Tag Archives: aceo

Tiny Halloween Houses, Part Deux

More Tiny Halloween Houses
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, Microns, Signo Uniball

More tiny houses. Halloween shaped ones. Today, lots of potted plants. And of course the trash cans. (They are still portals to a common hub!)

Candy Corn Cottage, Unwelcome, Housecan and Rounded House with Witch Hat.

I’ve also done some cats.  So while you may see more tiny houses next time,  you are also quite likely to find some cats.

Thanks for dropping in!

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100 Tiny Houses Project, Pen & Ink

Nine Tiny Houses, Oh My!
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

It was inevitable! I’ve been on a tiny house tear around here. Perhaps eventually I can turn the 100 Tiny Houses into a bustling neighborhood! It will have a Halloween side of the tracks and maybe a Steampunk neighborhood. (The Project includes 17 houses so far, starting with three Spook Houses from Halloween 2012.)

Those who have been following will be happy to know I am remembering to put little trash can portals in (almost) every one, for easy travel options.

The above nine include several older ones, and these four new ones:

Three Halloweenish Houses and 1 Steampunkish
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

I’ve started to name them – also fun! 1. Chapel of the Grey Witch, 2. The Cat Hag’s Shack, 3. The Pumpkin Charmer’s Cottage, 4. Clever Inventor’s Shed.

Thanks for stopping by! Managed a few progress pics. Will try to do more. ;)

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Micro Cityscapes in Pen & Ink

Eyeline
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, gel pen

I like this one because I remembered to add the little streetlamp, and potted plants, and a tree, and of course the garbage can. Which may not be a garbage can at all. Perhaps it’s a portal connecting all the garbage cans in all the micro cities.

With that in mind, I shall submit this post for the Illustration Friday topic “Hidden”, for the hidden garbage can portals. Which I didn’t even know about until I wrote this post!

Bottled City
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, gel pen

See, there’s another one! These are cities number 19 and 20, of my 100 Cityscapes Project. One or both may end up in my shop.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Silver Cat and a Cat Card Retrospective

Hector Cat ATC, 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, Microns

A silver cat for the topic “rescue” at Illustration Friday. Hector came into the shelter with his brother Hans, two spitting fur balls about four pounds each. A kind and patient foster couple took them in and eventually adopted them both. Apparently Hans became a lap cat but Hector likes to sit on the back of the couch and lick your head.

And then I thought, these cats I’ve been doing are different than cats I have done in the past. Perhaps it’s time for a cat retrospective!

Four Early Cat ATCS,  each 2.5″ x 3.5″, Copics, Microns

Of these, though I dig the cloaks and Santa hat, my favorite is the pumpkin cat. Maybe because she looks the most like the Peterbald type cat I often use as a reference.

Four Early Middle Period Cats, each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, Microns

Of these my favorite is the first one, because it’s a different style cat that really worked – though I haven’t been able to duplicate that style in quite the same way since.

Three Current Cats!

Of these I am particularly fond of Sleeping Mathilda, in the middle. I think she’s pretty cute!

Do you have a favorite? I love cats but I’m a dog person at heart so I am always interested to get a cat person opinion. (And all the other opinions, too!) Thanks for visiting!

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Maiden Cityscape Mash-up, in Markers

Her City Hair, and Village of the Mind
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

These started with an intuitive face (see last post!), and ended with a cityscape. I suspect the continued blending of subjects shall occur for some time! In addition, here is the threatened dog plus cityscape, and a bonsai community.

Blue Dog City, and Bonsai Town
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ art cards, Copic markers

Have you done any goofy mash-ups lately?

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The Village of Little Sprout, for Jungle at IF

The Village of Little Sprout, process and final
2.5″ x 3.5″, Copics, fine liners, gel pen on Bristol Board

Submitted for the topic “Jungle” at Illustration Friday. My latest unconventional cityscape, it was very fun to make. And I would like to live there. :)

I was also quite pleased with this cat, though she has only the most distant connection to the jungle, having moved to the Great Red Plains in her youth.

Tarabell the Theurgist
2.5″ x 3.5″, Copics, fine liners, gel pen

Shown here with her ceremonial robe and shield, Tarabell was one of the three founding members of the Lunar Cat Council. A cat called Elsbeth wears Tarabell’s robe now, with great care and reverence.

