HG Designer Shelly Comiskey Blogs for US!

HG Designer, Shelly Comiskey of Simply Shelly Designs Blogs Especially for US! Leave a Comment on our Blog about Shelly's newest line "SNOW MUCH FUN"
(which can be seen on our website under "What's New") and
you may be the lucky winner to Receive a *FREE Bundle* of
Fat Quarters from Shelly's last line: "I LOVE SNOW". The winner will be chosen by 4:30 pm on Wed. Feb 1st.

HG: Where do you get your inspiration from?
Shelly: I get inspiration from so many different places, but I believe my strongest is from my love of animals and kids. Each filled with their own personalities and expression. This I try to bring to each character. Another is a particular mood can inspire me.. whether it be the feeling I get from a warm sunny day, a chilly snowy night, or even the feeling or memory of favorite holidays! Inspiration is everywhere!

HG: How long have you been designing?
Shelly: Hard to believe but I started designing back in 1997. I authored a few craft books on working in Polymer clay, one of which was with Disney and sculpting their characters. What a thrill that was! During this time, I had always felt the pull to follow my true love which is illustrating. I felt the most freedom when I had a pencil in my hand. In 2007 I made the decision to concentrate solely on illustrating and haven’t look back since.

HG: Can you give us a sneak peek into your studio (or where you work) just a pic or two.
Shelly: (See pic above)

HG: Where did you grow up and where is your home town now?
Shelly: I grew up on the southwest side of Chicago. LOVED it! I had the best neighborhood and friends! To this day I am still close and in contact with friends I had in kindergarten as well as my first crush when I was 11, and who later became my husband Mike! I now live in New Lenox, Illinois which is only about 30 minutes south of the city. My mom still lives in the house I grew up in, so going back and visiting her is always home.



HG: Pets or children??? Or both??
Shelly: Well I have two of the greatest kids.. My daughter Casey who is now 22, and my son Mickey who is 18. Boy where does the time go? We are a very close family and for that I am blessed. As my kids started to get older and more independent, I found myself with a few more pets! My three dogs and one sweet cat. The dogs range in size from a 5lb Chihuahua to a 150 lb Newfoundland. Yep quite the crowd. They are my companions, co-workers, and as I said earlier.. lots of inspiration.

HG: Favorite hobbies or vacation spot??
Shelly: Hmmm.. well since my hobby and passion has turned into my business, I would have to say my job! I just love a quiet afternoon, comfy on the couch with pencil and pad! Sketching and sketching! I do also enjoy horseback riding. I would love to make more time for that!

HG: What Medium do you create with??
Shelly: I always start with pencil and paper sketching away. And depending on my mood or vision, I sometimes will start the colorizing process with basic water color painting or illustrator markers and then a bit of colored pencil. I will then scan it into the computer where I will start digitally painting even more and bring in lots of detail. Other days I may just scan in my sketches and do all of the painting digitally right on the computer. Because I license my designs for various products, it is always a good thing to have the artwork ready for the manufacturers in a digital format.

Thank you for taking the time to read a bit about my world. I feel so blessed to have this passion for what I do and to hopefully bring smiles to those who enjoy my designs.

For More Information on Shelly or Fabric Lines- Check out her website: http://simplyshellydesigns.com/