Sarah's Sketches

Thought I should I share this here too! Your kiddos (or you?) can now listen to my picture book, The Box, on YouTube. If you'd like to buy a copy, you can find it on Amazon.  Enjoy!

So since I'm doing the book publishing thing, it seems I should do the blogging thing too. I didn't think anyone read blogs anymore, which is why I let this one get so very dusty--but no! It seems that in the publishing world, blogs are still a big deal, so I'm reviving mine. And to be honest, I kind of love the excuse to come back here and putter around. As much as I enjoy the social side of Instagram and Twitter, I miss the self-curated nature of a blog and the chance to ramble a bit. I also miss posting my art in a place that feels less dependent on algorithms and "likes" and what not. And now that I'm being more open about my book writing, rather than being so secretive about it, maybe I'll have more to say too. ...Or maybe not. I just wrote an honest account of everything that happened in my life in 2015 (some of it was stressful) and then deleted it all. :) But never mind my inability to be candid, here's some 2015 art! I still love ...

Hurrah! I have finally opened an Etsy shop! More prints will be added over the next few weeks. https://www.etsy.com/shop/SarahMensinga Please let me know if there is anything else from my archives you'd like to see available as a print, or if you have any thoughts on subject matter for future prints. :)

(Click on the image to see a larger version.) This was originally meant to be a promotional illustration postcard, but since that never quite happened, I'm happy to give it a home here instead. :)

Quickie-quick troll for Sketch Dailies, and another novel character.

For Sketch Dailies! I like how this drawing ended up looking a little Take-on-Me 80's.

This is the main character from a novel I'm revising. You'd think I'd sketch my book characters more often, but for some reason they seem less real to me if I do. And so it goes... I like this drawing, but it's not quite her.

Here are a few promotional illustrations I did for my wonderful agency, New Leaf Literary & Media , as well as a character sketch to test out a digital painting technique. Finding a method of digital painting that's easy, loose and works well with my sketchy style has always been a holy grail for me. I can spend a kazillion hours and paint something that looks like an oil painting, but I don't have a kazillion hours these days. Besides, that sort of approach doesn't lend itself to the children's books I write, and is far too labor-intensive for comic work -- other than covers. The above technique feels comfy, cozy and very me. And even better, it's super fast! I don't want to jinx it, but I think I possibly just "chose wisely." We'll see as I continue to test it out... :)

I like posting with artwork, so here's an unfinished painting of a supervillain. But really I'm posting because I'm super excited to announce that I'll be contributing to a Kickstarter for an art book called the Masters of Anatomy .

I posted these on Instagram a while ago, but I thought I'd properly scan them and put them on the blog too. Watercolor and I don't always get along, but I really do love the look of it. Here's a self-portrait and two of my kiddos!

My daughter tells me these two are named Briar-Rose and Peachen.

Here's some of the freelance work I did for Zynga Dallas' Castleville game last year. Of all the freelance gigs I've had, this was one of my favorites; nice people, solid pay and fun assignments. When I first toured the studio, I brought my children with me, then an infant and toddler. It resulted in a harrowing kid-vomit-art-department-greek-yogurt-incident. Super horrifying/embarrassing! It's still amazes me that Zynga wanted to work with me after that, ha ha, but I'm glad they did. It was a great gig.

Yes, I'm still here! I know... five months, no posts, but I had baby in January, which is my third munchkin if anyone is counting. This means 90% of my day is spent kissing hurt fingers, reading Richard Scarry books out loud, making Star Wars shaped lunch items (wookiee tortillas anyone?) and having dance parties in the living room. As for the other 10%, I was, and still am, busy with work-related art projects -- which are fun and exciting, but like most work-related art projects, they aren't something I can share here yet. However! While I was off sleepless and zombie-like in cute newborn land, this movie came out. I worked on it back in 2007 until I learned I was expecting my daughter and no longer wanted to commute to Vancouver. I'd long ago buried this artwork on an external hard-drive, but now that the film has been released, I thought I'd dig out some of my favorite pieces. Since little babies and theaters don't mix, I still haven't actually seen...

Thank you Stephen for distracting the kiddos so I could color and post this. :) Hope everyone has a great holiday!

So yes, this is sort of me, because at the moment I'm nine months pregnant with baby #3 and not nearly this slim. But like the picture, I DO need a haircut. I painted this for my illustration profile for the New Leaf Literary website , where I'm now represented by the awesome Suzie Townsend . If I don't get the chance to post again before Christmas, I hope everyone has a great holiday!

My kids are in love with Miyazaki's Totoro. Lately, the Catbus is all my daughter talks about. Here's something both Totoro and Fall-inspired. :)

I like to attend my writing group with a sketchbook and handful of sharp pencils. Here are some doodles from the last few meetings.