Category Archives: Progression Photos

Halloween Ghouls and More Autumn Cats

Three Ghoulish Halloween ATCs
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

A zombie goat! A Monk Ghoul! And a zombie sheep! Happy Halloween! We had a Halloween Art-a-thon all weekend at illustratedatcs.com. These were some of my favorite cards, currently en route to their new homes.

Also, more cats!

Three Autumn Cat ATCs
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

I do love the cats with the big ears! Particularly the Peterbald  and Oriental Shorthair varieties. (I always want to call them “Asian Shorthair” cats, but I’d be the only one.) From left to right:  Lionel in Hat, Meow Open (or “Housecat”!) and Lydia’s Kitten. The last refers to last year’s Peterbald cat with pumpkins:

Lydia with Pumpkins, 2012
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners white gel pens

Last time nini asked about the horse cards I got in trade for two cat cards. They were both by artist Nadine Thome. Here is her illustratedatcs gallery and Etsy shop! I was also very lucky to trade Lionel in Hat (above) for her Autumn Keeper. (This reminds me that I owe nini a cat!)

Thanks for stopping in! Not as many progress pics this time; I was in a bit of a Halloween frenzy and did not stop for many scans.

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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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Halloween-ish Cityscapes

Witchy Boot Village
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

It’s back to the cityscapes around here, with a bit of Halloween flare. The 100 Cityscapes Project is up to 25! My favorite bit is probably the candy corn mailbox.

Hattown
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

Also, hat houses. With tiny hat house numbers. Sort of Halloweenish.

Snowglobe City
2.5″ X 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

One more, not very Halloweenish. Done about the same time as the City in a Bottle. I should really look into doing proper light reflections on glass. At some point. If you know some good resources for learning about light reflections on glass, please share!

Thanks for dropping in!

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Bird and Bear Portrait Project, Copics

Bird and Bear
9″ x 12″, Copic markers on 150 lb smooth drawing paper

This is the final version of a commissioned portrait for a quirky bird girl and burly bear guy, getting married in about three weeks. The project took closer to three months. Most of that time was filled with mild panic and her unhelpful cousin, procrastination. Hooray!

I don’t do portraits, neither people nor pets. But I often do beasts, and often in clothes. So I figured I would give it a shot, with my friend’s promise he would not take it if he did not want it.

Three items were produced for this project. A pencil sketch, which I chose not to ink over – sort of a contingency plan in case the inking never worked out quite right:

Final sketch, Bird and Bear

I was worried about two things. One, that all the erasing would affect the marker coverage, and two, that I wouldn’t be able to reproduce the image as well again if I mucked it up.

So, I bought my first lightbox (with a 40% off one item coupon at my local Dick Blick’s) and used that to ink a clean sheet. Actually, I should back up a moment. I also used the lightbox to reduce the size of the image, by scanning it, shrinking it by a couple inches, printing it, then re-creating the pencil sketch, but smaller and with better detail. THEN I got another clean sheet and started inking.

The first inked version got off to a bad start when I made his pupils too big. Then I overworked the thing to death trying to adjust the colors.

Bird and Bear, first color version

Still, I could have stopped here, finished it in a bit more, and called it a day. But his hair is too dark and his snout far too short. And her feather too long. So I inked a whole new one and started over. And it not only went far more quickly than the first, it came out much better. (I think.) Yay!

Lots of progress pics, including some early bird and bear sketches. Thanks for visiting!

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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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Lush Red Maiden and a Calavera Quartet

Scarlet Order Seer
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

Probably my favorite maiden so far, and submitted for the topic “Lush” at Illustration Friday. (Lush color and detail!) Made for a trade, I was a little sad to let her go.

Over the long weekend I was in Muskegon, MI and brought some ATC supplies. I was surprised to find my (sort of) brother-in-law with a brand new and rather keen interest in Day of the Dead art and folk figurines. So I did a bunch of sugar skull type cards. No scanner though, so no progress pics of these!

Calavera Quartet
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, Microns, white gel pen

The top right is Sad Leona, and the bottom left is Bony Madeleine. The one with the horns may need a little more work. They are fun to do! 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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Psychedelic Faces with Copic Markers

Rhonda Red and Donna Disco
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″, Copics, fine liners, gel pen on smooth Bristol

Recently someone pointed out this neat exercise with intuitive faces. Although the directions are for watercolor, I figured I could try to coax a more watercolorish effect with Copic markers. So far the results have something of a hippy vibe.

For this reason I am declaring this the Power of the 1970s post, for the topic “power” at Illustration Friday. I have not abandoned the cityscapes, more of which you will undoubtedly see if you come around next time. And thank you so much to Vinyl Eraser who does terrific architectural drawings, for mentioning my 100 Cityscapes Project!

 

Thanks for visiting!

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Curiouser Cityscapes, in Pen and Ink

Penny Farthington and Roof City
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, gel pen

As it’s my fresh obsession, this cityscapes business, I am submitting several curious cities for the topic “Fresh” at Illustration Friday. And I am pleased to say the slideshows are working again! And a few other things have changed around here… but not too terribly much. My 100 Cityscapes Project is up to 14, with several more in the works!

City Chapeau and Lucinda’s City Hat
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″, Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

Here we have two maidens modeling odd but stylish cityscape fashions. You can expect a dog with a city hat next, and perhaps a robot, as my ATC* cityscape mash-up experiments continue! (Some of these cards and many more original art cards in my shop.)

Thanks for stopping by! Questions and comments welcome.

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*ATC: Artist Trading Card, standard size 2.5″ x 3.5″ and often traded, sold & otherwise collected.