Tag Archives: pen & ink

Odd Thing in the Cupboard, a Progression Post

Odd Thing in the Cupboard

So, the theme for a team challenge at Etsy was “The Thing in the Cupboard” – and this is what happened. I wasn’t too happy with the sketch but I didn’t have another idea immediately, so I just kept at it. Here’s the unimpressive sketch:

In the Cupboard, Sketch

I don’t even know what that is.  Some kind of lopsided, gypsy-styled, alchemy chest (with a vaguely steampunk hat on top) – a thing with potential but poorly executed. And why is it in the corner of the kitchen? The whole thing got worse before it got better, with a bit of color. (Copic markers and pens, of course).

In the Cupboard, Color 1

So, I used a ruler for the cabinet/counter, but didn’t use any rulers for inking. Which shows. I know it. Maybe next time I’ll go with the ruler. But with more color and more detail it was beginning to have a little personality.

In the Cupboard, Color 2

And then more detail.  I particularly like (as I’ve said a few times), fine details in colors similar to the background color. There is probably a better, simpler and/or more technical way to say that (Feel free to share, if you know it!).

I have a fair number of colored fine liners.  I have the primary Copic colors mostly, but also some Micron and Prismacolor fine liners.  I need a few more colors.

In the Cupboard, Color 3

I have to say I am a big fan of these colors.  I wish the scans were more consistent, but that’s mainly user error. Even so, I’m so pleased I have this scanner (acquired recently for a very reasonable price, though it only does letter size) because, as I’ve mentioned once or twice, I love progression picture posts!

(Click to Enlarge)

An Odd Thing in the Cupboard or, Attempts to Avert Crockery Disaster

The spotted critter on the left, a Leaper named Cymbal, is the familiar of a very accomplished conjurer. She has quite a few magical skills of her own, and so is not particularly unnerved by the unusually large reptile materializing out of the kitchen cupboard.  In fact, she is not even remotely unnerved by these developments because this particular reptile is only the third largest creature to materialize in the kitchen this month.

For the creature, however, it can be a bit of a shock to find oneself in a stranger’s kitchen, and Cymbal wants to try and sooth the beast before he starts pulverizing the crockery. Cymbal’s job involves far more unglamorous crockery cleanup than she would prefer.

Illustration Friday and a Strange Goat

My first entry for Illustration Friday.  This week’s topic:  FUEL.

My first thought was to do a robot shaking an empty gas or oil can into his mouth (or into a receptacle on his head, or wherever the oil entry point might be).  But I have been on a colorful farm animal kick (most recently steampunk farm animals, several of which you can find in recent posts!), and I have been liking goats. So I thought, what silly thing can I show a goat eating?  Perhaps some long johns or socks. So I had a plan.

As you will see, this plan fell apart during sketching. I did not leave enough room for a recognizable sock at the bottom (not a giant one like I wanted) but I did leave some room at the top.  So clearly the fueling would have to take place above.  I thought about giving him a beer hat contraption (ah, a few weeks late for that topic, I know!), maybe with something silly in it like orange juice. But I didn’t want to cover his face with a straw.  So I decided another creature would be on top of his head, fueling him through a pipe in his head.  I’m not sure why I thought this! Here is the result:

Green Goat Fueling Up

This seems to me prime fodder for a trick I found while browsing last week’s entries: Bella Sinclair’s Doodlespot, in fact, in the following query to her readers, “What do you think is going on here?” So, I would do that, except I am a first timer to IF and I do not know if people will get a chance to visit me, straggler entrant #673 or whatever number it may be.  (But if you do, feel free to let me know what you think is going on in this picture!)

If you have been kind enough to visit and read this far and don’t want to have to come up with a story for the above, this is how I see it:

The pink creature is one of many thousands of similar creatures on a small planet really, really far away.  About four hundred years ago (our time), a garbage scow from earth was picked up by this civilization, and the only item they kept was an old picture album depicting life on a farm. They were completely enchanted by the farm animals, which became very popular subjects for their art.  So popular, in fact, that when the time came to re-design the planet’s power plant, they used goats, chickens, and llamas as decorative statuary to hold the massive tanks and wiring.  In the picture above, one of these enormous goats is getting a shot of oil that will keep him in perfect working order for another seven months or so.

Oh! (Sorry, this is probably too long, lol) I wanted to post the initial sketch and some early coloring (with Copic markers):

Topic Fuel - Initial Sketch

 

Topic Fuel - Color Progress

I used Copic markers and pens for this 6″ x 9″ drawing on 150 lb. smooth drawing paper.  Thank you so, so much for dropping in!

Steampunk Horse with Copic Markers

Steampunk Donkey Horse Original Art

 

Seriously cool update: Ok, so the seriously cool Copic folks actually used this post (most of it, plus some other things) as a tutorial on Copic’s official site!

More steampunk.  More Copics.  Another progression photo post! As you can see, the colors are somewhat more subdued than they have been, which was a conscious choice in an effort to replicate a little bit of the flavor of older, maybe even colorized, photography.  This horse is not living in modern times, after all!

