lello news

One of my New Year’s resolutions was a promise to myself to post more frequent updates to the lello Website. We’ll… it’s now the beginning of April and looking at the Website and number of times I’ve posted, it’s pretty obvious, that like my well-intentioned-work-out-regime, this resolution is also out the window.

That said, I would like to take a quick minute to mention that we’re busily working on new toddler t-shirt designs that should be ready for sale in May (May of this year… for those skeptics out there). In-fact, I’ve been working like a possessed man lately trying to get everything lined up and to the screen printer by (ahem) today… which is now looking like Monday (doh).

Aaannnnyhooo… once I deliver the art and have a minute to breathe, I’ll circle back and give you enthusiasts a sneak peek at the t-shirt designs, etc. I promise.

In the dark days of winter it’s nice to have little moments that bring you sunshine. This particular moment occurred when my son showed me a drawing he had done of the family. He’s been busily cranking out works of lowbrow art for some time now. Often times the subject matter needs a little explanation in order for one to fully appreciate the art, but in this case the thoughtfully portioned round heads attached to stick arms and legs is undeniable. There is mom, dad, baby sister and Jackson in full glory. He even went to the trouble of signing this piece.

Why am I so taken with this piece you might wonder. Well, in-addition to it being a wonderfully accurate family portrait, it marks an evolution of growth in Jackson’s artistic/mental development. Up until this point, all people in his art were depicted as mere oblong heads. Sometimes these individuals had a mouth and/or an eye or 3. But in this piece, for the first time, he’s represented people in a way that we can all clearly identify and understand. He’s looking at the world around him, understanding it, and translating it to paper. Amazing!

Here’s the budding mural artist in his studio (the living room floor) working on his next masterpiece. The kid leaves me in awe every day.

The Trend bite on the sound that Weezer brought to the mainstream with their first self-titled (Blue) album, but surpass their forefathers with wittier lyrics and more complex song arrangements. Lighthearted, upbeat and fun music…. give it a listen.

As promised, we’ve updated the website to include a Clothing section, featuring our very first t-shirt, the Maplewood, NJ Tee. Limited sizes are available, and once they’re gone, they’re gone forever. A more extensive online store is still on its way as additional designs become available, but for now, take a look and give us your thoughts!

Thank you to everyone who has supported us during our first year in business. Stay tuned for more custom kids murals and t-shirt designs in 2008. Have a happy, healthy and safe holiday season!

When I arrived home the other day, I was pleasantly surprised to find a box on the back porch containing copies of a book I illustrated awhile back called Silly Dog Tricks. It’s always cool to get these boxes - first, for the obvious reason that it’s pretty cool to see my name and work in print… but also because the illustrations are so often submitted independently of the text, and seeing it all come together for the first time in its final package is like an early Christmas present.

The book title accurately describes its content. Silly Dog Tricks is geared for kids, and it gives detailed instructions on how to teach your pup how to perform different stunts such as playing dead, walking on its hind legs, and stealing someone’s wallet out of their back pocket (not sure about that one). It also includes a training clicker and squeaky toy… it’s a pretty cool package.

For my part, I cranked out about 40 full-color illustrations of 4 different dogs in about a month. It was a pretty aggressive schedule, but I muddled through it like everything else in life. My wife was awesome, looking after our son while I spent late nights and weekends getting fur just right. She even went as far as naming each dog and referring to them by name (Abe, Bandit, Midnight and Flapjack) when checking in on my progress and bringing me that next cup of coffee. She’s the best.

Anyhow, if you have a dog and a youngster, definitely check out the book.
You can browse a few pages from the book via Google.
Or buy the book through Amazon

It turns out that starting a business doing something you’re really passionate about while managing a career and family takes quite a bit longer than we’d expected, so we haven’t been as guerilla-like as we’d planned to be about advertising just yet. Fortunately, our first experience doing a mural for a paying customer was everything we hoped it would be, and - speaking for myself - it seems as though everyone walked away very happy with the end result. I’m still a little dumbfounded by the fact that I got to draw pictures on someone’s walls AND get paid for it… my mother is no doubt, very impressed.

