Zyzanna's blogallery

Twirl

2012-01-27T00:10:00.001Z

Kinda for Illustration Friday, kinda for fun. Narwhals are great :) (click on it to see whole picture. Unfortunately I can't fit it in in the original size... It is huuuuuuge!)

Prepare, Tuffberry!

2012-01-20T15:37:00.002Z

Not much to say here really, getting back into drawing cartoony things :)

Also IF.

I just realized that due to my colour choice i might look quite dramatic... But no, she is not painting it with anyone's BLOOD. :P

Giveaway!

2012-01-08T17:26:00.002Z

To start the New Year in a fabby way I decided to do a giveaway. Since I have no idea (well I do now) on how these things work I got Riennahera to help me. Winners will get one of my birds (and there will be three winners chosen!). So head over to Riennahera's blog to enter :)

Photo of Riennahera by Mateololo

Hello 2012!

2012-01-01T15:24:00.000Z

A follow-up of yesterday's post, thisis what I want to achieve this year.

I will focus more on Etsy, making more stuff and having an online presence. That is to say, yes, I will blog more.
I want to eat less rubbish and exercise more. I have had a gym membership ages ago and I really miss it! (not just for the sauna)
I will get a driving license. Being on a bus always makes me loose faith in humankind, thanks to troglodytes that are also on it. I don't expect to be able to afford a car, but this will be next in line.
I will get a heat press, exposure unit and all the other things I need for screen printing. And then I will screen print. Loads.
Revamp my blog and website looks.

Photo was taken by the Chris.

Goodbye 2011!

2011-12-31T15:12:00.001Z

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 toread. So instead I decided to do a quick summary of what happened in2011.

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.
I designed my first line of brooches. Look here!
I got over the hand and some other health issues that I hope to leave behind forever.
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).
I started learning a new language. Being fluent in two really is not enough!

It might not be all big things, but Ifeel like this was a very productive year (although it had a lot offaffing 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!

2011-12-30T14:17:00.002Z

December was probably my busiest monthnext to May (which was the Degree Show prep month). I've been awaytwice: far away (Stockholm) and not that far away (Lancashire). I didtwo craft fairs (one remotely... Thank you, Claire!), tons of birdbrooches, 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

2011-11-24T22:55:00.001Z

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

2011-11-18T13:27:00.001Z

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

Bullfinch

2011-11-13T22:11:00.001Z

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

2011-11-03T17:17:00.003Z

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

2011-10-23T18:48:00.004+01:00

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

2011-10-20T17:04:00.004+01:00

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

2011-10-05T23:23:00.003+01:00

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.

2011-09-24T10:41:00.005+01:00

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

2011-09-21T13:25:00.003+01:00

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

2011-08-31T12:32:00.000+01:00

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

2011-07-25T14:07:00.003+01:00

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

2011-07-25T00:01:00.006+01:00

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

Asleep

2011-06-03T09:31:00.006+01:00

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

2011-05-25T10:39:00.001+01:00

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!

2011-05-20T09:36:00.004+01:00

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

2011-04-30T13:11:00.003+01:00

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

2011-03-25T13:08:00.003Z

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

2011-03-03T22:19:00.002Z

...of cats. Poor Malin!

untitled collaboration

2011-03-03T18:56:00.003Z

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

2011-02-24T21:26:00.003Z

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

Long time, no see!

2011-01-15T10:05:00.008Z

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!

Out of the Blue Arts Market!

2010-12-12T13:51:00.006Z

Yesterday I shared a stall at Out of the Blue Arts Market with Claire Macleod. It was really good fun, as she's a lovely lady and it was just generally quite a successful day! Will afford to get a Christmas present for the boyfriend ;)

I said goodbye (among other things) to two paintings. One was the Wolf Hat and other one I haven't published here yet, so there it is:

Future is Now

2010-12-07T14:02:00.004Z

My current project at college is about what we think we will do in future... I will have a (rein)deer farm. Obviously.

(Acrylic paint and inks on card)

December!

2010-12-02T15:47:00.004Z

It's here! I've got my Advent Calendar, do you?!

