I'm on the cover of a book!

© Animedia Company

Well, not me exactly, but a drawing that I created for an old Illustration Friday topic was chosen as the cover illustration for a book by Russian author Anton Nechaev.

My drawing!

The book is called Сибирский редактор, or Sibersky redaktor (Siberian Editor). It contains illustrations by poet and artist Arkady Perenov and is published digitally by Animedia Company. Unfortunately I can't read Russian and Google Translate is incredibly choppy with Cyrillic and other non-Latin scripts, so Helen Kichigina (the editor-in-chief over at Animedia) was kind enough to give me a brief outline of the story. To paraphrase her email:

"The novel is all about Russian life, the Russian literary backstage and the relationship between Russian writers narrated in a satirical manner. It's also about the daily work of an editor/literary scout from a provincial town in Siberia who has to read a lot of bad literature and communicate with bad writers who consider themselves incredibly talented."

But how does this relate to my detective?
  
"The novel is mostly autobiographical. The author said that in those days he really looked like the guy in your illustration and he was just like a detective, trying to find at least one decent work in a sea of bad novels. So, in general, he was a 'private eye' but in literary circles."

They were initially going to use my illustration for a novel by a different author about a private detective, but the author decided to go in a different artistic direction. Fortunately Anton Nechaev liked my drawing and could relate to it on a personal level, which I think is neat. He didn't just think detective drawing = detective story.

I'm now ready for the instant fame and fortune this recognition shall bring... hah! :P

See the novel on Animedia's website!



Many thanks to Helen and the folks over at Animedia Company for obtaining my permission to use my illustration, as well as providing me with a copy of the ebook, and to Anton Nechaev for choosing my illustration to grace the cover of his novel.

Illustration Friday: ferocious

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 (mostly miss). I think I miss the speed at which I need to paint with water-based media. Oil paint is great for blending and reworking but you need patience. Oh, and cleaning up afterwards is tedious.

(BTW I suck at creating characters)

As you can see I was going to try and draw a cartoony cat. That didn't pan out, but cute kid in a cat costume did. The ball of yarn was an afterthought, as the kid looked odd bearing her claws at nothing.

As usual my initial sketches are weird-looking. While others go into great detail and produce reams and reams of ideas, revisions, revisions of ideas, I usually doodle a few things in pen on a tiny scrap of paper (those are A6 sheets up there!) then transfer it onto the final paper. Thankfully my paper is very forgiving as this is when I end up working and reworking the pencil lines. I know I should do proper sketches beforehand but hey, it's not easy to change, especially when it works for me.

Illustration Friday: remedy

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 finally found my style?

I doubt it...

Illustration Friday: asleep

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. She did indeed live up to her new name.


Only later on did I realise that Kara was actually a tom, but the name stuck. He's still known as Kara but I call him Karabao, like carabao. I think it's better for him to be named after a docile beast rather than a cutesy sweet treat.

This is Kara in December last year. He's about 1 year and 4 months here.

Still sleepy as usual. Of the 2 Kara is much friendlier. You can easily pick him up and he doesn't mind. He often climbs up onto my lap to take a quick nap. Kulit on the other hand was always wary of being handled, even approached. Good thing we gave her away.

When he's awake and fully alert he is a beast:

We used to have mice living in a pile of wood in the garden. I think he caught them all.

Illustration Friday: soaked, part 2

Another one, this time with colour. What a day to forget your umbrella:

(watercolour, 23 x 31cm)

At least her feet are dry...

Illustration Friday: soaked

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...

Illustration Friday: bottled

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 it: really badly on a scrap of paper and in ball-point pen :)

Illustration Friday: duet

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.

Illustration Friday: warning

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?

war mask,

sounds interesting...

war paint...

tribal paint?

tribal costumes?

now that's more like it.

I've been on a bit of a pastel/charcoal trip as of late, so it wasn't really any surprise that I would choose pastels again. I used a couple of reference pics for the body shape and for some ideas for the headdress but other than that this was completely made up.

menacing...

Illustration Friday: swarm

*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.

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.)

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.

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 :)

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.