Stranger Things

I recently had the pleasure of watching Stranger Things on Netflix and have since re-watched it with my family. I think it is a really great show and I hope so much that they make a series 2! So, as always after watching an amazing film or series- a bit of fan art has to follow!  

I decided to draw Nancy. I liked her character a lot, but I liked her outfits even more,  I'll take one of each please!

This is an important drawing for me because it is the first digital illustration that I am truly proud of and happy with, it's such an incredible feeling! I actually got my graphics tablet about a year ago so it  just goes to show what a year of practice can do.

I am also super pleased with the style of this drawing. Style is something I have been feeling really frustrated with at the moment, but , since doing this drawing, I can say that I am happy with the direction mine is heading. I like that the face is incredibly simplified, but I think I was still able to capture a likeness and her expression. I can't wait to see where my style and digital drawing abilities will progress!

Thanks for reading!

Malala

I was in the mood to draw a portrait recently to try and get me out of a bit of a block ( it worked!) and who better to draw than Malala Yousafzai?! For me, she is an incredibly inspiring woman because of her work for female education and equality. Therefore, for this portrait I felt it was important to successfully capture her determined expression to pay tribute to her work and bravery.

I was inspired by the amazing illustrations of Isabelle Arsenault (check out her work here) to try working a lot of texture into the portrait. I did this by using multiple layers of watercolour and coloured pencil. I have really been enjoying this combination recently.

I am really pleased with the finished piece. I think it is probably the strongest portrait I have ever done thanks to the texture, colours and the expression. I hope it does Malala justice!

Thanks for reading!

Rey

I finally watched the new Star Wars film and it was amazing, I loved it so much. As always after watching a film I really like I have to do some fan art, so here is my drawing of Rey:

I used watercolours and coloured pencils for this illustration and I had a lot of fun playing around with the lines in her costume and experimenting with their colour. Overall, I am really pleased with this one!

Thanks for reading!

The Royal Armouries Museum

Recently my family and I visited the Royal Armouries in Leeds which is a free museum specialising in arms and armour. Obviously I took my sketchbook because museum sketching is one of my favourite things to do. Ever. I did a few pages of quick sketches and notes while we were there to use as reference and inspiration for future illustrations and drawings.

Visiting the museum left me feeling super inspired so I went home and drew some more (these are the more detailed sketches towards the end). I really wanted to focus on the clothes that the characters were wearing in these drawings and I enjoyed it so much, it is definitely something I will be doing more of in the future. For the minute these are just conceptual sketches, but I am sure I will incorporate them into some illustrations in the future.

Thanks for reading!

Amy and Rory

One of my goals for this year was to start drawing full-body portraits more often in order to improve at drawing the human figure. This digital painting is just a bit of Doctor Who fan art, but I made an effort to draw Amy and Rory's full bodies.

As usual, I began by drawing some thumb nails so I could figure out the positions that I wanted them to be in and the composition of the piece.

Once I had drawn one I was happy with I then developed it into a bigger, more detailed sketch.

Here's the final illustration:

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with this illustration, especially as an early attempt at illustrating the whole body. I think Amy worked better than Rory because she seems more relaxed and natural and my favourite detail from the painting is Amy's shirt, so I know to include more details in future paintings.

Thanks for reading!

Character Design

Lately I have really been enjoying coming up with characters. I find that when I invent and draw somebody I start to get a feel for what their personality might be. I'm sure it would be interesting to develop these ideas into a detailed back story so maybe I will try that soon.

Anyway, here is my latest:

I really enjoyed doing this drawing as I wanted to give her a really individual style so I had a lot of fun choosing her clothes and hair. I am probably most pleased with the glasses because I LOVE playing around with opacity, I also tried to introduce a lot of texture into this one.

Hope you like it, thanks for reading!

Othello Book Cover

I recently read a very helpful article where a group of illustrators shared their tips for illustrating and designing book covers (you can read it here). It really inspired me to try designing a cover myself and made the whole thing seem a lot less daunting.

I spent a while trying to decide which book I would like to design a cover for and in the end I went for a play, I chose 'Othello' by William Shakespeare. This seemed like a good choice to me because I am currently studying it at college on my English Literature course so I know the story in quite a lot of depth, but I am also familiar with a lot of the imagery used in the play and I thought this would make it much easier for me to design a cover, especially for my first ever attempt.

Before I did anything, I went straight to Pinterest and started collecting images relating to 17th Century Venice. This included things like architecture and costume. I also looked at past performances of Othello and the posters that accompanied them to help me start visualising ideas. I began by sketching a bunch of thumbnails to map out the main elements of the cover and also to try out different compositions. I knew I wanted a cover that either suggested the conflict between Othello and Iago or used the symbol of the handkerchief.

