Category Archives: art projects

A Field Guide to Birds of the Universe

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I finished a spread for Thunder today, so it was fun to sit down this evening and splash around some watercolour paint to create a cheerful parrot (not of this world) and put him onto a book cover for the 52 Week Illustration Challenge. The theme this week is BOOK COVER. It’s a subject close to my heart, and normally I would spend longer than this on it… lovingly tweaking and twiddling each letter and feather. But a quick job is a good job until I am up-to-date in all areas. So here it is.

ImageI don’t think I’ve got that craving for colour out of my system yet… who knows where it might lead…

 

 

The Wrestler

Beards are back in fashion, right?

I know the background pattern could be so much better. But any drawing is done rapidly around here at the moment or not at all. Perhaps I will edit him later on. It would be easy enough, as he is coloured digitally.

I was feeling inclined towards strong, flat poster colour when I set out to colour him. In fact, the original choice was for a plain red background, which looked good, in a more serene way.

…But then I really liked the combination of manly strength, curling beard and floral pattern.

He’s originally inspired by a cabinet card photograph of a wrestler with a much more realistic beard. But this illo was done quickly for the 52 Week Illustration Challenge on the topic of DETAIL. I felt I should have a go, even though detail is really contrary to my natural habits. But it didn’t take me long to do this.

 

washy people

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washy little girls

washy little girls

I painted these figures loosely, intending to add detail afterwards. It’s a thing that Alexis Deacon likes to do in various ways. It’s a great idea and I’ve been meaning to have another go at it. But once sketched in, I felt they were finished and didn’t want any more detail. So here they are.

The Three Demon Cats

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If you mentally rotate this 90 degrees anticlockwise, and imagine the faint grey wash without the  black ink details, you will be seeing what I painted a few weeks ago for page 14 of Thunderstorm Dancing. They were shadows on the floor for the cat I’m calling Thunder.

I picked up the piece of paper with three grey blobs on it today and looked at it in bemusement. ‘What are those three weird, rounded-yet pointy-blobs? They kind of remind me of something, but I’m not sure what…’

After working out what they were for, and given they are no longer needed, it seemed a shame to waste a piece of perfectly good paper. So I turned them into demon cats.

I could have turned them into nice cats. But their shape was somehow not really wholesome… more gothic. But don’t be alarmed. I will keep them in an iron-bound book and they will be unable to escape. (A small nod there to The Hounds of the Morrigan by Pat O’Shea.)

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The Three Demon Cats

Cat called Thunder alarmed

The Cat Called Thunder having a bad day

Those demon cats may be related to the storm cat below. He kind of accidentally appeared when I was drawing storm tendrils… or whisps… or wisps.

storm cat

The Storm Cat – King of Tempests

 

Wet waiting again

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I’m waiting for the boys at their last swimming lesson for the term.

As usual, a freeze ray would come in handy. but in the absence of one of those (perhaps for my birthday?) here are: a goggled boy about to jump in the deep end, a Chinese dad with his gleeful baby in the pool and two kids with very different body types.

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Another cat called Thunder

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20140328-135001.jpg I’m revising roughs on the run. This puddy was a Maine Coon in the rough and needed converting to Rex before inking.

It would be nice to have an auto-conversion button, but actually it’s quite a nice part of my work. The Maine Coon was a bit cranky. The Rex is more comical and sweet. So the pose/attitude needs to change accordingly.

Now for the ink.

Thunder the Cat

(a Cornish Rex of course)

Work in progress (a fragment) for page 8/9 spread of Thunderstorm Dancing.

 

Here’s a fragment of a spread with brindly-blue whippet. (I am so into whippets at the moment. Shame my chickens wouldn’t be.)

Thunderstorm still raging

Answer… no.
Ha ha. Oh, well. We’re getting closer…

Weather Sprites and whisps

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These probably won’t be used in Thunderstorm Dancing, but some may…

whispy lightning boy

whipsy small person whispy big person corrected whispy chubby small person corrected

A family of whispy people, including a rather chubby child, proving you can be both chubby and whispy at the same time. I note that the dictionary prefers the spelling ‘wisp’ but allows ‘whisp’. To me the ‘h’ helps enormously with the whole whispy airy thing. How can you float through the air without an ‘h’ I ask you?

And I know this because cranky Miss Lee at my Primary School was fond of explaining how to correctly pronounce ‘wh’. You should sound as though you are blowing out a candle…

causing a whisp of smoke to rise perhaps….

storm tendrils compilation copy

And these little weather fragments and waves were nice to draw and paint. This book has been an interesting adventure that has led me all kinds of places.

52 Week Illustration Challenge – Week 7 Watercolour

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Aaah, the perils and pleasures of spontaneity and ignoring the rules!

Woman mourning the loss of a Giant Pomeranian

Woman mourning the loss of a Giant Pomeranian

Having decided to do an illustration onto plain paper (gasp!) instead of a printed book page, I grabbed a fine liner (the nearest one to hand) and proceeded to do a slow and deliberate (double gasp!) outline.

It was when I was about to apply the first watercolour that I thought to look at the pen to see if it was waterproof. The pen shaft was mute on the subject. Oh well… My first dab of watercolour revealed the truth and the ink began to run enthusiastically. However, I have long been a fan of Sally Rippin’s beautiful ‘Fang Fang’s Chinese New Year’ that features profusely bleeding ink outlines so I continued on and  really enjoyed it. (I must ask Sally how she did this.)

I also liked the fact that the ink bled a deep purple colour, which has infused the whole picture with blackcurrant tones.

When I tried to invent a new breed of dog (a kind of Giant Pomeranian) to accompany my character, it didn’t work. But that’s another story. So my costumed lady was cut out from her page and collaged onto a new background. And I enjoyed that too, including the bright, undisguised cut edges remaining around her.

And lastly, Brain Pickings had a great post today on creativity and taking risks and it’s worth a read for any artist. Yaaay!