Illustration: Elsa

If it looks like I haven't been doing much, it's because I haven't. I spent the better part of two weeks in agony, and for most of that no one knew what the problem was – it could have been temporomandibular joint displacement, it could have been trigeminal neuralgia.... but it turned out to be a cracked tooth with an abscess, handily pressing on my trigeminal nerve so as to avoid detection. Let me tell you, it was not pleasant. And I was quite unable to do anything except lie down and wish for death, interspersed by throwing up because the medications (which didn't work) made me sick. To add insult to injury, I spent the evening of my birthday in Emergency, and missed out on actually eating at four meals specifically for celebrating said birthday. Life could have been more fun....

Now that I'm all better, of course, I've got my nose to the grindstone doing all the work I should have been doing over the past couple of weeks, but here is a little illustration I did of Elsa from Frozen, in the spirit of bandwagon-jumping. I started it when I had a bit of free time, and it's intended as part of something bigger.... but as I don't know when or even if that 'something bigger' will materialise, I am blogging the bit that is actually pretty much finished now. It should probably be tweaked, but that ain't gonna happen for a while, anyway:

I need to work on raised chins, but it was fun doing all the sparkles and glowy bits, and having an excuse for a gratuitous reflection!

Adobe Photoshop CC with a Wacom Intuos 3

Sneak Peek: Family Portrait

Here's a look at a loose watercolour portrait I'm currently working on finishing up.

I cleared one blackline master book off my desk today, and this is the next thing on the list, to be followed in rapid succession by wedding invitations and a lot more blackline master work. All good, enjoyable work, but I could wish that I hadn't been sick recently, it has really mucked up my schedule and everything's a bit of a rush now! I usually find November unusually busy anyway.

This is a family portrait compiled from five different photographs, all in Winsor and Newton watercolours on Moleskine watercolour paper (cut from an A3 watercolour sketchbook). I've been using Winsor and Newton Series 7 brushes. 

With luck, I can finish it off tomorrow!

SketchDump: Fashion

I've been suffering from a bit of Artist's Block lately. It doesn't strike very often, but when it does it's always at the most inconvenient of moments, naturally. So here are a few warm-up sketches I've done lately:

I'd been doing a few more 'What I wore' sketches. The quote accompanying this one is "Your hair looks terrible. It's all over the place!" My father is so complimentary. >.< I'm way overdue for a haircut and sometimes curl my hair to keep it out of my face. Here I had thrown on a blazer to dress up my jeans when going out for Thai.

30 minutes, Photoshop CS6.

Just drawing myself is a bit boring, so here's a sketch of the granddaughter of an honorary Aunt and Uncle. She goes to a church school which doesn't have a ball, but I was sent a photo of what she wore for her formal dinner.  

30 minutes, Photoshop CS6.

Another 'What I wore' sketch. This time the quote is "Are you a model?" to which I replied, "Good Heavens, no!" but it's nice to know random little old ladies think I might be (even though that's probably more failing eyesight than anything else =P) My skirt is vintage Sportscraft, which was passed down from my Great Aunt to my mother to me; in reality it looks a lot nicer...

30 minutes, Photoshop CS6. 

 

And here's a speedpaint of Deanna Durbin. I've been watching her movies lately. 

20 minutes, Photoshop CS6.

Finally, here's a peek at my latest needle felting project, very much unfinished:

Sneak Peek: Portraits

I've got two portraiture commissions on my desk at the moment, and have been dividing my time between them and a project on the computer. Here's a look:

Almost everything you see here is using a 0.5 mechanical pencil with a #B lead. I'll be using some #8B later, but haven't yet. For more information on the tools I use for portraiture, check out my tutorial.

Sneak Peek: Shanghai Lil

I've been told to post more pictures of my actually doing something, so here's a snap of me working on my weekend painting:

I spent all day yesterday creating blackline master illustrations, and all day today cleaning – time for some fun. ^.^

I'm using a 0.1 Artline Drawing System pen in a Moleskine watercolour sketchbook.

Sketch: Rachael Stirling

Here's a sketch I did while watching tv last night. It's based on a photo of Rachael Stirling, from, I think, Marple, but I'm not sure. It's not the best likeness either, but I quite like the result even so. I love big 20s hats. 

