tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61561793069401451332012-02-16T23:36:22.647ZAriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.comBlogger881100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-44002215853705662152012-02-13T19:37:00.002Z2012-02-13T19:37:36.509Z

A couple of pigeons. The first was done in watercolour:  I spent an hour, maybe 2 (on and off) total on this one. The second pigeon was a really quick pen sketch and coloured with grey pencil as I don't seem to have a grey pen handy... Oh wait, just as I finished typing that I realised I have a grey Alpha marker but that's alcohol-based and I used water-based ink and hey look, I'm going off

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-89634079546260587282012-01-24T12:52:00.000Z2012-01-24T12:52:28.083Z

Just a quick 'n' dirty sketch. Haven't used plain pencil in a while, I'm rusty. Back to painting, I think...

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-4869771177684905252012-01-10T13:04:00.001Z2012-01-10T13:04:47.290Z

Woops, I haven't posted in a while. Happy New Year and all that jazz... Anyway to get back into the flow I'm posting a painting that's nearing completion: I started at the end of last year, then came the holidays and the Christmas period which naturally meant it was put on the back burner. But it's nearly finished. It still needs some touch up work, some flowers don't look like flowers and

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-18504104213763061622011-10-17T22:13:00.001+01:002011-10-17T22:13:12.172+01:00

(watercolour, gouache and pen, A4) Here's a Mandarin Duck. I was going to draw a Mallard but the vibrant colours of this duck are too good to pass up. I haven't done a pencil drawing in a long time so this was going to be a pencil drawing. I started off with Inktense watercolour pencils, but because I only have 12 different pencils my colour pallette is really limited. I changed my mind

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-274849017730440162011-10-16T16:12:00.001+01:002011-10-16T16:12:44.048+01:00

(watercolour, gouache and pen, A4) More gouache, although you can't really tell.

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-1089315903072554502011-10-13T10:37:00.001+01:002011-10-13T17:21:59.787+01:00

(gouache, watercolour and pen, A4) My first try at using gouache, a totally alien medium to me up until yesterday. It was actually really fun to use, it certainly made my fish look good. I can see why illustrators like it so much.

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-8020819497993638982011-09-25T19:35:00.001+01:002011-09-26T08:59:48.309+01:00

RAWR!:  (watercolour, A5) I really wanted to follow the topic and draw something mean, dark, ferocious even, but for some reason I just couldn't think of anything. I must be having a creative block in terms of dark subject matter. Hmm, worrying... At least her hair looks fierce. It felt good to do another watercolour, I've been trying my hand at oil paints and it's been hit and miss (

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-1524610532609537292011-09-11T18:25:00.003+01:002011-09-14T16:04:11.194+01:00

...I broke out some white Conté crayons and decided to do a quick portrait. Unlike most of the portraits that I (attempt to) do in black on white paper, this one was reversed. Slightly different process, I think. (White Conté crayon on black paper, A3) This time I tried to keep it sketchy instead of smoothing it out too much, otherwise it starts to look too unnatural. That said, I've noticed

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-57175098221055949792011-08-17T19:16:00.003+01:002011-08-18T15:41:38.458+01:00

I know I'm not good at portraits. I also know that I'm not too good with oil paints. So why I combined the two, I don't know. I used painting knives instead of paintbrushes because I wanted to experiment with creating texture this time around. I spent a lot time on her hair, where all the texture was. I started to paint her face and upper body with a knife as well but it wasn't translating well

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-87043957472750454052011-08-16T19:27:00.003+01:002011-08-17T18:46:54.692+01:00

 Water, water, everywhere:  (oil paint, A3-ish) I thought I'd break out the oil paints and try to paint water. This photo came out a little bit too bright though. The paint was still wet when I snapped it (I stopped painting about 10 minutes ago) and the wet paint reflected some light in a few odd places. I still need to fix some parts, like the background water and especially the breaking wave

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-58649708617973074312011-07-20T20:30:00.002+01:002011-08-06T23:01:35.509+01:00

(Update, 6th August, 2011: Also submitted to Illustration Friday for the topic 'imperfect') Kinga's and my personal illustration project is a little overdue, but I'm done. This time it's my topic of choice. I decided to break the pattern of monosyllabic words thus far and chose 'destroy': (acrylic and pen, A3) This was a weird one. It started off with a photo of a swan that I'd taken a while

