The Orange Neighbour Cat

I like to take pictures of people's pets. I always try to grab a few photos on my phone whenever I come across a dog or cat. This picture is based on a photo of my neighbours cat when it wandered over to our house one day. I thought it was an interesting photo, but had a few artistic flaws which I made magically disappear with artistic licence (my brother sitting just inside the frame, for example).

Looking at it now, I probably should have used a couple of shades of orange fur to get his cute little head markings, but aah well. Maybe next time I draw him. Overall, I'm very pleased with how it came out, especially the background. I've seen pet portraits with patterned, busy backgrounds by other artists and I like the effect. I'd like to work more of my patterns into the rest of my art.

"On a Mission", Photoshop, January 2013

Kids Animal Illustrations

A few other things I've completed during my blogging drought - kids t-shirt designs. Or kids wall art designs. Cutsey little animals, for whatever purpose. Hoping to get them printed somewhere like Cafepress in order to sell them online or at markets. Still just trying to build up the confidence to put feelers out and get expressions of interest. I know a few people with kids, so I guess that's a good place to start.

"Purple Quokka", Photoshop, January 2013

"Contemplative Panda", Photoshop, January 2013

"Yellow Duckies", Photoshop, January 2013

Also thinking of putting them up as collage sheets on Etsy. I've sold some cat silhouettes on Etsy before, just need to put them back up for sale and add a few more images. Feeling pretty confident about this at the moment. I've been getting a lot done lately, learning new things and generally getting a pretty consistant style together. This blog is definitely helping me to see my progress, and hopefully that will continue.

Two Purple Roses for Valentines Day

Whoops, it's been more than three weeks since my last blog post. I'm surely not the only blogger that suffers from procrastination, but that's just lazy. At least some of the time I've spent not blogging has been spent making art. This is what I've been up to today. Valentine's Day is coming up, and I've seen an artist selling collage heart artworks on Facebook. I was wondering if I could create something that someone would be interested in buying.

"Two Roses", Photoshop, January 2013

I'm still in two minds. I like it, but my insecurity kicks in and then I feel like it would be silly trying to sell a print of it. I keep telling myself there's no harm in trying, nothing to lose for not giving it a go, but I'm reluctant. I'll probably post on Facebook closer to the date.

Also wondering how best to sell it. I could make a one-off print, and advertise it as an original artwork. I feel like people put more weight on traditional art (particularly paint on canvas) than digital art, so it's hard to make it feel like an "artwork" and not a "drawing". Alternatively, I could make up greeting cards, stickers, magnets or something like that. But they have their own costs involved, which make it tricky if they don't sell.

For now, I'll probably just keep doodling on Photoshop, with the intention of somehow selling my work, but never really getting around to it. Either way, if you're looking for some purple rose based art to give to your Valentine this year, let me know. I might be able to hook you up. :)

Green Wolf Avatar

I've just been doodling a few 100x100 forum avatars today. This is the first one to be coloured. I might add a few others to this post once I've finished them.

"Green Wolf", Coloured Pencil, January 2013

Right now it's sideways and I'm not entirely sure why. Too tired to figure out why that's happening, so for now, I suggest tilting your head slightly.

EDIT: Added the wolf right way up and a few other old images in avatar size, just to have them displayed on my blog.

"Assorted Avatars", Assorted Mediums, 2012-2013

Two Owls

Well, it's December 21st, 2012. The day the Aztecs apparently predicted that the world would end (you know, according to various highly credible internet loons). This sort of lighthearted end of days talk always makes me feel anxious. Not because I feel like it's actually going to happen, but because I'm deeply bothered by the idea of it happening. Whenever someone mentions how fun it would be cracking zombie heads or outwitting looters, I can't help but think about the things I would lose. Particularly the people I would lose.

There are people and things in this life I care very deeply about, and one of my very greatest fears is losing them.  Which makes me sad and anxious, but it also pleases me greatly that there are things in my life that I care for so much that I'm terrified to let them go. The fact that I can lose them means that at least I have them, for this brief moment.

EDIT: This rant went on for a bit, and I don't really think this is the place for it. So enjoy the pretty picture. And the things you love in your life.

"Two Owls", Crayola Coloured Pencil on Printer Paper, A4, December 2012

This picture is a Christmas present for my dad. He likes owls, so I drew a father owl with a baby. I'd like to have done more patterns and textures, but I didn't want to mess it up this close to Christmas and have to start over. I think he'll like it. Hopefully I'll be able to see him again soon. Maybe next year it will be easier.

New Blog

Starting too get back into drawing, so I thought I'd start a blog to document my progress. Lately I've spent a lot of time browsing the blogs of some very talented artists and seeing their improvement over time. I'd like this space both to motivate myself to continue, but also to share what I do with anyone else who might be interested. I can be quite insecure about the things I create, so hopefully having an outlet to share and some motivation to practice might build my confidence.

I like drawing animals, landscapes and abstract mandala-type images. I work with ink pens, coloured pencils, acrylic paints, collaged elements and also do some digital work. Most of my work features bright colours and symmetrical patterns. I'm currently working to develop a colouring technique which I like and spend more time working on shading and highlights.

For the sake of having an image to attach to this post, here is one of my abstracts. The original was doodled on a post-it note with a ballpoint pen. I then used the posterise feature of Photoshop to hide some of the pen scribbles, reversed and tinkered with the colours and mirrored the image to create a seamless tiling pattern.

"Lucky Day", Ballpoint Pen and Digital Manipulation, May 2012

I'm currently busy working on Christmas presents, so hopefully I'll have something newer to show in my next post.