Category Archives: sketches

A Maiden Called Celeste, in Acrylics

Celeste in Her Favorite Hat
5″ x 7″ Acrylics on canvas board

If I wasn’t doing a 30-day challenge (it’s Day 15 already!), these might all get lots more time. But I must keep moving forward! And I still need sleep and to go to my regular job. So, despite the fact the hair and fabric would be improved with more detail, and the background got no attention, I must call it done. No ink this time, just paint.

I referenced this image to get the sketch started but I prefer not to copy a photo very closely. She looks strangely familiar to me so I might have some particular image in mind. Or maybe just the style. Any ideas? (1970’s McCall’s pattern  illustrations?)

Thanks for visiting!

[portfolio_slideshow size=”large”]

The Challenge Continues, Mostly in Ink

It is, in fact, day eight of the Thirty Paintings in 30 Days Challenge. I skipped day seven in hopes of catching up on the weekend. Work has been more tiring than usual, probably because of the recent holidays. Bah!

Posh Treehouse
2.5″ x 3.5″, Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

This stylish abode belongs to a gnomish clock maker. He is inside right now, cleaning the hands that belong to that clock window on the top floor. This is Tiny House #34.

It is for this reason that I am also submitting this illustration for the topic “Time” at Illustration Friday, from which I have been absent for ages! Topics are posted each Friday, and anyone who illustrates the topic in some way is invited to submit their link.

Hound in Progress, 5″ x 7″ acrylics

Above, we continue the gripping adventure of the unfinished hound. As you can see, I really need to reference a photo for the direction of that hair on his face. Stay tuned! Thanks for stopping in!

[portfolio_slideshow size=”large”]

 

A New Challenge for the New Year

Happy 2014 to all! I plan to re-learn acrylics this year. I’ve been talking about it for ages, for one thing. For another, I was gifted Starving to Successful, a book about getting into galleries. And I’d love to do large scale work, but probably not in ink.

So! By happy coincidence I followed a link from Art Trader Magazine, and joined this 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge just yesterday, the day before the new year.

Brea the Bird Charmer
2.5″ x 3.5″ ink

Today is Day One and I am snowed in. So, I will not be getting any new paints today. I am instead going to submit this latest delicate flower, Maiden 137, in keeping with my recent fascination with decorative HATS. Made with Copics, my new Hi-Tec-C 0.4 pen and various Microns. (She was almost abandoned due to nose problems – never quite fixed, arrgh!) But I was very happy with the simpler style of the two birds.

Longa Kolo
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, Hi-Tec-C fine liner

This one is from a couple days ago. Longa kolo means “long neck” in Esperanto, (if Google Translate can be trusted). Lots of progress pics . Thanks for dropping in!

[portfolio_slideshow size=”large”]

Holy Cow with the Hats Already

Franny the Fairy Jester, and Leah at the Abbey
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

Two new wild hats and more fancy clothes. I really tried with Franny to make a different kind of face for a change. Mission accomplished! These are maidens number 133 and 134 (which is totally crazy). Leah at the Abbey, and the two hatted fellows below, were made while out of town with a limited palette. (I did bring quite a lot of colors, but it’s never as many as you think.)

Yaro the Elder, and Streetwise the Pooka
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

As I mentioned in the email (the new-post-announcement, if you are a subscriber), I have not figured out how best to relay new post information without spamming email subscribers who are also Facebook subscribers. If you are accomplished at navigating these waters, please share your wisdom! No progress pics for the last three drawings because I was without scanner, but a bunch for Franny. Thanks for stopping in!

[portfolio_slideshow size=”large”]

Ink with Attitude. Serious. Attitude.

Blake, and an Evil Mime Queen
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

Blake arrived closely on the heals of his cousin Maureen (seen below). This family much prefers their right profiles. You’d be surprised how plain the other side looks!

The evil mime queen was made for someone who like evil queens. And mimes. And pink with turquoise. And creepy cute stuff. She is maiden #126!(Any future mimes should have instead of this streaky white gel pen, a smooth application of white ink with a brush. Live and learn, and all that!)

Another Maureen
2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

One side blog note. I believe I’ve got categories covered. Tags, not so much. For one thing, almost all of my (208!) posts have many of the same tags (Copic markers, pen and ink, illustration). (Which are separate, I think!, from keywords for my SEO widget.) Geez! If you are a person with insight into this tags business, do share.

Thank you for stopping in! Progress pics with attitude, below.

[portfolio_slideshow size=”large”]

 

Grisly Tudor Portrait. My Dark Side!

Two and Five.
Henry VIII with portraits of his two beheaded wives.
5″ x 7″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

Hooray, I can finally post the gruesome portrait I made for a Secret Santa gift. The giftee, AnnD, is in love with the Tudors and has a fondness for historical beheadings. (She also does hilarious crafty things with her pals over at wonderstrange.  And, she made and sent me this coolest Marie Antoinette ornament. )

I do like how it’s *almost* tasteful. Then I feel guilty because those poor women. Dang!

I may need a whole new page for the Dark Side (which will need a much better name than the Dark Side).  I hope the people who like the cute animals and cities and houses here will not be offended. (But I’d wager you odd ones will dig it.)

Next week it’s back to imaginary birds. Or tiny houses. Or some other, cuter, thing.

Thanks for stopping in! Leave a note! Lots of progress pics!

[portfolio_slideshow size=”large”]

A Blue Queen, A Fancy Hat, and a FB Page

Hjordís
2.5″ x 3.5′ Copics, fine liners, gel pen

The latest Maiden, number 125!

In other news, finally, it’s The Slumbering Herd Facebook page! I’ve only been saying I would do it for ages. It is started.

But know this, friends, visitors, aliens, imaginary creatures large and small:  I shall never, after this moment, type the words “please like my Facebook page”. I like things I like. You like things you like. The whole likes thing is rather confounding.

I’m not sure what to do with the page just yet, but I’ve put up a bunch of art card albums, including dogs, cats, tiny cities, tiny houses and imaginary critters. Can I just say – holy crap. I have inked a LOT of little art cards.

Here’s another fancy maiden – fancy hat mostly! – that I did last week.

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

Progress pics for both below. Thanks for stopping in. ;)

[portfolio_slideshow size=”large”]

A Dandy Dog and Some Unfinished Business

Vincent Mundy, inked and complete
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics, fine liners, white gel pen

Vincent Mundy is a barrister who represents canines (and occasionally other species) in the entertainment industry. He’s also my favorite new dog ATC.

Meanwhile, I have so many stacks of unfinished cards around here! Some inked ones:

Four inked
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Prismacolor fine liner (browns), Micron fine liner (blue)

Some sketched ones:

Three sketched ATCs
Each 2.5″ x 3.5″ Staedtler 2H pencil

These are all drawings I will probably finish. The blue inked maiden in the frame, and the far left sketch, may be two more snow queens.

One day maybe I’ll show you the scads and scads of cards that I probably won’t finish. Because they are TERRIBLE. (But you never know. They are not all equally terrible, for one thing. Which is why they’re still around. Plus, I hate to waste the paper.)

Thanks for stopping in!

 

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!

[portfolio_slideshow size=”large”]

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!

[portfolio_slideshow size=”large”]