Oct 26, 2016

State Birds and Flowers Now Available On Amazon Shirts

All four of my recent state birds and flowers artworks have passed review and processing on Amazon and are now available for purchase from Amazon! While some of you know I created artwork for all 50 states for my coloring book that was just released this month, I also am making borderless versions that work better on t-shirts and other products. The 4 t-shirt variations I have made so far are:

California: The Valley Quail & Golden Poppy
North Carolina: The Red Cardinal & Flowering Dogwood
Texas: The Mockingbird & Texas Bluebonnet Lupine
Virginia: The Red Cardinal & Flowering Dogwood

Here they are on shirts you can order with your existing Amazon account. They are all available in several sizes and colors, in men's, women's, and youth styles. Click on the shirt of your choice to see all options.

http://amzn.to/2dXsk4k

http://amzn.to/2ebEBzW

http://amzn.to/2dLkVBC

http://amzn.to/2eS5Y37








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Oct 22, 2016

Christmas Cardinals Shirts on Amazon

I am happy to learn that Christmas birds art image was accepted to Amazon Merch for use on t-shirts, including my newest Christmas design. This artwork features two red cardinal sitting on a snow covered fence strung with colorful Christmas lights. It's available in men's, women's, and youth styles in several different colors. Click the shirt below to see more options.



http://amzn.to/2eFMoHj




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Oct 21, 2016

Coffee Mugs Featuring Animals

I was just thinking about how many people enjoy beautiful artwork but don't have the money or wall space to buy original paintings or even prints. There's only so much space on your walls. But there are so many ways to enjoy art without owning an original painting or fine art print, from calendars to coffee mugs. Practically everyone drinks coffee or tea, or at least keeps coffee mugs on hand for guests who do. Who doesn't own a coffee mug, after all? So why have a plain black or white mug when you could use that mug as a canvas to display some artwork?

Many people are already starting their Christmas shopping. Personalized coffee mugs are just the right size and price for stocking stuffers. So, for the animal lovers you know, how about a coffee mug featuring artwork with their favorite animal, personalized with their name, or the name of an event or date of special meaning? Mugs for dog lovers, cat lovers, horse lovers, bird lovers, duck hunters, deer hunters, and more.


























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Texas State Bird & Flower Artwork Finished

The Texas state bird is the mockingbird, and the state flower is the Texas Bluebonnet, also known as the blue lupine. 

In a previous blog post I shared my progress on my Texas state bird and flower illustration. In this first image below I've made more progress on it, shading in the colored areas. But the outline is still a harsh black.



In the second image is my finished artwork. Here I've thinned the outlines a bit and colored them to match the colored regions.

http://pixels.com/featured/texas-state-mockingbird-and-bluebonnet-flower-crista-forest.html
 
 As I mentioned in my California state bird and flower blog post, this is a style often used in traditional 2D animation films that helps soften the outlines and give the artwork a more elegant and sophisticated look. Here's a detail closeup giving you a better look at the outlines.



I'm currently adding this image to products like t-shirts and will post again soon to share some of those products with you.


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Oct 17, 2016

Progress on my Texas bird and flower art

In one of my previous posts I shared my new line drawing version of my Texas state bird and flower artwork featuring the mockingbird and Texas bluebonnet. Here I'm making some progress on a color version.

In this first image I've blocked in the main colors of each area.


Next I've blocked in the color gradients forming the basic shading and highlights. I did a little color shift on the banner to better match the color of the flowers.






Here's a little closeup of an area showing the blocked in colors.



Next will come the blending of the colors, and coloring the outlines to match. Then I'll have the finished artwork! I'll share that next time.
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Oct 16, 2016

New Shirts for Horse Lovers on Amazon Merch

As you may have noticed in some previous posts, I've been adding some designs to Merch by Amazon, which is Amazon's own POD (print-on-demand) service for t-shirts. Previously I had added the NC and CA state birds artwork, and my vegetarian and vegan cows shirts. Now I've added some horse designs for all you horse lovers out there.

I just recently joined Amazon Merch, and don't have many shirts up yet, but have already had my first sale! So I'm going to start my horse shirt list here with the one that sold, my


http://amzn.to/2evBQxQ


 This shirt comes in men's, women's, and youth styles. Color choices include white, black, asphalt, slate, and silver.

Next up we have my popular western quarter horse artwork. I made two versions of this. One is full color and says "western girl" for women and girls. The other is in monochrome sepia to give an old west look, and works for men, women, or kids.

http://amzn.to/2fee9FR


  
http://amzn.to/2dYU7nH

Click a shirt to see all color and style options.

You may wonder why I decided to add my artwork to Amazon when I already have shirts available on Pixels.com and in my Zazzle store. The main reason is to give you more options of where to buy. I would recommend Zazzle as your first choice because products, including shirts, are fully customizable. Maybe you don't want the words "western guy" or "western girl" on your shirt. Maybe you want "I Love Quarter Horses" on it, or someone's name for a gift, or the name of an event you and your horse participated in, or maybe no text at all. On Zazzle you can completely personalize it. However, many people have never heard of Zazzle and don't have accounts there. We all already have enough names and passwords to remember. For some people, the last thing they want to do is register with yet another site. So, that's why I added Amazon. Nearly everyone has an Amazon account! So if you don't want to join Zazzle to purchase items there, you can now easily buy my artwork on shirts using your existing Amazon account. I'll be adding more stuff soon.


