Wylie Elise Beckert Illustration

Work in Progress Posted on 24 Mar 2012

It seems like the busier I am, the less I get done. On the sidelines of the usual chaos, here's a sneak preview of the new portfolio piece I'm working on in my spare moments - still in its early stages but I'm liking the direction it's headed in.

New Work March 2012 - Baba Yaga Posted on 09 Mar 2012

New personal work - some fairytales never delve into the backstories of their characters... Baba Yaga is one who presumably must have led an interesting life; here she is in her earlier years, taking her house for a stroll and meeting some new comrades. Check out the gallery for a full-size view.

New Work February 2012 - St. John & Partners Posted on 21 Feb 2012

Advertising agency St. John & Partners recently contacted me to create an illustration for a prospective congressional magazine ad on the theme of bad debt regulations.

It's quite a change from the usual themes I create illustrations for, but the agency's concept (businesses at risk of drowning in bad debt while a huge government octopus hoards all the life preservers) made total sense for my illustration style.

This is probably the shortest deadline I've worked under to date - about 10 hours from confirmation of the concept to submission of the final illustration, which makes my usual workflow seem downright plodding by comparison. It was a bit of a challenge, but it was awesome to see an image unfold so quickly.

All in all a really unusual project for me, but one I was very excited to work on. Check out a larger version of the finished piece in the gallery.

2011 Altpick Awards (I won something!) Posted on 14 Feb 2012

An awesome surprise (for me, at least) this week - my illustration & design work for the Parry Pretty and the Eight Realms book cover took third place in the 2011 Altpick Awards!

Altpick is another artist portfolio/sourcebook site along the lines of Hire an Illustrator and Children's Illustrators, both of which I currently belong to. I'd been meaning to join for a while, since my other portfolio listings have been a huge source of new clients, but just hadn't gotten around to it... Lucky for me, site membership is one of the Altpick prizes even for a lowly third-placer like myself!

Check out my design, along with the work of the other winning artists & designers, over at Altpick!

Ten Paces and Draw: Ugly Posted on 03 Feb 2012

Another sketch exchange for Ten Paces and Draw! My finals are usually a morbid take on the sketches I receive, but since this time I got a gritty skull sketch from Joanna Barnum, I decided to spin the image into an early valentine, with the mortal remains of some unfortunate soul setting the stage for a blossoming rodent romance.

Joanna put my own sketch to shame with a gorgeous watercolor (not to mention her homepage features an awesome portrait of my hero Charles Darwin and his finch sidekicks).

My final, Joanna's sketch:
Grotesque
(Rats are MY favorite vermin, Ten Paces!)

Joanna's final, my sketch:
Eye of the Beholder