TJ's WIP: Sahel the Goddess of Nature

Hi Everyone!

In my previous ramble update, I spoke about a painting that I couldn't show you, but now with the auction coming up on September 16th, I can! A bunch of you have already seen the painting floating around on Facebook, but I thought a few more peeks would be fun to stare at!

I didn't had a real idea of what I wanted to paint. I only wanted to incorporate a sense of freedom. How vague does that sound huh? Haha. Either way, I googled some references and came across one with the pose you see below, I think that printed the reference as soon as I saw it as I can't find it anywhere on my laptop! Either way, I was immediately drawn to it and decided to use it as a base.

Sketch, sketch! I drew the lady on a smaller scale first and after scanning, I drew her on an A4 size paper. I had a vague idea about the background and flowers where the only thing floating in my mind. I decided to only focus on the lady first.

With colored pencils I drew the flow of the water and then I started to add layers of paint. I also got a better idea of the background, but looking back... it was kind of a big risk that I took. I started to drop colors, like blops of greens, blue and a mixture of various colors to create a nature background...I seriously had a few moment where I though "Now why the %*^&* did I do that?!"...

At this point I was also thinking "Ehm...this doesn't look like something I'd normally paint...", so I proceeded bugging my sisters and asking if it was looking okay. I usually just have to keep on going when I reach this stage of pondering haha. So that's exactly what I did...

Excuse the light. The day turned in to evening before I knew and I was working in the living room and the light gets pretty crappy for pictures there. As you can see, I started to bring out the flowers and grassy areas at the front and soft, misty bushes and trees in the back.

Final touches!! Some sparkles here and there!! She just had to have some sparkles haha.

Voila! The Goddess of Nature is born ^_^. I hope she brings lots of luck to the cause and that she goes to a good home as well. The illustration is done completely with watercolors and a touch of black, pearly and gold ink. The size is 30 x 25 cm.

My painting and many others, will be auctioned this upcoming Sunday, September 16th. As soon as I know more about the auction details, I'll mention here, Facebook & Twitter. All proceeds go to the cause and I will be shipping the painting. So the buyer can expect a lovely TJ package ^_^. For now you can read more by going to this article "Countdown To Song of Sahel Auction". You can find more art over there as well!

With this, I shall leave you...

Till next time, everyone!

TJ's WIP: Koalas, Koalas, Koalas!

Hi there!

Big thanks to everyone who read last post! It really means a lot to me and I'm glad that I wrote and shared a bit of my Aunt's story with you. I have a bunch of posts lined up for you guys, but let's start with a staring post. I haven't showed a new WIP in a loooong time, so I snapped some pics for you when I created the Koala illustration. From sketch to final painting...let the staring begin!

As you can see, the differences towards the end are quite subtle and unfortunately the camera doesn't really captures this. In real life you can see it all much, much better!

Keep a close eye on my Etsy Shop please! I know I haven't been persistent with promoting it, got a lot going on the last few weeks and I'm juggling my time the best I can, but I will update it with new art, original work AND there will be a discount coupon thingy ^_^

Until we meet again...Ciao!

OH! I selected this post to be featured on my blog’s page at Illustration Blogs. Stroll by if you have some time to spare, please

TJ's Projects: A Cupcake Tutorial

Hello helloo!!

Hmm that was said in a weird opera voice...in my head anyway.

So, no recipe this time, but a drawing tutorial! A while ago, I got asked by the lovely Marieke Bos, if I was interested in participating in a creative project. It's for the site Swap-bot and here lots of creatives swap handmade goodies with each other. The group Dutch Swappers magically transformed the month December in an online advent calendar and every day a creative swapper reveals his/her gift.

And yes, you guessed it right, today is my day and I decided to create a quick tutorial on how I draw my cupcakes ^_^. There are really just a few basic lines and by switching up the expression you can create a new little cupcake in a few seconds. This is the first time writing a step by step tutorial and I will record a short video how I draw and paint it soon. However, the quality isn't THAT great. I will re-upload it soon again. My laptop shut off while I was saving the tutorial, so I lost some of my editing. Not a big deal...until I noticed that the file had become corrupt. The horror. I had a deadline to upload it a bit after midnight on December 13th, therefore I couldn't re-create what I had, so this tutorial is a quick version.

If something doesn't make sense, do let me know. I can keep this in mind for when I create the right version of this tutorial. I have another way of drawing a cupcake and if you guys like this one, I'll show you the other one as well.

