Tag Archives: illustration

Copic ATCs, Anteater Chameleon Stork Hornbill

Oops, forgot to change the order of creatures in the title. Too late now since the memos have been distributed!

Purple Rhinoceros Hornbill, 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copic markers and fine liners

Blue Stork 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copic markers and fine liners

 

More tiny Artist Trading Cards. I don’t know how long the enthusiasm will last but that’s ten in two weeks.  It is certainly much less daunting staring at a blank 2.5″ x 3.5″ than an 8″ x 10″.  For one thing, much easier to fill in a background, and I like to do backgrounds.

I have a lot fewer smudging problems since I’ve been using colors other than black for the initial ink. Copic has a fairly limited number of colored fine liners so I use Micron and Prismacolor fine liners, too.

 

Strange Chameleon 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copic markers and fine liners

Blue Anteater 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copic markers and fine liners

[portfolio_slideshow size=large]

Thanks for visiting!

Anteater reference photo, Stork reference photo, Rhinoceros Hornbill reference photo

 

 

Crossroads Mash-up for Illustration Friday

Crossroads Mash-up for Illustration Friday, Copic Markers and Pens
with a bit of digital correction, digital sky

The topic is “Lost” at Illustration Friday. This is an artist’s rendering of a place mentioned in two ancient and magical texts. A place where a lost person might find themselves, waking from a daydream, if the planets are aligned just so. Which direction would you choose?

Not so much in the way of Copic marker technique, but a lot of sketching and deciding and arranging and erasing. I’m calling it a mash-up because some of these things are not like the others! But I thought it was a fun and silly collection of magical places. And a bit of hand drawn text, though next time perhaps the styles could be varied more in both size and style.

[portfolio_slideshow size=large]

Crossroads Mash-up Key:

1. Asgard, home of the Norse gods; 2. Emerald City, in the Land of Oz at the end of the yellow brick road; 3. Cloudsdale, from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, home of the pegasus ponies; 4. Camelot, home of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, 5. The Shire, home to the Hobbits from The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings; 6. Pepperland, home of the Blue Meanies from the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine; 7. Narnia, found through a door in the back of a wardrobe, from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe series; 8. Wonderland, from Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass; 9. the Tollbooth, gateway to the Kingdom of Wisdom from The Phantom Tollbooth (and there is Tock the dog, waiting to join you!).

Another Art Trading Card Post: Cat, Kingfisher, Dog

 

Purple Peach Peterbald Cat ATC, 2.5″ x 3.5″, Copics on Bristol

I finally decided I should document these tiny arts just like any other. Or, some of them at any rate. So here you have the latest three (I am most pleased with the Cat), with a slideshow for one of them. It’s funny to see them in a blog post. I’ve saved them at 5 inches and on my screen they are the exact size of the original. Still trying to decide whether to list them for trade or for sale in my Etsy shop.

Green Crested Kingfisher ATC, 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics on Bristol

Orange Barclay, 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics on Bristol

Barclay the dog got a bit overworked, and the lighter background was probably a better choice. I thought about leaving him out  but this blog was not intended as a best-of production. (For one thing, way fewer posts!) Both the cat and dog could use whiskers and I just got a new Uni-ball Signo white gel pen, which came out on top after rigorous testing at ArtTrader magazine. I skipped the whiskers for now but I did use it on their eyes to good effect.

[portfolio_slideshow size=large]

Three Beastly ATCs – Llama, Horse, Sheep

Fuzzy Green Llama ATC, Copic Markers

 

This evening I was inspired to complete some Artist Trading Cards because I have joined a new community called  IllustratedATCs and it is all about trading art by mail. They do lots of stuff besides the ATCs, like moleskin journal swaps and inchies and twinchies and holy cow, tons of stuff. They have provided a helpful list of definitions (thank goodness).

I think I saw their link initially through someone at Illustration Friday, but I don’t remember! You have to apply and whoa, there are some seriously cool (and many professional) artists there. I got accepted (it takes 3-4 days), but then I was instantly intimidated. Super nice folks so far, though.  They have another site called ATCs for All where there is no application and everyone is welcome to join.

