Midnight Chase

Back in September 2016 I did a piece for Colour Collective's 'Venetian Red' prompt. I really liked it, but it had a lot of flaws - my Colour Collective pieces usually do, I don't have the time to plan them out properly, so they're always a bit rough and ready. I thought it definitely had potential though, so throughout February I worked on a remake of it after finishing work for the day. I was completing some work books that were heavy on stranger-danger and online predators, so I felt the need to completely step away from such work before I went to bed. I wasn't enjoying that assignment!

I think it looks much better now, and is worthy of being in my portfolio. I used my original as a sort of extended rough and colour study, and this time around I spent more time fixing up my perspective and playing with different textures.

Here's a progress animation showing the evolution from original linework to finished piece:

I've been trying to keep more of the freshness of my sketched lines in my final pieces lately, so for digital work I've been experimenting with sketching as normal, and then going over those lines with colour, so that the original sketch is still visible. At the moment I'm quite liking the effect. Here are my original sketches of the figures, and some close-up shots from partway through the illustration (when the figures were pretty much done):

As you can see, I didn't bother much with the man's feet, as they were going to be completely obscured by the bridge anyway. I just needed to know roughly where they were so that he didn't end up looking like he was about to fall over. 

Here's a look at the two pieces side-by-side:

This was done in Adobe Photoshop CC on a Wacom Cintiq Companion 2. It took somewhere between 20 and 25 hours, I think, over the course of January. 

100 Days of Old Movies: Instalment 7 (61 - 69)

61 & 62: The Slipper and the Rose (1976)

Dancing in his arms forever my heart will never be free, dreaming of the night he danced with me.

1976 is getting a bit modern (in my opinion) to be an 'old movie' but The Slipper and the Rose is a pretty film, so I put it in the lineup on the basis that it has fancy costumes. 

It's a straightforward retelling of Cinderella, with music by the Sherman Brothers (who did Mary Poppins among many other Disney films, although this film is not Disney) and in my opinion it would be an excellent movie if it were not suffering from what I call '1960s movie bloat' - starting in the 60s, films that would previously have run to a trim 90-110 minutes were suddenly pushing two and a half hours or more. The songs go on too long, the dances go on too long, there are unnecessary scenes.... and I make use of the fast forward function on my dvd player. The Slipper and the Rose goes for 146 minutes (as a comparison, The Glass Slipper (numbers 39 & 40 in my 100 Days) goes for 93 minutes, and still manages to squeeze in three arty 1930s ballet dream sequences, and the latest Disney Cinderella goes for 105 minutes.). 

This isn't to say that I don't like The Slipper and the Rose, I just think it would have been better if they'd trimmed it a little - but many people adore it just the way it is, and that's just fine. It's got beautiful costumes and sets, some truly lovely music, and Annette Crosbie makes an excellent long-suffering fairy godmother. Cindrella is played by Gemma Craven and the prince is Richard Chamblerlain. 

Here's the waltz scene. 

More under the cut (Singin' in the Rain, Gilda & Gigi)

Illustration: The Masqueraders

I needed some more cover art in my portfolio, and as I was listening to Heyer's The Masqueraders when I decided this, I thought I'd see if I could create a YA-style cover for that story. I first read it when I was about 13, and the plot of a brother and sister switching places amongst political intrigue and romance was a fun theme that could conceivably belong to YA lit. 

Here's a progress animation of the main steps I took in creating this piece. There are hints in the earliest stages of a more complicated background, with silhouetted vignettes, but I eventually discarded that idea and stuck with something a bit simpler. 

This was a good exercise in drawing characters, as each character I had to draw twice, and they each had to pass as both a man and a woman. I couldn't just copy the faces 100%, but I tried my best to maintain all of their features. It's tricky when you don't have hair and clothes to fall back on!

For those unacquainted with the book, the bottom half of the picture has the characters the right way round, with the girl in the red dress and the boy in blue (They spend most of the book playing their opposite gender). Here's an inverted version so you can better see them:

I don't really have any idea how long this took, as I worked on it in small bursts of free time over the past year. It definitely didn't take long enough to warrant the whole year though! 

Adobe Photoshop CC with a Wacom Intuos Pro 5 and a Wacom Cintiq Companion 2

I looked up period references for the clothes and took my own references for help with the (always tricky) hands, but otherwise, no direct reference.

Inking: The Glass Slipper

My lovely friend gave me the dvd of The Glass Slipper for Christmas – I'd been wanting to see it for some time, being a sucker for a sweet fairytale adaption, especially if it involves pretty costumes. Continuing on with my inking practice, I took Boxing Day off work (although most of it got eaten by a family visit) and did some sketching from it.