The job was to paint an elephant, lion, giraffe and a zebra - all emerging from behind various windows and doors. I’ve left pieces of the moldings and windowsills visible in a few of the pictures to give some frame of reference in terms of scale.

(Click the picture to view more)

Art is far from a science, but I tried to be as systematic as I could be in documenting things such as how long the process took from start-to-finish, which colors work well together, and how different types of weather/humidity affect the time it takes paint to dry. All of my copious note-taking meant that things took a bit longer than they otherwise would’ve, but until it all becomes second nature, it’ll be handy to have the info to refer back to next time.

I was also reminded several times during this process that I am my own worst critic, and it’s nice to have a wife to give you tough love and tell you when it’s time to stop obsessing over the color of the giraffe’s spots or the size of the elephant’s ears. (Asian elephants have smaller ears than African elephants, btw. It’s all about temperature regulation. Thank you, Wikipedia.)

Thanks as well to Mr. and Mrs. Halm for hiring me to adorn their children’s walls. I hope the animals will always be as special to them as they’ve been to me!

And trying to find time to post updates in-between the demands of work and family obligations has proven to be quite difficult. But busy is good right..? Sure it is and things are just chuggin’ along here at lello. We’re working on a bunch of new t-shirt designs that we hope to have ready for sale come the Fall, while we sort out and tackle all of the issues that come along with starting a new biz here in New Jersey (more on that at a later date). We’re also working on the Website and hope to start introducing new content and features soon… don’t quote me on that however.

As we sweat it out in our tiny and un-air-conditioned studio, I find that I’m always cranking the music in an attempt to take our collective minds off the heat. Tunes by The Terrible Twos seem to be in heavy rotation these days, particularly the song, “Lady Bug,” which is constantly requested by our 3 year old. I don’t mind, however, the “Twos” present original and thoughtful music geared for kids but with a subtle punk edge that adults can appreciate. I guess I should expect nothing less from composer/performer Matt Pryor, lead singer of the now defunked band, The Get Up Kids.

Anyhow, that’s my little musical plug.
Check out the The Terrible Twos on MySpace if you get a chance.
If you like them, you can buy their album, If You Ever See an Owl… from Amazon.com.

For you older kids, The Get Up Kids are definitely worth a listen.
Their album, Four Minute Mile is my personal favorite.

It’s only taken us a month to say so… Thanks to everyone who stopped by to chat, put their name on our mailing list and/or buy our first t-shirt. Thanks also to Beth over at Wooden You Know and all of the other dedicated souls who organized the fest. We met many wonderful people and had a great time!

Here are some fun pics from the event, starting with our favorite ;)

(Click the picture to view more)

If you have pics of your little ones’ wearing the lello Maplewood t-shirt, send ‘em to us. We’d love to start a gallery of our friends.

And speaking of Maplewood t-shirts, we have a few left, so if you missed Mayfest and would dig a shirt, give us a shout.

More later.

Tomorrow is the big day… lello’s debut at the Mayfest street festival! We joke that someone must’ve slipped a contract into the big stack of papers we signed the day we closed on our house in Maplewood four years ago, obliging us to have a child as our first matter of business. There have been at least a dozen kids born on our little block since then, and when we look out our bedroom window these days and see everyone playing ball in the street or selling pink lemonade on their front lawns, it feels like we’ve struck gold to have found that small-town closeness that we almost thought didn’t exist anymore.

Fortunately, the town is also very welcoming of home-grown businesses. Our neighborhood toy store, the funky little coffee shop, the bead shop and the knitknack yarn store… they’re all locally owned and operated, and people are proud to shop there and show their support for the community. To foster that home-town pride and get our business name out there, Mike designed his first Maplewood t-shirt for kids. We had no idea how many to print up, so it’s possible that either Jackson and Sadie will be wearing them until they graduate, or we’ll have to apologize to everyone at Mayfest for selling out so quickly. Let’s hope it’s the latter… there are certainly worse problems to have your first day in business!

Here’s a pic of our friend Jordan modeling the shirt for everyone.

If you can’t make it to the Mayfest and you’re interested in purchasing a shirt, shoot us an email.