A Job Well Done

I feel very proud of myself. This post is, simply put, a way for me to brag.

I started my online baby clothes store, Little Characters, almost a year ago. I'm not exactly rolling in dough, but 95% of the time, I've felt happy about it, and I would judge it to be a success. Today, I'm not just feeling happy - I'm ecstatic! If I was physically capable of doing cartwheels in the street, you would now see a chubby 30-something woman awkwardly tumbling around the cul-de-sacs of suburban Maryland.

I really love the design I just finished for little Unitarian Universalists. You can find baby clothes for a baby UU in my new Unitarian Universalist store.



This design is an expression of what I believe to be my unique drawing style and something I care deeply about . . . Unitarian Universalist identity. My first UU design didn't feature any of my cartoony people. I drew religious symbols from many of the world's traditions and fit them inside the letters to spell UU. I am happy with this design, too. It represents not only the radical hospitality and respect for diversity among UUs, but also the potential value the world's religions have as a source of inspiration for UUs.

But as I wrote in my blog post about that design . . . it wasn't as much of an expression of a unique UU identity. One member of my congregation wrote that she had hoped to see a design centered on a chalice. Two things kept me from doing that right away. First, I had seen other chalice designs on CafePress that were good and I felt somewhat intimidated. Second, I couldn't visualize a drawing of a baby and a chalice that didn't seem like a portrayal of a strange and irresponsible fire hazard!

When I was looking over some of my past sketches, I came upon my original drawing for the Little Christmas Tree Hugger.



This drawing has a lot of problems I still haven't fixed, but I have always liked this little kid. S/he just looks adorable to me, and I love the pose. That got me to thinking that since I was looking for a way to portray a little UU, I could exaggerate the smallness of the baby by having him/her sit under a very big chalice in the same pose.

So after avoiding this design for months, I managed to get from start to finish in one day. A local UU congregation had contacted me to ask me to donate something from my store to their auction, and I was feeling some drive to add more Unitarian Universalist designs, so they could be showcased in time for that.

It's amazing though how sometimes I feel like I am in a state of creative flow and other times I feel like things just aren't working. And it is truly a blessing that I don't have to fight against the latter. I can just wait it out. Because this is my store. I have earned back the money I invested and my profits are piddly enough that I don't depend on them for anything. So I am blessed with total freedom about when I work, how much I work, and what I work on.

So here is some bragging . . . leave it me to overanalyze everything - even simple happiness.

I'm proud of the symmetry in the eyes of the baby. I achieved that by using a little techie trick my husband taught me. In the early stages of the store, I thought I would draw everything by hand (including the color) and just scan in the completed drawings. I have started using technology more since then, and that's not a strength of mine in general, so I feel good about the strategic way I am doing it. (Even if my sketches of one-eyed babies might look bizarre!)

I love the color in this drawing. I always offer a range in coloring for the skin tones and hair and eye colors, so the designs honor diversity. This was no exception.







But I chose the other coloring - without any pressure to fit a mold (like using red and green for a Christmas design), and I love it! Blue and yellow are most definitely two of my favorite colors.

There is actually some spiritual significance to my love of those two colors. I can't go into too much detail in this post, but there is a story about how the goddess Ochun came to have yellow as her sacred color. She started out with all white clothes, but as she went through hardships, she would cry by the river and wash her clothes until they became a faded yellow. Her tears in the river swelled though, and became a lake/Yemaya (goddess of the lake)/a sister. Yemaya's color is deep blue.

But even if golden yellow and deep blue together didn't have spiritual significance, I would still think they were beautiful! I love the way they pop in this picture. I think the gradiation from red to orange to yellow is striking. Since I use a simple technique of outline most everything in black and not shading, the blended colors in the flame stand out.

I think this baby is cute. That might seem like a kind of duh thing to say, but when I look at some of my earlier designs, I don't always think the babies are as cute. Case in point . . . the kind of freaky-eyed child in my original Free Gas drawing . . .