Oh! I do have a cupcake recipe for you guys soon...hehe. Until then, don't forget about the Limited Christmas Cards and my Zazzle shop.

Have fun trying it out and if you drew it and want to show it...let me know! If there are enough cupcake doodlers, I will create a folder on my Facebook page so people can post it there. I'd love to see it :D Feel free to experiment with the frosting shapes and faces. I'll show lots of cupcake examples soon!

Ciao ciao!

Goodies from the World: A Poem for Me!

Hello hello!

You know, I've said it a few times before, but one of the biggest things I'm grateful for since I started blogging are the people I've met. The fabulous Cher...she is one of the friends that I keep close to my heart and I when she surprised me with a poem. I was lost for words. You can meet tons of people across the web, but some really are just true gems. I was so honored by this and I want to share it with all of you! I strongly suggest to check out both her blogs AskCherlock and Poems by Cher. Cher is a brilliant poet and writer. Her poems take you to another world and her posts are always filled with interesting thoughts. Whenever you've visited her blogs you leave with a sense of content, knowing a bit more than when you came there. Plus! She always have a little comment for you! You're not talking to thin air. Cher is an absolute pleasure to know and I don't think I've come across anyone sweeter and caring than her. I'm sure that everyone who meets her, feels the same way. I just love her ^_^.

La Danse du Jour

For our very own TJ Lubrano who allows us to see life through her eyes.

Parting early morning sunlit curtains

She sails through an open window,

Shimmers like crystalline dewdrops

Floating lithely above far away fields

Colors of lavender, yellow, and pink,

Rainbow through hues of indigo blue

She alights upon grass to twirl and whirl

Arms swaying, fingers reaching skyward,

An overture to her delicate ballet with life

She laces on and on through thickets of rye

Then wheat, then lush greenness, and soon

Symbiosis of being one with whimsy and

Mystical, magical, colors occurs sublimely

For today is her Danse and through it

Her mind absorbs each dollop as art and

When morn has ended, she will draw upon

Her visions and paint with supplicant joy

Copyright © 2011 Askcherlock

Everyone! *twirls* Isn't it beautiful :D? Every time I read this, I am so happy! I can't even put it in words haha. The above painting I gave to her as a present. It just belonged to her. Thanks so much again, Sweet Cher!

Have a lovely week guys! And in case you haven't read my column yet...you can find it by clicking the magic word. This time I talk about a Treasure Chest...

Ciao!

Tales from an Illustrator: One of My Next Steps.

Hello!

Hmm it seems that I am blogging quite frequently lately haha. But that aside, I have some excting news to tell and some of you may have seen it on Facebook yesterday!

Susanna from Trade Your Talent and I will write a...children book. Well, I will illustrate it haha. I can ramble about it here, but I'd rather have you visit the blog and hopefully you decide to follow our journey over there. The posts on that blog will cover various subjects about finding an app developer, creating character sketches, what we find fun to do, what we find difficult etc. Some posts will be from her alone, some will be mine and some will be combined, like you can see in our first post. Hopefully it will be of interest for people who want to start something for themselves too! To find the blog just click the image below ^_^.

 Meet Migwi the Monkey!! :D

 Everything is still in draft mode, so hopefully seeing it all change and grow will be fun and interesting for you guys!

Writing/illustrating a children's book is one of the steps that I want to complete in my second year as illustrator. I could wait till a project falls in my lap or that I start when I'm signed by an agency...however, I know that sometimes you just have to act pro-active. The story is there, the illustrations are floating around...we are willing to invest our time and energy in this....so why wait?? We believe in our project and to me that's all that matters.

But! Getting signed by an agency is another one of my goals! And in order to create a great promotional package I will join the Zero2Illo challenge '4 Week Promotional Mailer Challenge' I already joined a Zero2illo Challenge in the past, but my thesis took up way too much, so I had to stop after 5 weeks. However now...no more pesky thesis! Not that I have all the time in world though, but this challenge is too interesting to set aside.

Big Thanks to Jonathan and Lea Woodward for giving everyone the change to develop and grow as an artist! *bows*

Till next post everyone and have a fabulous weekend ahead!

Ciao!

TJ's Projects: Canvas vs. Paper

Hello hello everyone!

My first canvas done with watercolors arrived safe and sound at its owner! I figured it would be nice to see the difference between my usual watercolor paper and working on canvas.

