Don’t Bend John Watson
Posted on November 11th, 2012
Don’t Bend John Watson sketch by Amy Crook
Poor John, he’s already got some awful bedhead, I hope the postal workers treat him gently on his way to his new home.
Happy Sunday!
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: john watson, sharpie marker, sherlock, sherlock bbc, sketch
Shut Up and Help for the Holidays
Posted on November 10th, 2012
Shut Up and Help for the Holidays,
Sherlock BBC fan art by Amy Crook
I decided I wanted a second Sherlock holiday card this year, and I decided it had to have Sherlock being his usual annoying self. I spared John any truly awful Christmas sweaters, but made him carry all the boxes.
Shut Up and Help for the Holidays, 5″x7″ pen & ink and Copic markers on paper, nfs (sold).
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: christmas, copic marker, john watson, nfs, pen and ink, sherlock, sherlock bbc, sherlock holmes, sold
Hellfire
Posted on November 9th, 2012
Hellfire, abstract painting by Amy Crook
Oranges and reds are some of the hardest colors to reproduce really well in Photoshop, alas. This piece has a great, intense bright orange that lightens up to golden-yellow in one corner, and holds a secret little demon-face in the other that scowls at you from out of the flame, or perhaps is made from it. The texture is enhanced with a bit of brown in the low spots, and the little face got a tiny bit of extra love to pull it out of the background using Copic markers.
Hellfire, 12″x12″ acrylic paint and Copic marker on canvas.
Hellfire, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the scowly little demon-face glaring up at you from the canvas. Below, I stepped back and got a photo of it with some of the stuff on my desk, including pens, pencils, and a Jack in the Box Christmas antenna ball, because I am a very special sort of artist.
Hellfire by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art
Tags: acrylic paint, canvas, copic marker, for sale, orange
O is for Origami
Posted on November 8th, 2012
O is for Origami, calligraphic illumination by Amy Crook
I believe this pattern is actually for an origami fried egg, when done with yellow paper and the colors reversed, but I wanted a big, bold shape for my O. The four corners created little points when folded back, so I actually drew the gold pattern on the entire 3″x3″ square background and then glued just the points on the back of the O down. The O floats above the background serenely, and it has to be framed with no glass in order to make room.
This was the first non-flat letter I made, though there’s a few more coming, including the ampersand (&). I’m nearly done with the series, half a dozen letters to go, so if you are curious about one we haven’t seen yet (perhaps for a holiday gift!), just drop me a line and I’ll give you a sneak preview.
O is for Origami, 5″x5″ Origami paper, watercolor and glitter gel pen on paper.
O is for Origami, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the way the origami floats on its background, letting the gold glow beneath it as it sits serenely above, the whole thing surrounded by a simple red border. Below, M is for Majuscule and Miniscule is hanging out with my O to make OM!
O is for Origami and M is for Majuscule & Miniscule, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Illuminated Alphabet, Series and Books, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: alphabet, calligraphy, for sale, glitter gel pen, gold, illumination, orange, origami, watercolor
How to Ask for Art as a Gift
Posted on November 7th, 2012
So, what if you’ve got your heart set on a piece of art you saw in a gallery, online, or elsewhere? How do you let it be known what you’re hoping for?
Well, part of this depends on whether you’re the sort of people that give each other a Very Specific List, or Broad Hints. For the former, you’ve got your answer — tell them! For the latter, it’s important to think about whether you have a specific piece you want or you just like anything by the artist in a certain style.
If there’s just one piece you want above all others, you can put it as your computer and phone wallpaper, forward the email or web page about it to the people in question, and generally talk about it in glowing terms. The phrase, “I know just where I’d put it,” is an excellent clue.
You can find out if the artist offers gift certificates and what their terms are. (I do! They’re generally good for a year from date of purchase.) Getting a few people to give you a gift certificate for an artist’s shop is a good way to get an original that’s out of reach of any one person.
Try to keep budget in mind.
Don’t ask someone who normally gives you a $20 gift card for a $2000 painting. Instead, you could ask them for a print, or a $20 gift card to that artist’s shop or gallery. You can hint to your friend who likes to organize these things that you’d love the piece, and if everyone chipped in you might be able to cover the balance. A lot of artists will help you out with payment plans, too, so you could use your friends’ generosity to make a head start on the painting of your dreams.