July

2010-11-24T08:32:00.002Z

I just had to do at least one underwater one! And here it is :)

Since there were no mentions of Riennahera lately, it's about time it happened. So: it is her blog's birthday today!

Other than that, Harry Potter was pretty brilliant. I wanna go again!

June

2010-11-22T19:30:00.004Z

It's my birthday today, so you get one of my favourite pictures :)
I'm also going to dress pretty, paint my nails, be very girly and see Harry Potter today, whoo hoo!!

May

2010-11-21T23:25:00.003Z

I think I am currently on the verge of stressing out like, TOTALLY MAN. In the meantime, have a pleasant May picture for you to relax (as I will probably not do). And even though I have so many things in my schedule, I still have the knitting urge to fight off. Oh dear!

April

2010-11-20T09:21:00.003Z

I am currently trying to finish off all the calendar diaryness in InDesign - which has proven to be fairly challenging, but I mostly got it now, so I it will not take ages. Neither now or next time I decide to do something like this. I was trying to find a way, so that I would not need to:
a. Number each page with month day
b. Manually type in each day of the week (eek!)

And it worked! Yes!

Latest next week I will post photos of actual final piece. Yesss!

October

2010-11-19T09:57:00.002Z

Not much to say here - it is my favourite tree :>
All drawings are complete now, I just need to make the calendar/diary out of them! Woop! Should have it all done by next week. :)

January

2010-11-17T19:20:00.002Z

It's been a few (very busy) days. I have them all done now, it's just a matter of getting stuff scanned... Perhaps tomorrow, since today, I was busy pretendng to be Al Bundy (as 4 people now have pointed out), yesterday I was pretending to be a hard-working art student (in fact I am horrendously hard working slave to art), and other days... Things weren't quite ready yet.

This one is Riennahera, again. I never get bored of drawing her, and I don't think she does either. If you get bored of it... Well, tough! Some are not based on her though, just you wait!

September

2010-11-13T18:53:00.003Z

Another month. I have almost completed this mini project - I only have a couple of drawings to finish off. They will appear on the website in one bulk once they are completed... Perhaps. ;)
This one is actually one of my favourites. Outfit again - Riennahera's. There really are a few in there that were not ripoffs ;)

March

2010-11-11T10:01:00.004Z

This is a very special one with brazilian tapir baby. It has nothing to do with march, but is super-cute. And outfit again, comes from fabby Riennahera, who got A2 in Latin. We are all very proud.

August

2010-11-07T23:04:00.004Z

Continuing the theme of posting the images of months during an incorrect month - I present to you August. Outfit as seen on Riennahera last August ;)

The Hub

2010-11-05T10:20:00.003Z

One of he most characteristic buildings around. You can see it from the illustration studio at college, and last year I had the pleasure of working in there :) First one of the more properly "underwatery" buildings. More is yet to come!

Today is going to consist of doing some college work (this is the "plan" for pretty much every day, whether it goes according to it or not is an entirely different matter) and doing fun things in the afternoon with Riennahera.

Polar Bear!!!

2010-11-04T11:56:00.007Z

It's great to finally have a day that is not completely planned from morning till night time. And it's not just that I'm not at work. I have been pretty busy trying to fit all my projects, dissertations, college work etc into my very tight schedule :P today is a chilling day and I will do whatever I feel like doing (obviously, only the things from my Things To Do List - quite a lot of them are enjoyable anyway :))

Anyway, this is the treat of the day - drawing I did for February for my diary/calendar project. I have set myself a deadline to have it done for 10th of November. Might be a tough one, but we'll see. I have jsut started working on the next picture (August - summery for a change. I think I need summery a little bit).

Yellow + Sea

2010-11-01T22:37:00.004Z

These are two of my favourite so far pictures of buildings. I played a lot with them both and they are the sor of thing that I would quite like to do later on - not necessarily for this project, but surely at some point.

I am finally feeling a bit more settled in my new job too (shoe shop! Mondays and Wednesdays, quite perfect even in last year of your course). And for Halloween we watched (with Mr C) Zombieland, which was quite disappointing after all. Either more guts spilled out or more funny things would have been good... But generally it was so-so. Popcorn we made was pretty good though ;)

ROVs

2010-10-28T09:27:00.004+01:00

Remotely Operated (underwater) Vehicle

After questioning Pete what you'd do to investigate deep sunken things - apparentely this is the way!

