MacKenzie Haley

how I do

2011-04-03T18:01:00.000-04:00

I thought it would be interesting to give you all a little behind the scenes look at how I do some of my work. What seemed like the perfect opportunity occurred when I was working on a page I recently completed for my book. I can't show you the whole page, but I've chosen a closeup of the detail of the rug(and kitty coincidently).

First, I work up the final sketch, as follows.

Then I determine what pattern, colors, etc I want to use for each detail. You can see that I decided the rug should be a woven one and sketched in the marks. I also started to play with the colors.

Next, I painted the six different woven rug sections. I had to make them substantially larger than the actual drawing of the rug in order to fit in the detail. Over the acrylic paint I drew the marks with an ultra fine point black Sharpie marker. I then scanned in the painted pieces.

Lastly, I placed the pieces onto the page in Photoshop. I had to manipulate the connecting edges of the straight and curved pieces to give them a seamless appearance. And tada! You have your finished rug.

Everyday Predator

2011-03-07T11:47:00.000-05:00

I'm back! I never really went anywhere, I've just been working hard the past year on my children's book trying to get it ready to submit to publishers. But from time to time an occasion rolls around that calls for me to create something unrelated to my book. Such was the case months ago when two of my friends ran off to Vegas and got hitched. This was their wedding present from me.

Most people who know me know that I love Predator. And Alien and Mad Max, etc. But Predator is especially awesome. And I have some big plans for him, when I find the time. This painting is what I hope is just a precursor for some serious awesomeness to come.

Urban Threads

2010-03-04T05:12:00.000-05:00

Urban Threads, an online company, asked me to be their feature artist for the month of March. They took my friendly little cupcake design and turned it into a machine embroidery piece that you can buy on their site. Plus, they've posted a nice little bio about me and included links to my sites. Check em' out! Urban Threads

love is fickle

2010-02-14T18:22:00.000-05:00

In honor of Valentine's Day, here's a painting I did a few months back.

long fairy tales have a tendency to DRAGON

2010-02-11T22:34:00.000-05:00

I'm visually editing my childrens book right now, adding painted elements. So I thought I would share my dragon scales with you. Freshly painted.

venn diagram

2010-01-26T21:46:00.000-05:00

A Muppet is a puppet, but a puppet isn't necessarily a Muppet.

so fresh, so clean

2010-01-19T21:48:00.001-05:00

This is a wedding present I made for my friends Geoff and Karen recently. Geoff crashed with me one summer in college. I pretty sure the only time I witnessed him do any laundry those few months was the week before Karen came to visit. This smelly sock monkey is in honor of him.

fancy fancy meow

2010-01-17T15:23:00.000-05:00

These are portraits I created of my friends' cats; Hoagie and Frenchie. I wanted them to look pretty regal, so I decided to have them resting their paws on red velvet pillows on roman columns. Fancy, ooh la la.

Nestin'

2010-01-07T21:40:00.000-05:00

This is a painting I completed last summer/fall. The text tells the story of how I lost one of the ear pieces to my old pair of glasses, and the adventure it may have had.

Nativity

2010-01-06T22:59:00.000-05:00

These are some pictures of the shadow box I made as my friend Jasmine's Birthday present. She was born on Christmas day, so she's pretty much Jesus.

2010-01-04T23:55:00.000-05:00

I recently completed a series of illustrations for a coloring book. This coloring book is to go along with my friend's actual published book, "Sex Dungeon for Sale!" Congrats Pat Wensink. Check out his website http://www.patrickwensink.com/ and look at the results of the coloring contest! I've posted the illustrations for you here.

Edits

2009-10-21T23:11:00.001-04:00

I'm editing my book. I've streamlined the story and replaced some pages. This is the drawing for a new page. Penguins are cool. Get it? Cool, as in awesome, but also as in cold? Yep, I knew I should explain :)

finished

2009-10-08T19:43:00.001-04:00

Patrice turns 30

2009-09-28T22:24:00.000-04:00

One of my good friends turns 30 next month, and I am creating an illustration for her to use on the invite. Little does she know that it will be a real life painting(not just a digital file in space somewhere) and I'm giving it to her for her birthday. Hahaha (evil laugh)! I've known her now for over a decade. I met her when I was a baby freshman in college at the University of Dayton. Man, times goes by fast.

P.S. I'll put the color image up here when it's finished. Word.

puffersssss

2009-09-01T23:33:00.000-04:00

this is another painting i did recently. i have these little dudes hanging in a school in my apartment.

