Illustration Friday: prehistoric

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 of the foreground and background scenery.

I dunno how realistic it is, none of the photos taken during the ice age survived the freezing temperatures...

o.O wat!?

Illustration Friday: savour

"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".

Illustration Friday: burning

#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 figure actually looks female and not like a man in drag.

...and she burns through the night at the speed of light#

Illustration Friday: spooky

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.)

Another WIP

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 blog as an unfinished mess that it'll encourage me to pick up a brush and finally finish it off :)

Illustration Friday: beneath

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 didn't mean for this 'rant' to come across like some kind of justification for my picture - I usually prefer the picture to speak for itself - but, like I've said before, inspiration can sometimes come from the weirdest of places)

Illustration Friday: acrobat

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 :)

Illustration Friday: proverb

A bird in the hand...

(Watercolour pens and ink on paper, A5-ish)

 ...makes a terrible mess.

Well, that's my experience anyway.

Ice-cream robot

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 at doodling a possible future idea, here's the scrap of paper with my 5 second sketch in ball-point pen:

XD

I remember...

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 think of. I really don't doodle enough now but when I was younger I was a total fiend with a bunch of pens and paper. I would sometimes zone out and draw, even if it was utter crap and I ended up binning it. This picture actually means quite a lot to me though, partly because it's the only thing I drew when I was a little kid that I still have, and partly because it was one of the first things my dad and I did together when he first came to London.

I think I might make doodle posts a regular thing. All I have to do is 're-learn' how to doodle :S

Illustration Friday: atmosphere

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 breaths now...

Illustration Friday: star gazing

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 :)

Beats, Rhymes and Life

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 The Queen Measurements™) initially had an acrylic lily painted on his head. It was going to be a gift for a friend but I decided not to finish it, and instead repainted him as something completely different. Much simpler but different nonetheless. I decided on making him into the red and green figure found on many of A Tribe Called Quest's albums:

I think I was going through an ATCQ phase at the time and I listened to all of their albums from start to finish. My Munny is based on the cover artwork of Beats, Rhymes and Life. This cover is also my favourite as it's done in a graffiti style and I'm partial to a bit of graff:

So yeah, that's that. My painting will be posted when it's done, that or it will be put in the bin if it turns into a disaster.

Illustration Friday: caged

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.

Illustration Friday: breakfast

Eggs and bacon for breakfast:

(watercolour, A5)

My little chicky is all grown up :)

Illustration Friday: diary

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 the line first?

No prizes for the right answers. You're on the net, Google is only a URL away.

(OK, maybe a cookie)

Looks like rain again WIP

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 with an umbrella. I like the calm and the chaos being played out here.

I'm only 2 days deep into this piece so it's not finished, but I had to post it even if nobody sees it because I'm quite happy with how it's turning out. I still feel like taking it down in tone a little. Make it darker, a little more sinister. Oil paints take longer to dry fully, way longer than I'm normally used to with acrylic, but what is nice is that it was still wet and workable after leaving it for 8 hours while I went to sleep. Blending it is fun too, I like being able to blend the paint when it's already applied. What's doing my head in at the moment is cleaning the paint brushes and then wiping them down so they don't thin out the paint I've already applied. If only I could just run it under the tap like a water based paint. Oh, I also can't just rush through it like I normally do with acrylic. My palette looks pretty though. Messy as hell, but pretty :)

I am painting this on paper. I know, I have a canvas just itching to be blessed but I really didn't want to mess it up with something that is essentially just an experiment with a completely alien medium. Let me get a few more of these done before I commit.

Today is the hottest day so far in London. BBC news said max temps will hit 31°C. Looks like rain again...

Illustration Friday: giant

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 kids-only tombola :(

Later that day I saw a little girl running around and playing with her friends, while carrying a giant blue shark plushie on her head. She'd won it from the same tombola stand where the panda was, which is weird because I didn't even see it at the stand.

