Wattle Day

Wattle Day is the 1st September, so of course I had to draw something for it. Every year I get hayfever when the wattles come out, although I am informed that wattle pollen is too large to cause hayfever. Still, it's a lovely flower (and I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and assume that something else comes into flower at the same time and it is that that causes my hayfever). I chose to add a New Holland Honeyeater, partly for interest, partly because I've been having fun drawing birds lately anyway. 

Adobe Photoshop CC2018 on a Wacom Mobile Studio Pro. I think it took about an hour, an hour and a half.

Misc Sketches

I did my last blog post of miscellaneous sketches back in March, so it's about time for another one!

Let's kick things off with Myrna, done for the 'fool' prompt of the SCBWI West Challenge - my local SCBWI branch has been posting daily sketch topics on Instagram, for people to join in when they want some ideas or inspiration. 

And a Myrna with flowers, for a birthday card for my mother:

More below the cut:

Matilda

It was the 30th Anniversary of the publication of Roald Dahl's Matilda on the 1st of October, so for Colour Collective's 'Turmeric' post I thought I should colour up a sketch I did from the book earlier in the year. I'm only what, 4 months late in blogging it... 

Here's the original sketch, from January 15:

Adobe Photoshop CC2018 on a Wacom Mobile Studio Pro. 

Colouring in took about an hour, give or take. The sketch was probably about 30-45 minutes, it's too long ago for me to remember!

Eyeliner Struggles

For Colour Collective's 'Kohl' prompt, I went with the obvious - eyeliner. I am terrible at applying eyeliner, and usually leave it off altogether. The struggle is real!

I was a bit busy, so I went with a quick, cartoony style. And I added in that black cat, because why not?

Adobe Photoshop CC 2018 on a Wacom Mobile Studio Pro.

Audrey Hepburn

Here's a portrait commission I finished recently. It would be the photo of Audrey Hepburn that contained the absolute maximum of lace, flowers, and ribbons, wouldn't it? If I'm honest, I prefer her look in Sabrina, but I don't get to choose the reference. =P

This is almost A3 in size, and done almost entirely in graphite. I confess to a little Copic Opaque White in the lace of her cap, to get the netting effect.

You can head over to deviantArt to see a list of all the materials I use for pencil portraiture.

Have a look at some of my process below the cut, snaffled from my Instagram Stories:

Robert Mitchum

Another private portraiture commission, this time of Robert Mitchum. 

100% graphite, almost A3 in size. For a run-down of all the materials I use in pencil portraiture, head over to deviantArt.

See below the cut for a couple of process images:

Dusk

I needed to do something calm and serene for Colour Collective's 'Eminence' prompt - my work that day featured animals being distressed by a bushfire, which naturally meant I had to google this subject... and all in all, I needed something as far from fire and distress as I could get. 

Which brings us to Antarctica. No fire there! 

Eminence is a lovely rich purple (the sort I wear a lot) and so perfect for dusky scenes. As is unfortunately usually the case with Colour Collective, it was done in a bit of a rush (I generally think of my CC posts as sketches. Sometimes I like them enough to work them up into full, finished illustrations)... but it did make me feel a lot happier. =) 

Adobe Photoshop CC2018 on a Wacom Mobile Studio Pro

Mermay 2018

It's always fun to take part in Mermay, where you draw a mermaid every day for the month of May. Social media challenges are always a lot of fun. I don't beat myself up if I don't manage to do every day, if I'm busy, I'm busy... but if I've got a spare half hour, it's nice to sketch something and be part of the community.

Day 1:

The rest are below the cut:

Colour Collective Cats

Here are a few cats I did for Colour Collective throughout May. I was pretty busy, and needed a quick subject, and black cats are one of my go-tos for that. 

'Dioxazine Mauve'

More below the cut: