Goodbye 2011!

This post is slightly inspired by this one from Liselotte. I wanted to do the same survey thing and I did, but some of the things seemed too personal and too long for anyone to read. So instead I decided to do a quick summary of what happened in 2011.

1. I graduated! No longer a student I feel free to roam and work on what I want. I am also not as skint as I was, but it's still far from being rich.
2. I designed my first line of brooches. Look here!
3. I got over the hand and some other health issues that I hope to leave behind forever.
4. I no longer live in a rented flat! (And also that doesn't mean I moved back with the parents, just moved in with the boyfriend).
5. I started learning a new language. Being fluent in two really is not enough!

It might not be all big things, but I feel like this was a very productive year (although it had a lot of faffing in it too).

This is the skull tree :) I am not a fan of fake trees but this was just a bit of a joke to carry the skull decorations, which I wouldn't put on the serious tree. (If you click on it to see the closeuo, you can see two  of the skulls on the right side at the very bottom).

Busy in December!

December was probably my busiest month next to May (which was the Degree Show prep month). I've been away twice: far away (Stockholm) and not that far away (Lancashire). I did two craft fairs (one remotely... Thank you, Claire!), tons of bird brooches, which are now also available for purchase at the Drill Hall Arts Café. So yeah, this is the first time I have time to actually sit down and do some blogging!

These are the birdies. Soon to be available on Etsy!

And these are the fellas in the cabinet at the Drill Hall Arts Café.

Vanity

This is a picture for Illustration Friday. It took me absolute ages to think of what to draw for this topic (I am getting a bit rusty not having don this for a  few weeks), and when I knew what I wanted to do the time started to run out pretty fast. And it was a fairly ambitious thing to take on for a short deadline. I shall stop praising myself now ;)

The image is inspired by a hybrid of witches from Stardust and you good old Evil Queen from Snow White. She kills them to steal their youth (and beauty, and earrings as it seems).

For fullview click here. It was actually only slightly bigger than A4, so I had to scan it in halves and then put it together. It is not my favorite job by any means, especially with hideously detailed line drawings that are very difficult to line up properly.

I just need an A3 scanner now.

long tailed tit

A preview number two of what I is going to come in huge numbers ;) Prepare for cuteness overload :P

Bullfinch

This is a wee preview of what's coming up in next couple of weeks. This is something that I was planning on doing for absolute ages, but only just finding motivation to actually do it now... I am trying to make it sound as mysterious as I can ;) This little guy is a part of a series, rest of which will come soon! I just didn't want to wait any longer for the next post. It's a tiny drawing but original was actually only about and inch high.

Foresty drawing

Now, this is just a picture I drew because I wanted to draw and then scan some liny patterns. They ended up being the grass, as I couldn't stop going :P

Today I saw a man in the best (weird) hat ever. It didn't just have a feather decoration - it pretty much was covered with an entire pheasant. I really want to draw him now, so just wait for that!

Fuel

This is for Illustration Friday!

I thought it was quite hard to tackle this theme without producing something really obvious (at least for me), so I decided to go with something that is a bit obvious for me anyway. OH WELL.

I had a guinea pig when I was a kid and my gran used to breed them (she probably had around a gazillion of them). They really are EATING MACHINES. And anything of plant origin is their fuel. From grass, grains, to banana peels and carrots. Anything goes. And you're lucky if all this will last for more than half an hour... But at least they produce lots of fertilizer.

At least not only bad things came about when my brush pen decided to dry up a bit and split ends. I was so irritated and desperate that I chopped of the splits and just ended up with one very fine brush bit - I like more and more drawing with it, although it is a bit trickier. And colors came about digitally, I was going to leave it black and white but started coloring as an experiment and just kept going. I like it. At least leek looks like a leek!

scattered

This is the view from my window.

I wanted to show it here, but I don't really want to just put up lots of random rubbish photos, so I decided to play with it a bit and make it into SOMETHING more like a picture. It was also an excuse to do osmething for Illustration Friday :).

Autumn is my favorite season. Like, totally like!

Mr Pofkins

A bit of crossposting. This is a comic I am going to do during October! Click on Mr Pofkins to go through to the website...

Halloween and life of a drawing uncovered.

I know it is still over a month until Halloween, but I am preparing something special Halloween-themed :). This post is a teaser-trailer and my way of working UNCOVERED.

This is a rough guide how this drawing came to life.

