Tag Archives: beasts

Steampunk Kangaroo, Copic Markers, and the Tricky Nose Edit

Good morning/afternoon/evening/dead of night, chums!  Thank you kindly for stopping in for another installment of farmyard steampunk animals.  Well, not exactly farmyard, I suppose, in this case.  But that is simpler than “another installment of steampunk herbivores with big, comical noses” which seems to be the more specific genre I am currently mining.  Or inventing!  No, probably not inventing.  :o)

Steampunk Kangaroo Initial Ink

The gadgets are fun to do, as are the Victorian-inspired details (the hair and choker). No hat this time, though I am rather fond of the owl-shaped device on the ear. I tried to get her to tell me the purpose of that particular gadget but she was evasive.  Very secretive, these inventor types.

Steampunk Kangaroo Color 1

Steampunk Kangaroo Color 2

Copic markers , hooray! I have a feeling I abuse them somewhat more than they are meant to be abused.  I have watched a couple youtube how-to videos where talented, soft-spoken young folk delicately paint and dab with their Copics. My own technique could not be characterized as delicate, I must say, with the possible exception of detail work with a 0.05 nib. But of course that is the pen and not the marker.  :o)

After a lot more ink, mostly outlining with a 0.8 and an 0.3 for the smaller bits, I decided I was finished:

Steampunk Kangaroo Final (not Really)

If you imagine her without the hair, she kinda looks like a kangaroo. Or a donkey. Or llama. I googled kangaroos, unsatisfied.  And decided the nose needed to be dark, as she is modeled on a red kangaroo. Which means going over another color and not being sure exactly what would happen. As I type this now it occurs to me I could have experimented on a separate sheet. Bah, caution. Here is what happened:

Steampunk Kangaroo Final (Really!)

Had to do the ear also.  Kind of hard to tell in these scans but the nose is dark grey but kept a pinkish tinge. I’m not sure that it makes it look more like a kangaroo, really. But I like it. So what do you think – should I have stuck to the pink nose?

In case you wondered, her name is Daphne and yes, she invented all her own gadgets. I think she had to outsource those flower-shaped gears, though. (Nice touch, right?) Thank you for visiting!

The Green Llama – A Tale of Photographic Inspiration

The photo that inspired a beast this weekend: Alpaca Eating from deviantART

Perhaps you remember this photo as one from my post Big Are the Noses. Which is slightly ridiculous because only like three people read that. (Incidentally, is that bad blogging form?  To continually remind the [nonexistent] audience that they are part of a practically nonexistent audience?  Would someone kindly forward a pdf copy of the manual?)

Anyway, I ordered a boatload of deviantART photos with close-ups of mostly farmyard-type-animal noses (you can purchase the fellow above here!), and I started using them as a guide to some brightly-colored, not-quite-farmyard-anymore beasts. Like the following, who appeared this weekend, and was modeled on the above photo:

Green and Blue Alpaca Original Ink Art

Strange but colorful alpaca beast. Possibly a llama. And less likely but still feasible – a camel. He wouldn’t tell me. I asked several times. Once I brought a sugar cube and once a lovely, fresh carrot. He took both very politely but still refused to speak.

Then it occurred to me! Maybe he doesn’t speak English. I have both a Dutch and a Portuguese translator on the way in. If that doesn’t work, one of my neighbors speaks a little Korean and a little Japanese. (For sale in my shop.)  :o)

He looks totally emo*, right?  It wasn’t intentional. I think mainly it’s the hair. And the eyes are a bit.. human. As soon as we overcome this language barrier, I will ask him about his ancestry.

8″ x 10″ drawing using Copic pens, Copic markers and Prismacolor markers, on a heavy board with Bristol finish.  Took about 5 hours.  Maybe less. Hmm, I really don’t know!  I will have to time one.

Anyway, the eyes could be improved and the ears aren’t quite screwed on correctly, but mostly I like him.  I need to experiment more with shapes that are not swirls.  Also, need to consider doing a whole farmyard-beast body one of these days.

Thanks for stopping in. ;)

 

*Emo – “Like a Goth, only much less dark and much more Harry Potter.” (Thank you,  Urban Dictionary.)

The Llama Equation. Also, a Goat.

