BELLA PILAR featured on Women's Wear Daily Regarding her recent collaboration with Joico, Bella says "The aesthetic is every girl's girl... People can see themselves in them. They're fun and free and beauty- and fashion-loving girls."
BELLA PILAR: JOICO
BELLA PILAR for Joico In this year long long partnership with the hair care brand, Bella's illustrations will be used on select hair care product promotions, special-edition packaging, accessories and more
BELLA PILAR: SOBRANIE EXCLUSIVE
BELLA PILAR for SOBRANIE Exclusive (Russia) Featured in an editorial piece about fashion illustration
BELLA PILAR: MUDPUPPY
BELLA PILAR
for Mudpuppy
J'Adore Paris! locked diary and Bonjour Paris! magnetic figures
BELLA PILAR: BARNES & NOBLE
BELLA PILAR at Barnes & Noble Penny and Peacock 500-piece puzzle
BELLA PILAR: ILLUSTRATION NOW! FASHION
Magnet Artists for Charity
Eleanor Grosch and Bella Pilar contributed artwork to the 19th Annual Children's Book Art Silent Auction, part of BookExpo America at Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City. All proceeds from the auction support efforts opposing the censorship of children's books and authors, including The Kids' Right to Read Project, Banned Books Week and the ongoing legal efforts working on behalf of children’s books and authors nationwide.
The auction takes place on Wednesday, May 29th from 5:30 to 7:30pm in the River Pavilion of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. The art can be previewed online with some of the pieces available for bidding prior to BookExpo America as part of a special online auction, opening Saturday, May 18th at 9am and closing Friday, May 24th at 9pm.
Pilar for DecalGirl
Bella Pilar's most popular illustrations are now available for a wide range of electronic devices with DecalGirl. With hard cases for your iPhone and removable vinyl skins in either a high gloss or matte/satin finish for your cellphone, laptop, tablet, e-reader, gaming console or media player, DecalGirl is sure to have whatever you need to live life fashionably!
BELLA PILAR
A city girl with a rich imagination and deep talent, Bella Pilar moved from hometown New York to Sunny Los Angeles where she follows her passion for painting. Her whimsical, feminine artwork takes a traditional rendering style and pushes it to a pretty new place with fashionable and fanciful ladies who lunch, live life and take flight in artwork that is as fresh and fun as it is inspiring. Trained in fine art and fashion, her ties to the world of style began with a career in the fashion and beauty industry before diving into art, her true love. A prolific artist, Bella now brings her signature style to life with paint and brushes. Her artwork has wide appeal, appearing in advertising, books, magazines, and for fashion and beauty companies and retailers.
PERSONAL WORK
ABOVE: Personal work
Fall 2012 saw a career-defining moment for Bella when she was tasked with creating the event artwork for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York City. With long-time client Papyrus as a proud supporter of the week-long fashion event, Bella's luxe fashionistas appeared on press passes and the cover of the show schedule. A select few of Papyrus' most fashion-forward greeting cards - many of which featured Bella's stylish designs - were on display in the foyer at Lincoln Center. Attendees were invited to share their Fashion Week experience by sending their favorites to family and friends with Papyrus providing complimentary postage to anywhere in the world. Bella was on hand for 'Meet-the-Artist' signing event, saying "I grew up in a high rise on 62nd and Broadway... and cut through Lincoln Center to and from school... So having my artwork floating around Lincoln Center during the biggest fashion event in New York has a lot of personal meaning, it's a piece of home for me." Visit Bella's blog to read more about her first Fashion Week experience as the featured illustrator.
FASHION WEEK 2012
ABOVE: Artwork and photos from Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week
This past February, Bella returned to New York to celebrate Fashion Week for the second season in a row. Her posh cover girls appeared on the show schedule and press passes again, and on the sought-after VIP tote bag. She was commissioned to illustrate a custom-designed, foil-embossed Papyrus greeting card for the Mercedes-Benz-sponsored event, and was on hand to sign cards at the Papyrus display in Lincoln Centre. When she worked in New York as a makeup artist, Bella spent many seasons doing makeup in Bryant Park (where the shows were held until recent years). "It's very cool to have my hand in it again, years later," she says, "it feels like I've come full circle." Visit her blog for sketches and some behind-the-scenes photos.
