Tag Archives: pen and ink

Lulu with Paper Lanterns, Copic Markers

 

Lulu, 6″ x 6″ Copic Markers

Once again I was not able to stay away from the edges. Sometimes I sketch out a frame about an inch or half inch from the sides but then I ignore it! Will have to work on that. Lulu is the latest in my horse drawing adventure Season of the Horse.

I think I will do more paper lanterns because they are really cool. I’ll probably have to figure out how to make them glow, so let me know if you have any tips!

Meanwhile, I have been sick for three days and it is super sucky! I am drinking tea and hope to recover soon. Totally sucky to be sick on the weekend. Alas!

Hello to Paint Party Friday! Thanks to everyone for dropping in!

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More Smoking Fish. In Clothes, with Pipes.

The Smoking Fish Banner
Copic marker art, arranged digitally

Blue jeans. Victorian ruff. Kilt. Tuxedo pants. Did you wonder if they were stylish? They are so stylish!

It’s Version 1 of a new Facebook banner for the band The Smoking Fish.  I may try to increase the size of the text but with my unpracticed Photoshop Elements skills, the digital part of this took ages and I figure I’d give it a rest for the moment. (The slideshow below has more close-ups of the drawings.)

You may have been following the smoking fish illustrations on my Facebook page. (Or, you could!) I do put a bit more art up there. I’m also still updating Flickr. My Tumblr and DeviantArt pages are ancient history. I think with blog-Facebook-Flickr, three is my maximum. I don’t have time for more, holy cow!

Thanks for dropping in! Boatload of progress pics below (though none of the digital part – maybe next time.)

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Otherworldly Equines with Serious Ears

The Solstice Foal, 5″ x 7″
Copic markers, Staedtler and Prismacolor fine liners, gel pen

The Season of the Horse continues in fine form. Though, a very few attempts at  a whole horse body have been feeble at best. One of these days!

Guardian of the Glade, 5″ x 7″
Copics, fine liners, gel pen

Reference donkey. (I usually use a photo as a very general guide. The final product is not meant to look like the photo. I think most people know that!) I had trouble with the fuzzy ears, probably needs more shadow. Will need to do more of those.

Both of these have bits of wonky perspective, but overall they are rather happy magical equines. Happy Paint Party Friday to folks visiting from there! Loads of progress pics. Thanks for stopping by!

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Post 300, Themes and Schemes in Pen & Ink

The Smoking Fish, model #1
5″ x 7″ Copic markers, digital background

Themes I’ve been working on recently:

Here’s another witch, somewhat mummified.

The Ritual of Josephin, in progress
2.5″ x 3.5″ ink, markers, prismacolor pencil

Thanks for dropping in! Woooo, 300 posts!

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Ink with Attitude. Serious. Attitude.

Blake, and an Evil Mime Queen
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

Blake arrived closely on the heals of his cousin Maureen (seen below). This family much prefers their right profiles. You’d be surprised how plain the other side looks!

The evil mime queen was made for someone who like evil queens. And mimes. And pink with turquoise. And creepy cute stuff. She is maiden #126!(Any future mimes should have instead of this streaky white gel pen, a smooth application of white ink with a brush. Live and learn, and all that!)

Another Maureen
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

One side blog note. I believe I’ve got categories covered. Tags, not so much. For one thing, almost all of my (208!) posts have many of the same tags (Copic markers, pen and ink, illustration). (Which are separate, I think!, from keywords for my SEO widget.) Geez! If you are a person with insight into this tags business, do share.

Thank you for stopping in! Progress pics with attitude, below.

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A Blue Queen, A Fancy Hat, and a FB Page

Hjordís
2.5″ x 3.5′ Copics, fine liners, gel pen

The latest Maiden, number 125!

In other news, finally, it’s The Slumbering Herd Facebook page! I’ve only been saying I would do it for ages. It is started.

But know this, friends, visitors, aliens, imaginary creatures large and small:  I shall never, after this moment, type the words “please like my Facebook page”. I like things I like. You like things you like. The whole likes thing is rather confounding.

I’m not sure what to do with the page just yet, but I’ve put up a bunch of art card albums, including dogs, cats, tiny cities, tiny houses and imaginary critters. Can I just say – holy crap. I have inked a LOT of little art cards.

Here’s another fancy maiden – fancy hat mostly! – that I did last week.

