Archive for the ‘Completed Commissions’ Category
Baker Street Tinies: B is for Baker Street, interior
Friday, April 27th, 2012
Baker Street Tinies: B is for Baker Street, interior, drawing by Amy Crook
Yesterday we saw the outside of 221b Baker street, and today it’s the interior. My Baker Street Tinies series combines the world of the recent Sherlock series from the BBC with the worlds and aesthetics of Edward Gorey.
Nicole and Mo wanted to celebrate their own love and their love of Sherlock Holmes with tattoos, and so we created a unique Gorey-ish vision of 221b Baker Street for each of them. You can’t have the originals — they’re spoken for — but you can get the designs on greeting cards at Etsy!
The wallpaper is straight out of the tv show, as are the fireplace and the antelope skull with its white headphones, though in the show none of these things are on the same wall. John’s Union Jack pillow is sitting on a very Gorey-ish sofa, along with Sherlock’s ubiquitous deerstalker cap. The mantel holds Sherlock’s skull, some mail jackknifed into the wood, a portrait of the pair of them, and abandoned milk with cold tea next to it. Now we know why they always have to buy more milk.
The bookshelf on the right is full of little details, most of which are hard to see without looking at the bigger version.
I really enjoyed working on this pair of drawings for Nicole and Mo, and I hope the tattoos come out beautifully. It was a great challenge to reference so many things in two tiny pieces of art, from the tv series to the books to the art and worlds of Edward Gorey. I’m already thinking about what I’ll do with them next!
Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: 221b baker street, baker street tinies, edward gorey, etsy, nfs, sherlock, sold
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Baker Street Tinies: B is for Baker Street, exterior
Thursday, April 26th, 2012
Baker Street Tinies: B is for Baker Street, exterior, drawing by Amy Crook
Today’s and tomorrow’s art are the newest in my Baker Street Tinies series, which combines the world of the recent Sherlock series from the BBC with the worlds and aesthetics of Edward Gorey.
Like the previous four, these were commissioned, so the originals are already sold and mailed off to their new owners. Nicole and Mo wanted to celebrate their own love and their love of Sherlock Holmes with tattoos, and so we created a unique Gorey-ish vision of 221b Baker Street for each of them. You can’t have the originals, but you can get the designs on greeting cards at Etsy!
This exterior shot is only somewhat faithful to the series — 221b itself has many of the features of Baker Street in the tv show, but the rest of the buildings are fanciful re-imaginings. You can see a shadow of a certain detective in the window of 221b, talking to the skull sitting atop a pile of books in the other window. Someone seems to have left their umbrella outside, but they can catch one of London’s famous black cabs if it rains. There’s even a binary joke hiding in the windows of the middle building.
My personal favorite is the fourth building, which just looks so very sad and shocked at what goes on in its neighborhood.
“Amy was an absolute pleasure to work with. She asked great questions to get at what we wanted out of the artwork, sent us drafts along the way, and worked with us to shape a final product that is absolutely stunning. She went above and beyond to see that the final product fit our needs, and we had a great experience all around.”
Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: 221b baker street, baker street tinies, edward gorey, etsy, nfs, pen and ink, sherlock, sold
Grumpy Weeble for JoVE
Saturday, March 31st, 2012
Grumpy Weeble cartoon for Jo VanEvery, all rights reserved
The delightful Jo VanEvery wanted a cartoon — stat! — for a seminar she was doing. She wanted someone that looked a bit like one’s inner academic saying, “no!” to all the possibilities for one’s career and research. We decided on a weeble, and I sent her the colors you see above for a poster, and the inks (which I always scan before I color, in case of mishap), which they used for a coloring book page during the seminar.
She liked him so much, she’s getting a couple more, so expect to see a few more of her illustrations popping up in the coming weeks!
Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces
Tags: all rights reserved, cartoon, commission, copic marker, jo vanevery, nfs, pen and ink, weeble
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Quadrivium
Thursday, March 29th, 2012
Quadrivium Supplies logo, art by Amy Crook, all rights reserved
My awesome friend Catherine has started up a brand-new company called Quadrivium Supplies, and I’m very pleased to have gotten to design her logo and product labels. She wanted a calligraphic Q of some kind, we went trolling the internet for ideas together. I drew the art quite small by hand with pen and ink and, as you can see, no ruler for the inking. I wanted it to have some rough edges the way a real woodcut would.
