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

Sketches: Campion

I was watching the Campion series, starring Peter Davison, while working in December, and was reminded that although I've made several attempts to read the books, I was always thwarted by the library system, which evidently doesn't think Margery Allingham important enough to warrant having many of her books. I had read Mystery Mile and Traitor's Purse, (with about ten years between them, both in terms of their publication and my reading them) but had never managed to get hold of any others. So I got the whole collection as ebooks and have been working my way through them. They don't require too much brain power, which is exactly what I need in the middle of summer, when it's too hot to think too hard.

So here are a couple of sketches relating to the books:

Here is Campion himself (not based on Peter Davison, my likeness-capturing abilities haven't degenerated that much! =P) from the descriptions in the first two books:

This isn't strictly a Campion sketch – I am trying to practice drawing things that I tend to avoid, and decided to start off with this car, based on a screenshot of the credits of the tv series. As far as I can tell it's a 1932 Lagonda. And then I stuck a random couple and a dog in there as well. Overall it's pretty wonky, but at least it's recognisably a car, yes?

(Pentel Brush Pen and Artline 0.4 Drawing System pen)

And finally, a character sketch from a description in Mystery Mile. This was drawn while at a bbq, so I couldn't see what I was doing overly well. =P I wanted to push it a bit further, but didn't quite manage it. I shall blame the low outdoor lighting for that.

“In the midst of this discomfort Mrs Knapp presided affably over a worn and impatient gathering. She was a vast florid person clad in an assortment of garments, each one of which attempted to do only half the duty for which it had originally been intended. Her scrawny reddish hair was drawn tightly into a knot at the back of her head, from which several escaping strands fell over her disordered bodice. Her face was chiefly remarkable for some three or four attempts at a beard which grew out of large brown moles scattered over her many chins.”

All done in a Moleskine Sketchbook and (unless stated) with a 0.5 #B mechanical pencil.