FASHION WEEK 2013
ABOVE: Artwork and photos from Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week
Bella illustrated her first greeting card for Papyrus only a few short years ago, and she has since risen to the top. Her artwork has become a signature offering at Papyrus and it was a collection of her greeting cards that was chosen for a spring end-cap display in Target stores across the US and Canada. Profiled in the 'Behind the Card' section of Papyrus' website, Bella's illustrations are described as "sophisticated and feminine," known for "exquisite, exotic and chic clothing, joie de vivre and refinement." With cards that celebrate life's momentous occasions like the birth of a child to the smaller pleasures of great friends and fabulous shoes, Papyrus has introduced Bella's artwork to millions of people across North America. In addition to the many greeting card designs she has illustrated, over the years she has created art for gift bags and boxes, notepads, limited-edition prints and figurines, and a canvas tote bag that was featured in a recent episode of the CBS sitcom, 2 Broke Girls.
PAPYRUS
ABOVE: Greeting cards, stationery and gift bags for Papyrus
With ad and marketing work for Tiffany & Co., Bloomingdale's, Timex and Target, Bella has been able to appeal to luxury market and mass market consumers equally well here in the US. Overseas clients aim for high end consumers when working with her, including trendy Hong Kong department store LCX, Italian retailers La Gardenia (makeup) and La Perla (luxury lingerie), and the Middle East's first online fashion magazine, Savoir Flair. She recently illustrated for Rosato Collections based in Spain. Specializing in luxury holiday wear, the atelier featured a chic beach goddess on shopping bags and tags. Editorial clients include Elegant Bride, Glamour, Marie Claire, Connecticut Bride and VIV Magazine in the US, Vogue Mexico, Vogue Latin America and L'Uomo Vogue overseas.
ADVERTISING + MARKETING
LEFT: Rosato Collections / TOP RIGHT: JAFRA Cosmetics / BOTTOM RIGHT: V.swish
Earlier this year Bella illustrated for JAFRA Cosmetics' Stronger Together 2013 National Conference and Leadership Meeting. Her illustration of fashionable sales associates from coast to coast was set against a modern skyline dotted with lankmarks. It appeared on the conference website and an exclusive tote bag for conference attendees. This was her second time illustrating for the direct sales company, having created artwork for their 2011 'Sparkle with Success' incentive promotion.
Over the past few years Bella has licensed her art on an impressive array of products. Andrews and Blaine has produced magnetic bookmarks and several puzzles featuring some of her best-loved artwork, including seasonal releases for Halloween and the Winter Holidays, a trendy series of four fabulous fashionistas, and a 1000-piece, glitter-embellished World Traveler panoramic puzzle with more debuting in months to come. Santa Barbara Design Studio released keychains, wood art-blocks, velveteen ipad and zipper cases, and wineglasses. Other products include quilting fabrics, device skins, children's apparel, stationery and toys including a magnetic doll set for Mudpuppy. The European stationery company, The Art Group, has licensed Bella's art for a series of square-format, embellished greeting cards in the Netherlands, and she will soon have new products and licensees in the Australian market in addition to greeting cards with publisher John Sands.
LICENSING
TOP: Andrews & Blaine / BOTTOM LEFT: Andrews & Blaine / BOTTOM RIGHT: Santa Barbara Design Studio
The influence of her two young daughters has motivated Bella in the last year to dedicate a portion of her work to a younger demographic. "I hope to inspire my little girls," she says, "since they inspire me." Last month (March 2013) saw the launch of Bella's BP Girl™ art brand which joins her Bella Pilar™ art brand. First licensed under the Toys R Us label Totally Me!, the debut collection consists of two lines - 'Sweet Tooth' and 'LOL' - perfect for the text savvy tween with a sweet tooth. Each line features neoprene and tin lunch boxes and a range of back-to-school stationery items that include spiral notebooks, writing pads, diaries and magnetic bookmarks. The products are available online and in Toys R Us stores. Visit Bella's blog for more product photos.
BP GIRL
ABOVE: BP Girl™ for Totally Me!
Bella has been illustrating book covers for both a middle reader and young adult series. The Wishcraft Mysteries series (Penguin), written by Heather Blake, follow Darcy Merriweather, a young witch with a knack for solving murders. The series currently includes three titles, It Takes A Witch, A Witch Before Dying, and The Good, the Bad, and the Witchy. The Petal Pushers series (Scholastic), written by Catherine Daly, follows four sisters - Delphinium, Rose, Aster and Poppy - on a string of adventures after their grandparents leave them and their scatterbrained parents in charge of the family flower shop. The series includes four titles, Too Many Blooms, Flower Feud, Best Buds and Coming Up Roses.