The group gift plan works really well for office Secret Santas, too, because you can casually say, “Oh, I’m asking all my friends for gift cards for this artist I like,” at work.
Make sure they know where to buy.
If your Mom’s not so great with the internet, make sure she knows how to call the gallery or contact the artist in a way that feels safe for her. If your friend in Buffalo wants to give you something from a gallery in San Diego, make sure they’ve got a site where they can order online. If it’s a local artist that shows in your favorite cafe, take your friends to coffee and then ask in front of them how one buys the art.
Figure out the seller’s policies.
If your gift-givers are the sort to want to feel clever and get you something kind of like the thing you asked for that they think is entirely superior, make sure the gallery or artist will exchange it. This also applies to things like gift cards, prints or crafts. The one original you want might also sell before your loved ones can buy it, so you need to figure out if the gallery or artist will help you find something to go in its place, or refund the money.
You can read more about my policies here, but remember I’m only one artist, and every small business is a little different.
Think about giving art to yourself.
Sometimes, we get so caught up in holiday madness we forget to take care of yourselves. Consider giving yourself the gift of art, something you can see every day and smile over during the busy season and after. Hints and lists aside, sometimes it’s good to just go for what you know you want and not have to worry about ending up with the ugly green one instead of the pretty blue one, or something from entirely the wrong artist.
Art can be a real mood-booster, especially if you buy it when you see it instead of worrying someone else will snap it up. A bit of self-care goes a long way during gift-giving season!
No matter what, remember that they tried.
If you do get something a bit disappointing, try to remember that, at least to most people, gift-giving is hard. It happens to be my super power, but even I have a harder time with some people than others. Even if you end up with something more worthy of Regretsy than your mantelpiece, smile and hope they put in the receipt.
It’s a cliche, but it really is the thought that counts. Even if that thought is a little bit awful.
Categories: Daily Art, Words Words Words
Tags: info, words
What What What
Posted on November 6th, 2012
What What What, Doctor Who fan art by Amy Crook
After making the Eleventh Doctor’s holiday card art, I had to do something with Ten. The darling Tara Swiger suggested the idea for the text, “What? What? No! What?” on the outside of the card, and inside it says, “It’s Christmas already?”
I also decided to draw the other side of the TARDIS on this one, just for variety, but then there was a magical result — the two images together had two Doctors with one TARDIS between them!
What What What, 5″x7″ pen & ink and Copic markers on paper, nfs (sold).
Doctor Who cards by Amy Crook on Etsy
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: copic marker, doctor who, nfs, pen and ink, sold, tardis
1 Comment »
Lost Arcadia
Posted on November 5th, 2012
Lost Arcadia, watercolor by Amy Crook
I’ve been reading a lot of HP Lovecraft lately, and aside from being occasionally stunned by the epic racism, I’ve noticed that a lot of his descriptions of paradise have a certain common form. There’s tall spires, glowing domes, beautiful temples and perfumed gardens awaiting the lucky person who can find the various lost cities. Of course, doom (or DOOM in the case of Sarnath) often comes to destroy those idyllic cities or sink them to the bottom of the ocean, but it wouldn’t be Lovecraft if it didn’t.
This is painted using three shades of near-black, the soft green, midnight blue and deep purple, and a tiny bit of actual black thinned out to almost nothing to give texture to the glowing moon, plus a wee bit of white for the few stars that peek out above the clouds. I like the loose way I can just paint with no sketch or reference using the blacks, getting a whole range of values that aren’t just plain grey due to the subtle tinting.
Lost Arcadia, 8″x8″ watercolor on paper, nfs (sold).
Lost Arcadia, detail 1, by Amy Crook
I have a hard time convincing Photoshop to clear away the blue tinge of sunlight from the image without over-saturating the subtle colors on the image, so I left the one above without much adjustment so you can see the detail on the buildings. Below, you can see the swirling blue-black clouds and violet-tinted night sky as it lightens up in the glow of the city below.
Lost Arcadia, detail 2, by Amy Crook
And finally I have it in a frame! My 8×8 frames don’t have stands, just wall hanging hardware, and my iPhone couldn’t jump that high, so I’m afraid you’ll have to imagine how they look together.
Lost Arcadia, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: city, lovecraft, moon, nfs, sold, spirals, watercolor
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