Pics from Wiki. I unfortunately haven't got one at home to do lifedrawings of.

(Although now that I think of it, I think I do have some photos of similar things from Stockholm's FANTASTIC diving museum :) )

Drawing Journal

2010-10-27T17:45:00.011+01:00

It's all about paint mark and line.

Drawing journal is current college project. It is meant to be researchy-connected to our main project for the year. I decided to just do a series of drawings that will be connected with my main project by a theme, and also use it as a field for researching and working out the way I will draw/paint the final illustrations in. Some of those drawings I like quite a lot, so I decided to put them up here :)

It is all drawn in a little journal book which I made specifically for this purpose - it has days of the month marked on each page. Some of the drawings in it are just on one side, others are on both - but since it is a book, there will be a line dividing it in the middle. For the first time this doesn't bother me :)

(almost) November

2010-10-26T19:43:00.005+01:00

Following a request by Group 2 Gosia, I am dropping painting (not really) and putting up some more of THIS.

This one here is first one in months series I started and this is November. I also have January (or February, need to decide still), but it isn't scanned yet. I kind want to make diaries or calendars with these things... But we are yet to see what comes out!

November always makes me think of Day of the Dead/All Souls Day and visiting graveyard - which is what we always did as a family to visit my grandfather's grave. Also that's when the Autumn kind of ends and Everything Dies!! Probably just hibernates, but that's nowhere near as dramatic.

New layout!

2010-10-23T13:19:00.003+01:00

Oh the glory of the new layout! I wanted something new and something Autumny - at least more than the last one.

Also check out the TWIN SISTER (although not identical twins) layout I made for Riennahera!

Now I should just crack on with new website design for my portfolio... Hmmm.

Jam, baby!

2010-10-14T23:05:00.003+01:00

I am thouroughly regretting not making any jams this year. Although last years delicious strawberry-rhubarb was a bit of a failure, as it never sealed properly (so I had to have lots of strawberry rhubarb jam within 3 weeks, which was best before time suggested by my jam master - granny J).

Instead I painted some... I really like the colour scheme in this one.

Wolf Hat & some website talk

2010-10-08T16:23:00.006+01:00

Ohhh, he's angry!!! I wish I could be where he is. And have the hat.

I am really struggling for good walk areas near where I live. The closest thing is the Canal, and you can have really pleasant walks along there. I need proper FOREST though. One you can go in and get a bit lost. Back home there were loads of forests you could go into, finding old cementeries and walking surrounded by trees for hours! In Edinburgh - the local places are nice, but they all seem pretty busy. Pentland hills are great too (got lost there quite a few times, hihi), but then they are a bus drive away... The world seems to be against me today.

On the less interesting note, I am planning on changing a few things on the website, menus, portfolio bit etc... And I spent about 5 hours today messing with code, preparing it for the changes and there is actually almost nothing noticeable about it, apart from the portfolio bit which might seem a bit bare/cluttered now (to be changed soon). At least the actual changes will be now well easy to make... Once I get round to do them.

Bees, Zombies and a Haunted Bathroom

2010-10-07T10:26:00.005+01:00

The other 3 illustrations for the same project as wolves (which was to illustrate 4 out of 10 bizarre stories). I do have some studies for those final illustrations too, but they are nowhere near as exciting as the wolves ones!

The stories were about: bee beards, a new course called Zombie Studies and a bathroom that was posessed by Satan (or so believe the owners) who apart from watching people wash would turn off the heating in the room. Shocking!

Wolves - the final illustration

2010-10-01T20:20:00.003+01:00

Final illustration for the wolf thing. It's an illustration for a text about this couple that lives with a pack of wolves... There weren't many details in the text on how it is technically meant to work. The person that wrote it was more keen on making fun of those people, as opposed to giving accurate information.

Wolves 2

2010-09-29T15:09:00.005+01:00

A few more observational drawings leading to the final piece :>
Ink on paper.

I really enoy coming back to this medium, it used to be my favourite when I was younger.

