Category Archives: ATCs and ACEOs

Manatee Princess and an Eel Maiden

Sulky Sea Cow Princess
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, gel pen

[EDIT: I am submitting this to Illustration Friday for the topic “Children”. She may be a sulky sea cow princess, but she is also a child, just waiting impatiently to grow up so she can do whatever she wants!]

As first in line for the Lavender Throne, Lula the manatee is forbidden from doing many fun things, so she has long days to sulk and worry about her future responsibilities. Some days, her friend Mork the seahorse can’t even stir up interest in a game of Bug Stones.

I must admit I think she and her friend are very cute. Here is my manatee reference photo.

An Eel Maiden
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, gel pen

An eel maiden. Admittedly she does not look a lot like an eel, but she’s got that sinuous neck and I prefer eel maiden to snake maiden. Both of these were created for a “People of the Sea” swap at illustratedatcs.com. I am not running that swap, but it was inspired by my People of the Forest one. (Lots of People of the Forest art cards in previous posts!)

I am also thrilled to report that my blog friend Koosje Koene has featured my work on her blog! If you get a moment, go see! You can also find Koosje on her website and she’s got some great mini drawing tutorials on her Youtube page. Thanks so much, Koosje!

Thanks to everyone for stopping in! Lots of progress pic below!

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A Bear and a Beetle – Copic ATCs for IF

Sun Bear Art Card
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners

Ok, he may not be traditionally sweet, but I think he has a sweet face! Due to some trading requests I’ve done a bit of (pseudo) realism this week! And it’s always sweet (sometimes bittersweet!) to go outside our comfort zone. Submitted, as you may have guessed, for the topic “Sweet” at Illustration Friday.

I have been paying more attention to my process recently. I do a lot of layers with the markers, which not only helps in removing dreaded marker lines, but also results in some really nice blending. I counted the pens I used for this guy. 24! Two sizes of fine liner (0.05 and 2.0), a little bit of Uniball Signo white gel pen, and 21 Copics! Mostly browns and grays, with several orange, two blues and two greens.

Am I relying too much on different marker colors? Could I achieve the same result with fewer? Who knows! I can only do things the way I do ’em! (You will see that many of the colors disappear completely in the scans below.) I could have darkened some more shadows but have been trying to stop messing about with things before I wreck them. Here’s the reference photo.

And now, if beetles can be sweet, how about this guy?

Orange Wonder Beetle Art Card
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

This fellow was created by looking at this photo of a gray beetle. I tried to give it a name that suited its beetley charm. A beetle against the sky – he could be huge! Or tiny.

Thanks so much for visiting! I should have captured some more progress on the beetle but did a pretty fair job for the bear.

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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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Beauties and Beasts, Fairytale Inspired Art Cards

Beauties and Beasts
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ art card. Copics, fine liners, gel pen on Bristol Board.

(Top) Lucy and Jake, Beauty and Beast; (bottom) Keko and Boris, Malia and Luther. These cards were inspired by a weekend Fairytale art-athon at Illustrated ATCs. You may notice this is quite a departure from my normal portrait-style art cards (just a head/face and usually facing forward). Of course, you could say these are just two portraits! But there’s a big difference. One is a simple study; the other is a relationship.

I decided to keep the first one (Lucy and Jake), traded the second at the fairytale a-thon (this weekend. LOADS OF FUN. Something about doing art with other people, and posting it up, even though you’re all in your own little space far away in the world). I really do a lot of good work and try new things, inspired by all the other great art.

The bottom two may go in my Etsy shop! (By the way, tons of other original art cards there, too. I don’t like to mention it every post. But sometimes.) :)

Two of my other favorites so far are the Alice in Wonderland cards:

Mad Hatter Louie, and The Time, Alice!
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, gel pen

Thanks for stopping in! Lots of progress pics! Feel free to leave a question or comment. :)

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Monochromatic Art Cards and MOOs in Pen and Ink

The Pinkerton Pet Detectives
Each 1″ x 2.75″ pen and ink, Copic markers on Bristol Board

Lots of monochromatic mini art happened recently! You may recall the purple ATCs posted previously. The above are the Pinkerton Detectives. Their motto? “No Collar Too Small”. (Thank you Bert for providing the clever catch phrase!) And below, the first two MOOs for my blue set – a Calavera maiden created as one then cut in two. She is Maiden number 78! The MOOs are for a monochromatic MOOs swap at illustratedatcs.com.

Blue MOOs Calavera
Two 1.5″ x 2.75″ pen and ink, Copic markers on Bristol Board

And finally, two yellow ATCs for the full size card swap. Of course, a full size ATC is still just 2.5″ x 3.5″.

Lilah and her Mum, and Shrunken Head Martini
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ art cards, Copic markers on Bristol Board

Yellow was a bit rough, but adding brown helped. Also, I have almost zero experience with glass and transparent liquids! But it’s not too bad. I think the shrunken head saves it. (The prompts for each of the above were “mother child creature” and “Martinis with something atypical on toothpicks”.)

In addition, I still owe many cards, to people and for swaps. Possibly even to one or more of you reading this post! I haven’t forgotten! I get on a kick (say, monochromatic cards) and then end up doing a whole bunch in one fell swoop. (Did you know that phrase was one of hundreds first seen in Shakespeare? First that we know of, at any rate.)

Thanks for visiting!

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Gargoyles Art Cards in Copics

Teeth Gargoyle & Mutton Chop Gargoyle
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, gel pen

Submitted for the topic “Wild” at Illustration Friday. Now perhaps you don’t think of gargoyles as wild because you think of them as stone statues. If so, you have clearly never seen one leave its perch in the dead of night!

Fortunately, these four specimens are not the man or woman eating type. They are pacifist gargoyles. However, they look extra wild and dastardly in order to hang with the other gargoyles. Though mostly the quiet ones keep to themselves, occasionally gathering for Mystery Science Theater night.

Canine Gargoyle and Denim Gargoyle
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, gel pen

These four guys were created for an art card swap. I’m quite pleased with the eyes, which I’ve been working on improving.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Mermaid with Pearls in Her Hair, an ATC Riddle

Pearl’s Face, made from one half ATC and one half flipped copy

This image was created from an ATC of half of Pearl’s face (see below), and a digital flipped copy for the other half. I hadn’t planned to do exactly half a face, but I did a decent job of it. Except  it’s just a bit unnerving, I think because of the uncanny valley effect. Or maybe because where the two sides join is not quite right. Here’s the actual ATC:

Mermaid with Pearls in her Hair
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, Microns, gel pen

And then there’s my next question. Would this be considered digital art? An original version does not exist outside the computer, but in creating it I used only the most minimal of graphics program tools. Multimedia? Hmm! I guess it’s not really a riddle but I don’t know the answer. Do you?

Pearl is Maiden number 75, three quarters of the way to the finish! Thanks for visiting!

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