Archive for the ‘Completed Commissions’ Category

Stork Family

Monday, May 16th, 2011

Stork Family, watercolor by Amy Crook

Stork Family by Amy Crook

When Maribeth Doerr decided to get her website done with Wendy Cholbi’s Bonanza Package, she got not only her cartoon, but a custom header. We talked a little about what images would work for StorkNet Family, and decided to go away from the classic “stork with a bundle” clip art and do something classier. I went looking for photos of baby storks, and found a great one of a mama stork standing protectively over her two babies. I translated that into a nest and just mama’s legs, with three babies for visual balance. From the sketch I did two versions, and this watercolor was the one we both ended up preferring.

Her header, miniaturized below, continues the watercolor feel with a wash of blue across the top of the page. For the site itself we stuck to complementary colors sampled from the header, a nice baby-blanket peach and blue framing the clean white pages.

StorkNet site header by Amy Crook

Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art
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Weeble Wednesday: Maribeth Doerr

Wednesday, May 11th, 2011

Maribeth Doerr cartoon by Amy Crook

Maribeth Doerr cartoon by Amy Crook

I actually finished Maribeth’s cartoon months ago, and just haven’t gotten around to posting it, oops.

She got her cartoon as part of with her WordPress Bonanza Package with me & Wendy Cholbi — I’ll be posting her header art next week. I had a lot of fun drawing her weeble self, the warm grin and giant pink bag, along with her very appropriate “Delightfully Silly” t-shirt. I always enjoy drawing ponytails, too, I think it’s the same urge that makes me draw dozens of spirally swishy tentacles.

Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces
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Commission: Winter Octopus

Friday, January 21st, 2011

Winter Octopus Commission for Gretchen by Amy Crook

Winter Octopus Commission for Gretchen by Amy Crook

Aside from my own, I did get to do one other winter card this year as a commission. Gretchen (proud owner of Nugget) saw my Squittens card design and asked me to draw her up a cheerful cephalopod all her own. We decided on cool wintry colors, and having him making snowflakes as a proper activity for a cute little octopus celebrating the season. The hat was a last-minute addition that gave him a bit of extra interest, and really pulled together the whole theme of the piece.

She’s gotten her cards sent and received by now, so I thought I’d give a last bit of holiday cheer by sharing the art with you.

Winter Octopus, 5″x7″ pen and ink and copic markers on watercolor paper, nfs.

Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles, Whimsical and Strange
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2011 Starcycles Calendar Cover

Thursday, December 9th, 2010

2011 Starcycles Calendar, cover by Amy Crook

2011 Starcycles Calendar, cover by Amy Crook

Way back in 1999, Georgia Stathis first approached me to take over the design on her then-print astrology dayplanner-style calendar. We’ve skipped a few years here and there, but this year I painted several images in watercolor and then put them together with Photoshop to create this dreamy image for Year of the Rabbit. Georgia’s 2011 Calendar is available as a pdf download, or she’ll print and bind them for an additional charge. You could even print your own and have it hole-punched to fit in a Dayplanner, if you wanted.

I’m just starting to get a feel for using watercolors, so this was a great excuse for me to get them out and experiment, knowing I could fix any issues in Photoshop later. My favorite part is the subtle “rabbit in the moon” version of the moon’s shadows popular in Chinese mythology.

Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books
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Weeble Wednesday: HP Weebles

Wednesday, December 8th, 2010

HP Weebles by Amy Crook

HP Weebles by Amy Crook

This is one of the first refine weeble-style drawings I ever did, back a few years ago when I was just perfecting the style. It’s meant to be Kingsley Shacklebolt, Harry Potter & Charlie Weasley, with Kingsley and Charlie showing off their respective awesomenesses to a properly impressed Harry. I’ve always liked the way it came out, from the expressions to the adorable little dragonet. And you can see how these little guys developed into the weebles I draw today.

Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
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Watercolor Ornaments

Tuesday, December 7th, 2010

2 Watercolor Ornaments by Amy Crook

2 Watercolor Ornaments by Amy Crook

A few years back I painted a bunch of one-of-a-kind cards for a friend, and these were two of my favorites. The metallic paint I used for the designs didn’t scan too well, but it does give you the sense of glittery reflectiveness with all the false colors scattered in among the gold and silver. I was trying not to spend more than 15 minutes or so on each card, though I’m pretty sure I cheated on the red ornament’s intricate gold designs.

Happy Holidays!

Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art
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Custom Character Moleskines

Saturday, December 4th, 2010

Custom Character Portrait Moleskine Cahier Plain Journals by Amy Crook, $29

Custom Character Portrait Moleskine Cahier Plain Journals by Amy Crook

Get your favorite character put on a pocket journal just for you — or give one as a gift certificate for the holidays. Take notes with Spock, Harry Potter, Sherlock Holmes, or whoever tickles your fancy.

These are available in two styles, the soft pencil sketch or stark Sharpie marker relief, as shown above. One character per journal, please.

Cahier Journals sport a heavy-duty kraft brown cardboard cover, with visible thread stitching on the spine. Inside each journal you’ll find acid-free paper pages and a spacious pocket for notes or clippings. Size: 3.5 x 5.5 in. (9 x 14 cm), 64 plain pages each, last 16 sheets detachable.

Custom Moleskines – $29 apiece, with free first class shipping. Priority Mail shipping is available, or I can send you a pdf gift certificate if you’d like to give one as a gift!

Or read on to see examples of all the ones I’ve done so far (all sold, I’m afraid!). (more…)

Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
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