Illo Advent 2017

I'd made my plans for Illo Advent before I suddenly acquired a lot of extra deadlines, so while I struggled on to keep it going, I ended up missing quite a few days. We can't have everything, and I'm actually quite proud of myself for managing as many days as I did, considering the amount of work I was doing at the same time!

My theme this year was a school nativity play, one character a day. I knew I'd only be able to be really rough with it, but later on I may work it up into a proper illustration, treating this as the draft. Then again, I may not. You never know!

I managed 20 of the 25 days, which isn't bad. There was originally going to be a girl dressed up a the star, and some more animals, but I had to cut my losses. There was also going to be more scenery. Best laid plans.... 

Adobe Photoshop CC 2018 on a Wacom Mobile Studio Pro. I kept it down to well under half an hour per kid. 

Bark the Herald Angels Sing

A quick little Colour Collective that I threw together. Most of December was full of deadlines and I was working absolutely flat tack, but it's important to carve out a little time to not work, so I kept up with my Colour Collective pieces, albeit very quick ones!

This was inspired by the way you get barks heralding Christmas visitors if you have a dog in the house. If in doubt, I draw Myrna!

Adobe Photoshop CC 2018 on a Wacom Mobile Studio Pro

Christmas Cards 2017

I was pretty busy when it came time to design this year's Christmas cards, so rather than come up with a new theme, I recycled last year's theme - I had several unused concept thumbnails all ready to go, which made it very simple. I chose to change the colours, so the cards really belong to the same series, but not the same set - they compliment each other well though:

See more below the cut:

Christmas Mayhem

I had grand plans for Colour Collective's 'Alice Blue' prompt, but as so often happens, deadlines got in the way. So I threw together a quick little illustration to use as my Twitter header for this festive season.

Myrna is always a good choice for when I'm low on time!

Of course, I scrambled to finish something for Colour Collective, and then Twitter decided to hide my post from the hashtag search. Thanks Twitter, that's all I need. >.<

Here's a look at how it fits into my Twitter page. It's tricky to design something that will work across all devices and screen sizes. I used a template I found somewhere - but it does not work on Twitter's Mac app. Which I don't think has been updated in years, so that's probably why...

Last year my Twitter header was Myrna as well. This time in Christmassy red:

Cruise Kittens

I'm feeling a bit overworked, and dreaming of lazy holidays of the sort that I normally don't even like (you know, sitting on lounge chairs by the beach or pool, while someone brings you drinks. Usually I prefer to be out and about seeing stuff on holiday!) so when Colour Collective came up with 'Battery Charged Blue' for their prompt, I decided to do something with a holiday vibe. I went with the Mediterranean rather than South East Asia, for the very simple reason that I didn't feel like drawing tricky palm trees.

Any colour with a name like 'Battery Charged Blue' needs the zing of a contrasting colour, so I kept my palette very limited, with marmalade cats and terracotta roofs, and kept the saturation high. I've never actually been to the Mediterranean, but the photos always have gloriously saturated colours. 

This took 2 hours, tops. And as usual, I did it in Adobe Photoshop CC2017 on a Wacom Cintiq Companion 2. Apart from the clouds, the whole thing was done using Kyle Webster's 'Gouache Extra Dry' brush (the clouds were a watercolour brush).

Shakespearean Kitty

"The breaking of so great a thing should make a greater crack."

A quick little piece for Colour Collective - for the 'Old Lace' prompt. Obviously this really required a detailed treatment of an Elizabethan ruff.... but I required not to spend too long on it. So this is what we have. 

The quote is from Anthony and Cleopatra, and I have no idea what it's referring to, never having read that play. I just searched for a quote that would work with the image. My knowledge of Shakespeare is patchy. I'm good on the tragedies, from highschool, and from proof-reading my friend Makenzi's various theses, from Bachelors all the way up to PhD. And I'm good on a few comedies, because I like the comedies. But histories.... nope. I got nothin'.   

Adobe Photoshop CC2017 on a Wacom Cintiq Companion 2.

A couple of hours. I was not having a good drawing day. Sometimes you get a day like that!

Gosnells Writers Circle Self-Publishing Expo 2017

This year I was again invited to take part in the Gosnells Writers Circle Self Publishing Expo. (I also attended it last year and in 2015) It's very nice of them, as I don't live in Gosnells and I'm not a member of the circle - but I have done several projects with members. This year I was tabling with my lovely author, Sioban Timmer - we have done two books together so far. Toughen Up, Princess and Feral Fergus.

Here's my set-up. I made sure to bring along a lot of different things to sell, as you never know what people will decide to buy. I had my banner up behind me, and an iPad running a slideshow of illustrations and timelapse videos of me working.

Here is the full table. Sioban (who is organiser for the Expo as well) wasn't at her seat when these photos were kindly taken by Jane Hilton, and I didn't call her over because she hates having her photo taken.

I took a little video of my side of the table to post to my Instagram Story:

Part of my task is to advise anyone who is looking to self-publish and needs an illustrator (quite a low number this year, unless I look too terrifying to approach. I don't, do I??) but I also bring along things to sell, especially things that might make good gifts. 

Last year there were a lot of kids at the Expo, so this year I made lots of stickers and magnets, small items with small price points (last year my bookmarks went well). However, this year the Expo was in a different venue, and less people came in off the street, so the only two kids were there to receive awards for their writing. So that backfired a little. I sold a couple of magnets and one sticker pack, but the single stickers remained entirely unloved. I like them, I think I will start sticking them around my desk. =P

(all the stickers were handmade, printed out on matte paper, Modge-Podged, stuck to double-sided adhesive paper and cut out.)

As usual, I was offering cards and my Literary Romance Colouring Book (Buy it here! Perfect for the literature-lover in your life), and I also had six Expo Special slots open for discounted watercolour and pet portraits, but the price point was still too high for the venue, really. But it's good to offer these things on the off-chance. And in a way, it's fortunate, because I'm horrendously busy this coming month!) I had a couple of pieces of handmade jewellery, and this year I also made felted baubles. I sold a few of those, so I don't have photos of all of them: 

Several of my beaded ones went, along with a mouse and a koala in Christmas hats. 

 

I think the blue beaded one is my favourite...

The baubles were felted in the washing machine, with balls of leftover wool scraps from my mother's hoard inside, and then I embellished them with needle felting and beads.

All in all, it was a good morning! We had two interesting guest speakers, teaching us how to write in technicolour instead of monochrome (Lee Battersby), and how to stay inspired no matter what (Karen McDermott from Serenity Press). The Gosnells Writers Circle was also launching it's Bi-Annual Anthology. Lots going on! Thanks for having me, Gosnells Writers Circle!