I live in Goshen, Indiana, which is just on the outskirts of Amishland. If you don’t go out into the country much you still probably see a buggy coming through town once or twice a week.
I have a full time day job where I design ads and illustrate stories. I often hear that I should draw children’s illustrations – well I do. I draw a monthly coloring contest for a local magazine “The Hometown Treasure” and I have recently finished up “Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes” which is fairly self explanatory. It’s coming out in Amish stores first (an Amish couple is publishing it) but the goal is to get it picked up by more mainstream stores too.
Whimsical illustrations as prints, cards, aceos. They’re sweet, fun, and very girly.
Most of them are hand drawn sketches that I color in photoshop, but if you pop in every now and again you’ll catch a colored pencil greeting card. I don’t do them often because they’re time consuming and you don’t get a lot of return on that investment, but there are a few in the shop at present.
How did you decide on your shop name?
My shop name actually comes from a Switchfoot song, Chem6a. The chorus is a somewhat tongue in cheek declaration – “I’m just like everybody else, I’m just like everybody else!” I loved it when “Legend of Chin” came out in ’97 and it’s been my login for a number of sites, but it also seemed appropriate for my shop, since I’m drawing everybody else and all my girls are different…yet quite similar.
Do you have a blog, twitter, or facebook page?
My blog, http://www.everybodyillustrated.blogspot.com/ often has random stories and illustrations you won’t see anywhere else. The facebook, www.facebook.com/everybodyelse.art has announcements and also some sneak peaks at the art coming up or just drawings I like and then there’s the twitter, www.twitter.com/everybodyelse which I’m still getting the hang of, but is fun.
What is your inspiration when making a new item?
People, I draw people, so whether it’s someone I’ve seen on the street or it’s a close friend, I’m almost always inspired by someone else. Sometimes it’s scenery, I drew “Mid-west Daydreams” because I just adore the sun and wind on the fields of Indiana.
What items in your shop do you most enjoy making and why?
And I love the newest ones best because that experience is still fresh.