Our Lady

2009-08-31T23:28:00.000-04:00

this is one of my new paintings. it took me longer than i anticipated due to the detail involved. its a new take on the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. people get so wrapped in all this twitter, facebook, i phones, pop culture, you name it. so i thought this might be an interesting way to call attention to that. it will be on sale at a silent auction next month.

super talented print maker & designer

2009-08-08T10:42:00.000-04:00

my friend's work. AMAZING. period.

joe immen

I hope Crystal reads this

2009-07-20T07:55:00.000-04:00

saw this on a t shirt site recently:
OCD: Obsessive Cullen Disorder

funny to me on a few different levels :)

I'm not a player, I just crush a lot.

2009-07-08T19:40:00.000-04:00

I got my friend Geoff's wedding invitation. On the envelope he put MacKenzie "Crusher" Haley. This is the same guy who when he lived with me one summer during college, put a baseball bat in my room and told me "this is in case some shit jump off." I had to ask him for a translation. Ohhhh Geoff, I love you. Can't wait to see you and Karen next month.

new painting

2009-06-08T20:35:00.001-04:00

painting for ella

2009-05-24T15:21:00.000-04:00

a family i know adopted a little girl from china recently. her name is ella. they commissioned me to do a painting of animals having a tea party for her room. they wanted to include a hedgehog, butterfly and a bunny. i got to decide on the rest. this should be fun.

sketches for a future kitty painting

2009-05-04T22:27:00.001-04:00

snuggie luvee

2009-04-09T11:47:00.001-04:00

My ode to the Snuggie.

invite

2009-02-28T00:39:00.000-05:00

ok, this is the finished illustration for Jordan & Johnny's wedding invitation. it's off to the printer soon.

in other news, i still love fluffy pop music, like Kylie Minogue. her Fever album still makes me dance.

Best

2009-02-24T23:44:00.000-05:00

This was the fortune that I got from my cookie at my birthday dinner with friends a few weeks ago at Vietnam Kitchen.

This year is gonna be AWESOME.

program

2009-02-23T20:17:00.000-05:00

I finished the giraffes for my friends' wedding program. The info will all be on the back like they want.

Parental Support

2009-02-22T11:32:00.000-05:00

This was the Valentine card I made this year and sent to friends and family. It's St. Valentine, who was beheaded after they unsuccessfully tried to stone him and beat him to death with clubs.

My mom called and told me she and dad got the card I mailed them, that it was really "cute."
I said, "mom, its a dead guy with his head cut off."
She replied "I really like the colors."

I'm convinced I could send her a dead squirrel in a box and she would hang it on their front door, proud of my new "artwork." At least they are always supportive.

Love you mom and dad.

wedding

2009-02-08T20:39:00.000-05:00

My friends Jordan and Jonathan asked me to create their wedding invitations and programs. These are the final sketches I did, minus the text. The whales will be the invitation, the giraffes the program. Their wedding is going to pretty fun. The reception is at a bowling alley. cute :)

candy colored graves

2009-02-02T22:39:00.000-05:00

i think it would be pretty neat if tomb stones were colorful and more whimsical, like toys kind of.

stay away from the peanut butters

2009-01-19T23:13:00.001-05:00

Romantical Stuff

2009-01-14T23:19:00.000-05:00

This is a picture of a gift I made for my friend Patrice's wedding present about 1.5 years ago. Its a painting/illustration/collage. Love Birds.

I'm working on another friend's wedding invitation and program now. She and her husband-to-be decided to use my illustrations for both. I'm very honored to be part of their most special day. I'll post some of my sketches for them as they get more refined.

In other romance news, Arwen and I have reached and passed the 6 year mark. Woah. Its all that hairball formula kitty food I get her; she digs it.

Gift

2009-01-10T17:23:00.000-05:00

I made a little painting for my friend's birthday as a gift. He likes weiner dogs. This is the sketch for the piece. I introduce to you . . . Weiner Luv Fail.

night creature

2009-01-05T00:15:00.001-05:00

ever since i was younger, my dad has called me a night creature. i tend to get more energy and motivation at night and like to stay up late working on whatever i'm doing at the moment. and i kinda feel calmer at night sometimes.

some scientists even think there may be a difference in a gene between day people and night people.

also, i'm still not afraid to admit that i like the movie Garden State. it makes me smile, and i relate to her hamster tubes and burial ground.