1. Sketch number one. Legs are missing - appalling. (Human age equivalent 0-1 months old)

2. Sketch number two. A potential, needing refinement. (Human age equivalent 1-12 months old)

3. Refinement in progress. (Human age equivalent 1-5 years old)

4. Inking complete with extra thing happening on the side. (Human age equivalent 18 years old)

5. Colors done (above), and extras etc cleaned up. (Human age equivalent 21 years old. After that it's not growing up anymore, just ageing).

10 things

Courtesy of Liselotte. I got a letter D and then had to list 10 things that begin with D that I like. (And also I decided to draw them , but you don't have to). Comment if you want me to give you a letter!

Tuffberry

Just a quick doodle to not forget how to draw. This is a wee character that I created when I was 15. Or 18. It was so long ago I can't remember anymore.

Birds and Traps

It is soooo nice outside which doesn't happen very often in this part of the world... And I can't go out because I am waiting for Mr Postman to redeliever a letter/parcel/something. Feels like I'm in a prison... It is quite absurd though.

So here, have a bird:

Degree Show

This is probably the last time I use the tag "college"!

Asleep

As per usual - last minute Illustration Friday! In theory I could do another one today ;)


The ones I do seem to always feature a black feline... hmmm. That includes last week's one which I have never actually coloured, but I think I will put it up here anyway as it's cute.

Edinburgh Reef & a wee update

After way too long I am actually posting it here: the Edinburgh Reef site which is part of my degree show is live. And actually has been live since 13th of May! You can admire there some illustrations, the story of Rufus and Henry Pearce and other miscellaneous things!

Apart from that there have been some gentle visual amendments to my portfolio and the actual contents of it have changed. Next step: Eelcat update!

Back to Blogging!

For illustration friday theme safari! It's probaly not the most safaisque picture, but but but... I wanted to get away from shooting lions, which was my first tought :P

The post of April

I am very stressed.

I thought that you little humans would love to see what I am up to in those dreadful times. Well, here it is:



The story of Rufus and Henry Pearce. Not yet complete. Hopefully will be soon! Will come complete with a whole website dedicated to them two.

humpback and killer

I felt I really needed to post something, so here it is. Most of my life has been focused around my last - now less than - 2 months of college. (In theory, this is when the Final Hand In is :)). Past couple of weeks were mainly dissertation focused, and I am frankly just a bit fed up with it all. So as a treat to everyone, these are further two pages of the Drawing Journal - and there are PLENTY more, so I might start posting them more frequently again. I can't wait for when all the stress is over and I can spend more time having a web presence...

swarm

...of cats. Poor Malin!

untitled collaboration

These are effects of collaboration with Lindsay Ure. This is the text and illustration I did for the said text, you can see the other one here.

You think about them while sitting in the sun. The tip of your cigarette throbs orange between the grey of the growing ash as you inhale, sitting at a café, sipping your latte. The noises around you are muted, quiet trams and foot traffic. A bell mounted on a bike handle chimes, cautioning. Wind pushes itself through the streets. The morning light reflects off the canal in front of you. It darts across the rippled water among swimming mallards and sinking leisure boats, shining up to the buildings pulled forward by the weight of their many windows. The water sparkles as if covered with coins.

They are tall navy coloured houses with decorative white trim, lining the canals, leaning into one another like narrow books stacked loosley on shelves. You wonder how to describe them; their endearing unevenness, their lines attempting the elusive right angles. How can you illustrate their pultritude? As European as empty wine bottles, as crisp as tailored suits, as romantic as tulips in basketed bikes...Bricked rivers flow under, beside, in front. An arced bridge is a conversation between them. You sip your latte. They are exquisitly handsome yet oddly familiar, their grace stands unaffected. They remind you of prostitutes tied upright to benches to sleep, but that reference does not do them justice; their beautiful dysfunction is too charming. Next you try to imagine them as windmills tipped into one another, but then ask yourself what would happen to the overlapping blades; Victorian dollies on display; fat crows on telephone wires; crooked teeth in fat women’s mouths; illustrations in a graphic novel about the life of Vermeer. You decide that none of these work, you need to be more economical in your phrasing. ‘They lean’, you say to yourself.

Owls and Monuments

Something I did for the Student Newspaper here in Edinburgh. :)

Long time, no see!

Christmas had me very busy, so did New Year... I am mainly focusing on my college project at the moment. I got this idea that it would be so nice to animate some things, but I never did flash before. It seems to be quite easy to leart though. Here is my test animation, which only consists of few of my sketchbook drawings put into one!