Some of you know about the Three Venetian Masks I painted a while back. I love Venetian masks they are mysterious and often full of details. A friend really loved them and asked if it was possible to have it on canvas as well. Well almost anything is possible, so I said ‘Yes of course!!’

So I re-painted it on canvas with...watercolors! I haven’t got the usual in-between pictures. I kinda forgot to keep track of it. This is what I used:

I probably should have taken a picture without both finished pieces hehe. Ah well! Next to the standard things, like brushes, pencils/pen, eraser, paint (which I forgot to add in the picture), I used four extra steps.

1. I retraced the original painting on tracing paper (that's the transparent drawing you see above)

2. I primed the canvas with Watercolor primer from Schmincke (the white bottle in the back)

3. Then I retraced the painting on the canvas by using Saral transfer paper. (the red box on the left)

4. Finally details are added with acrylic ink in white, black and iridescent gold. (the three little bottles in front of the primer.)

Standard canvasses are prepped with a universal primer, suitable for most paintings. However I found that watercolors didn’t really ‘stick’ with this universal primer. So after some research I found a watercolor primer for canvas. A very good product, easy to apply and it dries fairly quickly. You need to add 3 thin layers on your canvas. After drying, you can start painting.

Saral transfer paper in graphite. I love this! A whole new array of possibilities has been opened with this little roll of graphite paper. This medium makes transferring drawings very easy as you can transfer it on e.g. canvas (obviously), wood, ceramic and so on. The graphite lines dissolve in water. Warning: make sure the lines aren't too thick (so not a whole lot of pressure while you trace your drawing) as it will influence your paint color, because the lines give too much pigment and add a touch of greyness when it dissolves. Most people don’t want that…

The actual paint process was a bit tricky as the canvas had a rougher structure than the paper I use. The brush didn't glide quite easily over it, at least not like I'm used to. The watercolor paper I use is quite smooth and the canvas had those little lines…

I guess because of this the waiting for a layer to dry increased by a lot! And I’m not that patient to begin with hehe. So the adding of the layers continued and the details and background are done with the acrylic inks. Finally, I added 3 thin layers of fixative and this also gave it a lovely shine.

I’m very pleased with the end result and I do like both pieces. On the canvas the colors are more vibrant and on the paper it’s softer. It really depends on what you want in the end.

Here’s a picture that I got from the owner. She loves it and I’m really happy it got to her safe and sound! It was such a fun project to do and the first time I really painted on canvas. So not mindless doodling hehe.

Now it's proudly displayed in its new home :D

That's it for now! Questions? Do you have a preference? And do you like Venetian Masks? Some people find them a tad scary...

Enjoy your weekend.

Ciao!

A Look in the Past: Old Drawings & winner of the Giveaway

Hello everyone!

Before I do anything else, it is time to announce the winner of the Giveaway! *drum rolls*

It is Alejandro from 'Raising Amelie'!!! Woohoo. Congratulations! I shall contact you as soon as I can. A bit about Alejandro...he is a man with many names and personalities. One day he is Darth Vader, the other day he is Superman. I kid you not. He has a personal blog with lots of stories and Amelie is his cute little princess. He is really cool and I always have to laugh when I read his comments, even when he's serious. Yeah, I can't explain why. I just hear a funny voice in my head (Sorry A hehe). Do visit his blog when you have the chance ^_^.

I thought it would be fun to share some drawings from the past with you. I cleaned up my drawings folders and came across a few oldies. Well, I sort off clean up as I just made another pile hehe. I probably have a bunch more though. These drawings are done somewhere between 2001 and 2006.

 
I haven't got a lot of colored drawings from when I was younger. Correction, I don't think I have colored drawings. The thing is, I walked around for a long time, thinking that I would mess up my drawings if I colored them. I really believed that I couldn't do this and felt more comfortable working with pencil alone. Oh how things changed over time haha.

In the past, I really just re-drew art work. Nowadays I use it only as a reference to create my own drawings. Yes. I watched a lot of Dragonball and Dragonball Z. Let's just say, I watched a lot of anime. Hehe.

I often stare in shock when I see older work and I notice a LOT of mistakes *sigh*. Though as much as I want to toss it away, it is cool to see how my style developed over time. Also funny how adding color now feels like a second nature. If you would tell me I would be doing what I'm doing now I would stare at you like this -_-' saying 'Yeah Riiiiigghhht'. Kid you not haha.

I hope you liked this little peek in the past. Till next time!
Ciao!