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-55663518413285344822011-07-03T10:11:00.002+01:002011-07-03T17:11:51.819+01:00

I got the poison, I got the remedy: (watercolour, watercolour pens, ink, A4) Take 2 happy pills and call me in the morning. I just realised this is the second watercolour I've done in this kind of style, the first one was for a previous Illustration Friday topic. It's definitely not the first time I've used broken white lines. I like it. I think I might adopt it as my go-to style. Wait, have I

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-69022322507306237272011-06-21T17:45:00.003+01:002011-06-21T18:16:44.658+01:00

I was supposed to start painting my idea for Kinga Bee's and my illustration project, but I got side-tracked by this round piece of cardboard.  EXIF says September 2010 Primed and ready to paint after 9 months... If I remember correctly this was a random piece of packaging from the box of an electric kettle. When I first saw it the customising cogwheels in my head kicked in and I thought donut.

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-74100235086657239492011-06-04T19:26:00.002+01:002011-06-17T15:25:08.234+01:00

I had a bit of a sound trip with Black Sheep's The Choice Is Yours not too long ago, then I found this video. Great concept, and funny too. "UHH! C'MON!"

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-47309339931608059302011-05-30T23:02:00.000+01:002011-05-30T23:02:56.881+01:00

Sleepy cat, sleepy cat, why won't you go to sleep? (watercolour, 23x31cm) The sleeping kitten is Kara. I named them Kara and Mel, like caramel, because they're both orangey-brown coloured and siblings. In the original photo they are about 3 months old. They both lived in my family home in the Philippines. When they were older we gave Mel, who ended up being called Kulit (annoying) to my aunt.

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-65867607825313691282011-05-23T20:28:00.001+01:002011-05-23T20:28:37.055+01:00

Another one, this time with colour. What a day to forget your umbrella: (watercolour, 23 x 31cm) At least her feet are dry...

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-41486323733568655362011-05-21T21:00:00.000+01:002011-05-21T21:00:38.178+01:00

Seeing how the end of the world hasn't panned out today, I might as well post my entry. No colour this time: (charcoal, A3) Third portrait in a row. Still not brilliant at doing them, but they are fun to do. Maybe the hellfire will come later...

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-89021441161219736702011-05-20T11:05:00.000+01:002011-05-20T11:05:05.848+01:00

(charcoal, A3-ish) It's oh so quiet.

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-22800633032408286202011-05-19T13:16:00.000+01:002011-05-19T13:16:51.548+01:00

(charcoal, A3) Keeping it sketchy.

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-81911444497044458182011-04-30T19:46:00.006+01:002011-04-30T21:16:47.175+01:00

If you saw my previous post then you might recognise this. Part something in Kinga's and my personal illustration project. Lady's choice this time, her topic was rush: (acrylic paint on canvas, 60cm x 51cm/24" x 20") I mentioned way, way back in one of my old posts that I had a blank canvas and an idea for a painting. Well, that never surfaced and I moved the blank canvas up onto a shelf. When I

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-88724102337187665342011-04-17T13:44:00.003+01:002011-04-17T22:01:52.951+01:00

I'm trying something different here, but with a familiar style. Hopefully this doesn't turn into another one of those pictures that I don't finish because the idea was too difficult for me to make a reality. I hate when that happens.

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-67529933042217244062011-04-11T00:00:00.005+01:002011-04-13T17:35:06.746+01:00

Yeah, you know the deal: (pen and pastel on paper, A4) I added a vignette to darken it somewhat, the original image scanned way too bright. It also makes the image look old, which is a pretty neat effect. original detail Dots, everywhere dots. Update: I also found the first doodle I made when this week's topic was announced: This is usually how I put my idea down before I completely forget

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-10672106900389429342011-04-10T15:01:00.002+01:002011-04-10T22:52:50.455+01:00

Another quick portrait, 20ish minutes, #3 (I think) #4 (charcoal on paper, A3) I should draw more light-haired people. IF next, that's if I can get the idea from my imagination onto paper.

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-33111547323109926212011-04-07T10:25:00.000+01:002011-04-07T10:25:15.244+01:00

I don't normally post videos on here without including a drawing I've done myself, but I just caught this video today and sat back and watched in awe for the 3 minutes 45 seconds it ran. Full screen is a must.

