Category Archives: Illustration Friday

Illustration Friday: Breezy

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Caught in a Breeze
click to enlarge

Getting back into the swing of things, I was feeling inspired by this week’s Illustration Friday topic. Of course, it’s not exactly seasonal — around here we just had what everyone is hoping was the last big snowfall of the winter before spring starts seriously springing — but the word “breezy” always brings to mind those crisp autumn days when the wind just picks up the leaves and swirl them around. Wouldn’t it be fun to hitch a ride?

She’s a little rough and quick, but I couldn’t resist dressing this inked sketch up with a bit of quick color.  I have a hankering to draw more fairies, but costume design has always been a bit of a challenge for me. Hmmm… maybe that’s why I want to do more of it.

You Can’t Make Me!

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 You Can’t Make Me!

… and don’t go trying to change her mind! (Even if it is way past her bedtime…)

I am resolved to simplify things, if it allows me to meet my other resolution to post something new weekly. In this case, this week’s oh-so-appropriate Illustration Friday topic — the word is “resolve” — a fairly quick one in between working on a slightly more ambitious project.

This is also the first piece of new artwork to be scanned in with my most practical Christmas present: an A3 Mustek scanner. Now I can draw on my 11×17 paper without having to scan it in pieces and piece it together in Photoshop! Not that it was an issue with this one because it was so small, but as I said, I have more ambitious projects underway….

Year-end wrap-up

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Looking back on this year, it’s been a very busy one. Unlike some people out there, most of the chaos has been good. Crazy-making sometimes, but usually for good reasons. I have lots to be grateful for and despite the current state of things in the world I have a good deal of optimism for 2009.

As far as this blog goes, the thing I’m happiest about is that for the most part I’ve been able to keep a steady schedule, in part thanks to Illustration Friday. At the beginning of this year I committed to posting something every week based on the IF topic. I didn’t quite make that, but given my horrid track record for diary-keeping I’m amazed I did as well as I did.

Out of 52 weeks in the year:

  • I posted IF illustrations for 43 of them (only missed 9, although technically a couple didn’t make it to the blog in time to post on IF)
  • 39 of those were new, original drawings, three of which never got further than a rough sketch.
  • 14 were existing work I’d done for another purpose but were appropriate for that week’s topic (and one of those was significantly edited for IF)

I’m pretty happy with that. The hardest part was getting back into the habit when I missed a whole month over the summer due to my insane schedule.

I don’t know if I can make the same vow this year, since I may have more illustration projects coming in. However, I do promise to post something to this blog every week, and participate in IF when I can. I’m also going to start merchandising my existing art more, making better use of my redbubble account and my CafePress store, and making more art that is directly in line with that. Toward that end I’d like to redo my website (including this blog!) but that’s a secondary priority to making more art.

Is anyone else making an “art resolution” this year?

Illustration Friday: Clandestine

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Leda and the Swan

Another from the archives for this week’s Illustration Friday topic. Click the image to enlarge it! This image illustrates the ancient myth of Leda and Zeus. Zeus, also known as Jupiter, was king of the gods but had a weakness for mortal women. His wife, Hera, was the jealous sort so he had to be sneaky about it. He took the form of a swan and seduced a noblewoman named Leda (this sort of thing happened a lot in the old Greek myths for some reason) and she ended up birthing two eggs which resulted in four children who all went on to become legendary figures as well:  Helen and Clytemnestra, who were key figures in the Trojan War, and Castor and Pollux, the Gemini twins. I’m not sure how Leda ever explained all this to her husband…

This picture is available for sale at my redbubble site, in a variety of sizes and formats.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and a fabulous start to the new year!

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!