Christmas card design

I've been spending my "art" time (the time I have when I'm able to do some art stuff) over the last couple of weeks to work on a Christmas Card for this year.

I finished it up this weekend and here is the result. The elves are sort of meant to be representations of me and my family!

Character design

Following on from the Inktober marathon, time to get back to personal drawing projects, sketchbook sketches, etc.!

The "crooked man"/Professor character I did for my Day 8 Inktober image is sort of a design I had in mind anyway for one of the main characters in my book idea.

This is the pencilled character design image for my Professor character. Notice that I've gone with a more friendly, curly hairstyle rather than the manic hairstyle depicted in the Inktober images.



The next step is colouring and rendering the design. I'm doing this in Krita using my Intuos Pro tablet.

Inkober 2017 - Day #29 - United

I actually ended up posting my last Inktober image on the 31st, even though the image was for the 29th ("United").

It's sort of a happy ending to the mini story that started developing, where the little BulbBot that got a bit "shattered" on Day 12 finally gets his new bulb head fitted!


The whole sequence can be seen in my Flickr album for Inktober 2017 (click the image to go to the album on Flickr, or just click the Next and Previous buttons):

Inkober 2017 - Day #25 - Ship

The "story" continues....



Not sure if I'm going to wrap this up with one more picture or not. Usual time management woes!

Inkober 2017 - Day #19 - Cloud

The next instalment in my Inktober 2017 "story"....

Inkober 2017 - Day #12 - Shattered

Due to normal life commitments, I had to post this later than the intended date. This is the next instalment in my Inktober "micro-arc" series.



Is this the end of one of the little "bulb" bots?

Inkober 2017 - Day #10 - Gigantic

Got the start of a "micro-arc" story with this picture....hopefully continued in the "Shattered" (Day 12) image....which....err....I haven't finished yet!

Inkober 2017 - Day #8 - Crooked

Trying to keep to a certain schedule and aiming for at least four images (the "5K") for the month of "Inktober" (maybe 5 at a push).

For Day 8 ("Crooked") I posted this:



And here's the pencilled version:



(Click on images to see bigger versions on Flickr.)

Inkober 2017 - Day #1 - Swift

The amazingly talented artist Jake Parker started a little exercise called "Inktober" some years back. Basically, it involves trying to produce an inked drawing each day through the month of October. The idea Jake had behind this was to help improve his inking skills whilst also keeping to a schedule.

I thought I would take part this year. I know I'm not fast enough to produce a drawing each day - however, I shall attempt to get at least four images produced!

There is a running theme to my Inktober ideas - linked to a story idea I have brewing in my imagination pool.

I am using the official Inktober 2017 prompt list. So, in advance of the first day of October....here is the first image! Day 1 prompt: "Swift".

Enjoy.



Oh....and here's the pencilled version that I inked over:



(Click on images to see bigger versions on Flickr.)

Sketchbook page #4 and #5

Actually a couple of older sketchbook entries that I did last year, but forgot to upload them. (Partly plans for an idea I have involving robots!)

Sketchbook page #3

Continuing with the female themed sketchbook drawings.... I've been reading an online superhero book called Worm. I was influenced by the main character, Taylor Hebert, to draw a female superhero (or "Cape").

This is a not my version of how Taylor (aka "Skitter") looks, just a character sort of based on her. In the book, Taylor is more of a plain, geeky type of young girl who (if I remember correctly) wears glasses when not in costume.

I like her ability, which is the power to manipulate bugs, insects, etc.

This is my attempt at trying to colour an inked sketch using brush marker pens (water-based).

Sketchbook page #2

Time for some more sketchbook drawings. I decided I need more practise drawing females!





(Click on the images to view full-size versions on Flickr.)

Sketchbook page #1

I've decided to try and do more sketchbook art to keep up a regular artistic flow. Characters, scenery, whatever....!

During our recent stay in a cottage in lovely Amble (Northumberland), I was inspired to draw the plant box and "frog" flowerpot that sat on the wall in the back yard.

There was also a framed display in the cottage of different knots (Amble being a fishing town). I fancied having a go at trying to copy the "Carrick Bend" knot that was part of the display.



I'm experimenting with using coloured pencils at the moment, so there might be a "coloured" version of this sketchbook page appearing soon!

(Edit: 10 Sept 2017)
I thought it best to add the coloured version here, rather than start a new blog page. So....here it is!

I'm still here :)

Yes, I'm still here and still drawing....just! It's been a strange few years....

I started a new job back in June 2014, and I haven't looked back since. My previous job had become very stressful and, without fully realising it, I had become very anxious and depressed. Unfortunately that time in my previous job also had a profound affect on my artistic side, so I found myself drawing less and less.

Glad to say, I'm now in a better place....and my creative side is starting to reveal itself once more. I am enjoying the creative process again! Yay!

Anyway....here are two new pieces I created (fairly) recently. They were both done for my family; one for my parents and one for my sister.

Coloured character designs

I have now completed the colouring for the character sketches. I have tried to maintain a traditional inked look, with a simpler colouring scheme (mostly flat colours with edge highlighting and light shadowing.

This is the first time I've done some major colouring in GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program), a free image editing tool that is pretty close to Photoshop. It's a great tool for what it does, and (hey!) it's free, so can't complain!

A new beginning....

After a long hiatus, the drawing board once more calls. I have had a story idea roaming around my head for quite a while now, and it's time to "set it free" (fly, my pretty, fly)!!

These first few sketches are character designs for what I shall call (for now) the "mystery" character. Think of him/it as possibly a storyteller....