Monthly Archives: December 2008

Illustration Friday: Rambunctious

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 The Mighty Hunter (page 4)

Another one from the archives for this week’s Illustration Friday topic, a page from a short story I wrote and illustrated a while back called “The Mighty Hunter” It’s told from a housecat’s point of view and was inspired by my own cat’s antics, particularly his intensity and focus when he’s in “hunt” mode, and his obliviousness to how goofy it may seem to us. Click the image to enlarge!

I’m actually not sure if this is actually the final version of this piece, but the source files are offline at the moment. That overdue archiving project keeps coming back to haunt me!

Holiday shopping alert!

Right now my CafePress store is featuring a wide variety of items with my drawing “The Holiday Courier” just for the holidays. Today is the last day to get express shipping for free in time for holiday delivery! http://www.cafepress.com/Critterwings

I have several pieces on display and available for purchase in my RedBubble Gallery too. Although it’s too late for Christmas delivery from there, keep it mind either for yourself or your next gift-giving occasion: http://www.redbubble.com/people/stephsmith I’ve purchased a few items from this site already and they are all gorgeous! If you’re a member, look me up!

I’ll be adding more pieces to both galleries over the holidays. If there’s anything you’ve seen here that you’d particularly like, let me know!

Illustration Friday: Similar

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Still Life Media Study

So, it feels like a cop-out for this week’s Illustration Friday topic, but with various December Craziness going on I dug back into the archives again.  Click the image to enlarge and see all the detail. This was a small series I did about ten years ago just to experiment with different media. I’d set up a simple still life and rendered it in (clockwise from the top left) watercolor, acrylic paint, India ink (with watercolor) and colored pencil. I tried to make a conscious effort to take advantage of the strengths of each medium – the soft shading of watercolors, and the vibrant colors of acrylic, for example – while keeping the image itself as much the same as possible, and was forcibly reminded of the weaknesses in my techniques. Little exercises like this are always a good reminder to keep exploring and pushing myself. Also a good reminder to date my artwork, which I’m notoriously bad about…

 If I remember correctly, the India ink one was last, and I was losing the light and totally sick of drawing that window which is why I left it out, LOL.

Holiday shopping alert! 

Right now my CafePress store is featuring a wide variety of items with my drawing “The Holiday Courier” just for the holidays: http://www.cafepress.com/Critterwings

I have several pieces on display and available for purchase in my RedBubble Gallery too, although it may be too late for Christmas delivery from there: http://www.redbubble.com/people/stephsmith I’ve purchased a few items from this site already and they are all gorgeous! If you’re a member, look me up!

I’ll be adding more pieces to both galleries soon, if there’s anything you’ve seen here that you’d particularly like, let me know!