Category Archives: illustration

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

 

Small reader

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If I thought that a small Watson reading Tintin in an armchair in his pyjamas might be less wriggly than a child doing bombs at the pool… I’d be wrong wouldn’t I?

Well, he was slightly less wriggly.

And a bit drier.

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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.

School information session (Level 3) on a hot night

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Info night level 3 Susie G lores

Sue Grisdale talking up the front. From this sketch you will see that the teachers put more effort into their attire than the rest of us. They had been looking after our children all day. We somehow managed to look more hot and exhausted than they…

These sketches might not be very interesting. Most of them are people’s backs. Sorry about that:-) But here they are anyway. True to my own school days, I was up the very back row drawing people… After years of practice, I may not have perfected my drawings, but I have become pretty good at drawing and listening at the same time.

Info night level 3 singlet top lores

Info night level 3 nightdress lores

This woman did not remotely look like she was wearing a night dress in real life. But in my drawing, she does. My apologies to her.

Info night level 3 narrow frame lores

This woman was not thin. She was simply of a strikingly narrow frame. If she were a dog, she might be a Saluki. A well behaved one.

Info night level 3 button back lores

Ponytails and buns were the in thing tonight. I think it’s due to the heat and keeping hair off the neck. If I were able to arrange the back of my own head, I might have worn one too. Unfortunately I find that a bit too tricky.

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!

Cloud putto sample

Here’s a section of the putto for one of the Thunderstorm Dancing spreads. He will have digital layers added and be incorporated into a spread design, but this is how he looks before all that happens to him.

 

petticoat book colour theme

Just now as I was jotting down notes for the colour scheme of Thunderstorm Dancing, I had a vision of the book being a costume.

The book covers are the dress – deep purples, greys, blues with a flash of red.
The endpapers may be startling like a red petticoat suddenly revealed
The internal pages are creamy lace and muslin with some blue embroidery, black stockings and a red ribbon here and there.

Drawing the little wench seemed the best way of jotting down my colour scheme. So here she is, a little 3 minute PhotoShop sketch (so forgive the hands and feet). If the book turns out very different, I might have to draw her a sister in a different outfit.