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-65204175700581873942011-04-03T10:53:00.002+01:002011-04-03T11:22:33.154+01:00

Two to tango: (watercolour, A4) :) Obligatory WIP's... NOW! Yup, I got extra with the stretching and used masking tape on top of butcher's tape. The paper still buckled, though not as much as with previous stretching attempts. Something must have went right this time.

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-35617353223553010662011-03-18T11:35:00.005Z2011-03-28T18:56:54.523+01:00

Quick portrait again, in a similar vein to my others (take a reference picture, grab some charcoal, sketch fast, ignore the details). I did this one because the afro is spiffy: (charcoal on paper, A3) The proportions are off (the face should be bigger and turned much more to the side) but that wasn't really my concern. I just wanted to draw fast. If I tried to draw it picture perfect then

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-15178524646261805052011-03-14T21:02:00.001Z2011-03-14T21:16:58.045Z

This blog has been bannerless since it's creation. I've just been using a simple text dealy, and it's only now that I decided to make one. Long, I know. I wanted to draw something today but I had a bit of a creative block. I ended up playing around with photoshop instead. Look at my awesome handwriting! The background is a photo that I took of some Staedtler Triplus fineliners, tweaked to

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-89549852573051539242011-03-08T21:02:00.003Z2011-03-10T10:42:16.167Z

Wow, I actually found one that doesn't look horrible!   Having said that, it doesn't look too much like a doodle either. And in case you are wondering (you aren't) where you've seen these two before this is Bait meeting Proverb.

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-70265986828947261942011-03-05T16:55:00.004Z2011-03-06T22:43:17.693Z

Be alert!: (soft pastel on paper, A3) Here's the thought process I went through to arrive at this idea for this week's theme: WARNING, okay...danger,dangerous,dangerous animal,poisonous animal,toads? frogs?poison dart frog!ugh, I don't really want to draw animals again...puffer fish?snakes?king cobra!dude, those are still animals...ok fine, warning and people...warning colours,displays, masks?

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-89994124489859938362011-03-03T10:17:00.007Z2011-03-14T19:04:19.808Z

Another portrait! Like my last portrait I spent about 20 minutes drawing it, focusing again on the shape and form of the face and hair rather than detail. The charcoal helps enormously with that. It's a pretty good exercise in restraint:  (charcoal on paper, A3) Thanks to the unknown girl who put her picture on the net and ended up on my computer as a reference. I probably should look for some

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-76308463543451031172011-02-28T21:09:00.002Z2011-03-01T16:16:01.352Z

Just a quick portrait done in charcoal. (charcoal on paper, A3) This was pretty easy to do. I only spent about 20 minutes on it because I wasn't trying to make it overly detailed. I might make this type of drawing a regular thing (yeah, I've never said that before...). Besides, I need a LOT of practice drawing human form.

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-61335791309422901672011-02-25T22:06:00.000Z2011-02-25T22:06:43.633Z

*clap clap*: (paint pens and soft pastel on black paper, A4) I didn't want to go with the obvious choice of bees, so I went with the less obvious (or really weird) choice of moths... and other winged creatures.

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-8172770041000696142011-02-23T12:43:00.005Z2011-03-14T21:36:30.522Z

I made this as a birthday present, not because I was raging against the system: (spray paint on... a wall, derp) The closest I'd ever gotten to writin' my name in graffiti on the wall was when I was a teen and did a few simple tags here and there, but that really isn't in the spirit of graffiti, or writing (if you're a graffiti snob). Plus that spirit involves hitting spots at crazy hours of the

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-26744685766885126072011-02-20T13:54:00.006Z2011-02-21T23:15:03.277Z

Yeah, I've been slacking on updates. Let's just say that I've been pretty uninspired as of late. I did however finish my post for "Ariele* & Kinga's Awesome and Amazing Illustration Project". It doesn't really have a title as outrageous as that, after all we're only on the second word. My word of choice as well. And here is that second word. I present to you "clash": (soft pastel on paper, A3)

