Illustration: Sit!

Finished, at last!

I've had a busy few days, so it's taken me since Wednesday to actually get this painted, doing a little each day. Of course, stripes are not the most speedy of things, but I am trying to get better at patterned fabrics. I think this one came out pretty nicely. =) I think I'd like to do a set of these....

This dress is from the late 1820s (1827–30, to be specific), from a dress in the V&A's Nineteenth Century Costume in Detail. This came out a bit more green than yellow, and rather more vibrant, but then I was working small (she's 15.5cm tall) and trying not to obsess over details too much, so my green lines came out fairly thick. But I still like it. ^.^ Usually I design my own dresses, but I liked this one so much. 

Winsor & Newton watercolours and Artline Drawing System pens in Moleskine Watercolour Sketchbook. 

Previous Posts:

Linework: Sit!

Linework: Sit!

A bit of R&R. I'm 2/3 of the way through my portrait commission, and needed a little break. Plus, the batteries in my electric eraser are dying, there are no AAA batteries in the house, and the eraser is extremely necessary for the hair in said portrait. Tomorrow I shall get new batteries and all will be well. 

So here's the inked version of a little sketch I jotted roughly down in my watercolour sketchbook back in December. I was given the V&A's Nineteenth Century Costume in Detail for Christmas, and very much liked an 1829-30 gown depicted in it, and decided to sketch it. And now I'm finishing it up. It will of course be watercoloured as well, but for now all I have done is the linework.

 

Here's a snap showing the original dress, for those of you interested in costume/what exactly I was working from. 

Artline Drawing System Pens (0.1 and 0.4) in Moleskine Watercolour Sketchbook.

Sketch: Margaret Hale

I'm in a classics mood at the moment, and was watching the BBCs North and South yesterday evening – North and South is one of my favourite books, so I did a sketch of Margaret Hale (not as portrayed by Daniella Denby-Ashe; much as I enjoy the miniseries, this is my interpretation of the character in the novel) 

She's inspired by Dante Rosetti's work, but I didn't use a direct reference for anything. I'd like to do Mr Thornton facing her on the other page, but I haven't had time to do that yet. 

0.5 #B mechanical pencil in Moleskine sketchbook

At the moment I have some portraiture commissions to work on, so here's a snap of my desk, which I cleared for portraiture this evening, and a sneak-peek of the current portrait. It's nice to have a 'tidy' desk again, and it's also especially nice to have some work! 

Painting: Wrens on a Wire

My client now has the finished piece, so I can blog the final product!

(click to see it larger)

This isn't the best scan – I had to scan it in five pieces, and the texture of rough paper never seems to align just right, unfortunately. But it was the best I could do with a 26" painting. =P

Wrens in Photoshop are much easier than in watercolour!

Here are a couple of details:

Winsor & Newton watercolours, Reeves Gouache, white Cromacryl acrylic and Prismacolour pencils on 300gsm hot-pressed watercolour paper. 

Previous Posts

Previous Posts:

Progress: Wrens on a Wire

Progress: Wrens on a Wire 2

Progress: Wrens on a Wire 3

Progress: Wrens on a Wire 4

Illustration: Pride and Prejudice

I found this lurking, half-coloured, in my files. I'd completely forgotten about it, so I decided to finish it off. You may remember the original sketch from way back when. Yes, it's been flipped in the meantime. =P  

"It is your turn to say something now, Mr Darcy. I talked about the dance, and you ought to make some kind of remark on the size of the room, or the number of couples."

I left this rather loose, with a background from cgtextures.com.

And tagging along we have a sketchbook page of random hairstyles. There is a regency hairstyle in there, so it sort of fits.... really I was just mucking about while watching tv.  

Pride & Prejudice in Adobe Photoshop with Wacom Intuos 3

Sketch in Moleskine Sketchbook with 0.5 #B mechanical pencil

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?

Sketch: Benedict Cumberbatch

My Friday night sketching while watching tv with my mother. Not perfect, clearly could be better, but I thought it was about time for a blog post.

So here we have Benedict Cumberbatch in the BBC's Sherlock, which I have been enjoying. It's fun to sketch interesting faces, although if I was doing a proper portrait the likeness would be far better. It is what it is, however. I'm a bit rusty with sketching, anyway. >.<

0.5 mechanical pencil with #B lead in Moleskine Sketchbook, about 1.5 hours.