I think I'm definitely getting better with the brush pen here. 

This was technically the first of the two, but I didn't finish it until last night. I wasn't happy with the (nonexistant) likenesses (that's supposed to be Leslie Caron and Michael Wilding there, who knew? =P), so on the basis that I couldn't very well muck it up any further, I extended it far beyond the original screenshot I was using as reference, and practiced foliage (never a strong point) in a big way, inspired by Chris Riddell:

These were done with a Pentel Brush Pen and Artline Drawing System 0.4 pen in a Moleskine Sketchbook. 

Silhouette Christmas Cards

And here's our second Christmas card design. 

This was a nice excuse to be a bit nostalgic and return to my Golden Age influences; when I did my honours project on the era I didn't get to do any silhouettes, but I love them. I did have grand plans to do the whole 12 Days of Christmas, but it became clear that I was going to run out of time, so I just finished off the first. I got about halfway through 9 Ladies Dancing as well, so hopefully I'll get time to finish that up in the near future. 

I put the design in a circle, to tie my two very different cards together. And then of course I added glitter:

I originally started without any clear idea of what era I wanted to depict, and did four draft silhouettes before I decided. Here they are, showing the 1780s, the 1800s, the 1830s and the 1920s:

Eventually I decided on the 1780s, as that's around the time The Twelve Days of Christmas was first published in England.

Adobe Photoshop CS6.

Quotes: Lord Tony's Wife

This, as Makenzi points out, is rather bleak, but it's also from a book set during the Reign of Terror, so bleak is.... what's needed. And believe me, I could have made it bleaker! =P

I was reading Baroness Orczy's Lord Tony's Wife as a bit of fluff, and thought this quote was a good image to practice black and white photoshop work with:

"….and Yvonne like a trapped bird was bruising her wings against the bars of her cage"

Adobe Photoshop CS4 with a Wacom Intuos 3, about 1 to 1.5 hours, using just a size 8 hard round brush in black and white. 

Illustration: At the Window

Finished this off yesterday, and I think it came out pretty well. =)

I still yearn for a watercolour paper that works for me properly, without randomly not letting the paint (especially my favourite payne's grey) cover it, or drying unevenly, but nothing too major happened here (despite large quantities of payne's grey =P).

And now I can forget about Christmas cards for a while again. I think one makes for a nice change – I haven't done a blue card for years, they've all been dominated by red.

0.1 Artline Drawing System fineliner, Winsor and Newton watercolours.

Previous post: 2011 Christmas Cards 1

Sketch: Marguerite Blakeney

A little sketch for relaxation. I spent a lot of today preparing files for print and uploading them to a printer, and most of the remainder working on a commissioned illustration.... until I realised that I'd made a glaring error and would really have to start all over again. Fortunately the necessity of cooking tea prevented me from jumping off the nearest cliff, but I didn't feel like going back to work on it once I'd finished with the print-uploading today. 

So, here we have Marguerite Blakeney, of the Scarlet Pimpernel novels. She gets on my nerves because despite being described as 'the cleverest woman in Europe' more than once, she's actually incredibly dim, especially once you get past the first novel. Said 'cleverest woman' should not be continually walking into traps... unless the entire female population of Europe at the time was infinitely less clever, which I find hard to believe!* =P 

So here I am taking out my frustration on this extremely frustrating character. Also, I needed to redraw her from the last sketch, as I discovered that she's blonde. Too many screen adaptations, that's what it is! She's always a brunette in those. 

Oh, and if French is not your thing, the thought bubble reads 'empty'.

About 45 minutes, grey marker (and a hint of pencil) in a Jasart 'My Memoirs' A5 sketchbook. 

*Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the books – a little over-the-top melodrama never hurt anyone. I just wish that Marguerite would stay unconscious for longer when she fainted/got knocked out/fell asleep of fatigue/etc. =P

Quotes: The Elusive Pimpernel

I read two Scarlet Pimpernel novels back in highschool, thwarted in my attempt to read the series not only by the fact that I couldn't get my hands on any more, but also because Marguerite was really getting on my nerves. Now that I have an ereader, I've found the books on Project Gutenberg, thus reducing my obstacles by one – Marguerite is still a problem, though. =P

I'm currently working my way through The Elusive Pimpernel, and here is a sketch from that; one of those sketches that got away from me. I was sketching in a desultory fashion waiting for clients to get back to me with some vital info, and since so far they haven't.... I just kept sketching. Originally this didn't start out as a Pimpernel picture, but I let it go where it wanted. 

