Elizabeth Halt
Posted on September 17th, 2010
Elizabeth Halt and Atlas by Amy Crook
Elizabeth and Atlas were originally drawn in my very first batch of cartoon client, but she recently came back to me asking for a couple of drawings for her website. What started out as two little illustrations we negotiated into a trio of illustrations and a quadruplet of matching buttons (the fourth one uses her original cartoon, above), working within her budget while getting her just what she was looking for.
The first illustration she wanted was for her “Postcards from Heaven” service (the inspiration for my own Love Notes), and in addition to the postbox that she asked for, a little postcard wanted to come along:
Postbox by Amy Crook for Elizabeth Halt
Postcard by Amy Crook for Elizabeth Halt
Then, after a bit of discussion, we decided on the image of a kneading kitten for her Reiki services — she’d wanted something that portrayed warmth and curiosity, and had suggested a Cheshire cat. After reading her descriptions of how Reiki works, the idea of a cat kneading at the various points on the body came to mind, and this is the result:
Reiki Kitty by Amy Crook for Elizabeth Halt
Then, after we figured out that there was room in her budget, Elizabeth decided to go for a fourth image, another drawing of her darling dog Atlas for her new animal Reiki service, titled “for the love of a weim.” He was a little more challenging to draw, but I ended up very happy with the result:
Atlas sleeping by Amy Crook for Elizabeth Halt
After that was done, all four of her images were resized and I made them into little buttons for her site, using screencaps to figure out what would look best in her sidebar. On her site they float in serene white down the side, but I added a bit of a border for their visit here.
4 website buttons by Amy Crook for Elizabeth Halt
It goes without saying that, although many of the images on this site are usable through Creative Commons licensing, these commissioned images belong to Elizabeth alone.
“I am just in love with my new sidebar buttons from Amy. They are so me, and so perfect, and I really do not have enough words to say how much I love them.”
-Elizabeth Halt
Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: all rights reserved, cartoon, commission, copic marker, nfs, pen and ink
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Bobtail Squid
Posted on September 16th, 2010
Bobtail Squid by Amy Crook
I think bobtail squid are just the cutest of the squid family, so I decided to paint one up for another tiny painting. He’s actually a deep-sea creature, so he should rightly be floating in a serene black depth, but I wanted to give him a little lighter of a background, so I made it a dark blue with a bit of sunshine coming in. Maybe it’s really the lights of an oncoming research vessel, who knows?
Bobtail Squid, 4″x6″ oil paint on canvas board with a 5″ wooden easel.
Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: for sale, oil painting, squid, studio gallery, tiny painting
Weeble Wednesday: Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos
Posted on September 15th, 2010
Nyarlathotep Weeble by Amy Crook
Adding another weeble to my depictions of the mythos of HP Lovecraft, I give you Nyarlathotep. He appears at least twice as a handsome, charismatic Pharaoh gathering armies for the Great Old Ones. He’s also known as the Crawling Chaos, and he shows up in a few other, less palatable forms, in other stories. I had fun drawing his creepy-crawly shadow, not to mention the sneaky monsterified details on his otherwise traditional costume.
Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos, 5″x7″ pen, ink and Copic marker on paper.
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Tentacles, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: coloring book, copic marker, for sale, lovecraft, monster, pen and ink, tentacles, weeble
Sea Turtle
Posted on September 13th, 2010
Sea Turtle by Amy Crook
After I painted a sea turtle for my contest winner, I decided I wanted to do another one just for the heck of it. This little painting depicts a green sea turtle swimming in shallow ocean waters, frolicking through the sunbeams streaming in from above. He’s a perfect size to fit in a little niche on a bookshelf, desk, or side table.
Sea Turtle, 2.75″ x 2.75″ oil on canvas, nfs (sold). This painting comes with a little 5″ wooden easel for display.
Sea Turtle, step 1, by Amy Crook
First, I laid down the background, fading from the sunlit top of the water to a clear blue near the bottom, including the edges of the tiny canvas. Then I added in the turtle himself, or at least his shape, which had to dry before I could put in his details and create the charming fellow you see above.
Sea Turtle, step 2, by Amy Crook
You can see how the finished product looks on a shelf with some other tiny paintings (and a little friend) here:
4 tiny underwater scenes by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals
Tags: nfs, oil painting, sold, tiny painting, turtle
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Squid sketch
Posted on September 11th, 2010
Squid sketch by Amy Crook
I found this hiding among my old scans today, I believe he was a little sketch I did on a greeting card for a friend. There’s just something fun about drawing the curl and sway of tentacles!
Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles
Tags: doodle, nfs, pencil, sketch, squid
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