0.5 mechanical pencil in a Moleskine Sketchbook. 

And here's a sneak peek at a digital image I've been doing, on an off (in 15-30 minute chunks) for some weeks, as a reward for getting work done. It's part of a larger image, which I hope to have finished soon. I'm using Adobe Photoshop CS6 for this. Today I cleared a bunch of illustrations for a phonics book off my desk, and did much in the way of invoicing and other boring things, so tonight I was incredibly lazy and just flopped. Not productive of me. =P

WIP: Rita Hayworth

Here's another look at the portrait of Rita Hayworth. I've spent about 14 hours on it so far. Portraits, alas, have to play second fiddle to more commercial work, otherwise I would have had her finished before now. As it is, she'll have to wait until I get back from my holiday (this is the first of several scheduled posts to keep my blog active while I'm away)

But she's not fast going. All those feathers and sequins. I may end up more insane than I am already. =P 

This is Rita in Tonight and Every Night, if anyone wants to know. And that costume is really bright yellow and midnight blue. I think it looks classier in black and white. =P

Previous posts: 

Sneak Peek: Rita Hayworth

Sneak Peek: Rita Hayworth

I'm currently working on a portraiture commission of Rita Hayworth, a publicity portrait from Tonight and Every Night. I've made good progress on Rita herself, but anticipate her costume taking quite some time – it's almost entirely feathers and sequins, with some sparkly bracelets thrown in for good measure. >.< 

I'm using my usual 0.5 mechanical pencil with a #B lead, and an #8B pencil on 100gsm Quill sketching paper. I don't usually do commissions of stars, but this is for a family acquaintance, so I bend my rules for him. So far I've done around 6 hours work. Half her face still needs a lot of work, but for some reason I always seem to work right to left, when it would make more sense (my being right handed) to work in the opposite direction. You can see the sheet of paper I use to prevent smudging in the photo. 

Colouring Page & Sneak Peek: The Princess & The Pea

I finished the outlines on the current portfolio piece I'm working on today, so I've turned it into another colouring page, now up on my website. Click the thumbnail to download it, or go here for all the colouring pages currently available.

And here's a photo of my progress on this piece, which is all about perspective. Blergh. Perspective and I have never got on very well. =P 

....I think I need to do pirates or something else boyish for my next portfolio piece.... what do you think?

Progress: Wrens on a Wire 4

A bit more progress. Painted Lady butterflies are slow going! So are blue wrens, actually, the brown ones are much easier.

And here's a peek at my current little illustration, again finishing off something I started in July.

Previous Posts:

Progress: Wrens on a Wire

Progress: Wrens on a Wire 2

Progress: Wrens on a Wire 3

Sneak Peek: Bawang Putih 2

Slow going, mainly because I've had other things to do, but I'm very nearly finished Bawang Putih. This pleases me very much, as I'm getting sick of it sitting on my desktop, staring balefully at me while I work on other things. =P

Click for a bigger size. =)

As I mentioned before, this was mainly practice at backgrounds. I find natural backgrounds rather alarming to attempt, and I'd never tried a rainforest-type before. What we have here is a mixture of elements that I've drawn, and a montage of photographs that I took in Malaysia. Very much an experiment in technique!

I've been trying to get across that heavy, humid, saturated appearance Malaysia has when it's just been raining, and I think at any event the result could be worse. =P

Hopefully I shall have this completed in the very near future!

Previous Post: Sneak Peek: Bawang Putih

Sneak Peek: Emma Watson

Rescuing a recently uncovered portrait from the depths of my computer. I've got a terrible cold, and portraiture is a nice way of being productive without actually having to think too much. 

I started this way back in January 2008, and just remembered it's existence the other day, and thought I'd finish it off.

The original photo is from the December 2007 issue of InStyle magazine. I found it on the web somewhere, but after all this time I don't remember exactly what site it was. The photoshoot comes up with a google search, however, so it's still out there. This is just a small portion of the image – I'll post the whole thing when I'm done. 

Started in Painter 9 as en exercise in shiny surfaces, and then taken into Photoshop CS4, with a Wacom Intuous 3.