[Marguerite] had at the last moment the supreme courage and pride to turn her head once more toward her husband, in order to reassure him finally that his secret was safe with her in this hour of danger, as it had been in the time of triumph. 

0.5 mechanical pencil with #B lead in a Jasart 'My Memoirs' sketchbook. Unhappily there was a fault in the paper right where the gentlemen are standing, so I couldn't rub out much. As a result they look stiffer than I had planned. 

Sketch: Lady Catherine

A sketch of Lady Catherine DeBurgh from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. 

I came across a bunch of C E Brock's illustrations for the novel and was hit with a desire to do Austen sketches. Why I then chose to do Lady Catherine, who I feel would not approve of the regency fashions and would not wear them, I know not. Her dress was fun, anyway (c.1780s), and gave me something to do while I was beating my head against brick walls coming up with unrelated concepts for work-art. And yes, her head is too big... but that's apt, right? =P

0.5 mechanical pencil with #B lead in Jasart My Memoirs Sketchbook. 

About 1.5 hours. 

Sketches: Singin' In The Rain

I've been in a musical mood lately, especially nice bright 1950s MGM technicolor ones. 

And here we have two sketches of Gene Kelly and Jean Hagen hamming it up for the silent screen in Singin' In The Rain:

"You rattle-snake, you got that poor kid fired."

"That's not all I'm gonna do if I ever get my hands on her." 

"Tonight, the world is ours, tonight, we are alone." 

0.5 mechanical pencil with #B lead in a Jasart 'My memoirs' sketchbook. 

The first sketch worked better – this is a new sketchbook, and I haven't quite worked out how to make it take darks well yet. =P Also, I was sick while I did the second – it just wasn't a lucky sketch, clearly!

Sketch: Rebecca

Character sketches are always a good excuse to draw pretty people not doing much, which is my default state of drawing when tired. Very relaxing! 

This is Rebecca, one of the protagonists in Makenzi Crouch's novel-in-progress. You can read an excerpt of the current draft on her blog over here.

I was focussed on the character, not the background, as you can see. Be thankful there's at least some background! =P 

I hope to do more character sketches soon. They're a nice way to spend my evenings; currently I'm doing illustrations for an educational publisher, so it's nice to wind down with elaborate costuming and sketchy lines. 

0.5 Mechanical pencil with #B lead in Moleskine sketchbook.

As for other works in progress, Gaya is to all intents and purposes finished, and is just going through a rest period, so I can check for mistakes with fresh eyes in a few days. And the wedding portrait that's on the go is, weather permitting, my other project for this week (unless it gets horrid and humid again). 

I then have a couple of other portraits to get going with. 

Busy busy!

Quotes: In The Reign of Terror

Every now and then I get the urge to go all over the top and 18th Century in my pictures. And here we have some of the results. 

These first two were done over a month apart. The heroic couple on the right were very loosely based on a photo of Clark Gable and Jean Harlow, and originally started out being a 40s Noir couple – however, my hand (or something) obviously had other ideas, and they morphed into c.1740s. 

The sketch on the left was done the other night. I had been reading G A Henty's In The Reign of Terror: The Adventures of a Westminster Boy and decided to do some sketching based around bits of it – and chose this blank page because the two would, I thought, suit fairly well together. For my first sketch from this book, I chose the soppy 'declaration of love before we all die' moment. It was a good excuse to be dramatic and draw lots of people, which I tend not to do, and I try and stretch myself in my sketchbooks. No refs, and done pretty quickly.

"We may not succeed; an accident may betray us. At anyrate, dear, we shall live or die together."

"I am content," Jeanne said quietly.

"You know, Jeanne," Harry said, putting his hands on the girl's shoulders, "That I love you; I should never have told you do until I got you home if it hadn't been for this. But though I never said it, you know I love you."

And this quote I chose because it amused me, and I like to sketch from quotes that make me laugh – that way I remember them. This is full of flaws – again, no refs. (except for the clothes. I'm not in the habit of drawing fashions among the poorish during the French Revolution =P)

"Could I not take Victor's place and help you to seize Marat? I am not strong, you know; but I could hold I knife, and tell him I would kill him if he cried out. I don't think I could, you know, but he wouldn't know that."

And now I've done with that book – time to move onto something else, I think. =)

And finally, a dash of colour – a speedpaint I did of a section of the couple above; I was bored. =P