I am trying to navigate the treacherous hoodoo of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), aka “Here is My Stuff on the Internets,  Please Look at It”.  Anyway, Etsy has a feature called “Shop Stats” which shows you which search terms people used to find your shop.  I’ve only had this feature working for about a month, but my top keyword is “llama”.  [Granted, this top search term garnered all of 7 views when I first saw it (12 as of this writing!)]  But it was, and remains, my top keyword.

At the time, I just had the one llama (as seen in the previous post).  Here he is again:

A Blue Llama Named Dale Original ACEO

The Shop Stats mandate was clear.  More llamas.  A companion for Dale:

A Green Llama Named Lyle ACEO Original

Lyle is a young llama who likes to build sandcastles, and this is the first year he is old enough to participate in the village-wide sand sculpture competition. He is extremely excited, and has practiced several versions of a complex gnomish village in the side of a craggy mountain. If he has enough time, he is going to add a shaman’s hut at the top, accessible by a long treacherous stairway maze up the side of the mountain.

And then, because I got some nice heavy 8″ x 10″ Canson Bristol drawing boards, and I am trying to fill the “Larger Originals” area of my shop (and also because I liked the pony ACEOs I did before the llamas), this trio emerged:

Two Llamas and a Pony Original Art with Copic Markers

This drawing was entered into the September 2011 Web of Whimsy art challenge.

From left to right: Rico, Butler and Chloe. Rico is the head of a small herd of unusually colored llamas, including Chloe, his second cousin. Butler is a mild-mannered pony who fell in with the llamas after a fight with his twin sisters. The fight was about his favorite stand of flowers. Which his sisters ate. They mocked him for being a pony who likes to look at flowers. Which is extremely childish, of course.

Clearly, llamas are better. Quieter, slightly less likely to kick you, won’t eat your flowers. Sometimes the family you pick is much more bearable than the one you’re born with. Which is pretty cool, really. Incidentally, Rico and Chloe think he is weird but like having him around. If they stand close enough, his tail will flick their flies, too!

About this time it occurred to me that I had sold both goat ACEOs.  To a fan of goats.  She even sent me a photo of the goats in their little frames.  Which was really cool. I needed a new goat:

Orange Goat Original Art 8 x 10

Bright red-orange goat with purple ears and a purple stripe down her forehead. With a green striped wallpaper background. (The parlor of her house, if you were wondering, which she has decorated with a distinctly Victorian aesthetic. No really. She even has elaborate lambrequins ornamenting the two front windows. Don’t worry, I had to look that word up, too. Fancy window treatments. She has been searching for, but has yet to find, the perfect secretary’s desk to finish the room.)

Marnie the goat is an outstanding hostess. But she does tend to get a wild look in her eye about thirty minutes before the guests are set to arrive (as seen here). She imagines she’s forgotten something OBVIOUS like having enough Chardonnay on hand for the sheep who live next door, or a dish of pearl onions for Bernie the cow. But she never actually forgets any of those things.

I’ve also been doing a bit of experimentation with backgrounds.  I like wallpaper-type backgrounds.  More opportunity for colors and details, I suppose!  I need to work more on the wallpapers to try and settle on a technique that works for what is often a large area.  I suppose that’s it for now.  If you actually read this far, thank you so much!  You are a member of an elite and wondrous crowd of seven or eight.

Barnyard from Another Planet

The Copic adventure continues.  You may remember during the last installment that our herd-tending heroine had recently fallen for photographs of various domestic beasts, up close.  Particularly the noses. And perhaps you even recall that the big nose photos led to a preliminary expedition into big nose art territory, Slumbering Herd style.  There was a cow husband and wife, and then a water buffalo-highland cow hybrid type beast.  And then these things happened:

Goats.  A sheep. Cow and Goat.  Sheep and Cow. And that was only the beginning.

(All available in my Etsy shop [unless otherwise noted!]:  My Shop )

Lou the Goat, Original ACEO Art (SOLD)

It’s true that goats will eat your socks if you let them. Also your long johns, your shoelaces and your dish towels. But we should still be nice to them. This is Lou. He is a lovely, friendly goat beast, although he can be grumpy if he doesn’t get enough sleep. Sometimes you can find Lou playing backgammon with his best friend, Genevieve. They are quite evenly matched, so you never know who might win.