I wish I would live somewhere where you can actually come across wolves. Near a forest or something. What I get at the moment is nowhere near as interesting.

Autumn Cat

2010-09-27T09:55:00.002+01:00

I don't really now what to say about it - the weather outside is miserable yet again (the benefits of living in Edinburgh), there isn't many trees around where I live that would look this pretty... I just felt like doing some autumny themed things and cats are cute. What more would one need?!

Acrylic on card, my favourite medium I suppose ;)

Also on Etsy.

Pink Bulb

2010-09-26T17:00:00.003+01:00

Painted this last year. Acrylics on card, framed. The frame also hand painted :)

No background story for this one, really. Just been plaing with layers and colours (the flowers on Bulb's outfit).

It's not in my usual style. And all the pink is actually neon pink. Pretty cool, eh? ;)

Here on Etsy.

Wolves

2010-09-24T21:25:00.005+01:00

...though not in the walls.

Some research drawings for current college project. Quite fun drawing these, I say.

Inky pen.

Mariella of the Forests

2010-09-21T19:18:00.003+01:00

Came across this recentely.

Over a year ago I started writing this very complex fantasy story with a lot of separate plots that would eventually come together with a big BANG and... Thats roughly where it ended, in planning stages. In my great A4 hardbound sketchbook. I have a few designs of characters that were meant to go in it, some plot bits and bobs written down, but generally the whole story went 'on hold' because I decided to focus on Eelcat for the time being. And then... I looked at the sketchbook few weeks ago and really want to work on it again! Although I doubt much will come out anytime soon, as a warm up - here's Mariella, the girl that talks to dead people or something along those lines.

It's black and white acrylic paint, some arty pens and pink eyeshadow. Oh yeah!

(the study of medium it was done in suggests that it was in fact done about 1,5-2 years ago :P)

Recycled Saloon Canvas Bags!

2010-09-15T13:00:00.017+01:00

This is going to be a fairly long post, prepare yourselves! I present...

This is a set of canvas bags I did a long while ago for a specific saloon/recycling event, which was organised by Alchemy Arts. (The Fi's sister :)). I have sold quite a few of them since on various occassions, but now that I finally got myself together and made the etsy store, they are all available on Etsy! I just really wanted to put a post together with all of them and have them all exhibited in one place - both ones I no longer have and ones that are still for sale. So, here we go!

Here's the first one of them - Malin and the Eelcat! Or to be more precise, Malin and Linda dressed as cowgirls. (If you click on the name it will take to to more photos).

Next one in line is the slightly shy Red Lady (number one, as there is another red beauty).

This one here is the Green Girl! Nature loving cutie.

Then there is the Pretty Purple!

And the Red Lady number two! (She's out of stock)

And finally, the Blue Bimbo... Or is it?!

Model is obviously Riennahera :)

One last thing I'd like to say is that Malin and the Eelcat were finally updated (and I am intending to do it on more regular basis now - yes, again...)

Dark Forest

2010-09-13T15:41:00.003+01:00

A pretty new addition to my sketchbook.

I was feeling a bit down and after trying to draw same thing about 5 times and still not being happy with it I just started a random scribble and this came out. Miles happier with this one than the monsters that came out (and I will never actually publish as they were just rubbish).

I am trying to come up with new design for my main site, since that one is very dark and I got a bit tired of it. And it's so black and white... I want something autumny. I have some ideas (especially after scrapping the idea number one that just wouldn't come out right - as mentioned above), but I think it will still be a bit until I actually do it. And autumn is almost here!!!

In the meantime I am reading one of my favourite books ever - Moominvalley in November. You can only read it if it's cold and miserable outside though, otherwise it won't be the in the quite right mood.

Rainy Royal Mile

2010-09-10T11:46:00.004+01:00

It's pretty miserable in Edinburgh today. Raining and all that, just makes me want to snuggle up on sofa with a cup of tea and read Moomin books. (Which sadly, I don't really have time to do).

This is a painting from a cuople of weeks ago, posting today because it fits the dreadful weather...

