Watercolour: Ann Miller

Here's a little watercolour portrait I did over the weekend. I've been doing so much precise detailed work that I needed to take a bit of time out to do something a bit more splashy. 

I used a drinking straw to blow the paint around for the background, and had fun not being able to control what was happening too well (and with that being just fine). What you see here is a photograph, as I added a bit of glitter to her jewellery. You can see a scan (sans glitter) on my deviantart page. 

Reference was a black and white photo from doctormacro.com.

Winsor and Newton watercolours with series 7 and series 7 miniature brushes, on a random offcut of watercolour paper (A4 in size). About 5 or 6 hours. 

Rita Hayworth

Remember the WIP of Rita Hayworth waaay back in July? It was picked up by the commissioner today, so here's a look at the finished piece:

Considering I had a Samba dancer to do for another client at the same time as I was finishing this off, right now I would be happy if I never saw another feather or sequin ever again. =P 

The whole thing took about 28 hours, most of which was spent on the sequins and feathers. Here are some details of some of the more intricate parts of the costume:

And here's a progress animation compiled of various scans:

This is on A3 Quill Drawing Cartridge. If you want to see a list of all the materials I use for portraits like this, take a look at my list over here. 

KAS Billboard

I did my very first billboard this year, for the Kelmscott Agricultural Society, which has been keeping me pretty busy lately. I was a bit nervous doing a billboard, because there was no one to tell me what to do, and I'm more used to the poster and flyer side of things. (And it was a good thing I did the 2012 Theme illustration as a vector, and didn't have to worry about the size!) However, I think it turned out pretty well, and it was in a great location – with the lights on it at night it looked rather striking, I think. =) 

My lovely father went to the trouble to get me this photo:

For a closer look at the illustration, you can see my previous blog post.

All done in Adobe Illustrator (CS4 and CS6).

Illustration: Happily Ever After

Here's a painting I did recently for a lovely couple in the USA. They saw my Tangled Wedding sketch and asked if I would create something similar for them, as they are getting married soon. They liked the sepia toning and sketchy look of the original sketch, so I kept it simple. They asked for the text to be added to fill the blank space to the left, so I typeset it in Recherche and then hand painted it. The faces are slightly characterised likenesses of the bride and groom to be themselves, but the rest is basically the same as in my sketch.  

It didn't scan too well, this particular watercolour paper and scanners do not seem to get along – it's a bit  less heavy and more subtle in the original. I think the texture of the paper reflects the light in an odd way. I'm happy to know that the clients were very happy with it when they got to see it in person. =) 

Winsor & Newton watercolours, Prismacolour pencils, Faber Castell PITT Artist pens, Uniball Gel Pen and white acrylic on Arches Medium 300gsm watercolour paper

Cards: Wedding and Engagement

 I needed a wedding card today, so finished off one that had been sitting unfinished on my computer for some time. It was originally designed as part of a set with an engagement card, although we didn't actually give this particular couple an engagement card, so that's rather irrelevant – but I shall post them both together:

Both were created in Adobe Illustrator CS4, although I finished off the wedding card in CS6. When I print them out I add some glitter – on the ring for the engagement card, and in the bouquet and veil for the wedding card.   

It is possible that I'll change the wedding card to have a long skirt – but I was in a hurry today, so it stayed short. =)

Illustration: So Near (And Yet, So Far)

I've had this in my watercolour sketchbook for around a month, and decided to finish it off today by giving it some colour. 

Here we have Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth in You'll Never Get Rich, dancing to 'So Near (And Yet, So Far)' It's not one of my favourite films, but it's a pretty dance, and I'm quite pleased with how this came out. The film features Rita Hayworth before they'd gone all-out red with her hair, and it was quite dark, so if you're wondering why her hair is brownish, that's why. =)

Winsor and Newton watercolours, Artline Drawing System pens and Atelier Waterproof Drawing Ink (Carbon Black) in a Moleskine Watercolour Sketchbook.

About 2.5 hours in total. 

Previous in the Black Dress series:

Dream

Change Partners

The Carioca

My Shining Hour

Illustration: Kiss Me Kate

Here's the full illustration that I previewed on September 3rd. 

Kiss Me Kate is one of my favourite musicals, and here are the three main characters from the 1953 film, in their 'Taming of the Shrew' costumes:

Kathryn Grayson as Lilli Vanessi, playing Katherine, Howard Keel as Fred Graham, playing Petruchio, and Ann Miller as Lois Lane, playing Bianca.   

(Click for a bigger view)

This was a relaxation piece that I'd work on a very little most days, after I'd spent the day working on less interesting stuff. Today I finally cleared it off my to-do list, along with several other things. =)

Adobe Photoshop CS6 with a Wacom Intuos 3. 

Howard Keel was referenced from a publicity shot, but the other two were pieced together from a variety of screenshots. The diamonds in the background echo the publicity material. Three diamonds in these colours are used on the poster used as my dvd cover, and they seemed very apt for the three characters. =)