Monthly Archives: May 2013

Maiden of the Birds for Illustration Friday

Maiden of the Birds
5″ x 7″, Copic markers, Micron pens, Uniball Signo gel pen

Submitted for the topic “Tension” at Illustration Friday. That’s Phyllis up there, the sheep bird. And beside her, Jules (pink) and Harold. The little one on the bird feeder is Sybil. It looks calm right now, but Phyllis rules the place with an iron claw. Particularly if someone else has encroached upon what she feels is the proper amount of space for a creature of her stature. It can get a bit tense up there!

The Night City Maiden (2 versions)
5″ x 7″ Copic markers, Micron pens

I intended for this one to have a black background, but I am not sure about the best way to accomplish that. The dark version above has a simple a black background added digitally. Looking at these side by side, it definitely looks better dark, especially with the stars. I suppose a brush would do the best coverage, and I may even have one, and some ink. I hate to think of coloring the background with marker. But brushed ink is likely to warp the paper.  Eeek! If you have any tips, please share!

No progress pics because I did both of these while out of town! (It also explains the color palette, which was limited by what I brought with me!) These are maidens 95 and 96 (but might not be loaded over there yet). Thanks for stopping in!

 

Exercises in Unknown Styles: Clarke, Bilal, Gauguin

After Harry Clarke ATC
2.5″ x 3.5″ Micron Pens

I was recently involved in an art card swap with the theme “favorite artists”. The other members of the group pick their favorite, and the others make a card in that style. (I chose Daniela Volpari, who is a contemporary artist I happened to find on Etsy. I haven’t gotten my cards back from the other folks or I’d show ya how they turned out!)

The card above is based on a part of this Harry Clarke illustration. I took some liberties with some of the patterns but for the most part I copied the original. Usually I am no fan of copying! In fact, when I was in high school I refused to copy another artist, famous or otherwise, for any assignment. But I can definitely see the value in this type of exercise where you are forced to go outside your comfort zone.

Style of Enki Bilal ATC
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, Microns, Signo Uniball gel pen

The next card was based on this Enki Bilal illustration. Tragically, mine looks quite a bit more like markers than I’d like – despite it’s actually being markers. Didn’t quite get there, but I did get closer than expected. ;)

Style of Paul Gauguin
2.5″ x 3.5″, Copics, Microns

I must say I was most pleased with this one, though I would not call Paul Gauguin one of my favorite artists. Again it was my intention to copy his painting, but it does not really look like the original, shown here. But I really appreciate how painterly it is, and how different than my normal style. In fact, I had to convince someone close that I’d actually made it!

Steampunk Geisha
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, Microns, gel pen

And finally, here is a crazy mash-up maiden, a steampunk geisha. She is Maiden Number 94, and was made for a trade.

Thanks for stopping in! I didn’t do progress scans for all of these, but I did for a couple!

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Yet Another Forest Creatures Art Cards Post

People of the Forest Art Cards, Group 3
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″, Copics, Microns, Staedtlers and Signo Uniball gel pen

Perhaps it has become clear that I am not done with The People of the Forest. If you’re just joining us, the last two posts were also filled with ATC size humanoids and small details of their forest surroundings, the theme of a swap I recently started. Top row: Lavender Rabbit and Friend, and A Juvenile Forest Imp (his nose came out great I think!). Second row: Earnest Ernest, an antlered Pixie Troll, and Katje, a Forest Cat.

This makes a total of fourteen People of the Forest swap cards, as seen below all together. (This doesn’t even include a few landscape-oriented cards, a few that didn’t quite turn out as intended, and two foxes who have moved to the suburbs which I will post later!)

People of the Forest Art Cards 1-14
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″, Copics, fine liners, gel pen, by Cindy Dauer

People of the Forest is a super fun theme I most heartily recommend, particularly if things and people and politics in the real world are not contributing to your well-being in a positive fashion.

Next I hope to do an entry for “Liquid” this week at Illustration Friday. <cross fingers> Thanks for stopping in!

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People of the Forest Redux, Copic Art Cards

People of the Forest Art Cards, Group 2
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″, Copics, Microns, Staedtlers and Signo Uniball gel pen

Top row: Silver Pixie Princess, and Bear the Wise

2nd Row: A Flower Fairy, and a Fae Tracker

You may recall I was on a bit of a tear with Dog Art Cards for a while (and to which I will yet return!) At the moment, if you hadn’t guessed, it’s this fantasy/woodland theme, People of the Forest. And as I suspect there will be many more in the foreseeable future, I am submitting this post to “Future” at Illustration Friday!

I was working on eyes for a while, and I really need to work on noses. I am quite pleased with the Silver Sprite above, my first of the nose studies. In trying to replicate that nose, I had a lot of trouble with the Fern Fairies, below:

Two Fern Fairies, and Nose Troubles
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, etc

The one on the right came first, and I have yet to do an acceptable nose repair job on her. I started with a too dark (and imprecise!) ink line on the bridge of her nose, then kept going darker trying to fix or cover it. Aaaah! For the second attempt (on the left) I went with a lighter touch, and a much better result. Some inspiration for these two came from Lisa Ferguson’s fairies, which I love!

Thanks so much for visiting! More People of the Forest cards in my illustratedatcs gallery, if you’re interested. Some may end up in my shop. :)

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A Fairy Tale Tribute and Some People of the Forest

The Three Dogs
Each 2.5″ X 3.5″ art card, Copics, fine liners, gel pen.

Some more cards from the online Fairytale art-a-thon I mentioned last time, and submitted to the Illustration Friday topic, “Tribute”. These three dogs were inspired by a story from one of those large McCall’s Storybooks from the 60’s. In the story are the dog with eyes as big as saucers, the one with eyes as big as dinner plates, and the one with eyes as big as wagon wheels.

Then someone told me about an earlier story featuring the dogs, The Tinderbox, by Hans Christian Andersen – though instead of wagon wheels, the largest dog had eyes as big as windmills! The original story is a Scandinavian folktale.

This week I started a swap at illustratedatcs called The People of the Forest. It includes dryads, nymphs, forest pixies/elves/sprites, gnomes, fairies, antlered folk. The only requirements are 1. a humanoid of some sort and 2. vegetation of some sort. They are fun! Here’s the first four, finished in the last couple days in order to drum up interest in the swap. :)

People of the Forest Art Cards
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copic markers, fine liners, gel pen

I’m rather fond of the Llama Girl in the bottom left. Thanks for visiting!

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