Let's Share: The Berkley Blog

Last day to vote!

It's the last day to get your votes in for what will likely be the last animal vote of the year!

So far it looks like these friends are in the lead:

You can probably tell where my allegiance lies by the GIANT smile on my face.  

Sorry about the otter picture (who are technically in the lead right now), but I only wanted to use photos from my own collection. If you are in dire need of some otter photography, however, you can revisit this post from last spring.

Also, just a little update, Ryan's lovely Mom Nancy did, in fact, write thank yous to all the lucky orderers from last Saturday.

 

She also helped us consume the largest platter of Ethiopian food known to human kind!!

 

If that doesn't inspire you to vote, I don't know what will!

The return of the animal vote!

 

Vote now!

What animal do you want to see in the Berkley line-up next?  Now is your chance to get in on the animal favoritism!  Please leave one comment with the one animal you'd like to see in fancy clothing --  you can even vote for your friend's favorite animal for their Christmas present!  This might be the most important thing you've voted on all day.

P.S. You might notice from the last post that we received a two-for-one deal on black censorship bars.

*ALERT* SPECIAL ETSY BONUS TODAY ONLY!

Thanks to a very special houseguest we have this weekend, all Etsy shop orders placed TODAY (November 13th) will receive a handwritten thank you note from RYAN'S MOM!!!!!!

 

(She is the be-floraled lady in the middle.  That's Grandma Lucille on the left and Aunt Taina on the right.  The dog must have been a practice run before Ryan came around.)

End Alert.

VOTE NOW!!!

All kinds of animals

At last!  The new animals for May are finally here and guess what?  The calendar just turned over to June. Curses!  I thought we could make it in time.  The truth is that the animals have been done for a week but I am to blame for the delay because I just couldn't get the right ideas going for their back stories.  I apologize for holding out on you, but I had a serious case of animal back story writer's block.

Anyway, I'm happy with them now so why don't we go ahead and show them to you?

Exhibit A: The Octopus

(Available with and without banners)

Exhibit A Fun Fact: Ryan has argued for almost a year now that an octopus was impossible to do. I finally convinced him to give it a try and, as per usual, he not only figured it out but he totally knocked it out the park.  Let this be a public declaration to Ryan L. Berkley, illustrator: You can draw anything!

Exhibit B: (The winner of your vote) The Pygmy Marmoset

Exhibit B Fun Fact: We honestly had no idea what a Pygmy Marmoset was when the votes started rolling in. You all like to pick some crazy obscure animals! Whatever happened to cows and pigs and generic snakes?  Nevertheless, we're really glad to know about the marmosets so thanks for the lesson.

The other reason for the delay and the lack of blogging is because we've been prepping like mad for the Brooklyn Renegade Craft Fair this weekend.  We have a couple new products we're going to test out on the unsuspecting citizens of New York City and if they are greeted with approval, they'll be making their way to an Etsy shop near you soon. {Hint, the shop I'm referring to is our own!}

Meanwhile, the one day in the last week we weren't housebound with the 2D animals, we jaunted out to the country to hang with some 3D animals.  Our pal Audrey turned two and invited us to celebrate with her on a farm out west.  

I am quite partial to the bottom rabbit.  He most certainly knows something that I don't know and somehow that makes me feel good.

Animal vote - May!

Animal friends and friends of animals...It's time to vote!

Whoooooo will be the next animal in a suit??? [Uh, but hopefully you won't choose an owl because we already have two.] Leave a comment at the end of this post to cast your vote!  Please refrain from specific breeds of dogs and cats.  Remember that we love your pets, but there are just too many to try to do.  

You have a week, so think it over.  This is serious business.  Personally, I'm pushing for a bison.  Finally. It's not like it's my favorite animal or anything and my own husband continues to refuse it.  Maybe I'll just have to draw it myself and sneak it into the shop.

But don't let me influence you...vote away!  Democracy!

Winner never forgets!

Dear voters,

We have a winner from this month's animal voting frenzy!   This sneak peak photo is provided by our lovely friend Anne P.

 

We're hoping to have the new print up after this weekend and we're also hoping to have a few more fun things available this weekend - including some more originals! 

Of course, I'm also hoping to finally redo our entire art room which includes buying and building furniture, tearing up carpet, painting walls, framing, and reorganizing shelving this weekend.  Am I insane?  Will I ever learn to not take on so many things at once?  Will I suffer from food poisoning after that peanut butter I ate this morning?  Will I watch another horrible romantic comedy as I'm getting work done*?  Tune in on Monday to find out. 

