kurilla and I'm an illustrator / animator living in Boston, MA. I'm currently one of the Lead Artists at FableVision Studios where I spend my days creating art for all kinds of digital children's media including: books, games, and apps, to name a few. I devote all of my free time to making picture books and art for children, because I love what I do and the ideas never stop. After spending almost ten years as a digital painter, I have an undying urge to relearn the painting skills I once practiced in depth. I'll be sharing the entire process of getting back into painting, including all the hiccups and the mess-ups, on this blog!

Hello! I'm Laura Zarrin. I'm an illustrator living in San Jose, CA. I used to paint with color pencils and though I love the control of this medium, not to mention the sound of the the pencil on the paper, deep down I craved getting looser with my work. I left control behind and spent the last couple of years experimenting with all sorts of media. Now I'm working with acrylic paints, collage, digital, and sometimes color pencils. I've left my comfort zone far behind while I sail through uncharted (for me) waters. Here I'll be sharing all kinds of bumps, triumphs, messes of my creative life.