Once I had done this I then asked for opinions from my sister and friend, who are also studying the play, about which designs they thought were strongest. There were a few designs that we liked, but in the end I wanted more of a subtle, symbolic cover with hidden meaning and I thought the following design was most successful at this. So, with a thumbnail chosen I then started to develop the idea, think more about the details and how I would complete the final illustration.

 Once I was happy with my plan I started drawing it in Photoshop. I began with the background for which I used a deep red colour layered over a textural image from Lost and Taken. I played around with the drawing a lot in the process and I was constantly adding and removing elements until I felt I had a good balance between detail and simplicity. This was the design I ended up with:

I was pretty happy with this design, but there was still something about it that I felt didn't really work-  besides the obvious spelling mistake in the top right corner! I couldn't work out which part of the cover I wasn't happy with so I left it and came back to it the next day. I decided that the eyes weren't quite right, I wanted them to be slightly smaller, closer together and lower. I also felt that the final tendril that crosses Othello's chest was too much and obscured the text so I removed this.

Here's the final illustration:

Overall, I am pleased with the cover and I think it gets across the atmosphere and the tension of the play well. I think the  colours and symbolism are effective too,  with the white tendrils representing Iago's lies and their disastrous effects, hence the coil around Othello's neck. Also, I think Othello's plain white eyes represent his blindness to Iago's duplicity quite well.

I really enjoyed the whole process of designing this cover and it is definitely something I will be doing again in the future. Next time I would like to try illustrating for a completely different genre so I can practice interpreting other texts and representing them through illustration. Another thing I would love to do is to complete a book cover illustration using mainly traditional media.

Thanks for reading!

A Study in Purple

Recently, I think I have been going through a bit of an art block. I have just been struggling to find the inspiration and motivation to draw. So, I figured the best thing to do would be to get rid of the pressure that I have to make something amazing and different and just experiment.

The main idea for this drawing was to be more adventurous and careful in my colour choices. I started off with the lilac skin and then looked at a colour wheel to determine what colours would be best to use along side this. I chose to use a harmonious colour for the hair, hence the red, and then a complementary colour for the eyes, hence the yellow. Overall, I think the colours work well together.

One thing I found with this drawing was, perhaps because it is pretty different to what I would usually do, I was more willing to try different techniques for the shading and line work and I think that the outcome is quite nice, I especially like how the face and hair turned out.

I did struggle with drawing the body because I used no reference photographs. The plan was to draw to the hips, but I reverted back to my usual and stopped just below the shoulders, so this is something I definitely need to work on.

Overall, I think this was a successful little painting as I am pretty pleased with the outcome and it left me slightly more inspired - a feeling I have been missing.

Thanks for reading!

Lancaster Drawings

Once again during half term we headed to Lancaster to see my brother. Before we set off I treated myself to the graphic novel 'Jane the Fox and Me', by Fanny Britt and illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault, to read while we were there and it left me feeling so inspired - I would really recommend it! I love Isabelle Arsenault's work so much, it is so beautiful for all of its tone and texture, aahhh it's amazing!!! Anyway, it was reading this that really motivated me to try and include more texture in my work and to draw more in general.

While we were there we visited the red squirrel sanctuary in Formby which was really lovely. I saw loads of squirrels and took lots of reference photographs of the scenery to inspire future drawings. One of the photographs that I took was of a wooden fence that are often seen at beaches and I decided to draw it when I got back.

For this, I really wanted to experiment with drawing the negative space so the fence itself was left as the background colour. I found it a bit confusing to do at first, but it is something that I will definitely try again in the future. I started with a gouache background and then I drew straight over the top with a black coloured crayon - I have really been enjoying this technique recently.

On the way back from the sanctuary we went to Crosby beach to see Anthony Gormly's 'Another Place' which consists of 100 life size figures made of cast-iron spread along the shore and out to sea. It was amazing to see them because I had researched them for my GCSE Art way back in Year 8. I think it is such a wonderful idea and there is something very beautiful about them. I was left feeling very tempted to try my hand at sculpting.

The next day we went to the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool which was also incredibly inspiring and it was a fantastic day out! We went especially to see the Pre-Raphaelite exhibition which was beautiful but there was so much else to see too, we actually ran out of time.

One painting which was amazing to see was a HUGE portrait of  Henry VIII by Hans Holbein. It is such an iconic image and a very well known representation of him so it was amazing to see in person and we were all very impressed. There was also a perfectly placed bench in front of him so I decided to do a really quick sketch while I was there.

I was extremely happy because I got to see a Hockney painting which was so cool because I really admire his work and have looked at it a lot for my AS Fine Art course. What inspired me most however were the sculptures! I loved them! There was a spectacular room filled with them and there were a few busts dotted around the gallery too, I especially liked one of Queen Victoria which I decided to sketch while I was there.

