A Transition In Life

Well, only one more week to go at my current employer. Part of me is sad to go. I've been with them for 4 years now and have learned a tremendous amount in that time. But I am very excited with this next stage of my life. It is now up to me alone to be successful in this endeavor and while I can tell you it scares the bejeezus out of me (what if I fail, what if I succeed?), I am thrilled that I have this opportunity. I wouldn't have it, were it not for Lindsay's pursuit of his own career that we've been through these past 4+ years.

I appreciate everyone's kind words over the past few weeks. It was a very stressful week at the office, especially with one employee in particular who took my leave as a sign of me purposely wanting to hurt my company. I only hope that someday they are able to get past their own neurosis and look at the bigger picture. I just wish I could shake their remarkably unkind words.

Anywho … my whole point of this post is that I will only post here things that are not illustration related as I have started a new blog that is only illustration related. That would be here: Kerrie Robertson Illustration. I hope you all can check it out and give me some feedback.

Business Cards…

As a designer I find that one of the most challenging things out there is creating an identity for yourself. It is so much easier with other companies. How do I come across sincere, but professional without looking like I have too much self importance?

So, I present to you 3 business cards that I've worked up over the past couple of days. These are just temporary that I have to print out so that I can hand them out to some people at an upcoming event next Thursday. After that, I really work on my identity! Yikes.

As you'll see to the right, there is a poll. Hmmm… I guess I really should have added in a "none of the above."

Choice 1:


Choice 2:


Choice 3:

Post Script

Well, I did it. I got some strange responses, some upset responses and one "so you just chose this time to quit to screw us?!?" Hmmm … that was actually the polite way it was put. No, I didn't do that to hurt anyone. Anyone who knows me, knows that I always put others before myself.

Anyway, my Creative Director looked visibly upset but understood why I was leaving. Now, I have two weeks to survive!

A Great BIG Desicion for Me!

Well, with a title like that one might think children, divorce, moving … well, children are already on the RADAR, no way am I divorcing - my marriage is quite strong, and moving? Well, we've already started our countdown on that one, but that'll be a few more years.

No, today (actually tomorrow, as I've pre-written this) I will be handing in my letter of resignation. This is a big decision for me – read BIG – because I have no other concrete job lined up. I've been working nearly non-stop since I was a 15 year old kid burning fries at McDonald's by Crossroads mall. Does that place even exist anymore?!? I have been working at establishing my career as a Graphic Designer over the past 10 years, and one might say I've been successful. I have often worried that Graphic Design has a short shelf life as a career - as you work your way up in the field, people either don't want to pay you for what they believe they could get out of a recent hire, or you simply cannot continue to work under a Creative Director. The latter is where I stand. I have to find my own voice as a designer.

Why would I leave a company one might ask? I have a steady paycheck and well, let's see, that's about all. I'm not growing as an artist, and I need to see if I can hack it out in the big bad world of freelance. Plus, I have been getting increasing ill from this job. It's not a bad place - in fact it has some great aspects to it, but the stress level is becoming increasingly intolerable. Why continue to put up with it if I don't absolutely have to?

So, the first day after I have left my current company I will go downtown, get my business license and start my own illustration business.

Playing with the camera…

This photo was taken looking north
towards the Catalina Mountains.
I even caught a little bird in the shot!

Lindsay and I went to check out the new (pretty cool!!) Dodge Challengers today and on the way I stopped and took some photos of the fabulous cloudscapes around Tucson. I'm still learning how to use my camera – a Canon Powershot A530 – and thought these images would look good in black and white. I tried to find a setting for a black and white mode on the camera itself, but no such luck. Just sepia. So, into PhotoShop they go and here they are.

This photo was taken on the manual setting with a 1/500th shutter speed, which is probably why it is so grainy. I then took it into PhotoShop and added curves, levels and a bit of hue/saturation. I opted to due a saturated blue, rather than a black and white on this image.

Thanks For a Great Vacation Mom!

It was a another great yearly vacation in Breckenridge, CO. I always look forward to these family visits. It was great to see my Grandmother and we got to discuss a few things. I wish her well and will send her some pictures to hang on her bedroom wall soon.