Genevieve the Goat, Original ACEO Art (SOLD)

Sometimes it’s nice to be reminded of things we already know. This is Genevieve. She is a lovely, friendly goat beast. But she will most definitely eat your socks should you leave them in tantalizing reach. However, if you remember to put your socks away, you might find Genevieve playing checkers with Lou, her best friend. Sometimes she lets him win.

A Green and Pink Sheep Original Art

Mindy the sheep is a big fan of Project Runway (the TV show). So far she has written two letters to the producers offering some particularly fine and beautiful bright green wool, either as material for a challenge or as a prize of some kind, but she has not received an answer. Once she dreamed that Keidi Klum invited her to be a guest judge. She made several hilarious and witty remarks during the judging but sadly when she woke up she couldn’t remember any of them.

Marlene and Rockford, Cow and Goat, 9" x 6" Original Art

This is Marlene and Rockford. Marlene, the mostly cow looking creature, has been having a hard time lately. She stayed up too many nights reading “true” ghost stories and as a result, keeps getting spooked by noises, shadows, and clowns. Well actually I think she was always spooked by clowns.

Rockford, the mostly goat looking fellow on the right, is a therapist specializing in ghost phobias (Phasmaphobia, if you like scientific names for things). As you can see, he is quite calm. Mesmerizing almost. Which reminds me. Someone stole my Violet Crumble candy bar the other day and I have a feeling Rockford may have pulled a fast one on me!

Sheep and Highland Cow, 8 x 10 Original Art

It may be obvious if you note her bleary-eyed stare, but Hemmy the sheep beast has not had coffee yet this morning. She probably won’t even speak until she’s finished at least half a cup.

Hattie the Highland-cow-type beast is slightly irritated but holding her tongue because she and Hemmy have been friends for more than ten years. Stumbling out of her bedroom moments ago, Hemmy trod squarely on Hattie’s ankle. Ouch! But Hattie would get over it. (Also, the last time Hattie forgot to clean her hair out of the shower, Hemmy didn’t even mention it.) It’s so nice to have a good friend like that, even if it means getting your ankle accidentally stepped on from time to time.

And then we moved onto Ponies.  A llama.  A dog.  And then… the emus.  That’s right.

A Pink Pony Named Mara, Original ACEO

Meet Mara. She is a a shape-changing pony from the magical Assateague Island (if you are female you probably remember “Misty of Chincoteague” a lovely book by Marguerite Henry) Shape changing ponies can be seen by other ponies but not humans, so of course she is never bothered by the herd roundups.

Mara’s specialties on the island are flower tending and pony dispute arbitration, but she is always willing to give rides to friendly sprites and water pixies, or run messages in times of dangerous weather. Mara is the second oldest of the pink shape-changers, and loved by everyone but a few grumpy gnomes (who don’t like anyone). She can change into a sprite or pixie, but only under a full moon.

Blue Pony Original ACEO

Andrew is a shaggy blue Shetland Pony with a light stripe on his nose. He likes to browse estate sale listings for medieval inspired tapestries and other boldly-colored fabric wall hangings. He is trying to cover all of his apartment walls with them. Most of the time they are too expensive, but sometimes he gets lucky! Sometimes he benefits from being a blue pony interested in tapestries, as people think it is terribly unique and are occasionally inclined to give him steep discounts.

A Blue Llama Named Dale Original ACEO

This is Dale, a rare blue llama with purple spots. He has a twin sister named Helen with the same coloring, and they were very popular in the yard as youngsters. Helen has since moved to New Zealand to live with an orange Llama named Jesse. Dale misses his twin but they Skype on Saturdays.

Rona the Green Dog 8 x 10 Original Art

This is Rona. She is mostly green now but will turn blue to match her nose as she gets older. Recently Rona won a spelling bee between all the young dogs in the village. Her final word was “squirrel”. The second place winner stumbled on “papaya”.

As part of the winner’s package, Rona gets to chase cats all afternoon. This is actually a paid gig for the cats, who are in no danger because Rona is a puppy. And not particularly dexterous yet.

 

Green and Orange Emu Original Art

Cecilia is usually much cheerier than she looks at the moment. She asked her friend Domo the Owl to bring over a cupcake, because she knew he had been baking. Well, he brought three cupcakes because he wasn’t sure if she would like the pumpkin, or the chocolate cheesecake, or the coconut vanilla best. (Actually, Domo was hoping she would try them all and give her honest opinion. She was super at honest cupcake opinions and he was trying to make a good impression on a new client.)

