Bookporn: when "Nerdy" and "Sexy" became analogous

I love doing the artist swaps at Ten Paces & Draw. It reminds me of when I used to do them with my friends on DeviantArt. I was pretty young then, maybe 13 or 14, and most of my friends were older - they all seemed successful and talented, and I was just elated that they wanted to collaborate with me. So when the girls at Ten Paces told me that this swap was going to be a combination between working illustrators and students, I jumped onboard immediately. I love a bit of role reversal. Not only that, but the theme was pretty cute, too: we were asked to pick any random hashtag to base our sketches on.

The sketch I received was from MICA student Kate Seltzer, with the chosen hashtag of #bookporn. These swaps are all about having fun, and that is exactly what I did with Kate's sketch.

© 2013 Shannon SnowTo see Kate's sketch accompanied by mine, check out the entire swap over at Ten Paces & Draw.

On the topic of books and porn, I've seen a lot of shirts over here in London that say "GEEK" and "NERD." These shirts are from Topshop, one of Britain's huge fashion retailers.  Are nerds sexy now? I've always thought so.

Waffles & Pancakes, Breakfast adversaries brought together by a mutual love of syrup

Back with another update, brought to you by Ten Paces & Draw. Always a pleasure. This time, the artist swap was themed "Hand-Lettering."  The sketch given to me featured a quote by Mitch Hedberg: A waffle is like a pancake with a syrup trap.

© 2013 Shannon Snow

To view the entire swap, including my hand-lettering sketch, click here NOW.

If I'm honest, I prefer pancakes. I actually like the way the syrup sort of goes everywhere because there's a nice pool of syrup to drown my bacon in. And yes, I am from the South.

Southern Cats Got Claws

A month or so ago, I was invited to participate in one of my favorite blogs, Ten Paces and Draw.  It's a wonderful blog because it gives illustrators an opportunity to work together in a really fun way!  Ten Paces and Draw is known for its Artist Swaps, and they recently started featuring Mix Tape challenges, where illustrators create a piece based on a song.  Loretta Lynn's "You Ain't Woman Enough to Take My Man" is the song I chose.  

© 2012 shannon snowI hammered this one out this past Sunday.  Sometimes I just get so involved in an illustration, and I won't leave my Cintiq for hours.  Does it look like I had fun with it?  My favorite part was definitely playing around with the red/green color palette.  If you'd like to see a bigger version, just mosey on over to my portfolio.