Storytelling Time: Theft in the Cake shop.

Heey everyone!!

Okay, first of all you can still join the Giveaway and in order to do so please click this Magical Button and comment on the that post. If you comment here, you won't be added in the giveaway. The winner shall be announced on June 21th, 2011!

Next! I proudly announce that I'm an official columnist for the site Broowaha! Edit: I have my own column now, which you can find here, TJ on Illustrations. I will post something regarding the illustration business every Friday, starting next week. I will post some of the articles here as well as you need an account to leave comments there. So for the ones who only read my blog, this is the place to be. For the ones who are interesting in writing and connecting with other writers, do check out Broowaha. It's such a fun & friendly community. You won't be disappointed.

So now it's time for the flash story! A while ago, I was participating in another writers community and before it vanished into thin air ( I have nothing to do with it...) I spent a few fun weeks with other writers. Every week there were 5 prompts to choose from and you got critique and feedback on it. This story won :D. So exciting!

Theft in the Cake shop

As soon as Tess opened the door, Sandy burst in.
“Oh my god! Tess!”
“What? What is it?
“Oh my god! Really, you never gonna believe what happened”
“What! What has happened” Tess had all sorts of drama visualized in her head as they walked to the kitchen.
“Really I was shocked…”
“Come on! Just tell me!”
“There was a theft in the CupCakery Bakery!”
“There was a theft in CupCakery Bakery…oohkay this is shocking because…”
“He only stole the tops!”
“The tops? What tops?”
“The tops of the cupcakes!”
“Really? Only that?”
“Yeah! Apparently he said, ‘why steal it all, if you only like the tops’, marvelously said I think”
“Dude’s got a point there. Want to have some tea?”
Sandy just kept nodding with a big smile.
“But how did he do this? How was he able to only steal the tops?”
“Well, he had a special spatula and with one swift movement…” Sandy made a demonstration, “…he could place it under the frosting and scoop it right up. Oh yeah! The other end of the spatula made it possible to slice of muffin tops. He liked those too. They are crunchy.”
Tess tried not to laugh, this was the strangest story she ever heard. “Okay the muffin tops I can understand, but why the frosting?”
“He liked the swirly patterns.”
“I see. Well I guess that makes sense.”
“I guess that makes sense indeed too.”

So. Who wants a cupcake now :D?

Hope you liked it as well & Till next time everyone.

Ciao! *waves*

Do you like me? And a Doodle Giveaway! (closed)

Ciaooo Everyone!

First of all, I got such a lovely response on my previous post! Thanks to everyone who read it & left a wonderful comment! Also big thanks to the ones who shared it with others.

Meet the Deadly Gorgeous Ladies. Yes. This will be a new series of mini paintings. I created the ones above for a friend who is an excellent writer, mr. Bill Friday. Do visit his site when you have the chance, It's Always Friday.

For the ones who don't know it yet, I have a Facebook Fanpage! I (finally) created one as it's an easy way to keep everyone up to date with short rambles, new illustrations, sneak peeks and other news. While I tell longer stories on my blog. On the page I can also ask quick questions or feedback, so everyone can get creative there. There's a 'like' button in the left corner of my blog.

Okay, I do have a favor to ask from you. There is a review page in the menu on the FB page. I would love to have a review from the people who have an illustration by me or who has worked with me. You would really help me out with this as I try to build up my customers/client network. I think it would be like an extra motivation for future clients to commission me as an artist ^_^. If you don't have an artwork by me (yet) and you want to say something about me as person, you can do that as well haha. Thanks so much in advance!
 

Doodle Giveaway! (closed)

It's giveaway time again! Do a little dance everyone ^_^. This time no real rules as last time a lot of the participants were already subscribers hehe. If you're not, I'd love for you to subscribe to my blog or like my page or both. However, I leave the choice up to you. The winner can choose out of the following subjects for an A5 illustration (give or take): pirates, underwater, anime, pin-up and creepy cuteness.

If you want to join, just leave a comment on this post with the subject of choice and I'll use the random.org site to pick the winner. I'll announce the winner on May 31th (2011, just in case you were wondering 2012. Hehe.)

There will also be giveaways via my Facebook Fanpage, so if you miss your chance here, keep an eye on the page, because you can have another chance soon! Warning: There will be a giveaway when I reach 100 likes...