Sneak Peek: Bawang Putih

Here's a peek at a portfolio illustration I'm currently working on. It's a double page spread storybook illustration for the Malay Peninsular folktale Bawang Putih Bawang Merah, which is a Cinderella variant, quite similar to the Chinese variant, known as Yeh-Shen, but instead of golden shoes, Bawang Putih has a magic swing that only moves when she sings, which captivates the prince. I thought that was a lovely image, so chose that scene as my subject.

Since the beautiful Malaysian national dress really only came into existence in the 1790s, and dress worn before then was a bit on the dull side, I've smoodged together aspects of a number of traditional costumes from various Malaysian states with the Kemban, the sarong-like garment worn in more ancient times. So we're not exactly accurate, but it's a fairytale, so it doesn't really have to be. 

This is good practice for backgrounds – I've never done a rainforest type of background before, and trees have never been my strong point. I'm getting good use out of the reference photos I shot (on the offchance) when in Malaysia last year.

Adobe Photoshop CS4 with Wacom Intuos 3

Sneak Peek: Little Mermaid 2

Remember the sneak peek of the Little Mermaid I posted way back in November last year? Well, here she is again. I got busy with work, and it also got a bit too hot to sit at the computer for hours on end unless I had to, so I put this image on hold. But I've picked it back up again now and it's nearly finished:

Photoshop CS4 with a Wacom Intuos 4

Sneak Peek: Shrews

This was supposed to be a little weekend muck-about-with-the-watercolours piece of fun, but I liked how it was coming along so much that I decided to do it properly. The result is that it took a bit longer than planned, but I think I'm finished now. I'm leaving it until tomorrow, however, in case I see something that needs fixing. 

In the meantime, here's a sneak peek:

It's a watercolour (or rather, part of it) of the caravanning shrews from my last post. I liked the sketch so much that I wanted to take it further. I had fun pretending I was illustrating a children's book (one day it shall not be pretend. I shall get there!) and working out ways to draw up-close foliage without overwhelming everything with detail.

PITT Artist Pen in sepia and Winsor & Newton watercolours. 

Sneak Peek: Portrait

I'm doing a wedding portrait of my friends, as a wedding present. Severely belated, but I should hopefully be able to have it finished in time for them to move into their new house (*fingers crossed*). It was never going to be an on-time present anyway, as it's from their favourite wedding photo, which of course didn't exist until after the fact. 

They know they're getting it, but want the finished product to be a surprise – but it's taking so long, what with actual work and stuff, that I've already sent along one little tidbit, and here's that, along with another one, to tantalise them (and everyone else). I think it's coming along quite nicely. =)

Graphite

Sneak Peek: Little Mermaid

I've been pretty busy on portraiture lately, but today was Saturday and I wanted a break from obsessive detail work, so I did some work on a portfolio piece. I started this ages ago, and just picked it back up the other day. I need to update my portfolio.

And since I haven't really done any sketching lately, I thought I'd post it:

So here we have a tiny bit of a still very unfinished little mermaid meeting the sea witch. It will be atmospheric. The witch is quite scary, but I shall not spoil her for you. =P

Adobe Photoshop.

And tagging along we have a little sketch I did last night:

I saw the Sky adaption of Terry Pratchett's Going Postal recently, and quite enjoyed it – certainly it's my favourite of the adaptions so far, – but of course characters always look different in one's imagination. So here we have my interpretation of Adora Belle Dearheart, based loosely on Lauren Bacall from the cover of my copy of Dark Passage. 

The quote reads: 

"You know how to pray, don't you? You just put your hands together – and hope."

And anyone who likes their film noir will probably see why I always think of Lauren Bacall for Adora Belle. Remember the famous quote from To Have and Have Not?

"You know how to whistle, don't you Steve? You just put your lips together and ... blow." 

Pencil sketch in Moleskine Sketchbook

Sneak Peek: Possum

A look at a pen and ink drawing I'm currently working on – here you see a small bit of a western (Australian) pygmy possum. They are adorable, although the banksia flower this one is sitting on is less so. =P Quite meditative, though, once you get in the rhythm.

Sneak Peek: Scheherazade

A sneak peek of a current work in progress: Scheherazade of the 1001 Nights.

This is all done in pencil. A trick of the camera has thrown my perspective off a little, try to believe that it isn't that wonky!