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

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!

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!