Well, she ate all three cupcakes and now she is not feeling very well. Also, she totally figured out that Domo did it on purpose. On the other hand, they were so very delicious and she couldn’t yell at him because then he might not bring any over next time. (Incidentally, the coconut vanilla was best.)

Emu and Capybara (Sort of) Original Art

Lulu (on the left) is playing the statue game, refusing to move a muscle no matter what anyone says. Kind of like those guards at Buckingham Palace. Gin-Gin, the orange capybara-kind of beast on the right, has exhausted his best jokes, and is trying to remember what insects Lulu doesn’t like so he can try to make her believe one is crawling on her. But his memory isn’t very good. Also, he is hungry and he knows that two tomato sandwiches with his name on them are sitting on her kitchen table.

He will probably resort to tickling, even though it is against the rules. It wouldn’t be the first time.

So there you have it.  Many exotic farmyard beasts.  Lulu the Emu and Mara the Pink Pony are undoubtedly my favorites.  And the llama. Also, some old friends have recently revisited my little shop and noted a difference for the better. I think it’s the big noses.  And from this I think it is safe to say you should follow your (minor, inexpensive) obsessions. Big nose animal photography, as an example. You never know what might happen.   :O)

 

Big are the Noses

Recently I have become obsessed with something slightly silly.  Close-up noses.  Of farm animals.  Well, mainly farm animals.  It all started with this one:

Bonny Bovines by RikkiVanCamp

I mean, how can they not put you in a good mood?  All props to the photographer!  You can find this item in her fine shop here:  Rikki’s Etsy Shop.  I purchased it and it arrived promptly in a lovely package.  Maybe you should get one!

Then I thought, I should get these bonny bovines more friends.  So I tried to find just the right ones at Etsy.  I didn’t *quite* find what I wanted.  But then I found the mother lode.  At DeviantART.  Want to see?

As these are all under glass (in decidedly not-pricey frames), some have a terrible glare.  I had to take this next bunch off the wall right above and slightly to the left of my computer monitor:

Llama and Two Horses Big Noses

Still a bit of a glare on them, but this is the setup.  I just love them.  I do.  But wait, there’s more!  Across from my chair next to my closet you can find these three fine creatures:

Three Big Noses, in Brown

(More glare, sorry!)  At this point you’ve either fled the scene or are becoming strangely  attracted to the Big Nose approach.  I warned you, right?  Oops.  I meant to warn you.  These three are a mere 4″ x 6″.  And insanely inexpensive over at DeviantART.  I feel guilty about that, since 1. The artists aren’t making much money off them, and 2. Things cost more at Etsy and I do like to steer people to Etsy.  But you should know where to find them should you find yourself in need of them.  :O)

Oh, let’s not forget the bathroom!  Not quite so close-up on the noses, but ridiculously silly sheep faces (9″ x 12″):

Holy Cow those are Silly Sheep

Here’s where you find Laughing Lamb and Running Man.  (Those are the names the photographers gave them.)

One guy left still looking for a home:

Donkey Big Nose

You can find this stunning fellow here, if needed.  I got the 9″ x 12″.

So then what did I do?  Well, I started some big nose art, of course:

Husband and Wife Cow Beasts

Sure, they look a tad crazed. But we all do at some point in a long-term relationship. Maybe Bernie left his socks on top of the television again. Or maybe Mavis added too much hot sauce to the tossed flowers they had for dinner. Or it’s possible they are both mad at that damn Shetland pony next door who lets his goats run wild. They have trampled Bernie’s tomatoes twice this year. But Bernie and Mavis are still in love. You can tell.

Buffalo (Kind of) Beast

This beast – part water buffalo, part highland cow, part woodland majesty – was once called Herman. It was a name he chose for himself because he did not like his given name. Which is Carl. He is trying Carl back on for size, lately. Maybe you can tell from his expression, but Carl does not abide rudeness.

Don’t get me wrong, he’d be more than happy to help you navigate a piano up your tricky and rather vexing apartment stairs. But he doesn’t like people who cut in queues or talk on their cellphones while in line at the grocery store. And he’s got something of a nasty bite!

