A sketch from last night. I’ve been focusing on so many other things lately but it was great to tap back into Faery for a spell
Category Archives: crows
Inking The Crow….
Here’s a youtube demo I put together re: the inking of this cheeky little chappie…
Wanna Buy A Rolex?
Been having a play with the video camera today and, as I’ve been asked often about my inking process I thought I’d put one or two inking demos together. This birdie was was doodled for that purpose, I’ll be putting the video up on youtube in a day or two, but here’s how he looked when I’d finished, I definately tipped my hat in Arthur Rackham’s direction for this (and make absolutely no apologies for it)… Happy weekend everyone!
The Crow Girls…
Latest doodle…. I’m a huge fan of the author Charles De Lint. I’ve been reading his stuff for over 20 years and find his mix of folklore, magic and all things fantastic and wonderful a breath of fresh air. If you haven’t read any of his books, a great place to start (my absolute fave) is ‘Memory and Dream’, followed very closely by ‘The Little Country’, ‘Trader’ and ‘Mulengro’. He’s also a fabulous musician and has just released his first album entitled ‘Old Blue Truck’, well worth a listen. Pop over to his site and have a browse around, chances are, if you came here to my blog by choice, there’ll be something to interest you over at his, here’s the link:
http://www.sfsite.com/charlesdelint/
Yesterday’s doodle was based on a couple of my favourite CDL characters- the crow girls.
More Crow Girls….
Still having fun doodling these two characters… Here’s today’s sketch. And here’s a link to Charles De Lint’s website:
Couple of new doodles…
Protector…sketch
…Been playing with this sketch for a night or two. With my colour work, I’ve been almost exclusively digital for a few years now but it’s my intention to get my traditional media chops up and move as much back into using ‘real’ paint for projects as I can, I enjoy using watercolours immensely but don’t have the necessary skills to knock the digital colouring on the head so I’ll be doing more and more of these doodles and we’ll see how I go….
the model is the lovely:
noodlings and doodlings….
Oi! (inks)…
Used my ‘warming up’ time this morning to add some inks to yesterdays doodle, tipping my hat to the illustrators of the ‘Golden Age of Illustration’ here, so much to be learned from the past, my heroes include, Arthur Rackham, William Heath Robinson, Edmund Dulac, Willy Pogany, and of course, modern masters such as Charles Vess, Alan lee, David Wyatt, all superb illustrators and masters of the inked line …
Crow Riding…
New drawing… It’s no secret that I enjoy drawing fae folks, but I have to admit that drawing the crow (and it’s cousins) pleases me no end. I based this drawing on a photo I took of a crow in flight a couple of weeks ago, it’s hard to capture a moment like this so I made sure I’d use it.
Here’s the original sketch (before inking)
and a few more crows…
Roots
I spent yesterday afternoon in the rainforest with my son and came back with all kinds of inspiration. I love old roots curling and twirling around rocks and into the ground… just had to draw some as i was winding down after finishing my quota of work today….
last night’s sketchings…
My drawing hand was all loose and limber last night and my mind was open enough to receive these funny-looking little fellows:
and these pretty ladies:
Cover Line Art….
Here’s the line art for the cover of my latest picture book effort. Looking forward to colouring this.
This one’s an old drawing from maybe 8-9 years ago. I’m still rather fond of it.
Happy Halloween….
Got no time to draw up any new sketches for the halloween festivities, but here’re a few from the PC archives, sorry if you’ve seen them before anywhere…. have a great one everybody!
“How would you like it if somebody stuck a pole up YOUR butt?”
Crow Girl…
I’m feeling very very up and down at the moment, if I said the words ‘Earth changes’ would anyone reading this have any idea what I meant? There’s a whole lot happening right now and it’s running people through the wringer. I’m both (strangely) exhausted and elated. It’s a very important time for us. watching how the banks are taking a tumble, the changing weather patterns, people’s spiritual growth, watching the younger generations with so much potential, watching how the so-called ‘powers that be’ are taking a nosedive into their breakfast cereals-(hooray!)…. So much happening out there. I sit and think about all this stuff all day as I work and given how many things I’ve experienced in my lifetime be it physically, psychically, spiritually and emotionally, I feel qualified enough to say that we are in for some surprises very soon. Strap yerself in Bub it’s gonna be one hell of a ride!…..
Crow Princess….
I’m very busy with family stuff this weekend, but managed to slip out to catch my breath. Here’s a recent sketch I did on the PC…
Painting update and other things…
This painting is taking up a lot of my head space. When I can think of anything other than the jobs I have on the go, I’m thinking about actually finishing this one. It’s kind of a landmark piece as it’ll (hopefully) set the tone for the rest of the art I’ll be producing for the exhibition. Working in oils is very time-consuming and I won’t be producing all the other pieces in this media (thankfully). There’ll be some acrylic paintings, some watercolour stuff, mixed media, some pen and ink and some graphite stuff. I’m pretty comfortable with most of the mediums mentioned so that’s ok, but I’ll feel a whole lot better when this one is finished.
I’m also really enjoying the black and white art at the moment. For one thing, I’m terribly quick, and instant gratification is so important whilst I’m so busy. here’s a drawing or two I’ve worked on when I should be doing other things. (ahem.)
Nothing earth-shattering here. Just some playing around with cross-hatching. I like to vary my approach and learn as many different styles as I can to keep things fresh.
Here’s another crow. For no other reason than the fact that I love drawing crows.
Distilling all the pen work into a silhouette. Trying to say as much as I can without all the hatching, criss-crossing and other detail that can sometimes be unneccessary. This is a discipline in itself and one I thoroughly enjoy.
and here’s a typical ‘hand loosening’ page. I frequently go through the routine of warming up before I start working on paid gigs for the day otherwise my work can look very stiff and lifeless. I find even half an hour a day is a great way to:
1) do your own thing
2) play with other ideas you may wish to pursue but don’t have the time, and…
3) free your mind up before attempting a (sometimes) daunting, difficult or even boring job.
Old Crow….
Very often, before I begin work on my illustration commitments, I’ll scratch away at something to warm- up with. Today’s subject is the clever crow. I never tire of drawing them….
Pen and ink.