 

Pink Fluffiness for the little princess of my friend Paul Groom

This is it! For now anyway. I've so much to blog about as I also got a new award from two lovely people and lots of new art is on its way! So I need to break it down, because I can easily write a super long post for you guys haha.

Stay tuned & Till next time.

Ciao!

Ramble Update a la TJ

*pauses the time*

Well hello there!

Okay, I really wish I could do that sometimes. I didn't realize that almost 2 weeks have passed since my last post! So I thought it would be nice to see/read what I've been up to so far.

I have been working on a series of paintings, small and larger ones, which I call 'Flower Girls' for now. I will put them up for sale soon as well. So keep an eye out if you would like to get your hands on my original work. I'll tell you more about this in a proper blog post. So for now I have two sneak peeks for you!

Next to this I have been doing a lot of thinking and rewriting of my business plan and my second site. I had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted with the second site, but as I worked on it, I noticed that I wasn't too sure of a few elements. So that's why I have it on hold for now. I will rearrange my Flickr photostream and rearrange some things on this blog as well.

There will be a new giveaway soon! I wanted to do one sooner, but the snail mail to the last winner, well it was truly a snail and I wanted to make sure that he got it before I announced a new giveaway ^_^. As you can see, lots of little things to take care of. Oh and Spring cleaning is also sneaking up on me. Who else is doing some major cleaning now or are you already done with it and I'm slow? Hehe.

I have a new Work in Progress post for you! It's the progress of the Tropical Birds header. Enjoy the sneak peek and if you have questions or tips, just let me know!

Edit: Click the image below and you shall be transported to the WIP post. Totally forgot to add this!

Readers who also know Ms. Claire from the blog A Little Piece of Me, probably already know about her awesome character. For the ones who don't, do pay attention please! She's the creator of the character Grumpus! A hairy green huge creature who's planning to take over the world for the last 100 years already and who is...grumpy. I love it haha. Do visit her blog for Grumpus's interesting stories through time. But what I wanted to say is that Grumpus joined Facebook. Yes. yes he did, but with the help of Claire of course. His hands are huge & hairy and with the new feature on Facebook where you only need to press enter to send a comment...well things could get ugly. Plus, did I already tell you that he's planning to rule the world...join him...by joining his page...The Grumpus Page. You don't want Grumpus to go on a Grumpus Rampage now do you ;).

The final ramble update: Could you guys please keep your fingers crossed for my external hard drive? Little bro accidentally dropped it and now I can't access it! The horror. I know it's not the end of the universe if it can't be fixed, but before I have to say "My HD died *insert crying*", I'd love for you to keep your fingers crossed ;).

This is it for now, but I already have another post in the making for you. Haha.

Until then, take care everyone.

The Thing with Mobile Phones.

Greetings Everyone!

Today my post will be about mobile phones. I had this story in my drafts for quite some time now, but I always ended up publishing other stories first. You know, it's pretty interesting to see how technology has weaved its way into our lives and with rapid speed it made sure that we can't live without it or at least not for long. Most things happen via the internet these days and even the most stubborn people (at least in my environment I had a few stubborn people) who said e.g. 'Nuh uh. I won't get a mobile phone. Ever! *insert storming out of a room*'.... they eventually cave in. 

Maybe it's not because they wanted to get one, but it became simple too difficult not to have one. Insert scenarios where you either had a miss communication or weren’t able to tell that you're stuck in traffic etc. In the end, most people want to do everything as easy & effortless as possible. Personally, I don't mind having a one. I kind of like technology and to see what new things are out there, but I can live without it. Hold on! This is only goes for the phone and not the internet hehe. Internet is a whole other story, but with a phone it;s different. Maybe because I'm not a phone person. I rather text than call and I don’t really like the fact that I can be reachable all the time.

A while ago, I had to get a new phone, because my old one decided to stop living, it seriously just stopped. Well okay, I exaggerate. To be more specific the touch screen part stopped and let this be the most important part of the phone. I couldn't enter the main menu anymore or text/dial someone. Before it got worse, I got in a few situations where I had to meet with friends and my phone just temporarily died. Yes. It started to temporarily die at first. In these moments I realized how I take my phone for granted, because I always have it with me and I rely on it to work when I need it. However, getting in these ‘temporarily out of reach’ situations didn't make me think further to insert the card in another phone though. But this is a story for another time. It will be about how my brain works....it will confuse you.

Disco Time!!