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-10869508986782878392011-01-25T11:22:00.000Z2011-01-25T11:22:29.152Z

lol. (picture courtesy of somebody on the net) New stuff to come, I think. I'm on the tail end of a week long bout with jetlag and illness. I have a new word for our little illustration challenge, clash (yeah I know, I couldn't have picked a weirder word) and maybe a couple of things I did over Christmas, if I can make them look not so crappy. You can bring in the pretty girl in the oversized

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-24363392500832089412011-01-14T10:21:00.011Z2011-01-17T05:20:46.420Z

Kinga Bee and I decided that we would have our own little illustration task and illustrate a random word chosen by either one of us, but unlike other illustration tasks (a la Illustration Friday) there's no pressure to finish within a week. The topic chosen by her was "bait": (pens on paper, A4)  My first real post with felt tip pens, so yay me I guess. It's always nice to use something other

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-38656636172144049382010-12-05T18:34:00.003Z2010-12-05T18:40:16.194Z

Probably my last post for this year, just a quick painting for IF: (watercolour, A4) I haven't used watercolour in a while, nor have I made anything non-cartoony/"realistic" in some time either. So here's my attempt at merging those two things. It's a bit odd though because my first thought was to draw this cartoony, hence the mammoth's generally clean shape as opposed to the scratchy sketches

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-20774123404585273192010-11-27T19:30:00.002Z2010-11-27T19:32:24.738Z

"The cake is a lie" is a lie:  (felt pens on paper, A4)...it exists and is very delicious. Yum :d   The animal started off as a kind of dog, then evolved somewhat into a monkey-dog-koala hybrid. Now it's back to "animal".

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-54382300690125423512010-11-14T15:09:00.000Z2010-11-14T15:09:36.402Z

#She's on fire: (soft pastel on paper, A3) I haven't drawn anything in a while because I've been uninspired (and lazy), so here's a quick-ish pastel drawing for this week's IF. Photographed as usual, can't scan an A3 pastel without some serious post-cleanup.I'm also fairly pleased that despite my lack of skill at drawing facial features combined with the relative speed at which I did this, the

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-46294506318243762692010-10-16T17:11:00.005+01:002010-10-17T00:34:06.124+01:00

This isn't spooky at all: (felt pens on paper) It does however have the cutest pumpkin I've ever drawn :) (I wanted to use this word for another illustration project, but IF came along and swooped it up. You guys are like mindreaders.)

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-65463515155266132192010-10-12T11:58:00.000+01:002010-10-12T11:58:49.478+01:00

Yet another WIP. Good grief, this painting seems to be taking forever to finish: I didn't want to post this until it was done, but right now I've lost the enthusiasm to continue and finish it. I stopped painting this about a month ago and there's still a lot of stuff that needs to be done to it, most notably "make it look less crap". So, I'm hoping that by posting it here and seeing it on my

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-39532764612303355362010-10-03T18:26:00.000+01:002010-10-03T18:26:17.355+01:00

What lies beneath the surface? (soft pastel on paper, A3) Sometimes you don't see a person's true colours until you least expect it. I know this from recent experience. To switch into two-faced manipulative mode at my weakest moment was really low.And so to you, who ended up being an annoying thorn in my side, whose words and actions made me wish I never knew you, this is dedicated to you. (I

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-22132801807490176912010-09-19T20:56:00.004+01:002010-09-19T21:07:06.826+01:00

The Freshest Kids: (silver marker pen on black paper, A4) acrobat noun.1. One who is skilled in feats of balance and agility in gymnastics. I think b-boys fit that description quite well. I just wanted to keep it simple and create movement. The silver pen doesn't look too impressive when it's scanned, but it is nice and shiny :)

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-50592089900240026892010-09-13T11:27:00.009+01:002010-09-14T13:44:01.203+01:00

A bird in the hand... (Watercolour pens and ink on paper, A5-ish)  ...makes a terrible mess. Well, that's my experience anyway.