Figure One - Steampunk Donkey Horse Ink

I was referencing a photo of a donkey but as I said in the last post, the narrowing of the face seems to have made a horse instead. I added a pipe but I was not sold on it yet, so it isn’t actually inked in Figure One. (Ha!  Figure One!  Delusions of text-bookishness? I think I will use it for the whole post and try to decide its dork quotient.)

Initial ink with a 0.1 multiliner SP. I actually had to replace the nib in my 0.1 after using it for about a day, but I learned my lesson! It seems I’m rather hard on all my pens and markers, which seems to be part of my style, but I don’t recommend it.

Figure Two. Steampunk Horse Color One

Figure two.  Initial application of Copic color.  I don’t own as many greys as I would like (are you a “gray” or a “grey” person?). This will be N1 and N4, and the browns and blues are Y26 (Mustard, love it!), Yr24, E35, B04 and BG000. The peachy color is E93 (Tea Rose, another favorite).

Figure 3. Steampunk Horse Color 2

More of the same colors, with a couple more greys C-3 and C-5 (but I only have Ciaos and they are running out!) I started using the Colorless Blender (Sketch size, which I believe I got in the Blending set.  Used a 40% off one item coupon at Blick’s for that set!) You can’t buy the Sketch size Colorless Blender, just the Ciao (at my Blick’s, anyway).

Added some YR12 and YR23 to the E93 try to capture that strange reddish, yellowish tinge to a donkey’s face.  Yes, I’m still working with a photo of a donkey for my horse.

Figure 4. Steampunk Horse Ink 2

One of my favorite parts is the initial outline with a 0.8 multiliner when the drawing begins to come more to life. Also 0.3 and 0.1 for some details – and inked the pipe so now I’m stuck with it! It’s a little too low in the frame and I wish I had more space for more of the barrel of the pipe.

Figure 5. Steampunk Horse Color 3

Additional browns added: E08 and E53. Although I always do the swirl pattern, I often add some flowers.  I decided to forego the flowers this time and see about doing only swirl patterns – the idea being that the eye piece, the goggles, the pipe and the tubing would be enough in the way of finer detail. Started adding even finer detail with the 0.05 multiliner SP (I have a few SPs, but mostly the disposal multiliners currently.)  You can see the 0.05 in the horizontal lines on the goggle lenses and on the eyepiece.

Figure 6. Steampunk Donkey Horse Original Art

Went a little swirl-nutty.  One effect I particularly like is a colored multiliner over marker from the same color family, like on the bird’s body of the eyepiece.  Also used some sepia multiliner on the goggles. I added a little B02 (Robin’s Egg Blue) to add a little depth to the blue. Tightened up some more details, then did the swirl thing with the 0.3, 0.1 and 0.05. Sometimes in the same place, if the color effect wasn’t as dark as I wanted. And though I usually leave some light spots with no swirls, the swirl-nutty fever was on me and I swirled the whole damn thing up (with the minor exceptions of the goggle band and metal tubing.)

I like the effect of the subdued colors. As usual I am not sure about whether I want a background. At one point toward the end, I had actually sketched out a stripey design for the background, intending to use only black multiliner detail for the entire background, but then I decided against it. Holy cow, long post. Thank you for sticking around! What do you think, compared to my others (if you’ve seen them)?

Steampunk Rabbit Experiment with Whirligig

So I’m on this steampunk kick.  And I had planned on a horse next.  But then I saw this floppy-eared bunny in a pile of prints I ordered from deviantART.

Exhibit one:

too cool to care, by Duckmad

Which led to:

Steampunk Rabbit Initial Ink

Probably should have left the tilt of his head.  Oh!  I should mention the other piece of the puzzle – the whirligig, which happens to be the optional whimsy theme/prompt over at the Web of Whimsy, a neat monthly challenge I joined for the first time last month.  I wanted to give the prompt a shot because I didn’t use it for the last one.

This drawing was much more troublesome than the llama, sheep and kangaroo. I didn’t really like most of the progression of this one.  Not loving the color exactly. And eek, the swirlygig is crooked (I know, I should trace a circle.  But I don’t like to use anything mechanical, generally.  Which is silly.  It’s steampunk, right?) Oh, and the whirlygig should have stayed black and white. But I like some things:

Steampunk Rabbit Final (?)

And then I thought hey, I can fix the swirl and maybe help out the color with a background, after I scan it. So I did. I tried a few background colors, mostly dark, as this rabbit is far too dressed up for the morning. Also, he tends to sleep in quite late most days and rarely ventures out before evening.

Steampunk Rabbit with Digital Help

I think it’s a big improvement, though it could probably still use some work. Maybe a gradient background or some stars or something, it’s far too flat as is. But I must go to bed, alas! Let me know what you think!  Be brutal. I can take it.

 

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!

Further Adventures of Steampunk Llama, Copic Color

Welcome back!  Steampunk Llama, aka Futurellama, aka Charlotte, is complete. Probably.