You can find the drawings in my Etsy store, of course! The first two are an ACEO pair (2.5″ x 3.5″ on illustration board), and the buffalo is 8″ x 10″ on 150 lb. Canson drawing paper.  Original art created with Micron pens and Copic markers.  I think these are a fine start, but I think the next ones will have BIGGER NOSES.  Hooray!

So, are you a Big Nose convert?  Either way, thanks for visiting!

Pie Anxiety

Pie Anxiety

So you may be wondering – how did the dog get up there? So many possibilities, really!  It may have been a staircase inside the tree, despite that it looks like one would be flung off the ledge if one opened that door.  Fortunately it is a magic door of some kind and all such accidents are magically prevented – don’t ask me how they do it.   Of course, the dog may have leaped to his perch from other similar ledges lower down on the tree.  Maybe he’s a hybrid with tree-climbing-appropriate claws.  Maybe he’s a rare specimen of Levitatus Caninus (levitating dog)!

My only real question is:  How long will they wait before they divvy up the pie among themselves?  Wiggle, the green fellow on the left, seems particularly eager to go that route.

This is a 5″ x 7″ Micron and Copic marker sketch on hot press (smooth) watercolor paper with a text window added digitally.  I made it to put up in my Etsy shop, but I believe I shall keep it for now and get some prints made.  :O)  Perhaps I shall do more scenes with clever titles and start a page of one-off comics!  Ok, that sounds overly ambitious but you never know.

And here’s a couple bright new Copic ACEOs!

In the Tradition of Creatures Perched on Other Creature's Heads

Not sure what started this trend, but all over Etsy you can find animals and/or people perched on animals and/or people’s heads (usually animals perched on the heads of girls with saucer-size eyes).  I would not call myself trendy and yet I have ventured into this territory.  And may yet again!

Tree with Door Number 42

One can only name one’s drawings “Creatures in Tree” or “Creatures in Tree with Door” so many times before all the files get hopelessly mixed up in one’s brain.  So I randomly assigned a number to this one.  Sadly, I think the brown bat-bird creature on the left is a bit too close in tone to the tree and doesn’t stand out quite enough.  It didn’t start out this way!  He was a bright green thing but strangely when he landed to nap his color changed to blend into his environment!  Camouflage at work, people!  I saw it happen.  Honest.

As always, thanks for visiting you two or three kind people that actually visit!  :P

Who Lives in this Tree House?

The fact that I am hardly the first to create fancy little trees with fancy little doors is not lost on me.  However, it is fun!  Are they fairy houses or gnome houses or beast houses?  Friend or foe?  My goodness, it could be a door to the other side of the universe. Maybe every time you open one of these doors, you are presented with a window to another dimension!  I could go on for days, but I don’t think that’s quite as interesting as showing you some fancy little trees with fancy little doors (and all the attendant beasts, of course).

Here is the most recent:

Who's House is This?

I like it.  I purposely left the background blank because I may make prints with a variety of digital backgrounds.  Maybe I’ll have it printed onto cling film of some kind so you can put it in your window (house or car, whatever).  Tragically, there is a spot on it in the upper left.  I can remove the spot digitally, but I am hoping to put the original up for sale so part of the reason I posted this is so that I can ask my Doodle team at Etsy for some expert spot-removal advice.

Speaking of the Doodle team, the first of the crazy tree house scenes, attached below, is the result of yet another Doodle challenge, this one based on the theme “The Enchanted Forest”.

Hogging the Swing

Tocktock the rat was hoping to have a go on the swing, but that silly purple bird was hogging it again. His closest friend was the dog, Ollie. But Ollie mostly liked to stare at brightly-colored things. Everyone said he was a magical dog because he could see colors. Tocktock did not think this was useful magic. Useful magic would get him a turn on the swing quicker.

Tocktock was even pretty sure the big blue bird was frequently irritated by the swing-hogger. But he could hardly expect one bird to side with a mammal over another *bird*. Oh well.  Maybe he would go eat some bugs and come back later.

This 8×10 woodland-type community portrait is available in my Etsy store.  Yay!