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-5473911129085272182010-09-08T23:45:00.003+01:002010-10-12T11:36:37.556+01:00

Sometimes you find ideas in the weirdest places. I believe this particular one was from a Captcha: (Inktense on watercolour paper, A5) Second attempt with Inktense, I'm getting the hang of them but I still end up treating them as either pencils or watercolour. My palette is limited though, as I just have a 12 piece set (fanx, Kinga Bee :-*) Maybe I should get more? And to show you how crap I am

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-23986815648458261122010-09-08T17:48:00.002+01:002011-03-08T21:09:19.247Z

While I wait for a) inspiration for a new drawing/painting, or b) motivation to finish my current painting, I thought I would post this really old picture that I found: (felt pens and pencil, A4) Note the date on the picture. I drew this 24 years ago with a little help (read: a lot of help) from my dad. If I remember correctly this was completely spontaneous and I just drew anything that I could

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-47575899380405480432010-08-20T22:45:00.004+01:002010-08-21T09:07:52.234+01:00

Don't they know it's the end of the world?  (acrylic and pen on paper, A4-ish) This came out a bit different than what I was imagining in my head, but I'm happy with it. I also forgot how quickly acrylic paint dries (I've been on an oil paint trip again, results to be posted soon, maybe) so it's a bit scruffier than I was expecting, but I suppose it lends the painting some character :) Deep

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-33938298857358831872010-08-13T21:22:00.003+01:002010-08-14T11:10:26.384+01:00

2nd post today, I'm on a roll. (edit: now with slightly less crummy photography!) Hey the stars are out tonight: (pastel and pen on black paper, A3) You look up at the stars, I look back at you... I couldn't scan this in my A4 scanner without it looking like a bad cut-and-paste job, so a photo has to do (scanning pastel is messy too) Enjoy :)

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-80904646442131272792010-08-13T10:58:00.002+01:002010-09-13T11:48:33.187+01:00

I'm in the middle of doing another painting (I know, right?!) but in the meantime here's a custom Mini Munny that I did a while ago: Painted with acrylic. The flagpole is a wooden dowel. The flag is white denim - it was stiff enough to hold the flag shape without needing constant wind :) - and coloured with Sharpie markers and white paint. This little fella, standing proud at 11cm (4 1/4" in

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-88520908554495801422010-08-06T19:52:00.001+01:002010-08-06T20:13:32.996+01:00

My entry for this week's Illustration Friday, no cages allowed: (soft pastel and pen, A4) Big fish eat little fish. Little fish all like O.O My creative block is back again. I want to paint something but I dunno what.

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-66058981702323910632010-07-18T11:34:00.005+01:002010-08-04T23:34:36.552+01:00

Eggs and bacon for breakfast: (watercolour, A5) My little chicky is all grown up :)

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-6772533732297703482010-07-11T08:40:00.001+01:002010-07-11T20:26:58.501+01:00

Blah blah blah my entry: (pen/ink/watercolour on paper, A4) A bit of a break from the norm. I was playing around with this line and decided to do it in some kind of calligraphy. I could have gone straight for the obvious "draw a diary" but went with a heart instead, it's what you pour out onto the pages of your diary after all. Anybody know where the line comes from? And who knows where I heard

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-32858605780398129712010-07-09T15:59:00.001+01:002010-07-09T16:03:49.680+01:00

Last night I overcame my artist's block :O and I began painting :O :O With oil paint :O :O :O (oil paint on paper, A3, WIP) This was inspired after I saw a mushroom cloud. Not in real life, otherwise I'd be dead and typing this out would be really difficult. No, I was just link bouncing on the net and saw a picture of one. And as I like juxtaposing different things together, I introduced a lady

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-8439297798442376332010-07-04T19:06:00.001+01:002010-07-04T19:06:36.819+01:00

My entry for Illustration Friday, this week's topic, "giant" Yesterday I was at a school summer fair that my cousin was DJing for, with it's typical bouncy castle, face painting and tombola stands. One of the prizes at one tombola stand was a big panda bear holding a heart. The first thing I thought was "I don't have a teddy, OMG I want it", then I found out I couldn't have it because it was a

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-25002830861318933872010-06-28T22:07:00.002+01:002010-09-08T23:47:38.466+01:00

Just a little nothing... (watercolour pencil on watercolour paper, A5) I've got a huge artist's block right now. The enormity of the blank canvas has hit me and I've got like 5-10 different ideas visualised but only 1 canvas, and the more I think about what to do, the more the ideas all swirl into each other and seem like a huge mess of crap. I also really want to use oil paints but I've never

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-79046865984852326942010-06-06T19:55:00.001+01:002010-06-06T19:55:54.915+01:00