Even though the original art is only 2″ tall, I scanned it in Ridiculously High Resolution so she’d be able to use it on anything she liked. So far she’s using the small version the most, on her website, Twitter avatar, and labels. Irony.
I also drew her dingbats! They match the leaflike style of the decorations in her Q, and we used one of them on her labels. These are only 1/2″ tall in real life, but I made them big for the internets because I don’t hate you.
Quadrivium Supplies Banishing Ritual Oil label, design by Amy Crook, all rights reserved
“I started out with, ‘I want a logo. Maybe it should have a Q in it.’ And she got it narrowed down so fast by practically reading my mind and figuring out exactly what I wanted.”
Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art
Tags: all rights reserved, calligraphy, commission, logo, pen and ink
1 Comment »
Forest Dragon
Monday, March 26th, 2012
Forest Dragon by Amy Crook, all rights reserved
I swear, this commission took all the time in the world, but I will admit I’m happy with the results. I was pretty sure I would be once I got it past the ass point, but you never really know until it’s all done. Molly is very happy indeed, and I hope she gets well soon so she can come collect it!
“All I had was the idea of a dragon in a forest and I was so lucky to have Amy bring what I really had in mind to life. And with the snap shots of the progress along the way I got to be more and more excited by the final result. The details of the scales are my favorite part.”
Forest Dragon, 24″x18″ oil paint on canvas, nfs (commission).
I’ve taken a bunch of detail shots for you, just so you can appreciate the awesomeness.
Forest Dragon, detail 1, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see a close-up of the sun shining through the Dragon’s spines and onto the texture, iridescent scales. Below, another shot of sunlight, this time streaming through the trees and making the leaves appear translucent.
Forest Dragon, detail 2, by Amy Crook
Sunlight and shiny things are a bit of a theme, which is apropos for a dragon, I think.
Forest Dragon, detail 3, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the wings, which are translucent and let the trees behind them show faintly through, as well as the dragon’s ridges. Below, an oblique close-up of the tail so you can see the physical texture of the scales, and the more visual texture on the hoard of gold.
Forest Dragon, detail 4, by Amy Crook
If you’re considering a commission of your own, email me! I’ve got a few things in the queue already, but I’d be happy to talk about putting your painting next in line.
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Completed Commissions, Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: all rights reserved, commission, dragon, iridescent, nfs, oil paint, oil painting, tree
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L is for Lestrade
Friday, January 13th, 2012
L is for Lestrade by Amy Crook
Happy Friday the 13th! I bring you a fourth adorably morbid installment in my Baker Street Tinies Edward Gorey/Sherlock pastiche commissions. Lestrade is taken directly from H is for Hector in the original book, though Hector wasn’t texting at the time of his untimely demise.
I highly recommend clicking to see the image larger, if only so you can appreciate my absurdly painstaking work. The original is sold, but there are cards (and soon prints) available in my Etsy shop.
L is for Lestrade, 8.5″x5.5″ pen and ink on paper, sold.
Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: baker street tinies, crosshatching, edward gorey, lestrade, nfs, pastiche, pen and ink, sherlock
M is for Mycroft
Wednesday, December 21st, 2011
M is for Mycroft by Amy Crook
The wonderful person who bought my other two Baker Street Tinies Edward Gorey/Sherlock pastiche pieces decided her collection wasn’t complete without Mycroft Holmes and DI Lestrade in the mix. This is the first of two more images she’s commissioned to match the first two, with yet more painstaking crosshatching. Mycroft takes directly after E is for Ernest in the original books, though the bell has become a Blackberry, and his faithful umbrella snuck its way into the picture.
I highly recommend clicking to see the image larger, if only so you can appreciate my absurdly painstaking work. Once Lestrade is done, I’ll have cards and prints available in my Etsy shop.
M is for Mycroft, 8.5″x5.5″ pen and ink on paper, sold.
Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: baker street tinies, crosshatching, edward gorey, mycroft, nfs, pastiche, pen and ink, sherlock
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