Here’s a couple other recent things in my continued attempts to figure out these tricky Copic markers:

Cecil is Curious

Cecil was quietly waiting for the tiny dwelling’s occupant to make an appearance when the monstrous pink bird showed up. Hello, he said. The bird looked at him with interest but did not answer. Do you speak? asked Cecil. The bird shook its wings out. Cecil did not know if this meant no. Or yes. Or wasn’t an answer at all but just a shake.

I have been visiting this spot for several days, said Cecil. I don’t know who lives in that house, but I am hoping they will show up. Maybe they will be nice and make tea. The bird bobbed his head up and down. Cecil did not know what to make of this, but was happy the bird did not seem to want to eat him.  (A 5″ x7″ drawing.)

Ornery Beast Hydra

One of the heads is always supposed to be awake. At least, that’s what their mother told them. You’ll get caught unawares by a monster! she would say.

To be perfectly honest, the three never believed this tale. Sure, it might be useful for one head to stay awake in case of rain, but they were a hydra! What monster would possibly want to tangle with a hydra? Besides, naps are such nice affairs. They take at least three per day. (A 5″ x 5″ drawing.)

Green Bird & Friends

Lymon the bird noticed recently that his favorite tree was becoming a favorite spot for other people. He liked to think of animals and bugs as people. Why not? They could all talk and everything, although of course they preferred not to let the humans know this.

He still wasn’t sure what the little grey guy was, since he was pretty sure porcupines don’t climb trees. Echidna? Hard to say and frankly, hard to understand with that high-pitched voice. But he was a patient bird-person and eventually they would understand each other.

I quite like this ACEO.  I even listed it at one entire DOLLAR more than the others, although I am considering adding another entire dollar for a whopping total of ten dollars.  What can I say?  Sometimes I go off the rails.   :O)

Thanks for stopping by!

Further Copic Adventures, Magnified

So admittedly I had a case of ACEO fever for a while (I suspect it’s like poison oak in that it is bound to flare up from time to time), but in the back of my mind I kept thinking I should try something a bit larger.

I have a portfolio filled with black and white drawings (the originals of various digitally-colored works I have posted in this very spot for the last few months until the ACEO fever hit).  So I figured I would break out the Copics and work with one of those.  Here is the result (now available in my Etsy shop, see link to the right):

Three Bright Birds

I like it, but I see a LOT of room for improvement.  The colors are a little muddy, the blending ok but not stellar, and so forth.  I do need to get more pens!  I have about 25 now and will probably pick up another dozen soon.  For the colored details on each figure I used Prismacolor chisel tip markers, which is a somewhat finer line than the Copic brush tip, and I would like to do more of that sort of thing (detailed color on color).

For some really stunning Copic work, check out two of my Etsy favorites:

Brooke Connor Design (Thank you Brooke for suggesting Copic markers!)

Illustratus Sundevaric AHOY  (Newly discovered –   strange and lovely!)

 

The first time around, scanned and colored digitally, Olive and Co. looked like this:

Olive's Niece and the Uneventful Visit

Their story can be found in their original post here.

Thanks to everyone who visited!

A Step-by-Step Copic ACEO Post

Some of my favorite blog posts are the kind that show the stages of a project from beginning to end.  So I’m having a go with my recent obsession – ACEOs (Art Card Edition Originals) created with Micron fine line pens and Copic alcohol-based professional markers.  Please feel free, should you stumble upon this post, to offer comments, criticisms or suggestions.  I can take it.  ;)

Please note I in no way resemble a Copic expert.  I wouldn’t even call myself proficient.  So this is clearly not a how-to post, although I suppose it is a how-to-if-you-are-me-today post.

One thing I’ve noticed is that I don’t get discouraged as easily as I once did, abandoning pieces before they have a chance to develop a personality.  These days I try to be more patient.  So let’s start here:

Step One

I sketch in pencil first almost always these days.  For a long time I didn’t sketch beforehand at all, and it led to a lot of wasted paper and no small amount of frustration.  I still doodle a lot without sketching first, but mostly I do a basic outline of a beast – particularly the legs (for alignment), nose (which makes a big difference in a beast’s personality), hair/spines (because it’s easy to accidentally make each piece  too similar, which is not an effect I generally like) and ears (which also affect personality).  I could have added a forelock but I wanted more white space.

Step Two

Just a simple line outline.  After I’ve given it a few moments, I erase the pencil lines with my handy Staedtler Mars plastic eraser.  I don’t even mind if the eraser fades out the ink at this point, because I’ll be going back over it at the end.

