Archive for the ‘Daily Art’ Category
Tentacle Deeps 10
Tuesday, April 26th, 2011
Tentacle Deeps 10 by Amy Crook
Tuesday is a great day for tentacles, don’t you think?
The rich, bloody red of this paint seemed to cry out for dark, velvety tentacles, so I did just two layers and then snuck in something new, a background effect with salt and an opaque yellow paint that created red salt crystals where it overlapped the background, and subtle white ones on the edges of a few of the tentacles. The extra detail seems to increase the feeling of eldritch horror, as though madness lies just around the corner if one could comprehend the meaning behind it all.
Tentacle Deeps 10, 5″x5″ watercolor and salt.
I’ve also made an iPhone wallpaper and computer wallpaper out of this one, as well, enjoy!
Tentacle Deeps 10, framed, by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Free Wallpapers, Series and Books, Tentacles
Tags: for sale, red, salt, tentacle deeps, watercolor
Sherlock & John
Monday, April 25th, 2011
Sherlock & John by Amy Crook
Just a cheery little cartoon for your Monday – John with his tea and Sherlock in his thinking pose, the two of them content with their lot. I’m thinking of doing a b&w version of this one on a little Moleskine, but for now, you can enjoy an iPhone wallpaper of them, if you like. I am!
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: copic marker, john watson, nfs, pen and ink, sherlock, sherlock bbc, sherlock holmes, tea, watson
Sherlock – Oh!
Saturday, April 23rd, 2011
Sherlock Oh! by Amy Crook
I offered sketches to people the other day on my Twitter, and one of my friends asked for something with the dear Mr. Holmes from BBC’s Sherlock series. I decided to draw him having one of his epiphanies, mainly because I find drawing his coat to be great fun. He’s not quite as attenuated as he is in other cartoons I’ve done of him, which is probably for the better — he’s only six feet tall, after all, not exactly Jack Skellington, despite the occasional resemblance.
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: nfs, oh face, pencil, sherlock, sketch
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Sleeping Girl Printing Plate
Friday, April 22nd, 2011
Sleeping Girl by Amy Crook
When making an etching, I used plates made of zinc with a paint-sealed backing. Then an acid-resistant ground was applied to the top surface of the plate, and a sharp tool was used to scrape away the ground, leaving portions of the plate exposed. Then the plate was put in an acid bath for a certain amount of time, pulled out, and the ground removed, leaving it ready to be covered in ink and printed onto paper, allowing me to create either an edition, or a single print of multiple images that was unique.
When the plate was left in the acid long enough to wear deep grooves in the plate, it’s called a deep bite etching. In this case, rather than the ink remaining in the grooves, it’s often rolled in a thin layer on top of the plate so that the grooves are left white, but still embossed into the paper.
This is an actual printing plate, which I’ve always felt made a work of art all by itself — I’m not sure I ever pulled a single print from it, but have displayed it on my bookshelf for all these years as is.
One problem with deep-bite etching is that it often leaves the edges of the plate quite sharp and etched as well, so you can end up cutting through your paper and the padding on the press if you’re not careful. You can see the textured edge below.
Sleeping Girl, detail, by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art
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Lemon Heart
Thursday, April 21st, 2011
Lemon Heart by Amy Crook
This piece went through several incarnations before I got it to something I was happy with. The final product has a cheerfulness to it that goes well with the lemony yellow, enhanced by multiple layers of salt, watercolor, and pen and ink in two shades of green. The salt pool at the upper left formed a heart all by itself, so I couldn’t resist giving it an outline in the same grass-green ink as the spirals below, which tended to run and pool wherever there was enough salt left on the paper.
The bright new-leaf green of the spiral-textured section is done with a Pilot fountain pen from Japan, and the ink surprised me by being nearly obliterated when I dropped water onto it, unlike the black pen from that same line, which tended to blur but stay strong in Salt Cell 2.
Lemon Heart, 6″x4″ watercolor, salt and pen and ink on handmade watercolor postcard, $99 with free shipping.
You can see below how the salt made sparkly craters in some places on the surface of the piece, though this photo was taken before I was completely finished, and some of the texture has since been obliterated or changed.
Lemon Heart, detail, by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
Tags: for sale, green, salt, watercolor, yellow
Weeble Wednesday: Mycroft Holmes & DI Lestrade
Wednesday, April 20th, 2011
Mycroft Holmes and DI Lestrade by Amy Crook
I’ve been trying to give my weebles a little more life, so I took on the challenge of drawing Mycroft Holmes leaning smugly with his umbrella, and the put-upon Detective Inspector Lestrade, both from the 2009 BBC Sherlock.
I also made judicious use of photographic references, which I think really captures the features of these actors – it’s excellent practice for making clients into cartoons and vice versa. A year of working to put other people’s faces into cartoon form has really improved my grasp on what features add the most character.
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: copic marker, lestrade, mycroft holmes, nfs, pen and ink, sherlock, sherlock bbc
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Tentacle Deeps 9
Tuesday, April 19th, 2011
Tentacle Deeps 9 by Amy Crook
Once again, I bring you tentacles for Tuesday!
This watercolor piece uses double the salt for its effects. First I added rich texture and some orangey-gold color to the background with the large, coarse salt crystals. Later I used smaller Kosher salt on the tentacles themselves, putting the salt on after painting each one to get the maximum effect.
Something about this background made me want paler tentacles, so there’s less layers as a result. The salt texture is more dramatically visible, making the tentacles look as though they’ve got barnacles attached from years under the deep oceans.
Tentacle Deeps 9, 4″x6″ watercolor and salt.
I’ve also made an iPhone wallpaper and computer wallpaper out of this one, as well, enjoy!
Tentacle Deeps 9, framed, by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Free Wallpapers, Series and Books, Tentacles
Tags: for sale, salt, tentacle deeps, watercolor, yellow
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