Frederica
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

Progress pics for both below. Thanks for stopping in. ;)

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Further Adventures with Snow Queens, Ink Art

Bronweyn of Galac Clan
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

Ilse of the Bright Snows, and Wise Helene
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen.

Three more for the Snow Kings and Queens swap over at illustratedatcs.com. I like to make them very different, when doing a swap. Face shape, eye size/shape/placement, hair, accessories – all easy to change! It’s good practice to make sure I don’t do the same face every time. It’s one thing to have a “style”, but another to repeat oneself too much. Do you have any strategies like that?

These are also maidens number 121, 122 & 123 for the newly upgraded 200 Maidens Project! (There are actually more than 123, but I’m just going to go with the number of uploads, and ignore that time I put four in one post.) :)

If I may add one more bit of news. I finally put some artwork in a local shop. I cannot take credit for finding this shop, as she found me (and some other local artists) at Etsy. Early the day after Thanksgiving, I met Di at her new shop, Honey Poo Poo’s. She was very kind and appreciative, and the shop is really quite adorable! Her art is colorful and whimsical children’s furniture, rocking horses and really cool and elaborate updated musical instruments.

On the off chance you’re reading this and in driving distance of West Dundee, IL,  you should go peek! Anyway, by the end of that first day she had sold one of my 8×10 originals. Holy cow, the first day! And I’ve been thinking lately I want to do more larger works, so of course this is very encouraging.

Progress pics below. Thanks for stopping in!

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A Happy Dragon Accident and Two Colorful Houses

Teal Dragonet
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

This is the happy dragon accident. Someone asked for a dragon in trade, and this is what happened! I wasn’t sure about him, but he got quite a lot of positive feedback (and requests for more, to boot).

Home of the Joyful Engineer, and The Pitch Inn
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

Pink and orange make a joyful home for some happy engineer, who also seems to be using the small balcony for refuse and empty bottles – perhaps from a joyful event the previous evening!

The Pitch Inn is one of my favorites of the tiny houses so far. Maybe because it has a nice variety of textures, and plants, and things. And tiny birds. I like the rounded window on the right side. It is missing a trash can, but perhaps that tiny mailbox could be used as a portal. These two tiny houses are numbers 29 and 30.

As always, thanks so much for visiting! Ugh, 10 days since my last post. This is what happens around the holidays, particularly when one goes out of town. Getting back in the art-ish groove can take some time.

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Another 100 Maidens?

Multicultural
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

Snow Sister, a Witch for Oddbreed and Cousin Naini. Multicultural maidens! Because I try to branch out from drawing conventionally pretty white girls all the time. I don’t always succeed. In my defense, I don’t want to offend anyone by drawing an unfamiliar culture poorly! Or accidentally including an offensive detail. (Please tell me if you see any!)

One thing, at least, is clear. I need more work on noses and mouths. Also, I should do some three-quarter views. So many things! Which is why I thought maybe I’d upgrade the 100 Maidens project to 200 maidens. I’ve probably got at least another 15 or more already done, including the three above.

Here are a few multicultural maidens from my first 100:

Maidens from Distant Lands, previously created
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

Thanks for dropping in! A few progress pics below.

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Halloween Ghouls and More Autumn Cats

Three Ghoulish Halloween ATCs
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

A zombie goat! A Monk Ghoul! And a zombie sheep! Happy Halloween! We had a Halloween Art-a-thon all weekend at illustratedatcs.com. These were some of my favorite cards, currently en route to their new homes.

Also, more cats!

Three Autumn Cat ATCs
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

I do love the cats with the big ears! Particularly the Peterbald  and Oriental Shorthair varieties. (I always want to call them “Asian Shorthair” cats, but I’d be the only one.) From left to right:  Lionel in Hat, Meow Open (or “Housecat”!) and Lydia’s Kitten. The last refers to last year’s Peterbald cat with pumpkins:

Lydia with Pumpkins, 2012
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners white gel pens

Last time nini asked about the horse cards I got in trade for two cat cards. They were both by artist Nadine Thome. Here is her illustratedatcs gallery and Etsy shop! I was also very lucky to trade Lionel in Hat (above) for her Autumn Keeper. (This reminds me that I owe nini a cat!)

Thanks for stopping in! Not as many progress pics this time; I was in a bit of a Halloween frenzy and did not stop for many scans.

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