Monday 20 February 2017

I like to draw aliens...


I seem to draw across a wide range of genre; mythical, fan art, portrait, landscape, comic art. But my favourite is science fiction - this is my escapism. I blame it on the Clangers, my first TV sci-fi series watched as a child in the 60s and 70s. In space you can be anyone or anything. And your world can look as strange as you like. 

A few years back I began to draw with alcohol markers and made 'doodles' in sketchbooks.



Fantastical worlds made from letting the pen take a walk, finding out what evolved from putting ink to paper.




Individual aliens...


Groups of aliens...



Slightly sinister...


Environmental...




Creating tiny artbooks...



Completing redos...



And a little recent escapism in alcohol marker overlaid with coloured pencil...






Copyright © 2016 by Roisin O'Hagan/bloowabbit
All rights reserved. The artworks/illustrations or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the artist except for specific permission granted with a free downloadable.

Friday 17 February 2017

Medusa...


Medusa is an interesting mythical character to draw.



An idea in mind and some loose sketches begin to get those ideas on paper. At this stage it's just lines but enough to help me decide how I want the finished drawing to look.


Have found that the eraser pencil works well though I've used up the spare eraser 'leads' quite quickly since I got it in November.

Researched different types of snakes and included a number of head variants but kept the snake bodies the same.


To outline in coloured pencil the lead needs to be kept sharp as it wears out quickly. I like using a good quality metal sharpener and find that a decent quality pencil won't shatter. I also keep an emery board nearby and sometimes use that to sand the lead. Once the drawing is inked in green pencil the graphite pencil lines are erased. 


Needed the edges to pop more as the coloured pencil seemed too soft. Used a fine uniball in Light Green. I have a range of coloured uniball liquid ink (not gel) fineliners in Light Blue, Orange, Violet and Wine Red...and I have my eye on the remaining four colours in Pink, Purple, Blue and Green.



Medusa was not born with a head of writhing snakes but was cursed by Athena. Pale skin, reptilian eyes and a gaze of profound sadness...my version of this Gorgon.





Copyright © 2016 by Roisin O'Hagan/bloowabbit
All rights reserved. The artworks/illustrations or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the artist except for specific permission granted with a free downloadable.

Wednesday 15 February 2017

Colouring book...


Free colouring book with issue 16 of Flow magazine. Chose the page with the least detail to give me the most space to doodle. Step-by-step colouring of an illustration by Rebecca Green

'Rebecca Green from Nashville, US, made the illustrations of the girls seen here on a second-hand drawing table that her father had bought for her. She gets up early - at 5.15am - to focus on work before anyone else is awake. Taking her dog for a walk is her favourite activity of the day.'

Other illustrations in the colouring book are by: Nathalie Lété, Yelena Bryksenkova, Amy Blackwell, Celinda Versluis, Kate Pugsley, Caroline Ellerbeck and Sarah Walsh. Bound with printed Kraft paper and containing nice quality paper the book allowed me to work quite hard on areas with Faber-Castell colouring pencils. 

Perhaps the doodles are thoughts or emotions felt by the girl while she reads her book.









Copyright © 2016 by Roisin O'Hagan/bloowabbit
All rights reserved. The artworks/illustrations or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the artist except for specific permission granted with a free downloadable.