Horse with Blue Swirl Sky ATC, Copic Markers

I am pretty happy with all three, though the horse in particular is sort of caught between cartoonish and realistic as if I could not choose which way to go. I really like the blue sky on that one, achieved with the help of a Masquepen.

Pink Orange Sheep ATC, Copic Markers

 

Both the llama and sheep were done on top of light-colored swirly backgrounds also done using a Masquepen. I worked on all of them over the course of a few hours, doing some reading and IF visiting in between.

Thanks so much to everyone who visits! All comments welcome, of course. (Except spam.)

Llama reference

Horse reference

Sheep reference

 

Kookaburra Holding Court, Copic Markers

Holy cow, 100 posts!

Kookaburra Holding Court, 8×10 Copic Markers with digital corrections & digital sky

The topic is “Suspend” at Illustration Friday, and Thadeus the Kingly Kingfisher is holding court in an abandoned tire swing. He looks a tad cramped in there, if you ask me. His attendant today is a juvenile Boobook Owl, a smallish species. The elder Boobooks find Thadeus rather tiresome, if you must know. But he can usually get one of the kids to stand in. This one is called Lorna. She is very impressed by Thadeus, particularly the jeweled necklace.

The Kookaburra is the largest species of Kingfisher. Thadeus is a Laughing Kookaburra, though he tries not to laugh. He thinks it unkingly. This is my second kingly kingfisher! The first one with his mouse deer steed can be found here.

About 3 scans before the end I considered scrapping the whole thing! But I will be unable to do another this weekend, and I did spent quite a few hours on it. So here it is! I did some fixing up in paint.NET. The main issues were not enough refinement in the sketch and then trying to fix mistakes as I went. But each new drawing is a learning experience, whether it be post number 1 or 100.  Thanks for looking!

[portfolio_slideshow size=large]

Kookaburra reference photo from TrekNature, Boobook Owl reference photo on Flickr

Hornbill and Kingfisher, an Unlikely Pair

Yellow-Billed Hornbill and Stork-Billed Kingfisher, Copic Markers, digital sky

A somewhat smaller than expected Southern Yellow-Billed Hornbill and his best friend, a somewhat larger than expected Stork-Billed Kingfisher. Ari the Hornbill was born in South Africa. Shey the Kingfisher is from Sri Lanka. That they met at all is unprecedented!

Ari was flying northeasterly over the Indian Ocean, and Shey was flying southwesterly over the Indian Ocean, and they both landed in the Seychelles the same week in 2009. Crazy, right? Both natural comedians, they became instant friends and for a short time they performed a Strange Bird comedy show that was a huge hit with the local Red-footed Boobies.

As you may know I have been exploring all manner of exotic creatures at this blog. Most recently it’s the birds in particular that have caught my fancy, and thus today’s drawing. Started with a lot of refinement in pencil then several scans showing the blue .05 multiliner. After that, Copics and .1 and .2 black multiliners. Finally I attempted some highlights with a white Prismacolor pencil, to mixed results. (Still trying to find a white gel pen that works. Not sure about attempting some white acrylic. Hmm!)

[portfolio_slideshow size=large]

No Masquepen or swirls this week. Crazy! Thank you for stopping by!

Southern Yellow-Billed Hornbill photo reference; Stork-Billed Kingfisher reference.

Meow Tai, Mai Tai for Illustration Friday

Meow Tai Mai Tai Cocktail, 8×10 with Copics, digital background

The topic is Refresh at Illustration Friday. And they’ve got a whole new look. I find it looks lovely but is not as user friendly as the old. If you agree or have issues and want to let them know, may I suggest you do so on the blog post announcing the new design.

I started off with a teacup, intending perhaps to cover it with odd creatures or add a silly beast swimming inside. But then the teacup became a cat cup and the cat told me, in no uncertain terms, that a Mai Tai or other liquored beverage would suit us all better in these trying times. I agreed.

Actually I was thinking Margarita, but fortunately someone more schooled in the bartending arts let me know the garnish I had chosen was all wrong for a Margarita. And anyway, MEOW TAI! The same knowledgeable fellow went on to disagree that the “Meow Tai” thing worked very well. I disagreed.

