Tag Archives: dog

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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Goofy Dogs in Copic Marker; Tons of Progress Pics

Three Dogs Awaiting Snacks, Copic Markers

It’s probably obvious these three dogs are awaiting snacks, but just in case some non-dog folk pop in, I thought I would go ahead and spell it out. Rarely does the canine specimen sit so still and with such intensity as when it is watching and/or hoping you are getting snacks from one of those bags or boxes of snacks from the snack table or snack cabinet or snack bin.

From left to right: Laurel, Rowan, Ash. (Well don’t look at me. I believe their owner is a botanist. Or an arborist.) Any peanut butter snacks are mighty fine with all, though Laurel shows a slight preference for apple slices.

I lost a bit of the character from the original sketch – Laurel was less serious, less  fluffy, and more puppyish. Rowan had a much shorter forehead and crazily wondrous eyes. However, since I predict many more dogs to come, whether soon or a bit further down the road, I’ve a feeling those two will be back after some adventure or another.

Three Dogs Sketch One

Three Dogs Sketch Two

Three Dogs Color One

Yeah, this is usually where I think I might scrap it. Why did I pick these colors? These are not the colors I was intending.  Arrrgh! Perhaps more color planning/practice is in order. Or just more art – that is usually the answer. Just keep doing. I suppose I decided to continue with these guys to see if I could rescue them.

Three Dogs Color Two

Three Dogs Outline over Color, One

Three Dogs Outline over Color, Two

Three Dogs, Details

Three Dogs Awaiting Snacks, Copic Markers

Copic Multiliners, Micron Pens and Copic Markers, 8″ x 10″ on Canson heavy illustration board with a smooth finish.

I have been overdoing the details lately so stopped before my normal stopping point to let it sit. Thanks for stopping in!

 

Goofy Yet Serious ACEO Dogs with Copics

Goofy Yet Serious ACEO Dogs in Copics

Clockwise from top left: Ernie, Emma, Annabelle, Rufus

Goofy? Check. Serious? Check. Rufus looks a bit like a lioness? Check.

I’m not sure what it is about groups of things like this, but I like them. And I particularly like staying in the same few color families, repeating specific colors while still achieving variety. I had some trouble deciding on the arrangment. I thought the mainly yellow backgrounds should be opposite. But then I thought the two with more pinks should be opposite. Anyway, I’ve done another version:

Goofy Yet Serious ACEO Dogs in Copics, Second

Do you have a preference? I actually left off the black framing lines in the second as well (which is the same style as my first 4-ACEO print, mentioned a couple posts ago at the beginning of the ACEO dog craze in which I currently find myself. And not unpleasantly, I might add).

I may update this post shortly with the further adventures of Bear and Millie, suspiciously absent from this group. On the one hand, a quartet is only four. On the other hand, Bear found out that Millie plays a mean game of cribbage, and Bear had been looking for a Cribbage partner for AGES. So you can probably imagine why they are the last to arrive.

UPDATE: Millie has arrived. The Cribbage marathon is ongoing, as Millie and Bear have each won six games.

ACEO Dog Millie with Copic Multiliners and Markers

Thank you so much for visiting us!

Further Dog Adventures, ACEO Style

ACEO Dog Emma, Copics

I was going to do something much more twirl-related for this week’s Illustration Friday, since that is the topic. But I am currently in the midst of rather severe ACEO dog fever and I didn’t want to stall the momentum. It all started two posts back because I decided, after several days without much inspiration, to draw a sad ACEO dog. One dog led to a four-pack of hound dogs which then led us here. (The current pack has standing ears. They may be hounds but more likely awesome mixed-breed rescue types with mysterious ancestry.)

In any case, I have completed Emma (above) in my recently typical fashion, with lots of swirls. Though this is not technically the same thing as “twirls”, I hope I won’t be judged too harshly for stretching the topic somewhat, from twirl to swirl.

