{"id":3563,"date":"2014-11-02T00:01:13","date_gmt":"2014-11-02T06:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=3563"},"modified":"2014-11-01T23:16:17","modified_gmt":"2014-11-02T05:16:17","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-404-featuringup-and-coming-illustrator-olivia-chin-mueller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=3563","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks #404: Featuring
Up-and-Coming Illustrator, Olivia Chin Mueller"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\nIt’s the first Sunday of the month, which means I welcome a student or brand-new illustrator to 7-Imp. Today I welcome Olivia Chin Mueller<\/a><\/strong>, who grew up in Connecticut but now lives in California. She recently graduated, as you’ll read below, from Rhode Island School of Design<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p>\n

You’ll see I had trouble picking which illustration to feature at the very tip-top of this post. The first one, called Beware of the Bird<\/em>, seemed fitting, since it’s Halloween weekend. But the one under it is called All Summer in a Day<\/em>, and that’s the title of my very favorite Ray Bradbury short story<\/a><\/strong> (which, incidentally, HAUNTED me when I was a child). So, I thought I’d just put both<\/em> up there. <\/p>\n

Olivia is here to introduce herself. She sent me two pieces of art (Haze<\/em> and the first Perrin piece of art), and she told me I had free reign of the art at her website to share here in this post. So, I chose all the rest you see here. I made sure to include pieces that would be considered more picture book-friendly, but I couldn’t help but also pick some of the other types of images too. <\/p>\n

Here’s Olivia, and I thank her for visiting. <\/p>\n

Olivia<\/font><\/strong>: Hello, everyone! My name is Olivia Chin Mueller, and I am a recent graduate of RISD\u2019s illustration program — and aspiring children\u2019s book illustrator!
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Self-portrait<\/em><\/center>
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\nI always knew I wanted to be an illustrator, but it took me until senior year of college to realize that I wanted to do kids’ books. I took a really great class taught by my teacher, Judy Sue Goodwin Sturges<\/a><\/strong>, and since then I knew that was what I wanted to do.<\/p>\n

Before then, I didn’t really know where my work fit in. I was making very different stuff then. I still love making those illustrations—like my piece, Haze<\/em> (pictured below)—but it definitely wasn’t nearly as fun for me.
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\nI found myself over-rendering and getting lost for hours in the details. I would come away with pieces I loved visually — but also with a giant headache. When I started doing children\u2019s book stuff, I found that I really loved the process. I could be looser with my work and still love the outcome. <\/p>\n

The first book I wrote and illustrated was in that senior year class. It was called Perrin and the Peculiar Poppy Pod<\/em>. I made a book dummy and three finished illustrations. I’m hoping one day someone will like it enough to publish it!<\/p>\n

Here is a small excerpt from the book: <\/p>\n

\u201cPerrin poked it gingerly, and with a \u2018Ping\u2019 the flower pod popped out of the ground and landed by Perrin\u2019s paw. He picked it it up, and one of the purple seeds pattering about inside fell out onto the sandy dirt.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n


 

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Cover concept<\/em><\/center>
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\nI guess I should also talk about how I make my work. Sometimes people can’t tell, but my work is all done digitally. Most people usually think its done with gouache or watercolor, which I guess is a good thing. However, its all done from sketch to finish on Photoshop.
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\nRight now, I am working on building my portfolio and looking for jobs. I\u2019m hoping soon I will be lucky enough to support myself solely on illustration. But right now I\u2019m relying on income from my Etsy shop<\/a><\/strong> and commissions. I’ve also been on the hunt for an artist rep, and things are looking good. I am crossing my fingers things keep on the right track.<\/p>\n

So, that’s about it! Thank you so much for featuring my work and letting me ramble on a bit.
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(Click to enlarge)<\/em><\/center>
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(Click to enlarge)<\/em><\/center>
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(Click to enlarge)<\/em><\/center>
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All artwork is used by permission of Olivia Chin Mueller<\/a><\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Note for any new readers: 7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks is a weekly meeting ground for taking some time to reflect on Seven(ish) Exceptionally Fabulous, Beautiful, Interesting, Hilarious, or Otherwise Positive Noteworthy Things from the past week, whether book-related or not, that happened to you. New kickers are always welcome. <\/p>\n

* * * Jules’ Kicks * * *<\/strong><\/font>
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My kicks this week are when brand-spankin’-new illustrators, like Olivia, visit the site. (And I wish her the best of luck in her career.) <\/p>\n

AND that, after a long day of school-type chores with my girls, we have a brand-new book to read together. So, please forgive me while I go do that with them—instead of listing seven, separate kicks—’cause it’s chilly and windy out, and that would really be the most kickin’ thing of all right now. Cuddling up to read. Ahh. <\/p>\n

But I’m countin’ on you all to tell me your kicks, because I always enjoy reading them. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  It’s the first Sunday of the month, which means I welcome a student or brand-new illustrator to 7-Imp. Today I welcome Olivia Chin Mueller, who grew up in Connecticut but now lives in California. She recently graduated, as you’ll read below, from Rhode Island School of Design. You’ll see I had trouble picking which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-seven-good-things-before-monday","category-picture-books"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3563\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}