My entry for Illustration Friday, this week's topic, "trail" (pen on watercolour paper, A5) The first thing that came to my mind after seeing "trail" in my inbox on Friday was "snail", and not just because they both rhyme. I didn't get around to doing this until today, it was another of those "don't think too hard about the subject" pictures, so I just did it freehand off the top of my head.I

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-81356354709570187022010-05-28T11:42:00.008+01:002011-03-08T21:11:06.815Z

Not a major update, I just decided to change my avatar, because I can.My old one is from an obscure (in everywhere but Japan, that is) claymation called Taiko Drum Master (Taiko no Tatsujin), based on the crazy arcade game of the same name. I always thought the animal under the mask was a fat cat, turns out (thanks to wikipedia) it's a teddy bear. I also thought the mask was a cat, turns out

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-70400864412711811832010-05-25T21:57:00.005+01:002010-05-25T22:12:31.577+01:00

Hey me, what's up? Here's that jaguar you were painting: (watercolour, A3) Some of the spots on his face bled, and the colour is slightly washed out. That's partly due to the way I photographed it as well as it being a watercolour. It adds to the charm dammit, and at least I wasn't tempted to over-paint. And here's some WIP's: I have to stretch out the paper and fix it down properly next time.

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-83773058839146936192010-05-11T22:48:00.001+01:002010-05-25T21:58:19.406+01:00

Maybe I should have waited until next January to post this: (oil pastel on card) When I was first introduced to oil pastels in high school I hated them with a passion. I remember drawing a still life one day and every time I tried to add more pastel on top of a previous layer, the previous layer would come off. It was really frustrating. The problem with that still life turned out to be the

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-42536731145148983582010-05-10T08:41:00.000+01:002010-05-10T08:41:15.040+01:00

My entry for Illustration Friday, this week's topic, "fearless" A friendly game of cat and mouse... I'm quite pleased with how this turned out. It's one of the few times where I've used watercolour and the end result actually looks like a watercolour painting. Still, I had to restrain myself from making it overly detailed... old habits die hard :)

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-56654628137632384792010-04-25T14:31:00.002+01:002010-04-25T14:45:25.198+01:00

My entry for Illustration Friday, this week's topic, "ahead": (soft pastel on black paper, A4) So what lies ahead? Freehand drawn with a couple of shadow/tunnel pictures for reference, then I fixed the colour levels a little in Photoshop (the original is slightly faded because of the wonders of fixative). Feels good to do another dark and moody piece... On a side note, my previous two pastel

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-41107069014806941202010-04-20T10:57:00.004+01:002011-02-28T21:11:43.988Z

I wanted to do something nice for Kinga's birthday, because when I last saw her she was stressing out about all manner of things. I'm not the best portrait artist in the world, so what better gift to give than a portrait? :P For Kinga Bee :) (graphite on paper, A4) My first attempt at drawing her was in charcoal and looked like a different person. This one looks more like her so I settled for

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-60676008401273712010-04-17T21:44:00.010+01:002010-04-18T17:32:19.856+01:00

My entry for Illustration Friday (it's been a while), this week's topic, "detective": (graphite on paper) He's a detective, or "private eye"... get it? I'm pretty sure I'm not the first ever person to discover this play on words but hey, an eyeball in a hat and trenchcoat looks spiffy, and much less offensive to draw than a private dick.

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-62915586891161424242010-04-11T23:10:00.003+01:002010-04-13T09:59:12.448+01:00

IF has been really uninspiring these past few weeks. I had an idea for "rescue" but I decided not to do it because I had a feeling that I'd seen a very similar picture in a previous IF. Anyway, getting back on topic, because boredom can make me do some weird things here's my quick little tribute to the current internet phenomenon, Standing Cat:

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-23625951105670799262010-04-08T22:39:00.008+01:002010-04-20T11:43:40.556+01:00

"Moo"? More like "..."(acrylic on paper, A3) This took a bit longer to finish than I'd expected, mostly because I thought I'd messed it up and didn't have the enthusiasm to fix it. But I did fix it, sort of. And seeing as it's always nice to have some work-in-progress pics, here's a couple of work-in-progress pics. There would have been more but I got carried away with destroying and recovering

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-26208407700728969432010-03-29T08:38:00.001+01:002010-03-29T08:38:26.033+01:00

(acrylic on paper, A4) Do black cats consider themselves unlucky?