While I was sketching I began trying to draw it quite realistically, but then I stopped and started again because I knew that that was not what I was really interested in achieving. For my second attempt I simplified the shape and the tone and exaggerated certain parts, I also made an effort to make her look especially grumpy. I wanted the bust to be recognisable from my sketch, but I really wanted to add more character to it and make a striking image.

I was really pleased with the sketch because of the character and humour that I had managed to capture so when I got home that evening I then made a painting from it. The painting was simplified further because this time I was working from the sketch and not the bust and I tried very hard to refine the features of the face so they were more noticeable and clean. I worked in black crayon over gouache again and I think that the final image is very striking and I am so pleased with it. It is so different from anything that I normally do and the face is so much more specific and clear than what I can normally achieve so I am thrilled with the result. Finally I am pleased that I did not simply reproduce the bust but added my own changes and style to make a different image.

Overall, it was a great little holiday filled with art that has left me feeling very inspired.

Thanks for reading!

Inky Experiments

It has taken me a long time to realise that quite often the art that I admire the most and the pieces of mine that I am most pleased with are the more spontaneous and experimental ones. Sometimes the pieces that are thoroughly thought out and meticulously made can end up looking a bit stiff and forced. Therefore, I am making an effort to try and experiment more with what I draw and the media that I use in order to keep improving and discovering the elements that I enjoy and would like to include in future pieces.

For this experiment I decided to use Ecoline which is a liquid watercolour in the colour fir green. They behave very similarly to ink in that they are a strong coloured liquid medium, however unlike ink they can be reactivated with water after they dry. I chose to experiment with this medium so that I could focus on my brush work and inking skills. I really wanted to use the full range of thickness provided by the brush. These paintings were made using only a size 00 round brush. I also chose to paint with Ecoline so that I could play around with the tones that you can make by only diluting the single colour.

I began each of the mini portraits with a very quick pencil sketch using a blue Prismacolor ColErase pencil to allow me to improve and modify the picture when I started painting and try and keep them feeling more spontaneous. I also drew a guy which I don't do enough but it was one of my aims for this year so I need to start somewhere. All of the drawings were done without a reference image as well which I am very pleased with.

So I would say that this was a successful painting session and hopefully the first of many experiments. It is often after these more spontaneous paintings that I feel I am making some progress!

Thanks for reading!

Sherlock and Self Portraits

Recently I have really been enjoying painting digitally on my graphics tablet. I have been feeling more excited about drawing digitally than traditionally which is a new feeling for me.

I think I am finally starting to feel comfortable drawing in Photoshop and like I sort of know what I am doing now. Compared with my experience in traditional art,  I am still very new to digital painting - I only did my first digital piece in January of last year.

So it has taken me a year to finally be pleased with the pieces I create digitally and it really is a lovely feeling. I finally find more enjoyment in it than frustration. I would say this feeling started with the two digital paintings I did after watching the New Year's special of Sherlock (which by the way was amaaazing). I painted Watson and Sherlock and I really wanted to be able to achieve a likeness to the characters but in a stylised way. I think I achieved this with Watson, not so much with Sherlock, but I am still pleased because I think I made a lot of progress with these paintings.

I also wanted to experiment with different Photoshop brushes and not just use the basic round brush. I chose one from the dry media section I think and this meant I was able to create a lot more texture than I normally can and I love the way this looks.

The third painting I have done digitally is the one that I am most pleased with.  I have been feeling very inspired by Taryn Knight's (or TarynDraws) art recently - I love the texture that she creates in her illustrations, so that is what inspired this piece. I decided to just do a little self portrait and I really tried to be more adventurous with my choice of colour and texture (for example in the hair) and I think I was pretty successful. 

I am looking forward to continuing with digital art and I would like to challenge myself to do more full body paintings because I am getting too comfortable with drawing the head and shoulders. Also, maybe next time I should try and paint a setting for my characters because  I really struggle with this and would like to improve.

Thanks for reading!

Screen Printing

This Christmas I was super lucky to be given a screen printing kit from my Mum and Dad and I finally got round to giving it a go.

I was interested in screen printing because not only does it look really fun, but I loved the idea of being able to reproduce an illustration multiple times and print onto different materials. The idea of having a tote bag or a pencil case with one of my own illustrations on just excites me so much!

I am still very new to screen printing so my knowledge is extremely limited, however I do know that there are many different methods to actually get your design onto the silk screen. The kit that I received involves the stencilling method where you have to cut your design out of a self-adhesive vinyl material and then stick that to the underneath of the screen. When I was researching this method I repeatedly read that the stencilling method can only be used for very simple designs and not for long runs. When I read this I was a bit disheartened because I had imagined being able to print quite a detailed design, but I was undeterred and just as determined to do a more complex design.