I like the way the message fits into the overall design. It's natural to see "Little UU" written across the cup. Sometimes, it's a real struggle to get the text to fit in the size limits - especially if I have a tall drawing. But I feel like the size and placement of the text keeps a nice proportion, and the font is sharp and easy to read. I like my little touch of making the dot over the letter i a darker shade of orange (almost like a little flame).

The body shape of this little person seems just right. A lot of my earlier drawings have babies with bodies that just seem way too long. Maybe I was trying too hard to be realistic while looking at my son as a model (he's taller than more than 97% of kids his age). But this baby looks pleasantly plump and kind of squat - in that cute cartoony baby way.

And did I mention that I like how this is a portrayal of something I care about? :D I'm sure I did, but I want to mention it again. I don't think I've drawn anything that goes against my values (though I have drawn Little Republican designs - I believe that we should be respectful about politics when possible), but I've drawn things that are lacking in personal value for me.

This drawing is an expression of my faith. And it's uniquely mine. There is no other design out there quite like this. How cool is that?

Unitarian Universalist Design on T-Shirts for the Whole UU Family

I devoted a lot less time to my baby clothes store, Little Characters, in February. Patrick and I have been putting almost all our time and energy into trying to ensure that at least one of us has a good, paying job come summer. I'm currently chasing a dream. I'll know in the next month or two if it will become a reality, but I've just started to get some breaks from running.

And anyone who knows me well knows how I use my breaks . . . to work on my store! :D

I decided to treat myself. I delayed working on the next set of holiday designs for April (I do plan to create Passover/Pesach, Easter, and revamped Earth Day designs) and instead I focused on something closer to my heart . . . Unitarian Universalism.

I would estimate that I've spent well over a hundred hours on designs for Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Hindu designs for baby clothes - with most of that time going toward the Jewish baby gifts. I feel very proud of that, because celebrating diversity is certainly a reflection of my values.

But those values come from my Unitarian Universalist faith, so it was about time I create something based on that! I just completed my first collection of UU designs for baby clothes, and T-shirts for toddlers, kids, youth, or parents.

Creating this collection was pretty involved. Each design says either "Little UU" or just "UU" and the letters are filled with symbols from the world's religions. I drew each of those symbols. (If you zoom in really big, the waves
in the lines will prove that to you! Don't worry though - it will look smooth when printed regular size on the products)

You'll find beautiful versions of the Sufi Winged Heart, the Shinto Torii (Gate), the Pagan Triple Moon, the Taoist Yin Yang, the Jewish Chai (Life symbol), the Christian Ichtus (Fish), the Hindu Om, the Bahai Nine Pointed Star, the Christian Cross, the Muslim Star & Crescent, the Buddhist Dharmachakra (Wheel Showing the Eight-fold Path), and the Jewish Star of David. And, of course, I couldn't forget the UU Chalice! Each period is filled with a chalice.

Here are some examples of products. JUST CLICK ANY PICTURE TO BUY. You can also browse the Unitarian Universalist section of my store to find the size, color, and product that's just right for you or email me at drawnbyk@gmail.com. I'm happy to do a special order changing any of the colors in the design at no extra charge. I could also add to the design to make it more personal for your congregation or church activity. Depending on how much time that would require, there may be a slight increase in the price.









Drawing each of these religious symbols was a spiritual practice for me. I thought about what each meant to me, and I tried to chose symbols that represented the elements of the traditions that called to me personally. For example, even though I think the Jewish symbol of the Hamsa (hand) is visually beautiful, I don't feel as inspired by a sign that's primary purpose is to ward off the evil eye.

I guess it is ironic that my first design focusing on Unitarian Universalism still included signs from all these other religions. I could have started with a design that only had a chalice, and that might have been more true to UU identity. The truth is that I've seen a couple of gorgeous chalice designs on Cafepress by other artists. I haven't seen anything quite like what I just created, so it was less intimidating to start with this. I hope to move on to doing some original chalice designs and I'm very excited to create a design based on a popular children's chalice lighting verse.

In the mean time, I'm happy with this beginning. I think that these T-shirts could be a good way of spreading the good news about Unitarian Universalism without proselytizing. I suspect that someone might see the shirt and ask the wearer a question. What better way to start conversations about Unitarian Universalism than with a question?!