Oops! Sorry!

When Colour Collective came up with 'Portland Orange' I just knew I had to head into the Australian outback. Such a vibrant red-orange, perfect for Kimberley red dust!

I had such fun with the last CC I did, middle-grade-style linework with one-colour(ish) accents, that I decided to do that again this time. 

I chose to feature an echidna (because they're fabulous) and a spinifex hopping mouse (because they are the cutest things ever). Most of my time was spent on the echidna, because of all those spines. Now I remember why I don't often draw them! =P

Adobe Photoshop CC 2017 on a Wacom Cintiq Companion 2. About 2 hours, using Kyle Webster's brushes (China Marker, Perfect Pencil, Gouache a Go Go and Gouache Bonus Gritty Dry) 

Abandoned Graveyard

Colour Collective's "Pearl" prompt made me think of statues. And since I didn't want to go literal and draw actual pearls, I thought I'd run with that:

This went through several incarnations in the sketch phase. I started out with an Indian-style statue overgrown with jungle plants, and featuring monkeys. That was inspired by The Jungle Book. But then I decided I didn't feel like drawing monkeys and switched to a Grecian Muse type statue and squirrels. And then I decided that an overgrown cemetery was more atmospheric. I rather ran out of time, too - suddenly discovering I had a good two hours less to work on this than I'd expected. I was nearly finished, but if I had had the extra time I would have fixed up the squirrel on her head, which looks a bit stiff. 

There are 12 critters in this - two of them are very hard to spot.

Adobe Photoshop CC2017 on a Wacom Cintiq Companion 2. 2.5 to 3 hours.

The Witch's Companion

A little piece for Colour Collective's 'Pantone 292 C' prompt. It seemed like a good colour for a ribbon, perhaps around a cat's neck... and I'd been playing around with witches in my sketches so it sort of evolved from there:

Anyway, I need to practice cats. We've always had a dog, so I'm naturally more familiar with pooches than pusses - but that is no excuse!

I think this is my most popular Colour Collective to date, which makes me very happy. =) I'd quite like to do more with this little feline. I like to do chapter-book style illustration, I've always liked some nice linework. 

Here's another piece I did in the same vein for Colour Collective a few weeks later. The prompt this time was 'Vert Réséda:

Here are some more witchy sketches:

Adobe Photoshop CC 2017 on a Wacom Cintiq Companion 2. The Colour Collective took 2-3 hours. Not quite sure how long the sketches took - quicker than the CC, anyway. 

Pups on Purple Pillows

A quick piece for Colour Collective's 'Byzantium Purple' prompt. Naturally the colour really made me want to draw over-the-top Byzantium era costumes, but I stuck with something simpler!

This only took about three hours, and it definitely shows - but I do like that dachshund. ^.^

Adobe Photoshop CC 2017 on a Wacom Cintiq Companion 2

Hermione

When the 20th Anniversary of Harry Potter rolled around, I had to draw something to mark it. I've never been the biggest fan of the books (I liked the earlier ones best) but they were a big part of my childhood even so. If I'd had time I would have liked to have drawn all three main characters, but as it was I had to pick one, and Hermione won because she has the best hair. Sometimes illustrator choices are extremely shallow...

Here's the original sketch, which I posted first. I coloured it up the next day because I felt like doing some colouring. 

Adobe Photoshop CC2017 on a Wacom Cintiq Companion 2. A couple of hours in total. 

Stealth Mode

I was short on time for Colour Collective's 'Fiery Coral' prompt, so I needed something quick and easy. On the day before I'd uploaded one of my Myrna series to Instagram as a Throwback Thursday post, and people seemed to like it, so I went with a Myrna theme for Colour Collective too. 

It was such a bright, cheerful colour, it made me think of smoked salmon and watermelon, so here is Myrna in stealth mode, seeing if she can steal some lunch.

In reality she's more likely to steal your serviette - she's addicted to tissues - but that had already been a subject in one of my Christmas Myrna illustrations last year. =P It's quite common, however, to see Myrna's head just rising over the edge of a table, to see if there's anything good there. Our previous dog was about half as tall, long and heavy, so it's a bit of a shock to have a dog that can so easily reach the table! (we've had Myrna 4 years now, but that doesn't outweigh the complaisance of 17.5 years with a tiny terrier!)

Adobe Photoshop CC2017 on a Wacom Cintiq Companion 2. 1.5 to 2 hours

The Little Explorer

I just don't have time to do anything big and fancy for Colour Collective, so when their 'Khaki' prompt rolled around I decided to slap a bit of colour on this little explorer:

I didn't spend very long on it, and it shows, but it's better than nothing! =) 

Here's the original blog post for the black and white version of this illustration. 

Adobe Photoshop CC2017 on a Wacom Cintiq Companion 2. About two hours for the colouring - rather longer for the original illustration though!