bloowabbit: illustration

Showing posts with label illustration. Show all posts

Sunday, 24 June 2018

designing a card...

Have had a rocky month but am back creating and doodling and meeting a challenge for a craft group I'm part of - PopFizzPaper Crafty Club via Patreon. It's run by an exceptional paper crafter called Dani. I love her YouTube tutorial videos - simple, straightforward, quality work which is full of colour. I like how she comes across - important for me as some of the more exuberant and flashy YouTubers can seem a little disconnected from reality. A lot of social media is illusion, which can be fun, but for me it's worth connecting with someone who presents a more real persona.

The challenge was to create a rainbow themed card. I decided on a greetings card that said 'rainbow angel you add colour to my world'...yes, a little cheesy. I had an image in mind of a daft looking angel with cherubic wings (angelic L-driver?) and wanted to use a shaker-rosette that Dani shows how to make.

Printed Dani's paint&salt rainbow downloadable and made a rosette with small backing card. Measured the depth and cut a small band of card to prevent any shaker beads from escaping through the spaces.

There's nothing worse when you drop the only bit of clear acetate you have onto glue and have to improvise. Found a really old stash (1988) of gel samples and choose a very pale pink to make the window. A circle of card hides the joins.

By now I knew exactly what I wanted to create - a dorky angel with an oversized askew halo and tiny wonky wings. Drew the figure and attached moveable wings to the back. After placing onto the rosette/halo I added a loose rainbow of sticky gems.

FInished off the card with the message written inside in an arty font. It celebrates all those of us who share and spread a little colour in the world - I reckon we're Rainbow Angels...

Watch the video of the finished card:

VIDEO

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, 22 March 2017

Sketchbook...web spinner...

Opened up my sketchbook and began to draw...

Pencil followed by ink. The drawing began with shape of the face, then slant of the shoulders and division of the features on the face. Drew her hand holding a wand which developed into a spider. The triangular shape at the top of the page suggested a cobweb.

Worked and reworked the coloured pencil until I was happy with the depth of colour in the background, closer to what was in my mind's eye. Like watercolours, layering the coloured pencil seems to give depth to the result.

Bloowabbit facebook page

bloowabbit Instagram page

Friday, 18 November 2016

day 19 & day 20 of illustrating Sinead's writing...

Although not in time for the Event at The Guesthouse the final two days of Sinead O'Donnell's writing from her residency are now illustrated. I really liked Sinead's writing, a quirky mix of fact and fantasy. It was nice to get back into that mode once more.

Day 19

Day 20

Bloowabbit facebook page

bloowabbit Instagram page

Monday, 14 November 2016

Mini Art Books 2

Back in May I wrote a blogpost about about little art books I make and recently I felt the need to make a few more. I like the mix of art and craft involved. The artworks are more doodle-quality but that suits them I think.

The images are made on plain, folded A6 cards and then glued back to back to form a simple book. A cover and spine is also glued in place.

Alcohol and watercolour markers were used to colour black line drawings which in turn were drawn over rough pencil sketches. The figures took shape at the pencil stage and the stories unfolded. For the 2nd book I didn't have a good quality marker in dark blue (low stock) so I used a dark blue-grey Sharpie for the night sky. I also used a bluebell Sharpie to go over lighter bands of colour that I felt hadn't worked and a peach Sharpie added shadow to the figures in yellow. White gel pen outlined the figures.

I then promptly splashed my cuppa over the front of the book and had to dry it out and then first-aid it...

mini art books - May 18th 2016

Bloowabbit facebook page

bloowabbit Instagram page

Wednesday, 19 October 2016

Missed a Blogposting...

It's been one of those days. Great intentions but severe drop in energy and the blogpost nearly didn't get written. It happens. So here I am in the early hours of the morning putting finger to key. A short blogging.

I had a list of things to do today and I succeeded in accomplishing three of them. Better than none. I did send copies of a comic strip to a performance artist on residency - I'd illustrated her written words - and she liked it. So my drawings may be included in her exhibition event when she's finished. Happy days. I'd better get my skates on as I've only got until the 27th to finish the strip.

A little tease...

Bloowabbit facebook page

bloowabbit Instagram page

Wednesday, 3 August 2016

Primary Colours re-do - a new illustrative style

'Flowers'

Had been playing with an old set of gouache paints (need to get replacements as half of them are dried up) and I found a new style which I'm having fun with. Mostly just brushmarks and spirals and flowers on white background.

So I'd wanted to follow up my last blog on Colour Theory by doing a Primary Colour piece and I did, also following the simple technique I've described above.

doodle of woman with bug

The doodle I redid was one from Feb last year which I used for a manga re-do (link here). It took me three goes before I let go of excess imagery. You know when you clear out a room or cupboard and you keep too much and have to clear it out again getting rid of all the stuff you thought you needed? Yeah, did that for this illustration. The first two tries were paint heavy and didn't reflect the light airiness of the original gouache 'Flowers' illustration.

Colours used followed a similar Primary Colour challenge I found online permitting me to use up to 3xReds, 3xBlues and 3xYellows. I used Windsor & Newton gouache in:

- Spectrum Red, Alizarin Crimson and a mix of both,

- Cobalt Blue, Ultramarine and a mix of both,

- Spectrum Yellow, Lemon Yellow and a mix of both.

There was no initial pencil drawing before painting. By the third attempt I was filling the paintbrush with colour and simply making marks on paper using the original doodle as a guide. The figure could have more movement to it but otherwise I think it has a similar quality to a screenprint.

Bloowabbit facebook page

bloowabbit Instagram page

bloowabbit newgrounds page

bloowabbit DeviantArt page

Monday, 11 July 2016

Mother of Bats

I posted another in the series 'Mother of ...' on my facebook page Bloowabbit, entitled 'Mother of Bats'. I had an idea of something more gothic in mind and the result was this piece coloured in markers with added coloured pencil.

First colours laid down in the line drawing were Copic Ciao Milky White and Chafford PB71. Boston Board was used.

Bat images found online were used as a resource, including a flying fox.

The piece was coloured and shadows added.

Coloured pencils, Mars Chromo, give more depth to the marker layers. Spirals of purple, blue and green marker were used to break up the flatness of the background.

A final outline of black pen followed by a line of white gel pen helps the image to pop. More white gel pen was used to add spirals of white to give a feeling of mist.

I'm unhappy with the left eye, didn't notice it was too far to the right until I was about to apply the coloured pencil layer. I like the stance of the figure, her tattoo and her sombre expression.

Bloowabbit facebook page

bloowabbit Instagram page

bloowabbit newgrounds page

bloowabbit DeviantArt page