Morningside Makers Market

2010-09-08T10:30:00.003+01:00

This month I had a stall at Morningside Makers Market. It was the very first time I did anything like that (I mean, I has been on stalls, just never had one with only my stuff on it!).

I was selling cards, prints, canvas bags and some original work. Overall it was a great experience, but I think I have learned a lot too. I'm glad that at least my stall didn't look empty (thanks to advice of Carmen of Craft Reactor :) )

If you didn't make it but are dying to buy my work, some of it will be available on my Etsy store :P

Here's a couple of pictures:

Special Great Thanks go to:

Laura D., for spending 4 hours with me cutting cardboard, putting stuff in polypockets and doing other highly uninteresting things

Riennahera, for spending even more hours with me at the stall keeping me company (and looking after it when I did a home-run caused by me forgetting my business cards

Swedish dinosaurs

2010-08-28T12:33:00.004+01:00

I went to Stockholm a couple of weeks ago, and while I was there I visited Natural History Museum. It resulted in a few drawings:

They aren't as complex as the London ones and there isn't anywhere near as many, but I just didn't feel like painting too much while I was on a holiday...

dinoes and aztec skull

2010-08-01T12:14:00.005+01:00

It's pictures I drew on my London trip in January this year... Just never got around to scanning them. Since I have another bunch of dinosaur drawings I just decided to scan these as well.

And the SKULL:

2010-07-28T11:52:00.004+01:00

I am very sad to report that unfortunately, St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh has drowned in a fishtank.

My second attempt ever of painting architecture (the first one was funnily enough the very ame part of the very same building).

Trying to catch up with July posts ;)

Dill

2010-07-27T15:02:00.005+01:00

It's a painting I promised my cousin a looong time ago. I in fact already painted one, but I hated it as soon as it was finished, so decided to do a new one. It probably will be the only post of July... Unless I manage to do something else too.

:)

feature!

2010-06-27T00:38:00.004+01:00

My work has been featured on Edinburgh Theatre Review site! Here it is, so that the post doesn't look empty:

It was a result of a collaboration between ECA illustration and University of East Anglia. More info about the project and other people's works here.

This picture was based on a photo I got from the tutor. It was meant to be environment of person depicted in th ephotograph - which was a cyclist. I couldn't come up with anything complicated and I believe that was for the good - as in this case the simple idea worked pretty well. Technique is acrylic paint, some ink and a little bit of colour made with eyeshadows. Pretty girly!

I have been declining this blog and a lot of other creative activity due to my current day job - which thankfully is just for the summer. I promise this will get better!

Victorian family

2010-06-15T22:07:00.003+01:00

This is a series of prints I did a while back. They are reduction block woodcuts. Buyable on my etsy site!!

3x3 part three

2010-06-06T08:52:00.002+01:00

Last one - part three. Only two pages...

3x3 part two

2010-06-04T21:23:00.002+01:00

Something being open.

3x3 part one

2010-05-31T22:39:00.007+01:00

Something Being Saved.

The last post of May 2010 ;)

Eelcat on facebook

2010-05-13T17:50:00.000+01:00

You can now become a fan of Eelcat on Facebook!

Lucky Rita character design sheet

2010-05-08T21:39:00.003+01:00

This is a character I have had in mind for quite a while, but never had the opportunity to do (opportunity=time). Part of my hand-in is edited portfolio of work that I feel are showing the general direction where I want to go (if that makes any sense). It is meant to have 15-20 pieces in it. I have quite a big shortage of those so am trying to produce some more of them :P.

(Check out how "u" in "Lucky" is a horseshoe! :P)

End of term!

2010-05-06T18:35:00.002+01:00

Last term of this year is coming on Monday. Because of that I am trying to procrastinate as much as possible instead of putting together my portfolio. Here's last bunch of lifedrawings from this year!

Loretta and Death

2010-04-27T20:04:00.005+01:00

Murder Ballads by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds is one of my favourite albums ever. This picture is an illustration loosely inspired by one of the songs, Curse of Millhaven.

It's a drypoint print.

I love drawing skeletons.

Underwater Girl and Eel

2010-04-26T23:04:00.002+01:00

This is a painting I did a few days ago. I'm really into this sort of color schemes now, so I think there will possibly be a series of underwatery paintings :)

This is also available on my Etsy shop! A great debut ;P

It was painted with acrylic paints on board.