The Lunar Ceremony is open to visitors twice per year, and it is a grand and wondrous honor to see the entire Council in their ancient finery.

(Somewhat more realistic than previous cats!) Made for a trade at illustratedatcs.com.

Thanks for visiting! I forgot to send out my last post, so maybe take a look if a robot called Croissant sounds interesting to you.

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Sizing Him Up, Copic Art Card

Sizing Him Up
2.5″ x 3.5″, pen and ink, Copics

Croissant is the sort of name one acquires when one’s owner allows his six-year old to name his robot butler. Croissant bore it stoically, after the fashion of his kind. But perhaps it made him slightly more suspicious of visitors to the family estate. Other robots, in particular, were forced to endure quite stringent scrutiny.

For the topic “Robot” at Illustration Friday. It’s a bit abstract! And I’m not sure how the big fellow ended up with a lizardy texture. Experimenting, I suppose!

I also figured out a way to get that white on toned paper look, which is to use white gel pen in a sketchy style over lightly colored areas. In this case, lightly colored with warm gray 02 or 03. I also tried to cover up the design in the large eye with gel pen. To mixed results.

Thanks for stopping in!

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Cityscape Illustrations and Imaginary Travels

Daydreaming City
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, gel pen

Sometimes at night the entire city sways gently side to side, as if recalling blissful daydreams that its Dreamers dreamed all day.

Submitted for the topic “Travel” at Illustration Friday. I have always wanted to do cityscapes and streetscapes! Just not quite as much as dogs or magical creatures or alien robots or maidens. Until now! So here are the first two. Be kind, as I need much practice!

draak eiland
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, gel pen

A spotted dragonlet lands beyond the seawall, impatient for her companions to join her. Watching the young ones learn to fly is a favorite pastime of the villagers.

(This was actually the first one. Eeek, perspective.) It was originally a city in the side of the hill but you know how it is, sometimes the hill turns into a winged beast of one kind or another. Thanks to waughtercolors for starting a cityscape themed swap!

I’ve put together an Etsy favorites board for inspiration, if you want to see some great streetscape and cityscape art! Thanks for dropping in!

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Red Setter in Copic Markers

Red Setter Called Waldorf, process and final
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copic markers, fine liners, gel pen

Waldorf was a reader from a very young age. At three he was a fan of White Fang and the Jim Kjelgaard series of dog books. But lately he prefers such diverse topics as Nordic legends and artisan cheese making, with the occasional Philip K. Dick.

If you were a reader and a dog lover like me as a youngin, you probably read some Jim Kjelgaard. We had an Irish Setter named Rusty, and as a result I was particularly fond of the Big Red, Irish Red and Outlaw Red books, but also Snow Dog and Desert Dog. I was also a huge fan (and cried frequently!) over White Fang by Jack London. The other dog book I remember fondly is Champion Dog: Prince Tom by Jean Fritz, the uplifting tale of a scrawny Cocker Spaniel runt who grew up to be a champion many times over.

Made for a trade at illustratedatcs.com. Did you have favorite dog books as a young person?

Beautiful reference photo, (a Gordon Setter). Thanks for stopping in!

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Two Bright Birds, One Goldfish, Marker and Ink

Maureen in the Jungle
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

Two more colorful birds created for a Birds swap (first two posted previously). Maureen is a little bit Hornbill and a little bit Heron, with a possible side of Flamingo. She is one of a small flock of magical, long-lived creatures who live in villages atop clouds. This may be my favorite background!

Lionel Shoebill
2.5″ x 3.5′ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

Lionel comes from a long line of strangely-colored shoebills. The color always passes down to the male members of the family (much to the chagrin of his sisters). Family legend suggests that a great-great-great uncle was a Toucan, but really, how would that be possible? (Answer: Nature finds a way!)

Hannah the Goldfish
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

And finally, Hannah the goldfish. It’s quite different than previous goldfish, but thankfully the client was happy. Her mom said Hannah got loads of positive comments on Fishbook and was thrilled and also quite touched, especially because she got teased a lot for her spots when she was little.

Thanks for visiting! Progress pics below.

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