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Oct 12, 2016

New Virginia State Bird and Flower Artwork

In my previous post I created a new version of my Texas state bird and flower line art drawing. I was going to work on the color version next but got sidetracked when I remembered that Virginia has the same state bird and flower as North Carolina, the red cardinal and flowering dogwood. Since I'd already completed the NC line art and color version, I decided I could fairly quickly make a Virginia version. Of course I didn't want the two state images to look exactly the same so I took some of the flower elements from NC and added a new bird and state banner.

Here's the line art version I'll be adding to products you can color like a coloring page.

http://pixels.com/featured/virginia-state-bird-cardinal-and-flowering-dogwood-crista-forest.html


And here's the color version I'll be putting on products if you want an already finished image for shirt, hats, coffee mugs, etc, that you don't want to color in.

http://pixels.com/featured/virginia-state-bird-cardinal-and-flowering-dogwood-crista-forest.html

I'll post again soon when I have these images available on products!
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Oct 8, 2016

New Texas State Bird Line Art Drawing

If you've been following my blog you know that earlier this year I did artwork for the 50 state birds and flowers coloring book published by Fox Chapel Publishing. I'm also making some variations of those images to use on products other than coloring pages. I created to variations of the coloring pages already, one for the California state bird and flower image, and one for the North Carolina state bird and flower image.

I had planned on doing the Florida state bird and flower image next but Hurricane Matthew barreling through the state recently I figured the last thing Floridians are interested in at the moment is a coloring page t-shirt. So, out of respect for the victims of this tragic storm, I decided to move away from the east coast and go to Texas.

As I mentioned in previous posts, one of the big advantages of working digitally is to be able to reuse elements of one piece of artwork in another. The state bird of Texas is the mockingbird and the state flower is the lupine, or Texas Bluebonnet. To create a line art image of the Texas state bird and flower, without copying the image used in the coloring book, I took the bird from the coloring page for Tennessee, which also has the mockingbird as its state bird, and the lupine flowers from the Texas image.

Here's the original Tennessee state bird and flower image used in the coloring book.


And here is the original Texas state bird and flower image used in the coloring book.
So I took the mocking bird from the original TN artwork and modified it slightly (tilting his head a bit), and I took the Bluebonnet flowers from the original TX artwork and moved them around to different positions. I then added the text and banner and removed the border. Here is the resulting artwork.


Now, without the border, I am better able to use the image on t-shirts, coffee mugs, and throw pillows. Now, if you have no desire to color these products in yourself, I am in the process of making a color version. So stay tuned for progress on that one!



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Oct 7, 2016

NC and CA State Bird Shirts on Amazon

I'm happy to say more of my images have become available on shirts on Amazon. These most recent are my state birds and flowers images for California and North Carolina. These are, of course, the valley quail and golden poppy for California, and the red cardinal and flowering dogwood for North Carolina. The shirts come in 5 different color choices in men's, women's, and children's styles.






More shirts with my artwork coming soon from Amazon! :)



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Oct 4, 2016

Holstein Cow Vegan Shirt on Amazon

I'm happy to announce my artwork is now becoming available on Amazon Merch clothing. Here's my first two available shirts featuring my artwork of a mother Holstein cow nurturing her cute calf. These particular shirts are designed for vegans and vegetarians who want to show their support for animal rights.

The first one is the vegan shirt with the saying "Be Kind, Be Vegan" underneath the image. It's available in 5 colors, blue, green, white, and two shades of gray. The women's shirt is shown here.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M1XQBFM/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B01M1XQBFM&linkCode=as2&tag=forest07-20&linkId=703a0de65a1602a223adc1c0e6ff1841



Next is the vegetarian version with the saying, "Vegetarian, because I care" on it. This shirt is also available in several colors, blue, black, navy, gray, and white. The men's shirt is shown here.




Both shirts are available in men's, women's, and kids' sizes.

More to come soon! :)
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Oct 2, 2016

My New Birds Coloring Book Available For Pre-Order

I'm so excited. My new coloring book, Birds At Home, is now available for pre-order on Amazon. The book has drawings of all 50 state birds and flowers. It's expected to ship October 20. It's printed in the USA by Fox Chapel Publishing.



 "Relax as you color America's most cherished birds and flowers with this delightful coloring book. All 50 states recognize an official bird and blossomand from Kentucky cardinals and California quail to Mississippi magnolias and Arkansas apple blossoms, therere all here. Wildlife artist Crista Forest presents accurately detailed illustrations of every states emblematic treasures. Depicted in their natural environment, each pair of flora and fauna is ready to color with markers, colored pencils, watercolors, or gel pens. Crista gets you started with handy coloring guides that include suggested color palettes and fully colored examples. Printed on one side only of archival-grade, acid-free, 200-year paper, each perforated page detaches easily for gifting or display."


I just got my box of samples and the book looks great! No, I'm not bragging about my art. I mean the quality of the book is great. The lines of the drawings are dark and crisp, the paper quality is good, and the print colors are accurate. It's a well-made book. 



I think you'd be pleased with the quality, whether you want the book to color in yourself or to give as a gift to someone you know who likes to color. And they'll be available just in time for the holidays so they'll make great stocking stuffers too!

Take a look at the product page on Amazon for more pictures and details. If you do buy it I'd love to hear what you think of it. Come back later and leave comments here.



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