Tag Archives: pen & ink

Chameleon, Wombat, and Kettle in Copics

Strange Chameleon Two, 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics

Edgar Wombat 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics

 

 

Perhaps you are shocked to see more ATCs. For those of us joining for the first time, I started doing Artist Trading Cards about three weeks ago, and I’ve done about 20 now. Which is crazy. And I must mention illustratedatcs.com again because they are to blame. I mean, to thank. :) (They also have a bigger site, atcsforall.com.)

The thing about tiny cards is: instant gratification, nearly instant satisfaction and practically instant feedback. Ah, internet, you have reduced our attention spans to approximately 45 seconds. But I will try to work with you.

Edgar the wombat is a huge fan of the movie My Neighbor Totoro. Wombats rock.

Gnome Portal Kettle 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copics

Slideshows for all three! If anyone wants to see. Thank you so much for visiting. :)

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Chameleon photo reference, wombat photo reference.

Copic ATCs, Anteater Chameleon Stork Hornbill

Oops, forgot to change the order of creatures in the title. Too late now since the memos have been distributed!

Purple Rhinoceros Hornbill, 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copic markers and fine liners

Blue Stork 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copic markers and fine liners

 

More tiny Artist Trading Cards. I don’t know how long the enthusiasm will last but that’s ten in two weeks.  It is certainly much less daunting staring at a blank 2.5″ x 3.5″ than an 8″ x 10″.  For one thing, much easier to fill in a background, and I like to do backgrounds.

I have a lot fewer smudging problems since I’ve been using colors other than black for the initial ink. Copic has a fairly limited number of colored fine liners so I use Micron and Prismacolor fine liners, too.

 

Strange Chameleon 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copic markers and fine liners

Blue Anteater 2.5″ x 3.5″ Copic markers and fine liners

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Thanks for visiting!

Anteater reference photo, Stork reference photo, Rhinoceros Hornbill reference photo

 

 

Crossroads Mash-up for Illustration Friday

Crossroads Mash-up for Illustration Friday, Copic Markers and Pens
with a bit of digital correction, digital sky

The topic is “Lost” at Illustration Friday. This is an artist’s rendering of a place mentioned in two ancient and magical texts. A place where a lost person might find themselves, waking from a daydream, if the planets are aligned just so. Which direction would you choose?

Not so much in the way of Copic marker technique, but a lot of sketching and deciding and arranging and erasing. I’m calling it a mash-up because some of these things are not like the others! But I thought it was a fun and silly collection of magical places. And a bit of hand drawn text, though next time perhaps the styles could be varied more in both size and style.

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Crossroads Mash-up Key:

1. Asgard, home of the Norse gods; 2. Emerald City, in the Land of Oz at the end of the yellow brick road; 3. Cloudsdale, from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, home of the pegasus ponies; 4. Camelot, home of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, 5. The Shire, home to the Hobbits from The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings; 6. Pepperland, home of the Blue Meanies from the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine; 7. Narnia, found through a door in the back of a wardrobe, from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe series; 8. Wonderland, from Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass; 9. the Tollbooth, gateway to the Kingdom of Wisdom from The Phantom Tollbooth (and there is Tock the dog, waiting to join you!).

Hornbill and Kingfisher, an Unlikely Pair

Yellow-Billed Hornbill and Stork-Billed Kingfisher, Copic Markers, digital sky

A somewhat smaller than expected Southern Yellow-Billed Hornbill and his best friend, a somewhat larger than expected Stork-Billed Kingfisher. Ari the Hornbill was born in South Africa. Shey the Kingfisher is from Sri Lanka. That they met at all is unprecedented!

Ari was flying northeasterly over the Indian Ocean, and Shey was flying southwesterly over the Indian Ocean, and they both landed in the Seychelles the same week in 2009. Crazy, right? Both natural comedians, they became instant friends and for a short time they performed a Strange Bird comedy show that was a huge hit with the local Red-footed Boobies.

As you may know I have been exploring all manner of exotic creatures at this blog. Most recently it’s the birds in particular that have caught my fancy, and thus today’s drawing. Started with a lot of refinement in pencil then several scans showing the blue .05 multiliner. After that, Copics and .1 and .2 black multiliners. Finally I attempted some highlights with a white Prismacolor pencil, to mixed results. (Still trying to find a white gel pen that works. Not sure about attempting some white acrylic. Hmm!)

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No Masquepen or swirls this week. Crazy! Thank you for stopping by!

Southern Yellow-Billed Hornbill photo reference; Stork-Billed Kingfisher reference.

Meow Tai, Mai Tai for Illustration Friday

Meow Tai Mai Tai Cocktail, 8×10 with Copics, digital background

The topic is Refresh at Illustration Friday. And they’ve got a whole new look. I find it looks lovely but is not as user friendly as the old. If you agree or have issues and want to let them know, may I suggest you do so on the blog post announcing the new design.

I started off with a teacup, intending perhaps to cover it with odd creatures or add a silly beast swimming inside. But then the teacup became a cat cup and the cat told me, in no uncertain terms, that a Mai Tai or other liquored beverage would suit us all better in these trying times. I agreed.

Actually I was thinking Margarita, but fortunately someone more schooled in the bartending arts let me know the garnish I had chosen was all wrong for a Margarita. And anyway, MEOW TAI! The same knowledgeable fellow went on to disagree that the “Meow Tai” thing worked very well. I disagreed.