Mobile phones from a few years ago, seems to be much more stable and reliable. My mom still has a phone that’s probably considered ancient nowadays. Even though it’s ancient, it’s still as good as new. Whereas my phone, which is like a couple of mobile generations further, started to malfunction within year. BUT! I have to admit, that I made it fly a couple of times, so that could have shorten its life as well *ahem*. So far, I noticed the fancier the phones get, the more flaws it seems to have.

This is my ramble story for today! Times are busy here! I'm still working on my 2nd site/blog. I had to put it aside for awhile as I had other projects to finish. Now I'm working on it again and it should be finished soon, along with new products in Zazzle & Etsy store. Exciting times ahead :D.

Question of today: In these high tech times, are you addicted to your phone or do you still rather live without it? 

Enjoy your weekend!

3. The Buzz on TJ

Soon I shall add a few testimonials of people who ordered or worked with me ^_^.


Interviews/Features/Sweet Posts:
I've been featured on several websites and if you want to have a read what others have to say about me, just visit on of the links below:

1. Interview on TickleCity Award by Andrew Walsh  - Creative Artist Doodles, Blogs and Even Eyes Career
 
2. Artist Feature by Natsuki Otani from Illustration Rally - Artist nr. 62 TJ Lubrano

3. Surprise post by the awesome Tricia Lornton - Monday Marvels

4. A sweet post by the lovely Dana Ward after she got my commission - Paint Me Pretty

5. Collaboration with writer Janene Murphy - Noah's Ark Terror Never Looked So Cute

6. The Blogger behind the Blog. A BlogCatalog Interview by Tony Berkman - A Magical Treat Inside the Mind of Creationist TJ Lubrano

7. An online Blog Art Exhibition by Trade Your Talent, Susanna Maier - Flower Girls / "Nothing Else Matters"

8. A Beautiful Poem written by the amazingly sweet Cher from Askcherlock - La Danse Du Jour For TJ

9. Accompanied illustration done by me for Colobus Creative – Digitales Veröffentlichen.
 

1. What to Order

2. How to Order

4. FAQ



Email: tjlubrano@live.com



Last updated on February 17th, 2012 by TJ Lubrano

4. FAQ

 Have a seat & a drink please. Here I will discuss several topics and I really advice you to read it, so you know how everything works and that there’s no delay in your order. 

But first of all: Thank You for taking your time to read this.

Who is TJ Lubrano?
Oh. Do visit the 'Who is TJ' page for more insight in who I am.

What information do you need?
When you commission me, it speeds up the process if you are as clear & detailed as possible. Please visit check the 'Commission Me' tab, to read what you need to send me if you want to order something from me

How do you work?
Everything you see is created on high quality (HQ) watercolor paper with watercolor and ink pens. After this, I’ll make a HQ scan and edit it in Photoshop. I keep you posted on the progress. I elaborated more on this question here: How To Order? Just have a read there and hopefully it answers all your questions.

How do you breathe life in your illustrations?
To see how an illustration comes to life, you can visit the WIP page. Here you can see how I kept track of the creative process of several illustrations. Enjoy! I wish there was a secret in how I do this, but I just add layers of paint in it haha.

Are there Original artwork a la TJ for sale?
Ooh yes! There are original paintings for sale. I will add everything in my Etsy Shop.

I keep HQ scans and pictures of all my illustrations, so I rather have my art hung up on a wall then stuffed away in a portfolio folder. They are ready to travel to their new homes. But keep in mind that they are unframed as this will reduce the shipping costs and the risk of broken glass while it’s traveling to you.

So what type of occasions can I think of?
Let your imagination run wild (but don’t let it get too far hehe)! You can think of e.g. baby showers, nursery rooms, bridal parties, bachelor/bachelorette party, children parties and gifts for your department at your office. The options are endless, but one thing is for sure: This will make a truly wonderful gift. For themes you can think of, please visit this link: What To Order?

When do I have to pay?
Payment is due up front. If it's a higher amount, payment in installments is possible, but this shall be discussed when it's necessary. As soon as I receive your payment (or 1st installment) & design information, I’ll notify you. After payment I will start with the creative process of creating awesome designs for you.

Shipping & Handling
Once your order is shipped, I’ll let you know and provide you with a tracking code if there is one. I’ve had no troubles so far sending out packages without tracking code, but if you don’t want to take any risks; insured shipping is possible. Express delivery is optional as well. Contact me, if you want to know the specific costs.

The client is responsible for any extra duties and custom charges that may occur when the package is shipped. Also, double check your address when you send it to me as I copy that exactly.