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-71001051912085562812010-03-28T09:17:00.003+01:002010-03-28T23:11:45.222+01:00

-My style is the best, and so I challenge you! -Aha! But my style is better!- Generic kung-fu flick dialogueJust testing out some new colour pencils I have. Insects are cool.

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-47515110741323655652010-03-22T22:32:00.003Z2011-02-28T21:11:43.989Z

Another drawing in charcoal. This time I tried to get the proportions right so that she didn't look like she jumped out of a cartoon. Drawing a different pose also helped. I wanted to draw her whole body, but the paper was too small and I don't think I can capture fine details with charcoal just yet. Charcoal is so damn messy, but so much fun to play with. OK, time to wipe the dust off my table

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-34194473505192755662010-03-21T11:49:00.004Z2010-03-21T17:36:21.968Z

Here's a little something to balance out the diabetes-inducing sweetness of my last IF submission: (soft pastel on black paper) Your time's up.

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-16896019151020928172010-03-20T13:45:00.002Z2010-10-12T11:36:37.557+01:00

My entry for Illustration Friday. This week's topic, "expired": I think one of the eggs might be a bit off...

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-83739200349922228702010-03-18T22:47:00.021Z2011-02-28T21:11:43.989Z

2 posts in 1 day? Well, yeah :) I've always wanted to try drawing with charcoal (drawing on concrete floors and walls excluded). My interest was renewed after watching the title sequence of The Pacific. Now what I've drawn is hardly in the same league as the aforementioned title sequence, but I think still decent for a first try. I also found it much easier to use than soft pastel, probably

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-18223313283398194102010-03-18T14:29:00.001Z2010-04-17T22:57:42.618+01:00

More sketch practice. This time I brought my camera with me so I took photos, which meant that I could refer back to them and sketch people on the move. Again, no real detail, just shapes and lines. Girl with a dog. It's supposed to be a boxer but it looks like a mutt :)Boy feeding a swan

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-87991059634760484202010-03-17T08:51:00.005Z2010-04-17T22:57:42.619+01:00

I want to draw people. The problem is that I'm bad at drawing people, especially with proportions and foreshortening. So I took a walk through my local park and made myself sketch human form. Sitting on a bench I sketched people that sat on the bench opposite me. The thing with drawing people on the move is that they are on the move. Fortunately sitting people don't move around as much but I

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-12959695335689652202010-03-13T07:34:00.004Z2010-03-21T09:02:56.328Z

My entry for this week's Illustration Friday, "subterranean".  (ink pens on black paper, A4) I didn't want to think too hard about what to do for this week's topic, nor did I want to spend a lot of time on it. "Subterranean" didn't really inspire me in any way other than underground. So I basically sketched out a really simple cave drawing and scribbled in the colour with some ink pens. The man

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-25223988595200833612010-03-11T17:02:00.005Z2010-03-23T08:57:40.662Z

I wanted to get some more watercolour practice in before I do the next Illustration Friday (that's if I even do it) because as frustrating as watercolour can be, I enjoy it. My past uses of watercolour have been dark to say the least, so much so that the grey and black pans in my tray are getting some serious abuse while the other colours are unused and neglected. Looking for inspiration I turned

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-49775975079337372422010-03-07T07:24:00.010Z2010-04-20T11:37:32.364+01:00

(watercolour and ink, A4) Fall or fight? As with most of the IF's that I've done so far, this wasn't my first idea. If I have a flash of inspiration, I'll come up with one idea, then another and another and I'll overload and decide that most are overly ambitious and scrap them. It's quite sad when I have an idea in my head and it looks amazing, but then I can't actually put it down onto

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-29851830685946886602010-03-01T15:47:00.006Z2010-03-21T09:03:20.204Z

I decided to keep this week's Illustration Friday really simple (click for big):  All he wants is to be included.

