Inktober 2017: Week 2

Despite being horrendously busy, I decided that I would take some time for Inktober this year. If you don't know what that is, it's an October challenge on social media, where you draw something in ink every day. Some of the artwork is amazing, go check it out! There is an official prompt list, and a number of people write their own prompt lists - but there are no real rules, and I'm not following any prompts.

I decided to draw really little images each day - just so I can have ten to twenty minutes working with a nice traditional brush pen, on actual paper, on something that doesn't have to be perfect. I'm not pretending to be up there with the people who do a full-blown, amazing illustration every day. I'm too busy for that, for a start! =P

For my second week, my character was a black raven:

See more below the cut:

Inktober 2017: Week 1

Despite being horrendously busy, I decided that I would take some time for Inktober this year. If you don't know what that is, it's an October challenge on social media, where you draw something in ink every day. Some of the artwork is amazing, go check it out! There is an official prompt list, and a number of people write their own prompt lists - but there are no real rules, and I'm not following any prompts.

I decided to draw really little images each day - just so I can have ten to twenty minutes working with a nice traditional brush pen, on actual paper, on something that doesn't have to be perfect. I'm not pretending to be up there with the people who do a full-blown, amazing illustration every day. I'm too busy for that, for a start! =P

My first week was devoted to this little black kitten:

More under the cut, including a timelapse!

Training new Familiars

Back to the cats for Colour Collective. The colour was 'Pewter Blue'. I'm still pressed for time, so I reused an old concept from last year, and updated it to fit with my current cat series:

I had rather less than two hours to work on this, so it was a bit rushed, but there we go.

Here's the original use of this frightened kitty-cat, from a Halloween witch I did in October 2016 (that's a year ago, how did that happen??):

Adobe Photoshop CC2017 on a Wacom Cintiq Companion 2.

Pretty as a Picture...

... and Planning the Hit List.

It had to be a really quick Colour Collective for the 'Shocking Pink' prompt. I'm taking overflowing to-do lists to whole new levels.

So this was the quickest thing I could think of!

About 1 hour in Adobe Photoshop CC on a Wacom Cintiq Companion 2

Feral Fergus Book Launch

Finally getting around to blogging about the book launch for Feral Fergus, my newest picture book with Sioban Timmer. We worked together on Toughen Up, Princess a couple of years ago, and now we're back with a new book in full colour!

Sioban and Moi:

The launch was held on September 2nd at the Amherst Community Hall in Gosnells. We had quite a crowd!

Our publisher, Cate Rocci of Jasper Books, spoke first, then I did a presentation about the creation of Fergus as a character, starting with my initial meeting with Sioban, where she told me she envisaged a cross between Alfred Newman of MAD Magazine, Ginger Meggs and Fido Dido, though various character sketches right through to the final character:

 

(My father took this photo, he is a master at catching me in weird expressions :P)

Sioban then took to the stage to discuss her role as the writer, while I provided some entertainment and drew Fergus on the whiteboard behind her:

After that we signed books:

We also had a colouring table set up for the kids, with some colouring pages of Fergus. You can download the pages to colour yourself from my website here. The colouring page pack also features the Feral Name Generator that is included in the book. You'll see from the photos that everyone is wearing a name badge - not with their real-world name, but with their feral name. If you're curious as to yours, go download the pack!

Thanks to Ken Mutton, Jane Hilton and Sioban Timmer for the photos.

I'll blog more about Fergus in the near future. I've been so busy with various projects it's been difficult to find time to blog about anything!

Morning Ablutions

Some privacy, please!

"Buttercup" for Colour Collective. There are daffodils in our garden at the moment, so naturally the yellow made me think of them. I tossed up for a while whether I would feature a black cat, as in my previous few CCs, or return to my Myrna series. In the end I chose a cat, but I would choose a very tricky pose, wouldn't I? =P It took a bit longer than planned, because I was exhausted after an extremely busy day, but I got it finished in good time, so never mind. 

Adobe Photoshop CC2017 on a Wacom Cintiq Companion 2, about 2 to 2.5 hours in total.

By The Window

Here's the little piece I did for Colour Collective's 'Cordovan' prompt. I'm still practicing cats. 

This had its start as a sketch on my father's iPad Pro. We had the electricians in, so the power was off. I had a multitude of things I should have been doing, ranging from drawing or typesetting for work to cooking dinner or practicing the piano, but they all required electricity (my Cintiq Companion has almost no battery life. Last time I ran on battery I got 20 minutes out of it (after which it shut down without warning), and my piano is in a very dark room so I need the lights on) so I picked up the iPad and started doodling. I quite liked it as a concept, but it was horribly full of mistakes (look at the length of her legs, oops) so I thought it would serve as a good starting point for Colour Collective:

This was a quick piece, a bit over two hours overall (plus half an hour or so for that original sketch). I don't have much time to labour over Colour Collective pieces, but I like to squeeze them in as a change of pace from whatever I'm working on at the time. I enjoy coming up with something for colours I might not ordinarily use.

Adobe Photoshop CC2017 on a Wacom Cintiq Companion 2