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Abby Brown

@justabrownbird

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Abby Brown
🦋Illustrator and paper artist 🦋
Rep: @renarossner
🏳️‍🌈AVL NC

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My family would do backflips if these illustrations turned fine art prints would fly out of my printer and into your arms in mass!!

Some of them are comebacks, and some of them are never before seen! But all of them are high-quality good prints that would make phenomenal gifts, especially for Mommy!

i’ve worked really hard the last six months rebranding and creating an illustration portfolio. I am far from done, but it was time to release the prints!!

The people have been asking!!

🦋TODAY AT 6pm EST 🦋

#illustrationartist #childrensillustration #bookillustrations #motherhoodart by @justabrownbird

BIG UPDATE FOLKS:

I am now officially represented by @renarossner with @bradfordlitagency for book illustration!

Six months ago I nervously started sharing my illustration work and made a hard left turn away from fine art. Anxious thoughts were swirling in my head the entire time, “will people catch on? Will they still want my art? Did I just sign up for a crash landing of everything I built??”

It was scary to pivot and delete years of worth of viral content and artworks I am genuinely still very proud of. I wanted people to come to my platform and see truly what I am NOW though. When I posted about building my portfolio with comissions, I never would have dreamed that I would be reached out to by an agent so quickly.

To say it feels like a blessing is an understatement. It truly is prayers answered and I’m so excited to work with @renarossner

Cheers to a future full of warm stories and lots of artful paper cuts! by @justabrownbird

Please join us!!

Every day, make art for each letter of the alphabet one letter a day!

For the entire month of October, so you have a little wiggle room in case you forget a day :)

choose any theme you want or don’t have a theme at all! It truly is all about your own creative process. The prompt is the letter.

I am personally doing a fairytale/folklore/myth per day for the challenge! Nothing final, just sketches and a lot of imagination!

Tag @susannaficklin and @justabrownbird and use the hashtag #alphabetautumn on any post you make for it and we will share entries in our stories!!

Happy fall y’all

#inktober #arttober #alphabetautumn by @justabrownbird

Nightingale felt so fitting considering the times…

If you’re not familiar with this Hans Christian Anderson fairytale it is about an emperor and a Nightingale…

The Nightingale is captured so it can sing beautiful music for the emperor all the time, but it keeps trying to get away because it doesn’t want to be trapped, and so eventually the emperor receives a mechanical fancy shiny Nightingale that plays the same song on repeat.

Overtime he prefers the mechanical nightingale, and eventually the other real Nightingale gets sent away.

Eventually, the mechanical bird breaks down and loses the key that it needs to keep making music. The emperor is on his deathbed, and the real Nightingale hears of this and decides to go sing for him by his window.

The real Nightingale song restores his health, and they agree that instead of trapping the the bird in the palace, the bird will just keep returning every evening to sing songs

it’s a story about freedom, and appreciating authentic raw beauty. The mechanical bird can never hold a candle to the real thing. Just like AI could never hold a candle to real art made by a real human.

and on that note, if you made it this far, my sh0p is open. You could support a real human artist right now!

#alphabetautumn #folkart #childrensillustration #childrensbooks #fairytales by @justabrownbird

Mermaid!

I spent forever, trying to figure out how I was going to make her transform and in the end, it was much more simple than I was trying to make it in my head

I absolutely love the way that this articulated paper doll turned out, and I really enjoyed collaging the little fish in the background.

It would be so amazing if I got to illustrate fairytales for children one day. Everybody knows the story of Disney Little mermaid but the original story by Hans Christian Anderson is actually much sadder in the end. The mermaid turns into seafoam and never even ends up with the prince

I hated it.

but I love mermaids and all things fantasy, fairytale, and folk related!!

#alphabetautumn #childrensillustration #folkart #folktales #fairytaleending by @justabrownbird

Little Red and the big bad wolf who already gobbled up grandma!!

i’m hoping to develop this one a little further another day I thoroughly enjoy the concept and it was a good first draft 😎

I love the idea of grandma shown trapped in the wolf’s stomach already.

#alphabetautumn #childrensillustration #littleredridinghood #fairytale by @justabrownbird

ALPHABET AUTUMN recap and check in!

