I-Fri : Monster

What a great topic! I had so many ideas spring to mind, but this one kept coming to the forefront:



Happy with the idea, but *sigh* not so much with the execution. I feel all I've been doing is posting my mistakes lately! (sorry!) But this is a learning process for me and I am definitely learning. I was going well with this one, getting nice deep colours, but then I made the ground too dark (why did I pick blue?) and then all of a sudden everything looked muddy. I salvaged it partially by lifting some of the colour from the ground and monster, which has made some interesting textures in itself and which I might explore later as a technique, but for now this one goes on the stack of ideas "to redo when i have time".

Any ideas of what I could do to make this better? (be gentle...) I'm always interested to hear how different artists approach the same task - the essence of i-fri, i suppose.

well it's back to the drawing board. I'm definitely going to take that watercolours class, but it's not till late April so I've got a few more weeks of flailing ahead! ;-J

Experimenting

Time of day: nighttime
Mood: inspired, but hungry
cat: sleeping
husband: surfing (on his computer, not waves)

I'm continuing my experimentation wtih watercolours. I had this idea a little while ago which i was really excited to get out, and after perusing Courtney's blog and folio, I thought I'd try to emulate how she seems to mix and blend colours so beautifully. Well, it failed miserably! Yuk! I didn't even bother inking it.



so try, try again. I like this one better, especially the cloud animals, but now notice problems with the composition.



There needs to be more space between the grass and clouds I think, and also I meant for the boy to be angling down a bit more. I also don't like how I did the hair or hands, and like the grass texture better on the first one. I'll get back to this again some other night. Practice makes perfect.... and third time's a charm! Let's see what other maxims can i throw in there...?

i-fri: Feet

Run Cows, Run!



Finally broke out my new watercolour paints and paper! Wohoo! Having so much fun experimenting. This is going to be used for a birthday card and inside it will say "let's party till the cows come home!" -- while I was at it, I made this one for my brother-in-law too:



I used a technique I saw posted on the i-fri forums about wetting the paper first and then the paint only goes where the paper is wet - which is great, BUT, on TOP of that, it makes all those cool fanning out textures that I love and that is the wonderful surprise and beauty of watercolours. I eschewed watercolours for so long thinking it was something to take up only when I retired to the country, but now I think it's great, cause I have realised (by looking at other i-fri participants, not my own work) that you can get just as intense colours as you can in other media. (also my scanner isn't the best so these images are slightly blurry and the colours aren't as saturated as on the page) It's the working-backwards-layering thing I need to master, since my main painting experience is oils which is opposite. But I'm learning thick and fast and loving it.

Comments most appreciated!

I-Fri : Tattoo

and you wondered why hippos always have their mouths open....



Just a very quick one for this week. Sketched and scanned and then a wash in Painter. Still very short of time at the moment, but I liked this idea and wanted to put it in. Maybe at a later date I'll have time to do another treatment of it, and I might make it my first real watercolours project (bought new paints and paper a while ago but haven't had a chance to use them yet! It's terrible how life gets in the way of fun!)

I'd like to take a watercolours class to learn some techniques. There was a post on the i-fri art forums about watercolours tips which I found so helpful, and it's stuff like this I need to learn. All I've been able to find so far is a 1 day workshop at CAE (centre for adult education), which I might take, but would like to do a longer course ideally. The teacher of the workshop is Greg Alexander- his work is pretty cool and he has done a few children's books, so he might be a good contact. If anyone knows any good courses in Melbourne, Australia please let me know!!

cheers

i-Fri : Insect

I have been woefully short of time to contribute to I-F lately - I was really hoping to have some Tea time last week and also to do something for the SBCWI contest which I found out about the day before it was due (how come I'm a member but I never seem to know about these things? Am I missing something?) - but deadlines loomed menancingly I'm afraid.

Luckily, however, INSECT is right up my alley. I have been ensconced in them lately for my most recent book project. Well, book-project-to-be, I hope. I'm working in tandem with this publisher in designing a set of 3 books for youngins. It's so much fun, I've never had a chance to do actual book design before, and although the publisher is keeping the reins pretty tight, it's excellent experience for me as a beginning illustrator, to learn the market and the tricks of the trade. She is going to take my samples to a book fair in Bologna in a few weeks and hope it gets 'picked up' - whatever that means. By a distributor I guess.

So here is a sample. There are some other insects in progress but this is my most favourite so far. The eyes are going to be actual pasted on googly eyes, and I am changing the black outline to a gold to make them sparkle and pop. I hope it goes forward cause I can't wait to see it completed!!