I had a great flight into Denver International with these two little red foxes as escorts. It has been a long time since I have seen the Rocky Mountains and it's always interesting when you get to see them at 20,000 feet elevation.

The accommodations were beautiful and I got a great workout with 4 flights of stairs every day! Whew. My altitude coping abilities need to come a long way. My sinuses were bothering me every day with a 2-day sinus headache to start off the vacation! But, the beautiful surroundings more than made up for it.
Everybody's cooking was amazing and as usual Mom brought way too many groceries. I wish I'd been there to help pack up to leave. We were able to find a great little hiking trail near the Blue River that ended up in downtown Breckenridge.
My trip back down to Denver started with a snowstorm. Yes, a snowstorm in August! There were icy conditions at Eisenhower tunnel and hard rains the entire drive to Denver.
The flight home was mostly turbulent and marked with thunderstorms surrounding the entire state of Arizona. Because of the full moon, you could see the cloud tops and the lightening in the faraway storms the entire trip home. Now, I'm back in Tucson and back to work tomorrow! Bummer.

A Weekend in San Diego … again!

A couple of weekends ago, Lindsay and I spent a quick vacation in San Diego. We stayed at our favorite hotel, went to our favorite restaurants – Anthony's Fish Grotto (thanks Rylan!) and Tent City on Coronado Island. We also picked up this little souvenir.

We bought a Mazda Miata for Lindsay so that the 62 mile route he has to take to work is a little less expensive for us. The gas savings alone will equal more than the payment for the car, the insurance is a bit less than our truck and now we have 2 cars just in case I need one for an emergency or inclement weather.

On our way home to Tucson, we went through Imperial Valley just outside of the mountains of San Diego and it was absolutely brutal. The rental car I took had a thermometer built in and it hit a high of 116°F! As we got into Tucson in the evening the temperatures had cooled down into the mid 70s. It was good to be home after all that heat. I have no idea how anything survives in those kinds of temperatures.

I already miss the beach…

Having owned the car now for about 3 weeks, we are finding that not only is a little 2-door convertible a fun car to drive, it is much, much more cost effective for us.

Happy Birthday Bridget

Happy Birthday Bridget and to anyone I've missed over the past couple of months. It's been so busy, and I know that's no excuse, but this year has felt like a real roller-coaster. First, Grandma has been ill, Lindsay finished school and got a really good job, then almost immediately after that my job looks bleak! Plus, all the freelance that I am trying to do … I'll try to do better in the future.

Fine Art Illustration?

As the book that I am illustrating – "Going On a Train" by Pamela Ott – continues to be worked on I find that I am creating more than just simple little drawings. They are much more like paintings to me, all done on my computer. I am striving for a realistic, but simplified look to my work. So, you won't see every rivet on the train, or every hair on the person and it might feel a little child-like.

My general work flow consists of pencil sketches, then I move on to tight pencil drawings, scan those into my computer and arrange them into the final pencil sketch. I then take these sketches into Adobe Illustrator and redraw them with lineart. This is then copied into Adobe PhotoShop and then I paint in the color and detail. I have created a few custom brushes to give the look and feel of pastel paints on Canson paper and there you have it.

This is my most finished spread. I am still working out a few more details like passengers in the background as well as finalizing the sky.

As the train progresses through the book, I thought it would be fun to see it also progress through the day. I'm very happy with the moody look of this spread, which is about 8/10ths complete.

Early morning, the train is nearing its final destination.

A bit of distraction and a color test to boot!

Thanks to Jessica over at how about orange? I took this little quiz to determine my color personality. Thanks Michelle! Apparently, I am a tapestry & mosaic with a side of al fresco.


Does this actually describe my personality? I'm not so sure. The green is a given as the majority of my house is green and soon the entire thing will be. But color is so subjective for me. Tomorrow, I may love teals, blues and bright greens, while tonight, I am in a pensive mood and feel like looking at browns, deep greens and reddish oranges.

To take the quiz for yourself, click here.