PUBLISHING
LEFT: The Wishcraft Mystery series for Penguin / RIGHT: Petal Pushers for Scholastic
While she has a busy painting schedule and a very full family life, we're proud of Bella for finding so much time to help out worthy causes. She provided her glittery 'Cocktail Girls' to Japanese shadow box artists for a Spring 2012 exhibition and auction benefiting the Ashinaga Charity, which helps children orphaned by the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. In honour of National Child Abuse Prevention Month, she partnered with a shopping centre in Temecula, CA to create a tote bag with 100 percent of proceeds going to a local children's home. Bella has helped the Junior League of New York by illustrating invitations for their annual spring and fall house tours, which provide a glimpse inside some of Manhattan's most stylish homes while raising money for local New York charities. And of course Breast Cancer Awareness Month, for which she has teamed up with Papyrus on an annual basis to illustrate cards and other products (last year, the Chic Warrior Princess card), with funds from the sale of each card donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
CHARITY WORK
FROM LEFT: Chic Warrior Princess for Papyrus / Junior League of New York / Temecula Shopping Center
To see more of Bella's work, along with behind-the-scenes images of her illustration process, visit her blog at junipervalentine.blogspot.com.
Click here to read our previous spotlight on Bella. Click here for downloadable items - desktop wallpapers and a high-res printable letter sized promo.
WALLPAPERS
Q&A with BELLA PILAR
How has your work changed since you first started illustrating? How do you see your work progressing in the future? I have never tried to change my work intentionally. However when I look back on it over the years, I realize it has changed on it's own, organically, unplanned. And I am guessing that with out trying, again, it will continue to slowly change and evolve in the years to come. Lines get stronger or lighter. Girls proportions get more, or less, exaggerated. Hemlines rise and fall. Color palettes change with the moon. It's all ever changing.
A genie grants you three wishes. What do you wish for? 1.To not need sleep. I hate the part of the night where I have to stop working, and go to sleep. Very frustrating. 2. To be able to sketch and paint quicker so that I can get out all of the ideas that fill my head just waiting to be painted. Never enough time. 3. For my artwork and ambition to inspire my two daughters to go after their own dreams and think big.
What is your ideal studio like? Lots of light. Lots of space. And a large lounge area - which would include cozy seating with lots of pillows, stacks of art books and magazines, bowls of candy and chocolates all about and an espresso machine (with a barista please!) for midday lattes.
What is a typical work day like for you? If it's a sketching day - I go right to the coffee shop and camp out a few hours, sketching to good music and the casual chit chat with friends that pop in for their daily fuel. If it's a painting day, I'm in my studio with public radio chatting away at me. My work day comes to an end once I go pick up the kids at school but once they are asleep, it's back to work for the night time shift. I tend to paint and sketch by day and then computer and office work by night (photoshopping or emailing, planning blog updates, web research, etc).
What's the best way to get over a creative block? Sit at my coffee shop, people watch, and flip through magazines. This always does it for me.
What is your biggest challenge as an illustrator? Painting men. Which is why you don't see them much in my work. When I am asked to paint men for an assignment, I usually find myself in a great state of anxiety. But it's a challenge, like any other, and I usually overcome... best I can.
Do you have a favorite movie? I can watch Cabaret over and over and over again and again.
You can only take three things to a deserted island. What do you take? Sketchbook. iPad. Chocolate. Can I take four things? Add an ice latte.
What's your guilty pleasure? Late night online Etsy jewelry shopping (love!) when everyone in the house is asleep.
Who are three artists you admire? My husband and our two daughters are most admirable and inspiring to me. It's non stop creativity here. Our home is like an arts (and crafts) factory. I admire their relaxed and unexpected way of creating. I try to let their free flow form inspire me. I wish I could pick up the paints and just paint something loose and unplanned and not on top of a planned out sketch as I always do. I admire them for being so open to creating without a structured plan in place. My final illustrations have a soft free flow look but the steps I take to create them are quite structured and mapped out.
Pilar: The Good, the Bad, and the Witchy
Bella Pilar illustrated the cover of The Good, the Bad, and the Witchy, written by Heather Blake and published by Penguin. This is the third book in the Wishcraft Mystery series about Darcy Merriweather, a young witch with a knack for solving murders. Other books in the series – It Takes A Witch and A Witch Before Dying – also feature Bella's artwork.
Pilar + BP Girl for Totally Me!
