Category Archives: sketches

Ice Maiden and a Magical Fish for IF

Kuura the Ice Maiden, 4×6 Copics, fine liners, gel pen

In an attempt to dovetail Illustration Friday with my 100 Maidens Project, an Ice Maiden with a bit of a steampunk twist. (The eyepiece was initially supposed to be more snowflake-like. Alas!) If you look at the progress slideshow you’ll see how much I messed with this. To death. Particularly with the gel pen. On the other hand, I kind of like her in the end. For the topic “Freeze” at Illustration Friday.

Kuura* is a Maiden of Ice who lives in a frozen palace at the bottom of the sea. Her favorite companion is a  magical fish called Phylliss who delivers messages across the world. Phylliss likes to play racing games with young dolphins and manta rays when she’s not working. She was made for a trade at illustratedatcs.com.

Phyllis in the Deep, 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics

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Thanks for visiting!

*Kuura means frost in Finnish.

 

Fancy Goldfish are Fancy. Also, Sheep.

Maureen, A Goldfish
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics

This is Maureen. She is best friends with a starfish named Dinky. This is my favorite ATC to date. I don’t know what happened, it just flowed. :)

Emilio, Another Goldfish
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics

Then, another fish. Emilio wanted to be a seahorse when he grew up. Once he learned it was never going to happen, his expression turned into a scowl which has been with him ever since. Much too heavy-handed compared to the first one. Must stick to the tiniest nibs. Arrrgh! But still happy with him.

Then, after Maureen and Emilio, I did several new cards that I was not happy with. I panicked a bit. Have you ever done something you really liked and then worried you would never do anything good again? Well, I did that. I mentioned it to Leigh of Colorfulleigh and she said the same thing happens to her. So, I guess it’s a thing that happens but we keep pushing forward. ;)

I seem to be doing lots of sheep. Here is another.

Blue Swirl Sheep, 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics

Grant the blue sheep was born in Hawaii. But he is allergic to macadamia nuts. Speaking of nuts, I’ve gone a bit nutty with the white gel pen! I think it’s an interesting effect for this sheep, and I think it also repaired a few ugly spots, but I probably need to lay off the gel pen a bit. Or just practice more. I thought it would be cool to see all the sheep together:

Five Sheep ATCs, oh my! From left to right: Pinky Mae, Patrick O’Keefe, Deeba, Grant, Arwen

Thanks for visiting! I totally skipped an Illustration Friday but plan to do “Freeze” this week. Probably!

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Adventures in Color, More Copic ATCs

Orange Tapestry Sheep, 2.5″ x 3.5″
They call her Deeba because her wool is magically silky. She was born to normal Chokla sheep parents two days after a mysterious shaman passed through the village.

Earth Elemental Maiden, 2.5″ x 3.5″
This daughter of Gaia has a magical chameleon familiar who delivers messages and sometimes heals small animals.

Strange Chameleon Five, 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics
Ari is a Wish Lizard. If you catch him (nicely), and know to feed him figs and dandelion, he will grant you a wish.

Strange Chameleon Four, 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copic
Her name is Julie Goolie and she is an insect archeology hobbyist.

More Artist Trading cards for various trades at illustratedatcs.com (where my handle is CindyD). These are some of my favorites, though I do think I am still overworking them somewhat. I may need to do another pair of complementary chameleons so I can make a print with all four. But I’ve also got to finish more sheep and foxes and maidens. Oh my. Oh! And I’m up to ten on the 100 Maidens project.

I’ve included some progression pics below (though I’m not doing a whole set for each and every card). And now I must get to work on my “Bounce” entry, for Illustration Friday. Thanks so much for stopping in for a visit! I think I have a pretty good rate of visiting back – but I can only do that if you leave your address.

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Maidens and Foxes in Copics, Oh My!

Water Elemental Maiden Voda, 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics

Fire Elemental Maiden, The Flame Queen, 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics

Air Elemental Maiden, Whisper the Wind Walker, 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics

Elemental Maidens for the Elementals swap at illustratedatcs.com. Haven’t quite worked out “Earth” yet. Tree Nymph or Rock Golem? Mix of the two? Hm.

That makes eight maidens complete for the 100 Maidens Project. Not quite impressive yet, but working on it. The excellent artist Richard Ewing at Visual Cogitations has recently suggested I add bodies to these maidens. To which I say, “One step at a time, sir!” (Check again about number 40.)

And next, a pair of red foxes, made by request for trades. I think I can do better and I expect to, because foxes are seriously popular and more have been requested! The smaller fellow is Sydney, a rare non-mischievous fox. While the other foxes steal things, Sydney naps. But then he will sing to them for a share of the loot.

Red Fox One, 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics

Chelsea is the second fox. She was raised with cats and thinks she is a cat. Except that whole tree climbing thing. And dang, has she tried! (She climbs trees better than other foxes, at any rate.)  Reference photo.

Red Fox Two, 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics

Thanks for visiting! I hope you aren’t sick of the tiny art cards yet!

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Steampunk Elephant with Cat, Copics

Steampunk Elephant with Cat, 8.5″ x 11″ Copics with digital background

The topic is “Carry” at Illustration Friday. Another blue cat, this time a lovely creature called Delilah. As the eldest daughter, she will be inheriting the ancient elephant vehicle and the title Elephant Princess when her mother retires. She is both excited by, and dreading, the entire affair. Excited by the thought of riding the elephant in the parades, but dreading the procession of merchant cats and their tedious complaints about one another.

So glad I stopped before filling in the cat, because I think she makes a nice contrast with the very busy elephant. A bit too heavy on the outlines, but overall I think the steampunk elephant makes a worthy companion to the Cat Ship and Llama Genie Airship.