Went a little crazy beach bingo party neon with the background, but it seemed to fit. ;)

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Thanks for visiting! (Oh! And I wanted to drop this note for Illustration Friday folks. Be patient on the new IF page because the images load slower now, so if you scroll through a group, you may need to wait a moment for the next group to load. And as you may know, there are always hundreds of entries. /end PSA) :)

No Room at the Couch Part II, Copic Markers

Cow, Donkey, Cat, Dog, Shrew with Couch in Copics 8 x 10

The topic is “Nursery Rhyme” for Monday Artday. Until I looked it up just now to link it, I was sure it was “Fairytale”, so that will explain what comes next. (There could very well be a nursery rhyme about this story and I hope Mike at Monday Artday will be ok with that.) :D

McCalls Books, The Enchanted Princess & The House in the Forest

I wanted to do another pile of animals and I remembered a story called “The House in the Forest“, which was part of McCall’s Storytime Treasury series. Do you remember those? (It goes back to the 70s! But maybe you got some hand-me downs. Ours went to a second cousin. I may have to reacquire some.)

In any case, though I could not find a summary of the story (and my memory is a bit hazy), it was about a girl who lived in a house in the forest with all her animals. One night a magical guest disguised as a beggar came to test her, to see if she would feed herself before she fed her animals. She had a cow, a dog, a cat, a donkey… I think! She almost certainly did not have an elephant shrew in the original (but clearly should have). I don’t know if she had such a fancy couch. Probably not. I’m not sure there was any delivery service for one thing, and she wouldn’t have been able to afford it if so.

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Thank you for visiting! This is my second consecutive couch full of creatures. I was actually going to do these all in blue but decided on browns and I think blue would have been better. I also considered some fancy detail on the couch but worried that would take the focus off the critters. More outlandish experiments coming soon.

Cow face reference photo, sleeping cat reference.

Kingfisher and Mouse Deer, Copic Markers

Kingfisher and Mouse Deer, 8×10 with Copic Markers and Multiliners

This is a kingfisher named James who allowed the king thing to go to his head a bit. You may be asking yourself how he got a notoriously shy mouse deer to act as steed. Well, it’s actually a cardboard stand-up with metal supports for James’ weight.  He has another in the shape of a French bulldog. And the crown? Belonged to a doll named Emperor Imperious. Oops! I meant “action figure”. Don’t tell him I told you.

I originally started the mouse deer (not to be confused with a deer mouse!) a week or so ago. But her legs were too short and she was too close to the bottom of the illustration board I was using. Then a couple days ago I thought about what I might add and this kingfisher seemed like a fine candidate.

I think I like the sketch a bit better than the color version – probably because I didn’t plan the color very well. Ah well, back to the drawing board!

Kingfisher and Mouse Deer, Pencil

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Thanks for visiting!

Mouse deer reference. Kingfisher reference.

Shoebill and Squirrel Share a Secret, for IF

Shoebill and Squirrel, 8×10 Copic Markers, digital text & background

[Quick Note:  If you are subscribed to my blog (thank you very much!) it turns out the notices are going into spam. They were doing that for a bit but I thought I fixed it. Apologies for the trouble and I shall continue to try to find a solution. Arrrgh!]

The word is Secret at Illustration Friday.

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I was working with the pink background for a while but in fooling with the hue slider in Paint.NET I settled on this ecru. And actually, I don’t have too much in the way of critical comments on this one. I think I reached a good stopping place (and actually stopped!) before over-doing the swirly bits. Hooray!

Thank you so much for stopping by! You are the coolest. ;P

*Shoebill: Otherwise known as a shoebill stork or whalehead (or whale-headed) stork.  Some consider the shoebill a missing link between the pelican and the stork, and they are the last living species of the family Balaenicipitidae. Shoebills live mostly in eastern Africa and are endangered due to loss of habitat. They can be as tall as four feet and are mostly solitary creatures.

Beauty or Beast Shoebill by SKSfoto at DeviantART;  Gray Squirrel Hanging Upside Down photo reference. The font is Ugly Qua.

Mole Dee for Monday Artday, in Copics

A Mole Named Dee in Copic Markers with digital text

You may have seen the shy tarsier named Nee in my last post, for the topic “Shiny” at Illustration Friday. And now, a mole named Dee for the topic “Moldy” at Monday Artday. Perhaps you sense a trend? Time will tell!

She was halfway out of her den before stopping for a breath, and also to rethink her evening plans. Yes, it would be nice to visit her sister Dinky for grubs and gossip about that new family of field mice. But Dinky had insisted on moving so far away, and only eighty percent of the route was reachable by tunnel.  After a moment’s more thought she turned and went back inside. A nap sounded mighty fine.

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I think I went too dark overall, from fussing with it too long. Wasn’t happy with the colors though they ended up not too bad. She’s also a tad lumpier than needed. Aaah!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Reference photo from the University of Zurich; font is Ugly Qua.

Shy Tarsier Named Nee for Illustration Friday

A Shy Tarsier Named Nee, 8 x 10 Copic Markers and Multiliners

Tarsiers are naturally shy creatures, and Nee is no exception. In the continuing effort to come out of his shell he decided to take a one-on-one assertion training class from a small parrot named Louisa, who is quite famous in certain circles for her charming yet firm personality. When not working as an assertion training specialist, Louisa has a small side business in matchmaking. As you might imagine, she has a lot of overlap in clientele.

I’ve taken a small liberty with Illustration Friday‘s daily word Shiny. In this case, shy Nee. He’s got one ear cocked to take in all of Louisa’s wisdom but so far has been unable to relax.

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I am happy with the tarsier but next time would take longer with the parrot and the trees, which were a bit rushed (and look it).  Thank you so very much for visiting, wonderful people!

 

Young tarsier reference photo.