Super Cute Squid Redux, Now With Vectors!
Posted on June 11th, 2011
Super Cute Squid illustration by Amy Crook
If you remember the sketch I posted a while back, this guy will seem awfully familiar. I wanted to do something polished with him, so I busted out my little-used Adobe Illustrator skills and drew him up.
I’m thinking he might need to be cards or t-shirts, what do you think?
Super Cute Squid Redux, vector art, not for sale (because he’s only virtual!).
At least if he’s not real, he’s got a friend to be virtual with him.
Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: illustrator, squid
4 Comments »
Microscopic
Posted on June 10th, 2011
Microscopic by Amy Crook, $199
My nerdity is showing with this piece — it looks just like I remember the view through the microscope in biology class years ago, mostly monochrome with the organic shapes against the liquid.
This time I was experimenting with putting the salt and ink on top of a dried wash of watercolor. First I painted the shape with the opaque periwinkle blue gouache, adding in a sprinkling of coarse Kosher salt for texture once it was partially dry. Once the wash had dried overnight, I brushed the salt off the painting, and then used a blue pen to put in the swirls (and sign it, once we were all done). I put a big chunk of salt on top of each swirl, and then used an eyedropper to add water over each spot.
The water didn’t stay as well as it usually does, flowing into the organic shapes you can see above. The salt and ink dissolved into the water, and then after 16 hours or so, the water evaporates, leaving behind the pool of ink and salt crystals which have grown right onto the paper, and are now a permanent part of the artwork. Also, it’s subtly sparkly, which I enjoy.
Microscopic, 5.5″x4.25″ watercolor, salt and ink on archival cardstock, $199, with free shipping.
I’m still working on finding frames for this size of piece, but the salt crystals that form on this paper tend to be smaller and less fragile, so there’s less concern about shipping it unframed.
Microscopic, detail, by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
Tags: for sale, gouache, pen and ink, salt, watercolor
Effervescent
Posted on June 9th, 2011
Effervescent by Amy Crook, $222
The pattern of the salt pools in this one reminded me of bubbles rising up through soda, so I went a sort of wacky Wonka route and made it grape soda purple fading up to blue. The bubbles are cola ink brown, bubbly limeade green and of course the blue goes well with the grape itself. Even the background wash is bubbly with salt texture.
Each brown bubble was made by dropping water over a salt crystal that had been coated in ink for another project, and so each one has a core of dark brown ink that somehow became sediment rather than going back to liquid. The other colors, too, were from paint-infused salt, I keep a little bowl of salt crystals that I’ve used in previous projects and I pulled out a selection for this painting, though have now dissolved completely and recrystallized straight onto the paper.
Effervescent, 5″x7″ salt, ink and watercolor on watercolor paper, $222 framed with free shipping.
You can see the playful combination of colors below, as well as the texture both visual and physical, and a little bit of the whimsical sparkle.
Effervescent, detail, by Amy Crook
And here it is in its frame, the salt crystals safely tucked behind glass.
Effervescent, framed, by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
Tags: for sale, ink, salt, watercolor
Nefarious Parent
Posted on June 8th, 2011
Nefarious Parent by Amy Crook
When my friend Bkwyrm approached me to ask about doing a logo for her new forum for parents with an occult bent, Parentes Nefarii, we tossed back and forth a couple of ideas. In the end, we decided that her budget and needs were best suited to a cartoon — but not of her. This weeble cultist (yep, Weeble Wednesday is back!) is carrying a rather dubious-looking baby, from tentacles to horns.
The innocent baby-blonde curl of hair really makes it for me, especially contrasted with the bald cultist and his bluer-than-blue eyes.
Nefarious Parent, 7″x5″ pen and ink and Copic Marker on watercolor paper, not for sale (commission). This, and all my other commissions, aren’t for free use per the Creative Commons license below — all rights are reserved for the commissioner*.
*And the Commissioner always has Batman on his/her side.
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Completed Commissions, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Tentacles
Tags: all rights reserved, cartoon, commission, copic marker, cultist, nfs, pen and ink, tentacle, weeble
Badlands
Posted on June 7th, 2011
Badlands by Amy Crook
This painting reminds me of going through the badlands of South Dakota as a kid on vacation with my family, being surrounded by the pinks and browns and bizarre rock formations that made it seem like being in a whole different world.
Badlands, 5″x7″ ink and salt on watercolor paper.
For whatever reason, a few of the salt formations on this one were particularly tall and strange, especially the one right in the center.
Badlands, work in progress by Amy Crook
You can see here before I added in the brown ink paintings how the shape rises up about a quarter of an inch above the paper, topped with a little plateau-like crystal of darker pink salt.
As a result, I ended up buying a shadow box to frame it in, so the delicate crystals will be safe from jostling and accidental destruction.
Badlands, framed, by Amy Crook
And a couple of extra detail shots, just so you can get a sense of the strange sparkle and depth of the piece.
Badlands, detail, by Amy Crook
Above is another angle on the central salt pillar, now with its accompanying ink washes, and below you can see the heart-shaped crystal formation in the lower left, where three pools merged to form one big shape. You can even faintly see the lines of pink from the original spirals that lend their color to the salt, some of which stayed stubbornly in the paper this time.
Badlands, detail, by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
Tags: brush and ink, for sale, pen and ink, pink, salt
4 Comments »
Starship Craftybiz 01A
Posted on June 6th, 2011
Starship Craftybiz 01A by Amy Crook (commission)
I couldn’t help but be excited when Tara Swiger, one of my favorite smart people on the internet, asked me to help draw up a starship to help represent her awesome new thing. We talked a little bit about what she was going for, and since she wanted to use it for a bunch of smallish stuff on the internet (like the button below), we decided to go for a combination of coloring book and technical drawing — not too much detail, but with a definite “drawing board” feeling that works with her program.
I got an Early Boarding Pass to the Craftybiz Starship Adventure because I’d taken a lot of her classes and found them really helpful to me, as I’ve begun to build my own business (and especially my Etsy shop). She concentrates on things like figuring out your pricing, where and what to sell, and who to sell it to (hint: it’s people who want your unique thing and have money for it), and leaves the technical business details for others. And yes, all these snazzy links are affiliate links, which means I get a percentage, but I’d give her a glowing review anyway — Tara’s just that cool.
Also, she was an amazing client to work with, clear on what she wanted and good at conveying it, and enthusiastic over the results. A win for everyone!
“Working with Amy was so much easier than I could have hoped for. I was nervous, because this she’s the first illustrator I’ve ever hired. But the process was simple, her illustration was spot on what I had requested, and she made me feel comfortable through the entire thing. Oh, and it was speedy! I had a short window and Amy didn’t leave me waiting.
“Thanks Amy, for making this adventure full of ease and downright fun, I’ll definitely be back for more!”
-Tara Swiger
Here’s the most excellent button she made out of her starship (see how well it shrunk?), and yes, yet another affiliate link:
Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art
Tags: all rights reserved, commission, nfs, pen and ink, pencil, starship, tara swiger
6 Comments »
Whiteboard Gremlin
Posted on June 4th, 2011
Gremlin whiteboard sketch by Amy Crook
A proper sketch Saturday at long last! I was sleepy and contemplating a cartoon I’m doing for a certain Delightineer, and so I doodled this happy guy on my whiteboard while I was making the next day’s to-do list.
Categories: Daily Art, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: nfs, whiteboard
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