A spot of Divination

I tweaked this little illustration the other night, and ended up posting it as a secondary Colour Collective 'Laurel Green' because I didn't much like what I did specifically for CC. 

Twitter pixellated the bottom of the image for some reason, but she did much better than my original CC, so I think I was right not to be too keen on it. =P

This little witch can be traced all the way back to my highschool sketchbooks, although she looked rather different then. If I remember rightly she was blonde and wore a dirndl... but she has the same hat, and the same goose. 

I didn't change much, as I rather liked the original, but a few things had been bothering me (mainly the staff) so I wanted to make a couple of changes. The original blog post from last year is here. 

And here's another quick sketch of the same witch, from my 'Potential To Turn Into Something Bigger But Currently Bleh' sketch pile:

Adobe Photoshop CC2017 / 2018 on a Wacom Cintiq Companion 2 / Wacom Mobile Studio Pro

The Makeover

I did this piece for Colour Collective's 'Laurel Green' prompt. I can't say I'm all that keen on it, but sometimes that's the way things are...

It was a redo of a very quick sketch I did last year, but I don't think it's an improvement... so maybe I'll revisit it again next year, and do better! It wasn't so bad as linework, but it went downhill when I added the colour, and lost all its energy. However, we live and learn, and we can't draw perfectly 100% of the time. Next time I'll do better! I'll just treat this latest version as a second draft,

Here's the linework. I think it works much better than the coloured version, although there's still a lot I'm not happy with:

I still think the concept has potential to be expanded, so maybe one day. =)

Adobe Photoshop CC2018 on a Wacom Mobile Studio Pro

The original sketch was done in Adobe Photoshop CC2017 on a Wacom Cintiq Companion

Swinging

Colour Collective's 'Amber' prompt made me think of wheat, and having got that far, it's a very small jump to 'harvest mouse'. (To be honest, I don't really need an excuse to draw a harvest mouse...or any mouse). A google search for 'harvest mouse' (as well as providing you with cute overload) will give you lots of mice climbing around plants, and sitting in their elaborate woven nests. For a kidlitart scenario, that naturally brings me to a mouse that has made its own little swing:

 

He doesn't stand out much, but that's okay, because harvest mice are supposed to be camouflaged, right? I added the poppies because it really needed a contrast to all that yellow and brown. 

I whipped this up in just an hour or two, almost exclusively using Kyle Webster's Gouache brushes (specifically the Gouache a Go Go and the Gouache Bonus Gritty Dry). Not super-refined or anything, I was in a hurry. 

Adobe Photoshop CC2018 on a Wacom Mobile Studio Pro

Pen Pals

Colour Collective's 'Celeste' prompt came right at Easter... but I didn't want to do anything Easter-themed for it. The colour reminded me of ice, and eventually that ended up with this little set of pen pals. I don't know about you, but I always cringe when I see illustrations with penguins and polar bears in the same place - these two are definitely in their original habitats, but with their icy life experiences, I thought they'd make perfect pen pals!

Here's a look at them individually:

I rather like this little bear - I'm not sure I've ever drawn a polar bear before!

As tends to be my habit with Colour Collective, I threw these together very quickly, but I think I'd like to take them further one day. They can go in my files for when I have no inspiration and want to rework something. =)

Adobe Photoshop CC2018 on a Wacom Mobile Studio Pro

About 2 hours total

Penguin Delivery

And you thought baby penguins hatched from eggs. 

This is a quick, sketchy piece I did for Colour Collective's 'Gainsboro' prompt. During the week I watched the new Air New Zealand safety video, themed around Antarctica, and they said 'you never see a penguin with an umbrella'. Sentences like that are like a red rag to a bull for a children's illustrator!

So I did a little illustration of two proud penguin parents receiving the delivery of their fuzzy baby chick - parachuted down (presumably from the stork, who I doubt would relish landing in Antarctica) with an umbrella.

Adobe Photoshop CC2018 on a Wacom Mobile Studio Pro - About 2-2.5 hours.

Easter Project: Floral Wreath Stool

As it's the Easter long weekend, I thought I'd take some time to do a project that's been hanging around, undone, for far too long. And then I thought I'd share it around, so read on for a template and mini tutorial!