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-24539570980593610332010-02-27T11:06:00.006Z2011-03-08T21:26:15.953Z

It's been a while since my last entry. I got sidetracked with other stuff like trying to finish a book and some computer related nonsense. I'm going to get back to painting again - I have at least 3 paintings I want to do - but before that I tried to dabble in some soft pastel goodness. Done on black paper. Not my best use of pastel TBH, but I have only ever used them properly maybe 3 times,

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-77062711447809361442010-02-13T15:54:00.003Z2010-03-23T08:57:40.663Z

My entry for Illustration Friday. This week's topic, "adrift". (watercolour and ink) My second ever use of watercolour. My first attempt was with my first idea for this week's IF but it didn't turn out too well. I also didn't stretch the paper first time around and it warped out of shape. Oh well, you live and you learn. I had another idea that I also wanted to do but I couldn't visualise it

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-78853222106205320832010-02-12T16:02:00.008Z2010-10-12T11:36:37.558+01:00

While chatting to my friend who lives in Hong Kong, he mentioned that it is the Chinese New Year on 14th February. And what else falls on 14th February? That's right! It's apparently quite a big deal as the last time these 2 days coincided was 57 years ago! So in tribute of this day I decided to draw a Valentine's Day Tiger, or a "Valentiger".Colour pencil goodness, rawr :3 Although I prefer to

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-36654313871536926392010-02-10T10:52:00.006Z2010-03-21T09:04:22.105Z

My first attempt at something for Illustration Friday. This week's topic, "Muddy": Snug as a pig in the mud. Just a quick drawing with some tasty Karisma Colour pencils :d

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-37013578292257951192010-02-09T13:25:00.009Z2010-04-20T11:34:35.188+01:00

This is definitely one of the most difficult things that I've ever painted. (acrylic, A3) Why? Because of his fur. I found it really challenging to do, as there was a fine line between dabbing huge blobs of paint and using the finest brush I have to add every hair individually. When I used to paint in acrylic, I didn't like the idea of seeing individual brush strokes in my paintings. Now I'm open

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-49425685584776084332010-02-07T11:14:00.007Z2010-10-12T11:40:01.619+01:00

My current drawing, which I call "Meet Jimbo" :D Jimbo was only a puppy when my mom took him into our house in the Philippines. He was found abandoned outside my aunt's house. When he first came to us he was really small, shy and very quiet, but after a few days he'd gotten big, boistrous and would chase anything and everything. He lived with us for about a year until he became sick and died. I

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-86438100017722399312010-02-06T14:10:00.003Z2011-03-08T21:13:57.182Z

I recently read The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break, and I really loved the way the author portrayed "M" as a strong but soft character, so I decided to draw him. I am not good at drawing the human body. I'm OK if I draw from a reference picture but useless from memory. I still haven't mastered foreshortening and things just end up looking out of proportion. So this was a bit of a challenge. I

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-40691298542832990602010-02-05T21:15:00.005Z2010-03-23T08:57:40.665Z

I prefer to draw realistically which is at odds with my lack of patience, particularly when it comes to doing things like fine detail. Not wanting to do yet another real life picture I decided to make something bolder and simpler. (acrylic, 39 x 28cm) The idea behind this was to visualise the phrase "not a happy bunny". My initial (albeit obvious) thought was to draw a sad rabbit. Then I

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-24033437908199100642010-02-05T14:34:00.008Z2010-04-20T11:33:17.035+01:00

After a long hiatus I put paintbrush to surface and began to paint again. This is the first painting that I've done in about 10 years (walls and doors not included). (acrylic, 28 x 39cm) I painted it over 3-4 days. I don't feel as though it's 100% finished yet as I got really impatient with painting the smaller tail feathers (that big yellow mass with the odd white smudge). I went over that area

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-24975576322701847422010-02-05T11:41:00.014Z2010-03-23T08:57:40.666Z

This is the final piece that I did for my A Level art exam. I don't remember the exact criteria that I had to follow, just something about a collection of old/rusty/dull objects. Done over the course of 5 days way back in 1999. 11 years ago!  (acrylic and ink, 77 x 64cm) Looking back at it now, it had a World War 2 feel to it (gas masks, red flowers, army green napsacks), which wasn't what I had

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6156179306940145133.post-68869670140031618752010-02-05T10:56:00.009Z2011-03-14T21:15:52.046Z

Another blog? Why yes. This one will be art/design related. Probably stuff that I've done myself (both old and new) and stuff that interests me. Simple, no? And to start this one off here's a picture of a rainbow that I took from the roof of my house when I was in the Philippines last year. That is a cellphone mast in the background, which completely ruins the beautiful scenery but quite

AriBahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14390137235381321777noreply@blogger.com1