Main & Portfolio update

2010-04-25T18:20:00.003+01:00

New main site and portfolio (FINALLY!) are up. Still missing about section, but this will be resolved shortly. Next one on the list is the blog layout.

vector Riennahera

2010-04-25T12:04:00.004+01:00

I was trying some new ways of doing things, and started drawing a bit more in Illustrator. It's actually quite fun if you know what you are doing :P. This is the first one I did from scratch in Illustrator, but I think I'll make a little series of those.

This is my usual muse, Riennahera ;). (the truth is that she's the only one happily volunteering for being drawn/painted).

At the moment I am trying to finish off completely my portfolio site. More news soon (when I do finish it).

Eelcat painting

2010-04-16T13:28:00.001+01:00

...This and some more Eelcat related pictures are in the art section of Malin and the Eelcat. :)

Eelcat update

2010-04-14T17:54:00.004+01:00

I have updated today the layout of Malin and the Eelcat site. It is now miles better looking (I think). I also scrapped old subsections and made completely new ones (characters, art and about), but still need to fill those in. EDIT 15/04/10 - did the subsections. But hey still aren't absolutely what I would want them to be...

I think the next steps are going to be updating the main page and finally doing the portfolio site.

Also, I don't really like this layout on the blog anymore, so will probably change it soon too...

Apologies for a boring post ;)

Amal

2010-04-13T17:35:00.005+01:00

Drawing originally done on Isle of Skye, during last year's EUSAC Skye Expedition. It landed in my sketchbook/dive logbook after Amal just before the dive bombarded me with tons of new signs (mainly describing parts of ship that I had no idea what they were anyway). Then during the dive I have been shown all the parts and had no clue what they were (with the exception of an anchor).

This is Illustrator version of Amal tring to show me stuff :). It was used on Edinburgh University Sub-Aqua Club flyers for the Sports Fair.

Skeletons still life

2010-04-09T15:20:00.001+01:00

I was tidying flat today and generally moving stuff around (and chucking some stuff out too) and I came across some of my older paintings. This one I did a wee while ago (when I could still access fake human skeletons), but I still like how it came out (that is, creepy).

A closeup, of some skull details (click to view):

eyegirl

2010-03-28T12:06:00.003+01:00

A girl with an eye dress. It was one of random scribbles in my sketchbook. I quite liked it so decided to scan it and color it. Quite fun... It's not extremely exciting tho ;)

My Room

2010-03-27T12:09:00.008Z

Part three of the project. We were meant to draw a picture of a room, but not art college students room. Apart from that we could do anything we wanted. I did some drawings from Mr Chris' work, which also is conviniently round the corner from there I live. Then I put all drawings on bits of balsa and card and did this 3d room thing. I really enjoyed it since it's been ages since last time I did a sculptury project.

Killer whale high fives Poseidon

2010-03-26T15:28:00.002Z

This is a design I made for the competition Edinburgh University Sub-Aqua Club has every year for a design that is to go on back of club hoodies. This year I was lucky and my design won :) Apparentely the idea has been kicking around the club for two years (?) but nobody has ever actually done it. I just couldn't resist I suppose :).

Drawn in Illustrator.

At Home

2010-03-24T11:12:00.001Z

This is part 2 of the earlier mentioned project. It was to illustrate 3 phases of making a meal. Middle image is my favourite, could live without the others...

Frames are a result of the fact that I recycled old unfinished painting as a ground for the new ones - that's basically where the masking tape was. I really like that effect!

Eat This

2010-03-23T16:12:00.000Z

Part one of 3-part project for college (Eat This, My Room, At Home). This part was to illustrate a recipe and every person got a random different one. I decided to draw the Mrs Sandbach instead of the actual food, as this would be most likely boring. The requirement was to do it a5 in black and white. I did some preparation drawings of known (and not) chefs/cooks (below). I think I'm more happy with those than with actual fnal image.

lifedrawing again again :)

2010-03-21T21:53:00.001Z

Few more lifedrawings, this time a lady. The first one is my favourite, the rest is so-so.

