Scribbles and Scribings

 
(click to enlarge)

I’m hoping this isn’t a bad omen for my return to Illustration Friday: this drawing, “Cat Contained,” was conceived and drawn before I realized I’d mis-read the Illustration Friday word for this week. However, I think it still works, after all, I’d just have to close that flap and…

Just a quick drawing on evening while watching a movie. Both of my cats usually make a beeline for an open box in the middle of the floor, but tonight they decided it was the least interesting thing in the room so I had to wing the cat. This time it’s Tinkerbell, who is generally a far more “contained” cat than Tony, even though he’s the one who’s a fiend for squeezing into small boxes. Original drawing with 0.5 tech pen on 9×12″ smooth bristol, with a light pencil sketch underneath (erased).

However,  what is very much in keeping with the IF word this week is that today was Human Trafficking Awareness Day.  Modern slavery is a truly horrible and growing and largely invisible problem in the developed world, and several of my favorite webcomics artists have teamed up in a fundraiser to support groups trying to help the victims of this criminal practice. If you’d like to help out with this worthy cause, check out the Comic Creator Alliance this week!

Ahhhh, there’s something about sitting down at the drawing table for the first time in a while. At first a bit anxious, but once I picked my subject it felt like everything was right again, everything clicking into place once more. I definitely want to be sure that not a week goes by without having that feeling again. There will be at least one new sketch here every week from now on.

In December all of my art time was digital. While I do enjoy working on the computer, I don’t think I’d ever be able to completely give up my paper, pencil, and pens. This was just a quick drawing from an old photograph of mine, using a #3 Micron pen on a 6″x9″ piece of smooth bristol paper over a light pencil sketch (which was erased).

Chinese Zodiac Calendar 2010: The Year of the Tiger

I hope that everyone has had/is having a wonderful holiday season! I’m still recovering from all of the festivities (and the preparation for the festivities) but I’ve been eager to get back to my beloved drawing board. My “New Year’s Resolution” this year is to post more new art to this blog, so starting this week there will be at least one brand-new piece of artwork every week. More ambitious plans are in the work, but logistics still need to be worked out.

This week’s post doesn’t count, by the way, although it is a little something new to celebrate the new year with. I’ve re-worked my Chinese Zodiac series into a handy calendar, available for sale on both my RedBubble gallery and my Zazzle store. 2010 is the Year of the Tiger so that big cat graces the cover of the calendar. The Zazzle calendars have more options, but the RedBubble calendars are gorgeous (and you get free shipping if you order 3 or more, from me or from any of the other fine artists there) so if you’re still looking for something to fill that bare spot on your wall now is your chance.

I’m adding new products to my Zazzle store and my CafePress store featuring the original versions of the artwork as well as these recolored versions, including special limited-edition gifts for Chinese New Year (February 15 this year)  so check back regularly… and if there’s something in particular you’re looking for, ask!

I’ll be back later this week with some more art to share… Happy New Year!

All twelve of the zodiac animals can now be seen — and purchased — at my RedBubble portfolio.  Here’s an extra close-up detail of the Dragon.

 I’ve already added ornaments of all the zodiac animals to my CafePress store, and started adding items to my Zazzle store. I’ll add the rest as soon as I can, so if you’re waiting for one in particular let me know and it’ll move to the front of the line!

Just a quick note to let everyone know about the “12 Deals of Christmas” sale at Zazzle.com! Today’s sale is on packs of cards but there will be different things on sale every day for the next 12 days! Just click the sale link at the Zazzle site to get the discount.

CafePress is also offering different daily specials,  so check out the Critterwings CafePress shop for special deals there too!

To start you off, here’s a shortcut to all of the cards in the Critterwings Zazzle Shop.

create & buy custom products at Zazzle

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone out there (whether or not you live in the US where it’s being formally and nationalistically observed) has a moment this week to spend with their family and/or friends and reflect on all of the good things in their life. I have quite a long list myself, including my wonderful extended family, all of my dear friends (both online and offline) and my dear husband and the life we’ve been building together. I love that I have the freedom to pursue my art and maintain a comfortable life at the same time, and am grateful for all of the blessings, large and small, that have filled my life. I just finished making pies for tomorrow’s dinner with my husband watching goofy old movie serials on our little kitchen TV and you know what? It’s a pretty good way to end the day. Especially taking into account that the rest of the day was spent cleaning the whole house because we’re hosting Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.