Bella Pilar's BP Girl collection for Totally Me! is now available at Toys R Us. So far, the collection consists of two lines – Sweet Tooth and LOL – perfect for the sweet and text savvy tween. Each line features neoprene and tin lunch boxes and a range of stationery items that include spiral notebooks, writing pads, diaries and magnetic bookmarks. BP Girl is available online and at Toys R Us stores. Visit Bella's blog, Juniper Valentine, for more product photos.
Pilar + Papyrus in Target
Papyrus recently launched a collection of greeting cards featuring new designs from Bella Pilar. The cards can be found in Target with endcap displays featuring Bella's artwork announcing their release.
Pilar at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week
Mercedes Benz Fashion Week wrapped up yesterday in New York City. This marks the second year in a row that Papyrus has participated in the week-long celebration of fashion, will Bella Pilar's artwork appearing on the show schedule's cover, press passes, a VIP tote bag and a foil-embossed greeting card created especially for the event. Bella flew to New York to attend a card-signing event at the Papyrus display in Lincoln Center February 9th and 10th. Check out some behind-the-scenes photos below or click here to see sketches and here to read more about the event.
Cheers go out to Bella and everyone at Papyrus for another successful Fashion Week!
Pilar's Fashion Week Sketches
Bella Pilar's gorgeous artwork for the Papyrus display at this year's Mercedes Benz Fashion Week was a huge hit! Her posh cover girls appeared on the show schedule's cover, press passes, a foil-embossed greeting card custom created for the event and a highly sought-after VIP tote bag. The week-long event opened on February 7th and wraps up today in New York City. Check out the initial sketches below and read more about Mercedes Benz Fashion Week here.
Pilar + JAFRA: Stronger Together
Bella Pilar illustrated for JAFRA Cosmetics' Stronger Together 2013 National Conference and Leader Meeting. Bella's chic fashionistas can be seen on the conference website and on a special limited-edition collectors bag available as a special gift to conference attendees. The conference took place January 17th to 19th in Palm Springs, CA.
Pilar + Papyrus for New York Fashion Week
Bella Pilar and long-time client, Papyrus, celebrated fashion for the second year in a row as proud supporters of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in New York City, February 7th to 14th. Bella's chic fashionistas in luxurious emerald appeared on the show schedule's cover, press passes and VIP tote bags, with Papyrus’ most fashion-forward cards prominently displayed in the foyer of the Lincoln Center entrance.
Bella's fashionable illustrations have become a trademark of the Papyrus brand and she was on-hand at the Papyrus display in Lincoln Center February 9th and 10th to sign the custom, foil-embossed cards she created especially for the week-long event. Attendees were invited to browse Papyrus' selection of fashion-inspired cards and share their Fashion Week experience by sending their favorites to family and friends with Papyrus providing complimentary postage to anywhere in the world.
Bella is no newcomer to Fashion Week, she spent many seasons doing makeup in Bryant Park when she worked as a makeup artist. "It’s very cool to have my hand in it again, years later," she says, "it feels like I’ve come full circle."
Pilar's Tote Spotted In 2 Broke Girls
Bella Pilar's canvas tote bag for Papyrus could be glimpsed in a recent episode of CBS sitcom 2 Broke Girls, starring Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs. The show follows the misadventures of two young Brooklynites and their efforts to start their own cupcake business.
Pilar's Holiday Puzzles at Barnes & Noble
Bella Pilar has three holiday-themed puzzles available from Barnes & Noble. Produced with manufacturers Andrews & Blaine, the glitter-embellished puzzles feature some of Bella’s most popular seasonal artwork. Decked Out and Tree of Treats are both 500-pieces and measure 14 x 19 inches, while Holiday Angel has 160-pieces and measures 7.38 x 10.25 inches. They are available in Barnes & Noble stores and on the Barnes & Noble website.
Pilar + Papyrus Fight Breast Cancer
Bella Pilar and Papyrus have teamed up once again to fight breast cancer with the Chic Warrior Princess card. Featuring a fierce fashionista in leopard print and embellished with silver foil and glitter, the inside reads 'You are one amazing, inspiring, beautiful Warrior Princess / Stay strong and carry on!'. Twenty-five cents from the sale of each card will be donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
Pilar's Halloween Puzzles at Barnes & Noble
Bella Pilar recently released two Halloween-themed puzzles for Barnes & Noble. Produced with manufacturers Andrews & Blaine, the 500-piece puzzles measure 14x19 inches and feature some of Bella's most popular seasonal artwork. Stella and Home Sweet Home are available in Barnes & Noble stores and on the Barnes & Noble website.