Another thing I notice and if you have been a doodler of any sort for any length of time you probably notice the same thing, and that is that I don’t hesitate like I used to with pen line.  So you don’t see a lot of starts and stops with little bits of line trying to line up.

Step Three

A basic covering with the lightest blue.  The opposite side legs and ear start off one step darker.  I tend to dab a lot to try to avoid lines in the marker coverage.  I also like to leave some white space to add depth in subsequent layers.

I should add here that the thing about not hesitating with pen is not serving me quite so well with the markers, which do have a nice brush tip but I haven’t trained myself to slow down quite enough (particularly with tiny ACEOs!) and I manage to color outside the lines with some frequency.  :D

Step Four

I decided a bit late to add some detail.  I forgot I wanted to do a striped tail but better late than never!  As long as I didn’t have my heart set on light colors that the light blue would bleed through, this isn’t a big deal.

Step Five

Decided on brown for the spots which covered the blue easily.  Did some sketchy shading with my next blue.

Step Six

The photo is a tad blurry but I went back over the beast with the first (lightest blue) which softened the transitions.

Step Seven

The next darkest blue.  As you can see, I am missing many shades of blue in between, but I am making do with the colors I have.

Step Eight

Another round of the second blue.

Step Nine

And then an overall cover with the first (lightest) blue.

Ten

One pass of the background with lightest green, dabbing and leaving white space.

Eleven

And then a second green around the edges.

Twelve

Back over with the lightest green at the sides and then covering the whole green background with yellow.  You can see where it catches the white spaces and adds a bit of texture and depth.

13, 14, 15

Oops, forgot to stop and take a picture or two.  I re-inked the outlines with a thicker Micron, gave him a closed eye and a nose, and added some hair after all (because he asked nicely for some).  I re-did a bit of the darkest blue, then went back over that with blue #2.

That’s it.  No particularly fancy Copic tricks.  This is a pretty basic beast with no landscape or friend or flora.  Although I started off doing lone beasts like this one, I do try to add a little something to make a bit more of a scene rather than a portrait most of the time.  Often a little dog!  But it is rough to fit multiple objects in a teeny 2.5 inch by 3.5 inch art card.

Copic Marker Adventures, ACEO-sized

Other have said it before, and more will come after, but hot dang!  Copic markers are really cool.  The colors are super rich.  I am still experimenting, mostly on ACEO-sized (2.5″ x 3.5″) illustration board. Part of the purpose of the tiny size is to have some completed original art in my Etsy shop.  Here is the first one I did, in which I also used Prismacolor markers (and you can see where those colors don’t blend as well):

Lorraine, a Bird

This is Lorraine. She is catching a few ZZZs on her favorite branch after a hard day herding prairie dogs.

Yesterday I added to my meager Copic collection by purchasing 15 more markers (they are not cheap!)  eeek, but worth it.  Also, I get the Ciao size which is the smaller, more economical size (without losing any of the quality of color).  Then I made more tiny pictures!

Liesle and Frederique Nap

Liesl (on the left) and Frederique were arguing about flightless birds when Frederique fell asleep mid-sentence. (This happens more than you might think.) Liesl, satisfied that she had won the argument by default – particularly after her intelligent comment about penguins, nodded off soon after.

Two Bright Beasts

For the second time in my blogging history (which is extremely short), I am embarrassed to admit I do not know the names of these two colorful creatures.  Part of the problem is that they are shy.  The other part is that the few tidbits I have overheard them whispering seem to be in Icelandic.  Or maybe Dutch.  In any case, a language I do not speak.

Jinni and Figgish Napping

Jinni the orange beast and Figgish the dog are excellent friends. They met at a seashell collecting convention in 2009 where they argued good-naturedly about whether you can really hear the ocean in a conch shell.

The depth of color is really quite lovely, with all credit to the Copic people.  You may also notice I have managed to color outside the lines in one or two of these teeny masterpieces, as well as smudge some of the line work.  I tell myself this adds to their handmade charm.

Argus and the Alien Flower

Sometimes Argus has the strangest dreams about alien flowers on colorful landscapes. He firmly believes his ancestors came from Sirius, the Dog Star, where many strange and wonderful plants and creatures still reside. (His amused mum never denied this story.)