Went a little crazy beach bingo party neon with the background, but it seemed to fit. ;)

[portfolio_slideshow size=large]

Thanks for visiting! (Oh! And I wanted to drop this note for Illustration Friday folks. Be patient on the new IF page because the images load slower now, so if you scroll through a group, you may need to wait a moment for the next group to load. And as you may know, there are always hundreds of entries. /end PSA) :)

No Room at the Couch Part II, Copic Markers

Cow, Donkey, Cat, Dog, Shrew with Couch in Copics 8 x 10

The topic is “Nursery Rhyme” for Monday Artday. Until I looked it up just now to link it, I was sure it was “Fairytale”, so that will explain what comes next. (There could very well be a nursery rhyme about this story and I hope Mike at Monday Artday will be ok with that.) :D

McCalls Books, The Enchanted Princess & The House in the Forest

I wanted to do another pile of animals and I remembered a story called “The House in the Forest“, which was part of McCall’s Storytime Treasury series. Do you remember those? (It goes back to the 70s! But maybe you got some hand-me downs. Ours went to a second cousin. I may have to reacquire some.)

In any case, though I could not find a summary of the story (and my memory is a bit hazy), it was about a girl who lived in a house in the forest with all her animals. One night a magical guest disguised as a beggar came to test her, to see if she would feed herself before she fed her animals. She had a cow, a dog, a cat, a donkey… I think! She almost certainly did not have an elephant shrew in the original (but clearly should have). I don’t know if she had such a fancy couch. Probably not. I’m not sure there was any delivery service for one thing, and she wouldn’t have been able to afford it if so.

[portfolio_slideshow size=large]

Thank you for visiting! This is my second consecutive couch full of creatures. I was actually going to do these all in blue but decided on browns and I think blue would have been better. I also considered some fancy detail on the couch but worried that would take the focus off the critters. More outlandish experiments coming soon.

Cow face reference photo, sleeping cat reference.

No Room at the Couch, for Illustration Friday

No Room at the Couch, 8×10 Pencil Sketch for Illustration Friday

Marcelo, a large hound with the patience of, well, an extremely well-behaved dog, could never get a spot to himself anymore. When the stray cat came and shortly after, the kingfisher, he begrudgingly helped them settle in. And then the meerkat showed up, and he likes to argue – particularly with the llama, who simply waltzed in one day and made himself at home. By the time the koala showed up, Marcelo was resigned to living in a zoo. The bunny is the most recent addition, found by the cat as he was limping around the garden with an infected ear.

If you ask Marcelo, he will tell you they are rude, unruly and troublesome. But they all love him and call him “Poppa”. And he’s just a big softy, after all.

Holy cow, no color! Actually, I am so pleased with this sketch that I am scared to ink it. I will probably do it soon, I just didn’t want to rush it.

The word is “Space” at Illustration Friday. (Apologies for the muddy scans below. I spent some time cleaning up the final but not the others.)

[portfolio_slideshow size=large]

Thanks for coming over! Have a great week!

Animal reference photos:

Koala, Great Dane Cleo, Russian Blue Amanda, Llama by Rusinka, Blue-banded Kingfisher.

Kingfisher and Mouse Deer, Copic Markers

Kingfisher and Mouse Deer, 8×10 with Copic Markers and Multiliners

This is a kingfisher named James who allowed the king thing to go to his head a bit. You may be asking yourself how he got a notoriously shy mouse deer to act as steed. Well, it’s actually a cardboard stand-up with metal supports for James’ weight.  He has another in the shape of a French bulldog. And the crown? Belonged to a doll named Emperor Imperious. Oops! I meant “action figure”. Don’t tell him I told you.

I originally started the mouse deer (not to be confused with a deer mouse!) a week or so ago. But her legs were too short and she was too close to the bottom of the illustration board I was using. Then a couple days ago I thought about what I might add and this kingfisher seemed like a fine candidate.

I think I like the sketch a bit better than the color version – probably because I didn’t plan the color very well. Ah well, back to the drawing board!

Kingfisher and Mouse Deer, Pencil

[portfolio_slideshow size=large]

Thanks for visiting!

Mouse deer reference. Kingfisher reference.