How long will it take?
It will take around approximately 4 to 8 weeks for the order to be ready and safely shipped to your home. Of course it depends on what you order, the quantity and the complexity of it. Please keep this in mind if you want to have illustrations on time.

Hope I answered all your questions, feel free to browse around and if you still have questions, I’m just an email away!

1. What to Order

2. How to Order

3. The Buzz on TJ


Email: tjlubrano@live.com



Last updated on February 17th, 2012 by TJ Lubrano

* Regarding TNT delivery service: I say quite fast as I can’t control developments in the world. Things like strikes, death of wanted criminals *ahem*, well they can influence the time of delivery. I’ll always check if there’s something happening that may hinder the delivery, if so, I’ll let you know straight away!

1. How to Order

I thought it might be easy for you to explain step by step how you commission me and what you can expect after you commissioned me.

You want to commission me:

Awesome! Prepare for a creative journey. Please email me with answers on the following questions:

1. What is the occasion? And do you have a budget to stick to?

2. Size of painting(s)and your rough idea.

3. Who is it for? 
A. Do you want an illustration with this person transformed into a character; give me specifics like hobbies, favorite colors, instruments and quotes etc. - basically just elements that really describe the person who it’s for. A picture of the person is recommended. Remember, I can’t create an exact copy of the person, but will do my best to add as much characteristics as possible.

B. Or you can go for a more general route and pick a theme that really fits the receiver of this gift. Like for e.g. the receiver really love the circus so a circus themed painting would be created.

Don’t forget, you can combine A + B as well of course. Example: The receiver sitting on a zebra in a circus outfit/surroundings.

4. Deadline? Do you need it before a certain date? There will be a rush fee involved if you need an illustration on short notice.

The process after you agreed with the price and send the payment is as follow:

1. I sketch out all the ideas and send scans to you for approval or maybe you want to be completely surprised? Let me know what you prefer.

2. If you agree with everything, I'll draft up an agreement and once I get the agreement and payment, I'll start creating the final illustration. It'll be transferred on correct paper and painted for you. If there are changes to be made, I’ll correct it as soon as I can. You have two changes for revisions. After this I'll charge a revision fee.

3. Once it's done, I’ll wrap it up nicely and ship it to you.

4. Please let me know as soon as you get the package, so I know it arrives safe and sound at your home. There a small questionnaire that I love you to fill in after you received the package. That way I can ensure that my services stay perfect for my customers!

1. What to Order

3. The Buzz on TJ

4. FAQ


Email: tjlubrano@live.com



Last updated on February 17th, 2012 by TJ Lubrano

1. What to Order

To get the process started and to ensure that there are not that many little in between steps for editing or sketching, I'll state the steps for you. Yes. I'm trying to make it all as easy as possible for you guys hehe. 

What products & occasions can I think of?
The options for illustration themes are endless, so just to help you get started I listed several for you below. Use them as reference and create your own perfect theme. You can combine several themes as well.

You can think of Weddings - Birthdays - Children parties - Baby showers - Nursery rooms - Wedding – Engagement - Bachelor/bachelorette parties – Christmas – Halloween - New Years Eve etc.

- Paintings can add a magical touch and really brighten up a nursery or children room.

- For weddings, you can give little cute illustrations with your favors for e.g. bridesmaids.

- Get unique designs for e.g. birthday invitations, thank you cards to compliment favors, door signs, invitation cards, birthday cards, wedding cards, baby showers, engagement/bachelor/bachelorette cards.

As you can see, you can think up a design for almost anything and make it just the way you would want it to be.

What themes can I think of?
Examples are sea animals, pirates, Halloween, mermaids, mythical animals, vampires, music, pin up, geishas, cultural influences, Pin up ladies –Underwater – Mermaids – Pirates - Sea animals – Vampires – Zombies – Circus – Fairies – Butterflies – Birds - Native American – Tropical – fashion illustrations – anime etc.

You can also think ahead for the holidays and let me design something for you as well.

The beauty of personalized gifts is that you can be sure that no one else will have the same design. Just send an email and don’t be afraid to let me know what you love to see. I love to get a sneak peek of your thoughts. It's always a challenge to see if I can match it with my drawing and create an end result that you will love.

2. How to Order

3. The Buzz on TJ

4. FAQ



Email: tjlubrano@live.com



Last updated on February 17th, 2012 by TJ Lubrano