And one more thing. I’ve been listening to a great podcast while doing art over the last few weeks. It’s called The Dork Forest and is the podcast of comedian Jackie Kashian. She  talks to other comics and comic book people and movie people and loads of others about whatever it is they are really enthusiastic about. Very entertaining.  If you need a new thing, go see! Thanks for visiting!

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Elephant photo reference;  Siamese Cat Hybrid photo reference

Chameleon, Wombat, and Kettle in Copics

Strange Chameleon Two, 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics

Edgar Wombat 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics

 

 

Perhaps you are shocked to see more ATCs. For those of us joining for the first time, I started doing Artist Trading Cards about three weeks ago, and I’ve done about 20 now. Which is crazy. And I must mention illustratedatcs.com again because they are to blame. I mean, to thank. :) (They also have a bigger site, atcsforall.com.)

The thing about tiny cards is: instant gratification, nearly instant satisfaction and practically instant feedback. Ah, internet, you have reduced our attention spans to approximately 45 seconds. But I will try to work with you.

Edgar the wombat is a huge fan of the movie My Neighbor Totoro. Wombats rock.

Gnome Portal Kettle 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics

Slideshows for all three! If anyone wants to see. Thank you so much for visiting. :)

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Chameleon photo reference, wombat photo reference.

Copic ATCs, Anteater Chameleon Stork Hornbill

Oops, forgot to change the order of creatures in the title. Too late now since the memos have been distributed!

Purple Rhinoceros Hornbill, 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copic markers and fine liners

Blue Stork 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copic markers and fine liners

 

More tiny Artist Trading Cards. I don’t know how long the enthusiasm will last but that’s ten in two weeks.  It is certainly much less daunting staring at a blank 2.5″ x 3.5″ than an 8″ x 10″.  For one thing, much easier to fill in a background, and I like to do backgrounds.

I have a lot fewer smudging problems since I’ve been using colors other than black for the initial ink. Copic has a fairly limited number of colored fine liners so I use Micron and Prismacolor fine liners, too.

 

Strange Chameleon 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copic markers and fine liners

Blue Anteater 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copic markers and fine liners

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Thanks for visiting!

Anteater reference photo, Stork reference photo, Rhinoceros Hornbill reference photo

 

 

Crossroads Mash-up for Illustration Friday

Crossroads Mash-up for Illustration Friday, Copic Markers and Pens
with a bit of digital correction, digital sky

The topic is “Lost” at Illustration Friday. This is an artist’s rendering of a place mentioned in two ancient and magical texts. A place where a lost person might find themselves, waking from a daydream, if the planets are aligned just so. Which direction would you choose?

Not so much in the way of Copic marker technique, but a lot of sketching and deciding and arranging and erasing. I’m calling it a mash-up because some of these things are not like the others! But I thought it was a fun and silly collection of magical places. And a bit of hand drawn text, though next time perhaps the styles could be varied more in both size and style.

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Crossroads Mash-up Key:

1. Asgard, home of the Norse gods; 2. Emerald City, in the Land of Oz at the end of the yellow brick road; 3. Cloudsdale, from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, home of the pegasus ponies; 4. Camelot, home of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, 5. The Shire, home to the Hobbits from The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings; 6. Pepperland, home of the Blue Meanies from the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine; 7. Narnia, found through a door in the back of a wardrobe, from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe series; 8. Wonderland, from Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass; 9. the Tollbooth, gateway to the Kingdom of Wisdom from The Phantom Tollbooth (and there is Tock the dog, waiting to join you!).

Another Art Trading Card Post: Cat, Kingfisher, Dog

 

Purple Peach Peterbald Cat ATC, 2.5″ x 3.5″, Copics on Bristol

I finally decided I should document these tiny arts just like any other. Or, some of them at any rate. So here you have the latest three (I am most pleased with the Cat), with a slideshow for one of them. It’s funny to see them in a blog post. I’ve saved them at 5 inches and on my screen they are the exact size of the original. Still trying to decide whether to list them for trade or for sale in my Etsy shop.

Green Crested Kingfisher ATC, 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics on Bristol

Orange Barclay, 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics on Bristol

Barclay the dog got a bit overworked, and the lighter background was probably a better choice. I thought about leaving him out  but this blog was not intended as a best-of production. (For one thing, way fewer posts!) Both the cat and dog could use whiskers and I just got a new Uni-ball Signo white gel pen, which came out on top after rigorous testing at ArtTrader magazine. I skipped the whiskers for now but I did use it on their eyes to good effect.

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Three Beastly ATCs – Llama, Horse, Sheep

Fuzzy Green Llama ATC, Copic Markers

 

This evening I was inspired to complete some Artist Trading Cards because I have joined a new community called  IllustratedATCs and it is all about trading art by mail. They do lots of stuff besides the ATCs, like moleskin journal swaps and inchies and twinchies and holy cow, tons of stuff. They have provided a helpful list of definitions (thank goodness).

I think I saw their link initially through someone at Illustration Friday, but I don’t remember! You have to apply and whoa, there are some seriously cool (and many professional) artists there. I got accepted (it takes 3-4 days), but then I was instantly intimidated. Super nice folks so far, though.  They have another site called ATCs for All where there is no application and everyone is welcome to join.

Horse with Blue Swirl Sky ATC, Copic Markers

I am pretty happy with all three, though the horse in particular is sort of caught between cartoonish and realistic as if I could not choose which way to go. I really like the blue sky on that one, achieved with the help of a Masquepen.

Pink Orange Sheep ATC, Copic Markers

 

Both the llama and sheep were done on top of light-colored swirly backgrounds also done using a Masquepen. I worked on all of them over the course of a few hours, doing some reading and IF visiting in between.

Thanks so much to everyone who visits! All comments welcome, of course. (Except spam.)

Llama reference

Horse reference

Sheep reference