Kezzita’s cat, neither baleful nor malevolent.
One-eyed Jack, pirate cat
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Kezzita’s cat, neither baleful nor malevolent.
Category Archives: illustration
Thunderous expression
The cat is becoming more baleful by the minute. But who can blame it when the only dry place is indoors… but indoors everybody has gone mad with dancing , banging and clanging? I have a vision of it being a sort of smudgy thing in each spread, somewhere amid the linework. So it might be black, if that works.
I think it might have to be a longhaired moggie. If there’s anything more uncomfortable looking than a cat that has been caught in the rain, it’s a long-haired cat that has been caught in the rain. Poor puss. I think perhaps this cat’s name is Thunder :-) That seems infinitely appropriate.
But I am thinking I will give it a treat at the end of the book. I think it might get a delicious fishy. One that was imaginary, but might, just might, not be imaginary…
Is Thunder a boy or girl cat? Somebody tell me. So impolite to call it ‘IT’.
Lucy the whippet gets in on the action…
Poor Poppy. As I have a thumping headache at the moment due to a cold, I sympathise with his predicament :-)
Often it’s the quickest pictures that have the most life… And often the quickest pictures are pictures of dogs… Ahem
This needs to be re-worked and then ‘unworked’! But I’m trying for that look that Hugo gets when he is squirming with glee, half crushing whatever he is holding, and throwing his legs about from a safe vantage point… not quite ready to join in… The cat is getting closer to the right baleful and disgusted expression :-)
Reblogged from – A Place to Call Home: trust the post
A Place to Call Home: trust the post.
Click on the image below to go to Alexis Deacon’s blog for information about the exhibition and click on the images further down to go to pages by or about other illustrators, whose envelopes I have found on-line at other times.
Alexis Deacon’s illustrated envelope
Illustrated envelope by Tony Ross
illustrated envelope by Sitoshi Kitamura
illustrated envelope by Susan Varley
busy me
I will get back to posting soon. Just very busy with Thunderstorm Dancing for the moment and time is short:-)
Hairy beasties at the SUNDAY opening Vinnies at Edithvale
Dexter has been feeling cold at night. All of the old bed jackets I made for him have met with mysterious (or not mysterious) ends, and now the nights have turned cold and he’s an old boy. So yesterday I ventured forth to Edithvale where I had been told there is an oppy that opens on Sundays (!) in search of a blanket for making a new jacket.
No blankets. Can you believe it? I guess I wasn’t the only one who noticed the cold.
Not to be daunted, I bought a kids’ zip fronted windcheater and put my imagination, cataclysmic sewing unskills and solitary pin to good use. It looks great! From a distance.
But before I left the oppy I did a quick trawl of the book shelves.
How could I resist this?
If I was in any doubt, Emily (whoever she was she had good taste I’m sure) told me in blue texta on the half title page that this book is:
Within were many hairy beasties – foxes, wolves and trolls along with the human variety.
I don’t like your chances Gingerbread Boy.
Nor yours, Henny Penny. Make like a chicken, girl!
This beast is a relative of one of John Burningham’s I think. His paws show the family likeness.
No self respecting billy goat is daunted by one such as this.
Heavens! Look out Granny! This looks most uncomfortable.
Meanwhile my own little beasty Dexter, is enjoying an afternoon by the heater because it’s cold and raining outside. So far the ‘new’ jacket hasn’t fallen apart so he’ll be warm again tonight. (Note to self: I really must buy some more pins. And replace the broken sewing machine needles ;-)
How not to do hand lettering
It is hard to write with conté.
No respect for the arts
Strange chickens and illustrated packages
Last night I had the pleasure of painting a thank you card for a thank you card… The sort of thing you only do for fun, or for children. (In this case both. A grade 3 class at my children’s school sent me a handmade card thanking me for some books I had sent their way instead of to the op shop.)
I’ve been lucky enough to receive a fair few hand-made cards, (my family often hand-make their birthday cards) and illustrated parcels too (thanks Ann). Even sometimes hand-decorated wrapping paper. (lucky me!)
They give so much pleasure – sometimes even more than what is inside the parcel. The first sight of an illustrated parcel on the doorstep or in your lap, with the handwriting of someone you love, just makes your day.
Having five funny chickens in my life (with legs much shorter than those illustrated!), and a few bottles of Noodlers ink on the drawing board has prompted two strange chicken decorations in the last week. What will be next?
Here are some decorated envelopes sent from celebrated illustrators to publisher Klaus Flügge. How nice it would be to receive something as wonderful as this! But all of us can illustrate packages in our own way. Hooray!
Thunderstorm Dancing
DON’T LOOK DOWN!
I am balancing on the thinnest of ropes over an abyss of awful drawings.I must keep going with the indian ink and not look down… or sideways, or upwards. Especially upwards.
I have been struggling with my roughs for Thunderstorm Dancing. The text is wonderful. The possibilities are endless. This is part of the problem. Endless possibilities are hard to deal with.
I’ve been working with pencils. Love those pencils, but when I have to draw eight characters (including Lucy the dog) interacting on the one spread, the pencil is not my friend. It is not broad enough. I tend to get all fiddly and fussy. I need to use loose lines to get those bodies expressing dance and play.
Lucy and Alice climbing on to the porch. Pencil looking great here. Only two characters and simple composition.
Then, today, when I was feeling a little lost and in need of help, I also made the mistake of looking at Alexis Deacon‘s blog. Aaaargh!! Begone Alexis, Thou Obscenely Talented Man!
Alexis is herewith banned from my studio until I am happy with my roughs. Then I’ll feast my eyes again on his fabulousness.
So what to do? I needed to strike out in a different direction; re-boot the old drawing engine.
I selected a large piece of my most rubbishy paper (ignoring the sticky note at the top of my drawing board), picked up a brush and dipped it into the Noodler’s Ink.
One of the notes at the top of my drawing board. Cecily Osborn was my lovely school art teacher.
Big sigh! I could see some life returning to my drawings. Maybe Noodling is the way forward. Maybe it’s the medium to use. Maybe I need to Noodle my way into some happy compositions and then revert back to pencil when the shapes are right. At any rate it’s a lifeline for now (perhaps like one of those pool noodles you can use for flotation).
DESPERATE DRAWERS – DO NOT DIVE
Here are some of the quick, inky sketches. They’re only rough, but they have a bit of life. So…
A way forward for tomorrow.
Judy Watson 