Jessica Rae Gordon

Jessica Rae Gordon is an illustrator and graphic designer based in Toronto, Ontario. She creates playful and whimsical artwork using a combination of acrylic paint, cut paper, pencil crayon and ink. Jessica is an avid recycler, and incorporates reclaimed and repurposed papers into her collages whenever possible. She has done illustrations for a variety of domestic and international magazines, including Time Magazine, Today's Parent Magazine and Sunset Magazine. She is currently accepting freelance work in illustration and design.

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Best Health Magazine

I illustrated a half page and spot illustration for Best Health Magazine a few months back. It was for an article about female hair loss. Which so happens to be something that I've had to deal with myself, and it totally sucked! Lucky for me, my hair did grow back, but it's such a depressing and stressful thing to go through.

So I was thrilled to have been asked to illustrate this article about possible causes, cures and coping strategies for female hair loss. I really enjoyed doing the fairytale Rapunzel theme for this piece. I particularly like how the spot illustration (below) turned out.

Perhaps all that shedding hair might be plucked up and woven though some little birdy nests. And that's some comfort.

via Blogger http://ift.tt/1ztDiRk

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Baba Yaga's House

Baba Yaga stories have long been a source of intrigue to me. A big part of this, is because of Baba Yaga's house. A house, deep in the woods, standing on chicken legs! I also love that Baba Yaga herself sometimes helps the people who come to her, and sometimes tries to hurt them. You never quite know how the story will go ...

For this illustration, I wanted to include lots of spooky details and imagery. Above is a close up of the black cat. I took this photo while the illustration was at an in-between stage when I hadn't pasted the bits down.

And here's the piece in the lovely adirondack frame I picked up! I thought this style fit just right for the mood of the art.

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Let's Get Figgy!

I'm really excited that my illustrated Fig & Grape Shake recipe is included in the latest cook book from They Draw And Cook! The book compiles 30 fig recipes created by 30 different artists. You can order a copy online here.

via Blogger http://ift.tt/1pEQZdd

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Reader's Digest Illustration

I was away in British Columbia for most of July. So there's a couple things I haven't gotten around to blogging about. Such as, I illustrated a full spread for Reader's Digest! This was art directed by Annalise Dekker, who was really lovely to work with.

I also wanted to share my sketch for the spread. I sketch by hand, but I love to shift things around when I scan it into Photoshop. I find it helps me a lot with sorting out a composition. via Blogger http://ift.tt/1BhYqvT

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Today's Parent Magazine: Debate Illustration

This is the latest illustration I did for the August issue of Today's Parent Magazine! The debate is about whether or not you would buy your kids a trampoline. You can read it here. Thanks to Nicole Chung, who is always such a wonderful art director for these spots. via Blogger http://ift.tt/1shKXl9

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Mindful Magazine: Issue 8

These are a little old now, but here are my mindful/mindless spot illustrations for issue 9 of Mindful Magazine. As always, these were art directed by Meg Yoshida. It's always such a pleasure to work with her on these! via Blogger http://ift.tt/UFFYN1

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Alright, so Today's Parent Magazine didn't go for the fuzzy peach idea that I blogged about previously. But an alternate idea I had was of a red panda, ready for her bikini wax, at the spa.  Above is the final (published in the June issue)! You can read the debate online, here. via Blogger http://ift.tt/1qSZSyB

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Fuzzy Peach, Smooth Peach

So I don't usually bother to post sketches I do for clients that aren't chosen for the final.  But I gotta say that I really liked these and was a tad disappointed they weren't chosen. These were for a Today's Parent Magazine article about if you would choose to get a bikini wax just before childbirth. The client decided the peaches were a little risqué (and I don't disagree), so we went in a different direction for the illustration ... but c'mon, it's also pretty cute and hilarious ....

via Blogger http://ift.tt/1kHcWRS

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Modern Cat Illustration

A little while ago I was contacted by Jennifer Nosek, the Editor and Creative Director of Modern Cat Magazine, to do a full page illustration about cat speech. It had a super fast turn around time, but I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned out.

Special thanks to Kathleen Grimes who snapped a photo of it in the magazine! Thank you!

via Blogger http://ift.tt/1m2Gb93

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Today's Parent Magazine: Debate Illustration

Here's the latest debate illustration I did for Today's Parent Magazine. It's debating if you, as a parent, would ever leave your child alone in a car (even for just a moment).  You can read it here. This was art directed by Nicole Chung, who is always so great to work with. via Blogger http://ift.tt/1lgkvVM

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Mindful Magazine: Issue 7

Mindful Magazinehttp://www.mindful.org/ has just released their 7th issue.  Go and check it out.  Above is the scan of the Mindful/Mindless page with the latest spot illustrations I made.  Like always, it was great to work with the art director, Meg Yoshida!

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Arts Market Display

Yay! I'm excited to share some photos of my booth display at Arts Market!  There's two locations in Toronto, and I chose to set up in their Leslieville location (1114 Queen Street East).

I've been really wanting to have my framed illustration prints up in the East end of Toronto for awhile now.  I was very pleased to find out about Arts Market.  Arts Market is different than other shops I've worked with.  They don't do consignment, instead they rent out smallish spaces inside the shop to local artists and creators.  If you live in the Toronto area, you should definitely check it out!

This is the first time I've created the display booth for my art prints.  I've never done a craft sale or seasonal market before ... though I've considered it many times.  I was pleased when I managed to scrounge up a second hand card shelf, and I had a great afternoon creating paper flowers from the most beautiful craft book, Paper to Petal.

I think it all came together pretty nicely.  My stuff will be up for a month ... maybe longer ... depending on how sales go!

via Blogger http://ift.tt/1jgLWNY

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Today's Parent Debate Illustration

The February issue of Today's Parent Magazine is out, and I illustrated the debate page!  This one's about getting a tattoo of your child's name. This was art directed by Nicole Chung. via Blogger http://ift.tt/LsHAFe

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Hanna Sandvig Art Print

I wanted to do a quick blog post, not about my own art, but about my friend, Hanna Sandvig's art!  We did a print trade a little while ago and this is the print I got out of the deal.  It's so beautiful with the soft flowing hair and the gorgeous colour scheme!  The quality of the print is just perfect.  You can buy your own print here, in her shop.

You may have also noticed the big bear head guy.  This is a prop my boyfriend, Jesse Yules, created for a music video.  The little hat on top belongs to me ... but I thing the bear looks more friendly when he wears it.

via Blogger http://ift.tt/1mCcNBc

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Mindful Magazine: Issue 6

Here's the latest set of Mindful/Mindless illustrations I did for Mindful Magazine!  As usual, these were art directed by Megumi Yoshida, who's always a pleasure to work with.

via Blogger http://ift.tt/JNpNHS

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Winter Holiday

I've been having a great Christmas holiday in Nelson, British Columbia with my family.  I snowshoed for the first time since elementary school, and I really enjoyed it!  It's so great to be out in the woods.  And the trees look so beautiful covered in snow.

I hope everyone is having a cozy, and friendly holiday as well.

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Today's Parent Magazine: Debate Illustration

The October issue of Today's Parent Magazine is out, and has an illustration I created for their debate page.  This debate was about a "push presents", a gift a father would give the mother after she's given birth to a new baby.  This was art directed by Nicole Chung, who I always enjoy working with. You can read the debate here.