It was hard to sketch because as with most little kids she wouldn't stay still, and I didn't bring my camera so I couldn't draw from a photo. So this was really rushed. My proportions and lack of skill at drawing human form really shows in the 10 or so minutes I did this in. But that's fine, at least it's something and it keeps me from thinking about what the hell I'm gonna paint.

So sharks, as well as being carnivorous toothy sea-beasts can also be fodder for cuddliness... Hmm, imagine that.

Plucking daisies

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 used oil paints, and the idea of using them seems quite daunting. I think I'm gonna have to do some practice.

Illustration Friday: trail

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 scribbled with aqua Promarkers and blended them like watercolours, then I added some highlights with my favourite white illustration ink pen :) In total it took about 40 minutes to do and that includes time taken for the paper to dry to a workable state so I could use the ink pen.

Today I bought a canvas. I think I know what I want to put on it but I've never painted on canvas before... so that should be fun. I don't know when I'll start it but I'll post the end disaster if and when it's done :D

Change clothes

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 it's a fox. Yeah, you see it now.

My new one is from a bunch of doodles that I did while house-sitting for a certain somebody :)

At the time I looked more like the one on the right, but seeing as I don't remember the last time I had a haircut I now look more like the one on the left.

Jag...

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. Even with a liberal soaking and double masking tape it still managed to buckle.

I'm feeling to do something unrealistic, maybe something surreal... I watched an art programme about Dalí over the weekend and it was pretty inspiring. It kind of reminded me of my college days, even though I spent most of my art lessons drawing realistically.

'til next time, see you later me.

Aquarius

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 really crappy card I was given to draw on. Of course practice makes (almost) perfect, and I did end up drawing a huge A1 piece in college, but I still didn't like them. So, seeing as I haven't used oil pastels in over 10 years and my pastel set is around about the same age, this was a bit more of an experiment with those vintage sticks than anything else. I guess they stood the test of time :)

Illustration Friday: fearless

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 :)

Illustration Friday: ahead

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 drawings came out crappy to not-so-crappy. I now know that this is partly because of a piece of white blackboard chalk that somehow made its way into my pastel set, and I couldn't tell the difference between it and the pastels as I rarely use pastels. The piece of chalk now sits in my bin.

Happy birthday Kinga

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 this one. She said I made her look prettier than in real life... uhm, no that's not possible ;)

I didn't need her permission to post this but I did get her approval. Besides, I'd prefer that she was happy with it and plant a big kiss on my lips than be angry and slap me.

And just so there's no sense of embarrassment, here's a self-portrait that I did in college when I was around 16-17, in acrylic, when I was just starting out in acrylics and even worse at portraits.

Why do I look angry? I dunno, maybe because this was frustrating to paint, especially with cheap student-grade acrylics that were like painting with water. Or it's most likely the angle of the paper distorting my face. The best thing about this self-portrait is the jacket, heh.

Visit Kinga's art blog here.

Illustration Friday: detective

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.

===
Update 26/03/2013: My illustration has been used on the cover of an ebook! Check the related blog post for more information.

The missing link

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:

Kalabaw

"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 the painting to take any more :)

 Click here for some more kalabaw-related goodness :)

Miaow, Meow, Mew

(acrylic on paper, A4)

Do black cats consider themselves unlucky?

Mantis style

-My style is the best, and so I challenge you! 

-Aha! But my style is better!

- Generic kung-fu flick dialogue

Just testing out some new colour pencils I have. Insects are cool.

Vintage

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 :)

Illustration Friday: expired, Part 2

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.

Illustration Friday: expired

My entry for Illustration Friday. This week's topic, "expired":

I think one of the eggs might be a bit off...

New medium

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 because it's even softer and monochrome.

I referenced a random picture I found on the internet, so I don't know who the girl is. I was just drawn to her hairstyle and dark hair which translated really well in charcoal. She also looks a bit cartoonish and child-like because I drew her eyes bigger than normal. Yes, I messed up her facial proportions ever so slightly, but we'll call that artistic license :)