----

*For the record, Baby Boom isn't quite as good as I remembered it.

Animal Vote - February!

Friends of animals!  Now is the time to vote for the next Berkley Illustration animal!  Please vote by leaving a comment below.  One vote only if you please, and, as usual, we'd like to steer clear of a battle of specific breeds of dogs and cats.

We'll pick one voter at random to win an 8x10" print of their choice too. Bingo!

Vote now!  We'll close the votes on Thursday, January 29th and the new animal will be released in early February along with some other fun and exciting things.

P.S.  Today we're listing the 11x14" versions of the raccoon, meerkat, raven, and fox.  If you've been waiting for large scale wall coverage, today is the day my friend.

November Etsy Release

Happy Election Day, Americans!

What better day to introduce the FOUR new animals for November, as voted by YOU!

Welcome your winners, Mr. and Mrs. Skunk!

And also presenting two of your runners-up, the Gorilla and Sloth!

It's a lively crew.

We're pretty excited to go to our election party tonight and watch the votes roll in.  I have to admit I'm sometimes a little jealous of all you non-vote-by-mail people.  I've lived in Oregon since I was 18 so I've never been into a voting booth. It sounds kind of fun.  

We did have fun dropping off our ballots during the dark and stormy weather in Portland last night, though. The Elections Office was hopping and I'm sure today it's even way crazier.  Eep!  I'm so excited/nervous for the results!

November results!

Thanks for all your votes!  You gave us a lot of awesome ideas...if only Ryan could draw every second of every day, we might be able to do them all! 

Instead of having a vote-off, we're just going to do as many of the top vote-getters as we can in the next week.  Ryan already did one last night.  It stinks.

We'll announce the winner of the drawing when we release the new animals.  We're hoping to have them up by next Monday or so.  We have no Halloween costume plans at this point (we're going to a Blazers game that night) so I suppose that means we'll be able to work more (yay?).  We went to a Blazers game on Halloween once before and we dressed as the Simpsons.  I was Marge and I kept having to push my hair down so as not to block the views of those behind me.  I'll try to get photos of that up soon.  I think it was fairly impressive.

Actually, it seems like we're always really busy around this time of year. I can't even remember Halloween last year, in fact.  Two years ago we had a little costumed pumpkin carving party at our house.  Ryan got to meet two thirds of Spinal Tap.

 

 

I was the most DIY skeleton you can be.  I'm happier than I look.  I guess I was trying to nail some kind of expressionless skeletal face?

I know, it's pretty sad that I have to pull two years back to have any kind of Halloween show and tell.  Maybe we'll pull something out at the last minute this year and surprise everyone...

Animal vote - November!

You guys!  It's time to vote!  Warm up your ballot fingers and make your voice count in this Fall's most riveting election: Who will be the next Berkley Illustration animal in a suit?

 

Leave a comment after this post declaring the animal (just one, please) you need to see in a suit .  The first round of votes will close October 28th (Tuesday).  Then we'll have a vote-off of the top contenders and the winner will be available to purchase in early November.  It's time to think about that holiday gift giving so you can even vote for your secret santa's favorite animal if you like.

Please, no specific dog/cat breeds.  We're still sticking to that rule lest every dog in the universe gets mentioned.  And guess what?  We mega-love pets so you can't say we're being snotty.

BONUS!  NEW!  We're going to give away an 8x10" print at random to one of you snazzy voters.  You can pick the winning animal or you can pick one of the oldies.  We'll put all the voters' names in a hat (or maybe a bowl) and draw a winner when all the voting rounds are done.  Make sure we have your email address when you vote! 

May the best animal win!

September Etsy release!

The votes were tallied and it came down to one little teeny vote for this month.  By just a smidge, the Dinosaur has finally proved victorious! And guess what?  He's already up in the Etsy shop!

 

He got the extra special wardrobe treatment.  Love the ascot!

He is joined by the classic and classy Robin:

and the Puss Moth (gross) Caterpillar!  This one is so crazy looking it just seems like it could be totally fake:

I like how he didn't back away from a colorful jacket despite the fact that he is already blasting color from his head.  A bold man!

During the one day when Ryan wasn't drawing this weekend we snuck up to Mt. Hood for a retreat in a cabin with some friends.  I get really panicked about driving in the snow/ice so it was nice to get up to the high elevation before the bad weather comes.

This is as close as we've ever gotten to a ski lift, too.  It was obviously very exciting, even if it was just on the porch outside of a diner.

The cabin felt just like home, too, when we saw that a squirrel would be living with us for the day:

It looks like he hasn't put on his suit yet, though.

Happy September!