Mum & ray

2010-03-20T11:13:00.001Z

This is a gift for my mom I painted in January. I can finally put it up here because she finally got it :) (Thanks go to my dear friend B. who played the role of delievery woman ;))

It was painted from a photo and in the background there are some fishes from Deep Sea World and a ray. I think the one in top left corner could have been a shark, but not sure...

Ghosty Conversations

2010-03-19T09:21:00.000Z

Since I wasn't posting much lately (as I had some issues making myself want to scan and photograph recent stuff) I decided to dig up one of projects I did last year. It's one of college things, each person got a random creatures and random topic of their conversation (mine was ghosts talking about litter). I did for it one of my sculpturey things and it was good fun. Unfortunately, I spent so much on actual making of the characters that the plot isn't exactly amazing. Can't have everything!

(as usual, click to fullview)

Lifedrawing again

2010-02-21T22:11:00.000Z

Two collegy drawings again. I certainly prefere portraits than full figure paintings.

Also, the purple one was painted on green paper and there are little bits that show through (that was kind of fun).

Do you usually use this strong colors?
Yeah, except for when I don't.

25

2010-01-28T12:49:00.001Z

This is a comic for a one day project at college - aim was to illustrate number 25. In the narrative number 25 appears 25 times...

Hyena and Evil Elephant

2010-01-22T17:55:00.000Z

I have spent a lovely afternoon with Laura D. just before she left for her exchange (which I am sure is amazing). That day we had a very important mission. We had to write a letter for the king!

It's because Hyena (by Laura D) and Evil Elephant (by myself) were having a fight...

It is not certain who has won, but the fight was long and violent!

(Images so small cos there is a ton of them. You can click to zoom!)

I'm having some jammie dodgers and tea, waiting for plaster moulds to set. It's my first time, fingers crossed it will work!

Riennahera

2010-01-21T10:32:00.001Z

Marta was kind enough to pose for me couple of days ago. I really enjoy doing stuff from life and a good conversation, so this was good fun :). As much as it might not really look like her that much (that was my first lifeportrait in a while, so need warming up and stuff - yes, excuses) I still quite like it.

Click to zoom.

There also is 2 new pages of eelcat published!

Simone

2010-01-20T15:57:00.001Z

This is Simone. This little mysterious persona is now belonging to dear Laura Davis. A goodbye gift as she is leaving for an exchange for way too long. He also is a rice supply, in case things get tough.

He is made of polymer clay and fabric (and filled with rice).

New Year & Christmas :P

2010-01-19T00:15:00.000Z

It's a bit late, but I've been pretty busy lately.

This is a Christmasy artwork based on Riennahera's request:

Other things that have been happening are that I have been ill most of the time and still am. It is pretty annoying, I hate feeling not 100% well.

I also updated the Malin and the eelcat comic, entire 3 pages at once! Which I never do. Also a short statement can be found there.

Brettypie

2009-12-20T00:37:00.001Z

This is Brett. This was drawn during a pint we had just after he got his new tattoo.

Loretta

2009-12-16T23:57:00.001Z

So this is Loretta, one of my dolls. Primarily I made her for college project that was to illustrate a story, and I chose Curse of Millhaven by Nick Cave. In the end I did not use her at all.

Her body is bendy (except for hands and feet) and she can rotate her head. A bit different than my other dolls.

I want to do some more stuff with her now....

I want to be...

2009-12-15T17:18:00.000Z

...an octopus!

Big waves are coming!

2009-12-11T21:01:00.000Z

A random picture I did of this kid in water (I like water)

Piotr Skrzynecki

2009-12-11T20:57:00.000Z

A portrait of Piotr Skrzynecki of Piwnica pod Baranami. He's pretty awesome, the picture: not so much.

This is

2009-12-07T14:07:00.000Z

how I'm feeling today.

He he he.

Lifedrawing

2009-12-01T20:51:00.000Z

Some more lifedrawing. I quite liked this session, although covering up model with hideous costumes occured. The first drawing is my favourite, the rest is... Experiments. "There is no failed experiments, just experiments with unexpected results" (or something like that) that Bucky Fuller said.