I don’t have any more thematic artwork to post at the moment (we’ll see if I get a chance tomorrow, but it seems unlikely) but I thought that regular visitors to my blog would appreciate seeing a little work-in-progress. Yes, I have finished ALL of the ink drawings for my Chinese Zodiac series: The Ox, The Pig, The Dragon, and The Monkey. The Ox is actually a re-drawing of the Ox I did way back at the beginning this year, the first of the series (since this IS the year of the Ox) but I decided it just didn’t hold up to the rest of the drawings I did since then. Two of these are partially colored, and the only one that should take an exceptionally long time is The Dragon — I just can’t help throwing all the bells and whistles into a Dragon, after all.

I don’t know about anyone else, but as much fun as I’ve had doing these (and they have been very fun) I will be happy when they’re done. I’m a bit eager to start in on the next project. I’ll be posting shiny new color versions of the whole series everywhere as soon as they’re done… with any luck in the next couple of weeks!

Have a great holiday, those that are having one!

Yes, I know I promised new art, but Thanksgiving preparations have to come first I’m afraid. In the meantime, I wanted to let everyone know about a sale in my Critterwings shop on Zazzle: $5 off sheets of custom stamps! In addition, I’ve lowered my base price on stamps, so if you like my art it’s a great time to stock up on some genuine US postage. Enter the coupon code ZAZZLESTAMPS at checkout. The sale only lasts for 2 more days! Here are some of the stamps I have for sale right now, but there are more designs, sizes and variations available at Zazzle:

“The Holiday Courier” medium size postage by critterwings

Flying Dove Postage by critterwings

2010: The Year of the Tiger by critterwings

“The Dragon of Autumn” Small Size Postage by critterwings

If you want to make your own custom stamps with your own design on them, you can do that too, so check out Zazzle.com today. (And new art tonight, I promise!)

 This is just a quick note to let folks know about the shiny new offerings over at Critterwings.com, including items featuring the swallowtail butterfly seen above.

My CafePress store has just been upgraded and loaded up with all kinds of new goodies, just in the nick of time for holiday shopping!  In addition to mugs, cards, and tote bags, items unique to Cafepress include:

Ceramic ornaments
(comes with red ribbon for hanging)

Aluminum Sigg water bottles

Ceramic pet food dishes

Wooden keepsake boxes
(with a ceramic tile on the lid)

Throw pillows

There’s more of everything; the store is organized according to the image you want so take a look around. Of course, other items with these images and more can be found at my Zazzle Store and in my RedBubble Gallery. I’ll be adding new art and new items to all of my stores through mid-December, so be sure to stop by.

Next update: more new art!

I haven’t been posting too many actual “scribbles” lately,  so just for a change of pace here’s a little something that emerged when I was supposed to be working on another drawing.

One of my “bad” work habits is having the TV on while I’m drawing.  This is, incidentally, pretty much the only way I watch most TV since it’s one of the few times I’m actually sitting still that I’m not in front of a computer. I make a point of picking shows for this purpose that are mostly dialog driven or aren’t actually all that engrossing, so I don’t have to watch the screen. I was doing this the other day and just happened to glance up when there was a particularly compelling scene, a dark room with dramatic lighting on the actor so that you only saw the very edges of his already pretty dramatic features. I had to hit pause and capture it, right on the page I was already sketching on. Extra points* for anyone who can name the show!

So even though I was “goofing off” with this one, this week I committed the last of the Chinese Zodiac series to paper and scanned it in. I still have to add colors, but they’ll be done soon, which means the whole series will be showing up very soon in my new Critterwings store… you know about the store, right?  I’m slowly adapting my existing artwork into new products — I added a few mugs with Butterfly images to the Critterwings Zazzle shop this weekend — so stop by frequently to see what’s new!

* Note: Points have no value except the warm glow of knowing that you were right.

Just in time for the holiday season, the new store at Critterwings.com is open for business! It has links to products with my illustrations at several different print-on-demand venders, focusing on special items for Christmas:

Critterwings at Zazzle.com has a wide variety including mugs, shirts, tote bags, magnets, cards, and real US postage.

Critterwings at Cafepress.com has ceramic ornaments, clocks, and other gift items.

Stephsmith at Redbubble.com has calendars, T-shirts, cards, and prints, and the largest assortment of fine art images for sale.

New products will be arriving soon in all the stores. Needless to say, putting this together has slowed down production of new art, hence the lack of blog updates lately, but I’ll be posting more new art here later this week… stay tuned!