I Love You and I Like You

As a love letter to one of my favourite television series, I thought it would be fun to make some Parks and Rec themed Valentines to say farewell for its final season. I had so much fun with the Arrested Development ones a few years ago and have been wanting to make another set so this was the perfect excuse. You can download and print 'em to give to your galentine or someone that you love and like. I also have some nifty square ones that you can share on instagram available to download on my tumblr if that's your (Jeremy) jam. Thank you to all of my cool friends that helped me think of the perfect phrases to pair with each character!

Click here to download the complete set!

I made you say that........you are my Valentine.

Home for the Holidays 2014 Recap

Happy new year! I hope that 2015 is treatin' you right. I wanted to share a few of the homes that I illustrated last year for Home for the Holidays. It was my busiest year yet thanks to Mallory. There were some really special stories that people shared with me about the homes they asked me to draw. I illustrated childhood homes, homes of parents and grandparents, summer homes, and even a barn! Without a doubt one of my favourite projects I do every year. Already looking forward to next year!

Home for the Holidays is something that I've been doing for the past three years. If you are interested in being emailed when sales begin for 2015 I set up a mailing list that you can sign up for right here.

If you would like to have me draw a home for you outside of the holiday season, I take commissions year-round. Feel free to email me and we can chat!

Lately / 1

Lately, I've been missing the ability to share a bit of what I've found interesting or been inspired by that blogging regularly allowed me to do. So I thought I'd start semi-regularly posting what non-art happenings I've been up to and some things that have caught my eye.

Home for the Holidays // My free time has mostly been consumed by house illustrations for the past few weeks. I always love doing this every year and hearing the stories that go with the homes that people share. All of the illustrations are wrapped up now and I'm just waiting to pick up the last batch from my printer so I'll share a bit more after the holidays but here are a few of my favourite bits. I set up a mailing list for anyone interested in being notified when sales begin next year!

Over the Garden Wall / I recently (well, recently when I started the draft for this post a month and a half ago) devoured this entire series. The best kind of weird, dark folklore but with lighthearted characters and bizarre surprises to keep it from being too depressing. And gorgeous, gorgeous backgrounds and great music. You can get the entire series for just $10 on iTunes!

Land/marks // A few months ago, two of my favourite people broke my heart and also reaffirmed why I love and admire them so much when they quit their jobs, put all of their belongings into storage, sold one of their cars and left to travel around South America for half a year. My friend Jessica has been documenting their travels through gorgeous photographs as well as beautiful patterns inspired by each of the places they visit and sharing them on her travel blog. I have avidly/jealously been following along.

Home for the Holidays 2014

2018 UPDATE: If you are visiting from my linktree, welcome! All of the info in the Q&A below is the same for this year except dates. I just didn’t want to make an entirely new post for this year since it will be a smaller run. Please feel free to email, comment on this post, or comment on the instagram post if you have any questions, thanks! Additionally, if you signed up for my Mailchimp list to be notified when they go on sale again, I am so sorry that I wasn’t able to email. Mailchimp deactivated my account and I have been going back and forth with them all week to get access to this list again.

2014 UPDATE: Unfortunately they are all sold out for this year due to the popularity generated by the Buzzfeed article. I am so overwhelmed and grateful for the support. Thank you, everyone! It's something that I do annually every holiday season so if you are interested in being notified next year when sales begin I have set up a mailing list that you can sign up for right here.  You won't receive any additional mail or junk, just one email next year when sales begin.

I'm excited to be bringing Home for the Holidays back for the third year! Every year I love hearing the stories of time spent at summer cabins, old homes that have been sold, new homes that have been bought, first apartments, and the many other reasons that the buildings I am illustrating are special.

For those new to Home for the Holidays, it is my custom illustration project offering the opportunity to give some affordable, personalized art for the holidays. I love drawing buildings and would love to illustrate one that is meaningful to you or someone you know. Whether it be a home, a summer cottage, winter cabin, historical landmark, travel destination, garden shed, or whatever other structure your heart desires. Submit a photo and you will have an 10x12 or 10x10 illustration on your doorstep by Christmas!

This year there are 30 spaces available SOLD OUT. Here are the details:

What do I get?

You will receive a 10"x10" or 10"x12" (illustrations measure 8"x8" or 8"x10" with a 1" border) print that has been reproduced digitally on archival quality watercolour paper. 

Where do I email my photo to?
Please email your photo(s) to seguin.marisa[at]gmail.com with "Home for the Holidays" as the subject. Multiple angles are welcome.

What buildings will you draw?
House, condo, cabin, cottage, castle, Versailles.....as long as it has some semblance of a dwelling (i.e. I will not draw the Great Wall of China, Eiffel Tower, etc) then I would like to illustrate it for you!

When will I get my print?
I will be sending them out as I finish in the order that they are received. International orders will be mailed no later than Friday December 5. US orders will be mailed no later than Friday December  12. If you need your print sooner than this please include a note in your email. I will do whatever possible to accommodate requests for prints to be mailed by a certain date but make no guarantees that they will be mailed earlier than the previously specified dates.

Can I see my illustration before you ship it?
Unfortunately not. The elimination of the usual back and forth makes it possible for me to offer these at a flat rate.

Can I request certain colours?
Unfortunately not. Again, for the same reason as above, the elimination of the usual back and forth allows me to offer these illustrations at a flat rate.

Can you ship it to someone else for me?
Yes I can! I'll even include a note if you'd like.

How much does it cost?
$100 + shipping. Shipping costs can be found in the shop. 

Do you offer refunds?
Once you have sent me your photo your sale will be considered final.

When is the last day to place an order?
Please note these dates have changed for 2018. The current dates can be found on the etsy listing. I will be taking international orders until Sunday November 23 and US orders until Sunday November 30.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any further questions! You can place orders through my shop right here.

"We love illustration because you can lie to people."

This was one of my favourite quotes from ICON a few weeks ago (said by Sam Arthur during his talk about the fantastic Nobrow). It is something that is bouncing around my brain even weeks after the conference ended and I had a very similar sentiment in mind when creating my submission for the Work+Play show at Land Gallery.

When I heard the prompt "work and play" (the theme for the entire conference) it made me think about how my favourite thing about being an illustrator is that we have the ability to bring anything to life. I love that researching and learning new things for illustrations is a part of my job and it really doesn't feel like work at all. I get to bring together the things that I learn and elements of my imagination to create something new which was the inspiration for this made-up cityscape.

Thanks to the cool folks at Land for putting together this great show!  You can see all of the work from the show and purchase prints in their online shop or if you're in the Portland area you can check out the show until August 24.

Letterpress for days

If you follow me on instagram, you’ll likely have seen a few of these images kickin’ around. I worked on a super fun personal project over the weekend that turned out better than I could have ever imagined.

One of my coworkers owns a beautiful old printing press and was kind enough to let our team invade his garage last Friday to get our letterpress on. It was my first time letterpressing and I could not be more pleased with the results.

After a quick arm workout cranking the wheel on the old Chandler and Price it became almost zen just churning out print after print. All of the linework was letterpressed. I then hunkered down with a beer and my paints later that evening to add some colour. Because the ink we printed with is rubber based, it repelled the watercolour paint like I had hoped and I got to do a crafty Mr. Burns laugh as my plan unfolded perfectly. 

I am now 90% obessed with letterpressing everything and 10% afraid that this was a ridiculous bout of beginners luck.