Emma in progress:

ACEO Dog Emma: Sketch, Ink, Copic Pen/Marker

The other members of the new pack, as yet inked only:

ACEO Dog Rufus, In Progress

ACEO Dog Bear, In Progress

ACEO Dog Ernie, In Progress

ACEO Dog Annabelle, In Progress

ACEO Dog Millie, in Progress

All six goofy and and generally charming ACEO dogs drawn by hand in pencil. Then, Copic multiliners, mainly size 0.1 and 0.3, though Emma got filled out with a 0.8 and that was probably a tad too wide for 2.5″ x 3.5″. I’ve been using pre-cut, ACEO-sized smooth illustration board, which comes in handy 5-packs by Strathmore (about $2/pack at Dick Blick’s). I hope to post the colored-up versions soon.  Thanks for visiting! Dogs rule!

ACEO Dog Quartet in Copics, Part II

Hound Dog Quartet, ACEOs with Copics

Clockwise from top left: Oliver, Edgar, Miles and Martin

Hooray!  Finished the 4-dog quartet. Went with similar dog for final image (see previous post for dilemma!) I’m calling it “Hound Dog Quartet” but it started as “Spaniel Dog Quartet” (and could revert at any time!). The inspiration photo (for all four) is a beagle. I think they resemble a beagle slightly more than Snoopy from Peanuts. But it’s still a stretch. (Which is fine with me.)

Oliver, the final member, in progress:

ACEO Dog Oliver Sketch

ACEO Dog Oliver Color 1

ACEO Dog Oliver

I believe a second 4-dog ACEO quartet is in the works, this time with standing ears (also known as prick ears or erect ears, but oh, such words!) Aside from that particular vocabulary conundrum, I can’t decide what to name the next set. I don’t want to go with Doberman Dog quartet or any other dog who has unnaturally erect ears – because I don’t believe in cropped ears (I won’t go on a rant or anything but cropping ears is an outdated and unnecessary procedure which causes a lot of pain in young dogs and also compromises protection for the ear canal. And doesn’t always work anyway!) So while I like Dobermans, I believe in “regular” ears for Dobermans, Great Danes and every other breed that up until recently had cropped ears as a matter of course.  But that whole discussion is probably best not held on an art blog.  :)

Many breeds have naturally standing ears.  A few that come to mind are smaller dogs like terriers (though not Schnauzers), Basenjis, Chihuahuas. Here is the initial sketch for one member of the Standing Ear ACEO dog quartet (a charming and discerning bunch, I am sure it will turn out to be):

ACEO Standing Ear Dog 1

I think this one definitely looks more like a Basenji than a Chihuahua, so I may use a Chihuahua photo as inspiration for the next one or two.  As always, thanks for visiting!

 

 

ACEO Dog Quartet in Copic Markers

ACEOs revisited. I was supposed to do an updated Magic Preparedness Kit (and I will!) but many days passed without the impetus for a new (or old) project. And then I was given the assignment of an anonymous gift to an internet stranger, and due to her interests in the colors seafoam, teal and aqua (with grays), and “Sad Etsy Dogs” (among many other things, but these were the bits I chose) – I was finally inspired to make a sad etsy dog of my own.  His name is Edgar and he is currently traveling to upstate New York with some Almond Roca and a box of vanilla spice tea.

ACEO Dog, Edgar

I decided to do three more in order to do another 4-ACEO Giclee, like I did here:

Four ACEO Print with 2 Llamas, Camel & Pony

I decided to stick with the spaniel face/ears and do a similar (but not identical) dog for the next two, but with different colors (though mainly blues and greens).

ACEO Dog Martin, Sketch

ACEO Dog Martin, Color 1

ACEO Dog, Martin

ACEO Dog, Miles

Martin got into the mud, as you can see. Otherwise known as, I muddied up the color by going with gray as a shading color instead of a darker green or blue. On top of that, the black ink ran more than normal. I may have used a Micron pen instead of a Copic multiliner by mistake.  (The Copic is designed not to smudge!) Arrgh. I also like the Color 1 version better than the overdone final version. But he’s still a cool cat.

Miles, possibly as a result, ended up on the slightly underdone side of the spectrum (fewer fine lined details). But he is also a cool cat. These two, only distantly related by blood, once planned a grand cupboard heist. They never went through with it, thank goodness.  Also, they were only about seven months old at the time.