Crystal's Office

2009-01-03T00:10:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I like to draw lots of tiny little things all in one place, like a desk with tons of objects on it, or maybe kitchen shelves with dishes stacked everywhere. This is old, from a few years back. This is a drawing of my friend Crystal's desk.

college years...

2008-12-30T02:38:00.000-05:00

I was going through some things in my office today, trying to organize, and I ran across this drawing from college. It was for my Color & Design class my freshman year. Our final project was to create a color image of a fruit or vegetable using ruling pen, which is a truly horrific
device that many universities use to inflict pain and endless hours of agony upon young students (see the second picture). This drawing was just a preliminary sketch/study we had to do in pencil of our chosen fruit or vegetable. I chose a radish.

Looking back on it, there are things I would handle differently. Especially the leaves. They're so stiff, and kind of flat looking to me. The delicate nature of them doesn't appear to be conveyed in the drawing. But, I guess it wasn't too bad for an 18/19 year-old baby college student. Man, time sure does fly.

project for later

2008-12-27T11:27:00.000-05:00

Dear Ehron,

2008-12-21T20:23:00.001-05:00

Some of my family used to live in Germany for years. I visited them there with my mom and dad when I was young, about 4 or 5, and I surprisingly remember a lot of it. My oldest cousin, Ehron, even took me into her class for show-and-tell.

After the visit, Ehron and I became pen pals for a while. I saved all the letters and such. I found this and thought I would share it; its a picture of a unicorn that she drew for me. I think its pretty cute.

Old Illo

2008-11-21T16:27:00.000-05:00

This is an illustration from a few years ago. It's a self mailer I did to get freelance work. I was just thinking about it today because I love my kitty so much. She's so cute!!!!! And that's my tiny robot clock too. Yep, its real folks.

Brittany

2008-11-04T18:57:00.001-05:00

I was looking through some old sketchbooks today after work. There are a lot of things I started but for one reason or another, abandoned. One of them was a book about my little sister, Brittany.

My sister was born with a cleft lip and palate. She has been through a lot in her life even though she is only 25, including more than 10 surgeries(if my count isn't off). She went through speech pathology and hospital stays, 5 years of painful braces, kids taunting, teasing, and staring. She is strong.

Regardless of what she might say, she was the most adorable little kid. She was such a funny little tom boy, running around with more energy than imaginable in her pink 1980's running shorts.

A few years ago I wanted to write and illustrate a book about her experience growing up with a cleft lip and palate. How it was similar to and different from that of other children. I am currently working on a completely different childrens book though, which I have developed much much further along.

Maybe one day I will come back to this project though. Maybe if I get a book deal for the one I am currently working on(I can only imagine!) I will be able to create the book about my sister.

I scanned in and posted one of my sketchbook pages. It has some quick drawings of her face & her in a swimsuit(cute chubby baby legs & belly!) and some ideas I had for pages.

paper doll

2008-09-24T01:50:00.000-04:00

when i was young, almost every year for my birthday my grandparents on my mom's side would give me a card that folded out and had a paper doll in it with all sorts of outfits to go along. i loved it and always wondered what she would look like each year.

so one summer day when i was staying with them, i decided it was time for me to make my own paper doll and
outfits to go with her.

i think for my age, around the same time period as "Bo-Bo", she didn't turn out too badly. lets call her sally. except that sally's feet are unusually large. and i didn't really know what a bra looked like yet, so its all wrong, as i later found out. but i'll let you judge for yourself!

so we have all the traditional things little girls think of. ballerinas, bunny slippers at night, fancy dresses, swimming, yada yada yada. if i made sally at this point in my life, she would have a very different wardrobe. maybe a brain surgeon, a special effects creator for scary bloody movies(my favorite!), an auto insurance adjuster, you know, the average womanly occupations of today's world.

p.s. if you zoom in on sally, you can see she has brown & green eyes like me!

Bo-Bo

2008-09-11T22:24:00.000-04:00

I used to go over to my grandparents' house during the day in the summer while my parents were at work. My time was usually divided between playing outside with the kids down the street, and staying in drawing and sewing for hours at a time.

I recently came across a stack of drawings that I made one of those summers. I think I was about 8 or 9. I created this little character named Bo-Bo. I made 35 drawings of him doing different things, in different roles. They're pretty funny to look at now. So I thought I would share a few of them with you guys.

When looking at these, its pretty clear certain words, such as musician, were not in my everyday vocabulary yet. Its also evident I didn't know how to spell flying. And night time Bo-Bo looks high. Geese.