As for the design, I struggled to come up with an idea that I wanted to use as my first ever screen print. It got to the point when I was so desperate to try that the design mattered less to me. In the end, I used my sister's interest as inspiration - she loves historical fashion. So I did a bit of research into historical fashion (which I have to say I enjoyed very much) and decided to try and screen print a lady from the 1820s. (Please excuse if it is not entirely historically accurate, I gave a lot more focus to the design of the image on this one.) In the end, I was actually really pleased with the design. I found that having the challenge of screen printing the image forced me to simplify the design a lot and think about how it would all fit together when cut out of vinyl and I just love how bold the image looks!

So, once I was happy with the idea in my sketchbook, I redrew it as carefully as I could onto regular A4 printer paper. I then went over it in a felt tip pen so it was extremely clear which areas I would like the ink to be in the final print. Once this was done, I layered it over a piece of the vinyl and taped them both to a cutting mat - then the cutting begins. I have to say I was dreading this step because I thought my design would turn out to be waaay too complex and impossible to cut out by hand with a little craft knife. But like I said I was determined and in the end it turned out ok. I had to simplify the design a bit from the original sketch and I really struggled cutting out her eyes, but I got away with only one small cut on my finger so I would rate that as a success!

The next step was to peel off the backing of the vinyl and stick it onto the bottom of the frame. This actually proved quite difficult because of the leaf border, but with some help from my Dad, we managed to get it stuck down well. However, it was at this stage that I started to have doubts about whether my design would be too complicated after all because the vinyl wasn't completely flush with the screen and it kept lifting on certain points.

With that done I could start screen printing! Yay! My kit came with a hinge bracket that allows you to attach the frame to a surface and this was SO useful at keeping the frame in the same place. It would have been so much more difficult without it. I went for a blue ink colour because for some reason this is what I had imagined all along, but I'm sure it would have looked good in other colours too. My first attempt turned out pretty badly and the ink bled everywhere, but the more I did the better it got. It was very much a learning process so I was experimenting with different amounts of ink and different materials to print on. I used a bunch of different papers and had best results on a random piece of grey card that unfortunately we only had one piece of. However, I would say that I got the best results on some cotton fabric. The ink just seemed a lot cleaner on this, assumedly because it was more absorbent. The ink did run a bit in the more complex parts like the hairline, but I am still really happy with the results. And of course, I can now use the fabric prints to make other things which is very exciting!

This one was printed on fabric:

I was very excited when I was screen printing so unfortunately I completely forgot to take any progress pictures, but I will make sure to do that next time.

Overall, I am SUPER happy with how my first adventure into screen printing came out. The prints are not perfect, but I was honestly expecting awful results because I had thought my design would be far too complicated. I didn't expect to be able to make so many prints either, eventually the results stopped being so clean and some of the small details came loose from the screen, but I was very impressed at how long the vinyl stayed stuck on. I can see myself being hooked from this point though so expect more - I can't wait to try again!

Thanks for reading!

Stamp Carving

For Christmas I was lucky to receive a Speedball rubber stamp block and a set of carving tools from my Auntie and Uncle. I have been wanting to try stamp carving for a while now and so I was so excited to finally give it a go.

I carved my first stamp on Christmas Day while watching festive telly. I started off fairly simply, just carving the details out rather than carving around them. I decided to carve a thank you stamp which is just under A6 in size so that I could make a bunch of thank you cards to send to my family and friends. I am really pleased with the design and how the stamp turned out.

I used gold embossing powder for some of the cards and it works really well with the stamp. That stuff is magical!

I then carved a stamp for my Mum's Etsy shop 'MidgetGemBeads' so she could use it to jazz up her packaging a bit. This stamp is probably a third of the size of my previous one and I found it a lot more difficult, probably because there were a lot more tiny details. I think this stamp would have looked better with some more white space to lighten the design up a bit, but apart from that I am relatively pleased with it and my Mum is too.

I think in my next stamp I would like to try and carve away more white space than I have tried before. I would love to try and carve a little person so  I am excited to see how that will turn out. I'll need to order a new rubber block soon!

Thanks for reading!

Full time marvel. Part-time demon slayer.

I did this painting as a Christmas present for my sister this year and she was really pleased with it.

Up until this point I had never spent so much time on a digital painting before. I had felt very frustrated with digital art because it is still so new to me and I find it so difficult, I still do, but with this painting I felt like I finally got a little closer to how I had envisioned it when starting. I think I acquired a much better understanding for painting on Photoshop and I am excited to continue learning and improving!