The first color never looks good and I sometimes question whether the piece is worth finishing at this point.  (Well, maybe less now than I used to.)

Steampunk Llama, Color 1

Ah, much better. Thank you, Copic markers.

Steampunk Llama Color 2

I was mostly able to correct the problems created in the initial inking. The horribly lopsided circles are much better now and the weird baby crib thing in the top right (see previous post) is now a tube and a porpoise-looking bit of machinery.

Steampunk Llama Color 3

And then I couldn’t decide on the hair color. I was planning on red.  But would it be red and brown or red and purple or red and orange? I almost did red and orange (and brown, probably), but I didn’t really want to go red on blue.  Or blue and orange, really, despite their being complementary and all that. Anyway, I thought I had a nice assortment of blues to do the hair and using the same color as the skin but different hues can have a nice effect. I do really need more practice with hair though, whether this kind or another kind.

Blue Llama Steampunk Color 4

Haven’t 100% decided about whether to fill the background, but it might be nice to get prints with different digital backgrounds.  May go back with a 0.05 nib for some finer detail, but may not. Almost avoided the shading swirls I’ve been using, for fear of additional clutter on an already busy field. But I used larger ones closer to the background color and achieved the effect I like with a bit more subtlety. Or so I foolishly think.  ;o)

As a side note, I still browse deviantART regularly and the overwhelming number of really accomplished artists can be a bit disheartening. (Is there room for any more? Will I ever achieve the skill level of these people? Do I need more formal training? That sort of thing. ) Just going to keep slogging on, though.

Blue Steampunk Llama Color 5

This is Charlotte, a distinguished, long-time independent agent for the Urban Camelid* Protection League, and as such she was not at liberty to reveal the uses for her various apparatuses. I believe the free-hanging tube is both a speech device and and a unit that can be attached remotely to certain mechanical gadgetry. But this is purely speculation on my part.

Charlotte was very friendly and professional, but despite my crafty line of questioning she did not reveal any UCPL secrets. This is why she is one of their most respected field agents, I imagine.

Drop a line and let me know how you ended up here!  :o)

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*Camelids include camels, llamas, alpacas, vicuñas, and guanacos.

Work in Progress Type Post – Steampunk Llama

If you’ve been visiting at all, or noticed my little Etsy art catalog to the right, you have some inkling that I have been drawing a lot of recognizable and less recognizable beast portraits in, well, non-traditional colors. Llamas and other large-snouted types are my current favorite, and the other day I decided instead of a simple portrait, I would steampunk* one up.

A hallmark of steampunk style is the pervasive use of small electronic gadgetry (the purpose of which is not often clear). It is generally shiny and intricate with lots of cogs, gears, moving parts and decorative bits. So I had to decide. Try to invent some actual devices, which seemed slightly overkill for this one portrait, or just kinda wing it.  I went with wing it.

I also had to decide whether to employ mechanical drawing means (tracing circles, for example, which I generally avoid), in order for the mechanical bits to be as precise as possible.  I didn’t go that way, as you will see in the sketch (and worse! in the initial inking).  It’s just not my style.  I’d like to think I’m not lazy about details, but I suppose one could argue that point.  I guess my general preference is to err on the side of an organic result rather than an overly precise (mechanical?) one.

Steampunk Llama Detailed Sketch

I decided to simplify the drawing for the first ink outline.  This outline, done with a smallish size nib, is mainly a guide for the color, and can change quite a bit by the time I do the final ink.  Sometimes I’ll do some correction with a larger nib, or fill in solid black detail areas (like the eye).

It was originally going to be a male beast, but I happen to be on an Etsy Team which is currently doing a doodle challenge based loosely around the theme “Hair”.  So I did hair.  And it happened to be a really nice Victorian-style detail to go with the hat and choker.  I haven’t done a whole lot of hair, preferring beasty animal types, but hair can be a really cool element in a design so I hope it works out!

Steampunk Llama, First Ink

As you can see, the result of simplifying in this case is a somewhat borg**-like collection of shapes and tubes, and the strangest baby crib looking thing at the right ear. It was intended to be a kind of enhanced listening device, but now I’m going to have to see what I can do with it.  :o)  Also, several quite imperfect circles are in evidence, which I will try to fix up later.

To sum up, yes, I took two severely trendy topics – llamas and steampunk – and did a mashup.  Is this the most original idea in the history of the world?  No.  But that doesn’t mean it can’t be super cool.  :o)

Updates coming soon.  Thanks for dropping in!

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*”Steampunk is a subgenre of speculative fiction, usually set in an anachronistic Victorian or quasi-Victorian alternate history setting. It could be described by the slogan “What the past would look like if the future had happened sooner.” (Thank you, Urban Dictionary.)

**Borg – “An immensely powerful civilization of enhanced humanoids from the Delta Quadrant of the galaxy. The Borg implant themselves with cybernetic devices, giving them great technological and combat capabilities. ” From various Star Trek television franchises. (Thank you again, 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!