I want to stop posting.

I will not, but I want to….. read the next caption….

Growing is uncomfortable,

Growth mean shedding the old,

Bursting out of your skin….(next caption)

I’ve heavily focused on this challenge for two weeks plus now, and I find myself wishing I had more time.

Because I want to explore all the possibilities of a prompt,

This is growth…

I’m upset with my one singular presentation of a story that holds so much in it. I want to see all I can do, and I want to unlock boundaries in myself creatively….

It’s so vulnerable.
I wish I could hide it….

Because to share just one angle of my perspective of a prompt might mean I am misunderstood…

This is growth.

Growth can be a fear of not being seen…

I know I have the keys, and it’s taking a while to unlock the doors….

I have to share the process, because it’s part of the growing and shedding for me…

So it is: I am sharing each prompt,

Slowing down,

Exploring all the angles,

Deep diving,

Free falling,

Learning new limits,

And shattering old ones.

So exciting and rewarding to grow! But also so very very uncomfortable. I love all this challenge is bringing to my inner world!

#alphabetautumn #fairytales #folktales #childrensbookillustrator by @justabrownbird

Frog King!!

Honestly I’m slowing down because I have other life things going on, and I think this challenge needs to go into November… am I allowed to change the rules? Hahaha

I feel like I could have made him much better and just feel intensely pressured to get these done on time instead of enjoying it. Soooo I’m going to slow it down now.
#alphabetautumn #childrensillustration #frogcore #frogking by @justabrownbird

J is for JACK FROST!!

This challenge is becoming harder for me because I can’t narrow down ONE idea for each letter, and I have spent too much time thinking about what I want to make.

Jack Frost had so many other elements, and then I made him and decided this is all this particular scene needed. I could illustrate a whole Jack Frost book though my goodness!!

I wanted to get snowy owls in there and ornate winter foliage, but I didn’t have time. So here he is bringing winter in!!

#childrensillustration #jackfrost #folkillustration #childrensbook #fairytaleillustration by @justabrownbird

I is for Ivan and the flying ship!

I personally wasn’t family with this one, and I found it while I was researching.

It’s a Russian tale about Ivan, who brings a flying ship to the tsar. The Tsar had promised his daughter’s hand to anyone who brought him a flying ship.

On the way Ivan is gathering characters:

A runner
A listener
A woodsman
A snow maker
An eater
A marksman

(No featured-a drinker)

But once they arrive the Tsar sets out a ton of challenges because he views Ivan as unworthy. Ivan’s new friends are able to complete each challenge though! In the end Ivan earns a hand in marriage.

While I was researching this, I found a version of it that was narrated by Robin Williams, and a stop motion movie! I watched both obviously

#alphabetautumn #childrensillustration #folkart #folktales #childrensbooks by @justabrownbird

H is for Henny Penny!!

The original chicken little story where Henny Penny loses it because an acorn falls on their head and they immediately believe the sky is falling.

So they gather all the other birds to tell the king, but a fox intercepts them and gobbles them up!!

I had a blast making this silly birds running, and it has inspired me so much to make more characters like this!

#alphabetautumn #hennypenny #childrensillustration #bookillustrator #childrenauthors by @justabrownbird

Alphabet autumn!

G is for Golden bird

If you’re not familiar with this fairytale from the Grimms Brothers, it is about a golden bird coming and stealing an apple every night from the king’s garden. The king requires his three sons to capture the golden bird who is stealing the apples. Through a series of events the youngest son is the more successful. A cursed fox tries to tell all three brothers how to succeed in their quests, but the oldest two don’t listen and end up punished in the end. The youngest listens sometimes, and ends up getting a golden bird, a golden horse, and a young maiden. He becomes king and eventually chopped off the fox’s head and feet, and the fox is broken from the curse…turns out he’s the young maiden’s brother!

I love a good Grimm fairytale!

I decided to create the golden bird, collage apples and then cut out symbols of the story. @susannaficklin said it looks like apple pie! That’s made it even better, totally unintentional, but absolutely registered as an apple pie bird hahaha

#alphabetautumn #Grimmfairytales #fairytaleretelling #fairytale #childrensillustration by @justabrownbird