Scribbles & Scribings

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!

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!

This week’s Illustration Friday topic was so fun that I had to make something, even if it’s just a quick little sketch. Click the image to enlarge it.

Another quick sketch for this week’s Illustration Friday topic. If that’s one of mine she’s looking at, I hope her final opinion is a good one! Click the image to enlarge.

Another quick drawing for this week’s Illustration Friday topic, click to enlarge it.

I was never one for getting all dressed up when I was little, but I had all kinds of adventures with my motley collection of toys…

Another quicky for this week’s Illustration Friday topic, it seems like I keep coming back to wise old owls. Click the image to enlarge it.

This is another done almost entirely with the brush pen. The pen keeps getting “hairier” but as long as it still has ink I’m going to keep using it. I really like the soft texture it has now!

 I could make some kind of joke about this week’s Illustration Friday topic, but I  guess I’m just feeling too air-headed to come up with one…

This was a very quick, sketchy drawing, once again with the brush pen, with a few touch up-ups with the fixed-width pen. This particular brush pen is starting to get a bit scratchy and doesn’t come to as fine a point as it used to, but I sort of like the effect, especially around the hair. I haven’t been using the brush very often, so I still struggle with it. A struggle worth making, I think, since every time I try I’m happier with the result. This one captures more of the feeling from the pencil underdrawing than I usually manage with it.

This illustration was made for a holiday card, but it seems to fit this week’s Illustration Friday topic: “repair.” There sure are enough things in need of repair here! Click to enlarge.

I hope everyone has a very safe and fun Halloween!

OK, I can relate a little too well to this week’s Illustration Friday topic! Still a bit off my game with these from my crazy end-of-summer but I managed a quick doodle at the last minute. In all honesty, although I do push it sometimes and tend to finish projects at the last minute, I almost always finish them on time. Unfortunately for my husband, I can’t say the same about getting home in time for dinner!

Because of the topic, I’ll even post the sketches I started for last week’s Illustration Friday word, “strings.” These are beyond late, I’m afraid, as they never made it past the sketch stage in time to post them.

Mmmmmm, the inspiration for this week’s Illustration Fridaytopic was served at my office yesterday for someone’s birthday and it was delicious! I don’t even like cherry-flavored things but this chocolate cake was sooo rich and yummy I had to have a piece.

I’ve been surrounded by sugary things lately. Between the wedding and baby shower I was involved with there’s been a lot of cake lately (and I suspect there’s more cake at the office again tomorrow….) Now I’m trying to get back on the wagon - both for my nutrition and for this sadly-neglected blog. I did sketches for a couple of the weeks of Illustration Friday I missed, but nothing even worth posting. There’ll be more soon!