And now, feeling a break coming on, I am going to post this despite having reached only a triptych and not a quartet yet!  I have to decide on the last ACEO. A similar style dog but with different colors? A dog with stand-up ears? A cat? A llama? I like the idea of the fourth being different (like I did with the pink pony in the other set).

In any case, thank you so much for visiting. All comments appreciated! I will update this post a bit later with the final creature.

 

Steampunk Collie in Copic Markers, Progress Pics

Steampunk Collie 9x6

 

 

Ugh, midnight and I must work early tomorrow and then board a plane for Florida. (Much cheaper tickets the week after a holiday.) But I’ve been meaning to finish this beast for days. Usually I start and finish one of these 8x10s or 9x6s in one night, or occasionally, two. So this one sitting for five or six days was an anomaly. And dammit I’m staying up to finish this post.

I fear he’s been a bit overworked. By the pen, not by his boss or something. I don’t know if he has a boss. Frankly, he’s been rather mysterious about his past. The only thing he will say for certain is that he is certainly NOT a collie. As you can see, these protestations have not led to my changing the title of this illustration or this post. And sure, he’s not a classic Lassie collie.

He’s also slightly standoffish, so I’m not actually sure if he’s wearing a fuzzy green coat, or that’s his actual dog coat. Although… it’s probably not fair to call him standoffish.  Deep in thought is much more likely. Inventor-types so often are.

I finally broke out a white gel pen I had picked up, but I really don’t know anything about how to best use it. I did some swirls on the cat part of the eyepiece (then went back over them in black because I didn’t love the look of it), and put a few swipes on his nostrils. (The eye is not gel pen, it was just not colored.) Anyway, progress pics!

Steampunk Collie Sketch

Steampunk Collie Color 1

Steampunk Collie Color 2

Steampunk Collie 9x6

Some combination of the second to last version and the final version would have been preferable, I think. I like some of the effects that were added, but it is too busy and I should have stopped sooner.

Overall I like him and despite the enormous number of outstanding dog/animal artists on Etsy, I must do more dog beasts. They are, if not the best kind of beast, then at least in the top 5% of beasts. Amirite? Thank you so much for dropping in!

Illustration Friday’s Vanity (sort of!) with Progress Pics

Whimsical Vanity in Copics

 

 

This week’s Illustration Friday prompt was “Vanity”. The boyfriend suggested I do the Vanity from Prince’s band. This did not interest me for many reasons, primarily my reluctance to do people at all, let alone likenesses of actual people. So I settled on an illustration of a vanity table, despite “vanity” being an excellent opportunity for a little visual social commentary. But there would be creatures, of course! I don’t believe this blog has one drawing without at least one creature. It is The Slumbering Herd, after all, not The Slumbering Inanimate Objects. :o)

So, that window was originally a mirror – this being a vanity, and all.  But I just couldn’t get it to work out.  I had the bird looking into the mirror but uh, yeah, no. I hope nobody minds that I took some liberties with this vanity in that its owner was sick of the mirror and preferred looking out onto lovely sky.  As for the bench one might normally find at such a table, in fact it has a beautiful brocade orange bench, but the dog pushed it out of the way in order to sit and watch the bird (his favorite thing to watch in all the world).

So let’s see how many entries have been posted in this day and a half since the prompt came out! 136 and counting.  Sheesh. I’ve taken to commenting primarily on those entries that fall into the “children’s art” category, and sometimes I miss some. So many great artists and blogs!

This week I also ended up at the Artists in Blogland Show and Tell Saturday, so I’m going to link there, too! Welcome to my place, wherever you came from! If you care to comment, leave your address in the form thingie so I can visit back.  And now some progress pics:

 

Vanity Sketch

Vanity Color 1

Vanity Color 2

Vanity Color 3

 

 

9″ x 6″ with Copic markers and pens on 150 lb. drawing paper. Thanks for dropping in! (Also, arrrrgh, working on some formatting issues.)