Archive for the ‘Daily Art’ Category
Tentacle Spiral 4
Tuesday, October 9th, 2012
Tentacle Spiral 4 by Amy Crook
Every time I do a new piece to this series, I get confused about whether it’s Tentacle Spiral or Tentacle Spirals. For the record, there’s no s on the end, just to be extra confusing.
This one’s clearly influenced by my watching ofA Nightmare Before Christmas this week (twice). The tentacles spiral in from all sides to obscure the golden harvest moon. I went and carried the black paint out over the black paper so there was better continuity between it and the tentacles, which makes it extra velvety-dark in the background portions.
Tentacle Spiral 4, 5″x5″ watercolor on paper, nfs (sold).
Tentacle Spiral 4, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the delicate curls of black coming to obscure the yellow moon. Below, the piece is lurking in a frame to show you the size, just perfect for a desk or that little bit of wall in that one hallway that’s too small for anything else. You know the one I mean.
Tentacle Spiral 4, framed art by Amy Crook
(iPhone not included)
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: black paper, nfs, sold, spirals, tentacle spiral, tentacles, watercolor, yellow
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The Stars Are Right 5
Monday, October 8th, 2012
The Stars Are Right 5 by Amy Crook
It’s another installment in my series of Cthulhu-themed portents, this time with a brooding blue-green planet radiating the message of the Elder Gods. I’m enjoying the spin on mindlessly repeating patterns by having to use the symbols of my made-up alphabet in something like an orderly fashion.
The Stars are Right 5, 7″x5″ Japanese watercolor and glitter gel pen on Arches cover black paper.
The Stars Are Right 5, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the shining green glitter and silver stars against the velvety black texture of the paper. Below, a more mundane view of the art in a frame (sans glass to reduce reflections), hanging out in my desk with my iPhone.
The Stars Are Right 5, framed art by Amy Crook
(iPhone not included)
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: black paper, cthulhu, for sale, glitter gel pen, japanese watercolor, planet, stars, stars are right
Skellington Jack Face
Sunday, October 7th, 2012
Skellington Jack face sketch by Amy Crook
Jack Skellington is dubious about your proposal.
Have a great Sunday!
Categories: Daily Art, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: coloring book, doodle, jack skellington, nfs, nightmare before christmas, pen and ink, sketch
Tea or Death
Saturday, October 6th, 2012
Tea or Death, a Sherlock comic by Amy Crook
John is most displeased to have woken up to find all the tea in the house sacrificed to one of Sherlock’s mad experiments. Let’s hope for everyone’s sake that Sherlock errs on the side of caution and comes home with a nice big box!
Tea or Death, 9″x7″ pen & ink and watercolor on watercolor paper, nfs (sold)
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: comic, john watson, nfs, pen and ink, sherlock, sherlock bbc, sherlock holmes, sold, watercolor
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A Murder of Crows 2
Friday, October 5th, 2012
A Murder of Crows 2 by Amy Crook
This piece is visually and thematically related to A Murder of Crows, but this time instead of swirling around calligraphy these pen-and-ink crows are coming to rest on some power lines. They were inspired by the convocation of crows that’s often outside my window, including the loud fellow who woke me up this morning by scolding my cat, who just chittered excitedly right back.
I had a tiny frame I got from who knows where that I wanted to make something just to fit, and this murder of seven crows seemed like the perfect flock for the small space.
A Murder of Crows 2, 3.5″x5″ pen & ink and watercolor on watercolor paper.
A Murder of Crows 2, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, there’s a little detail of one of the crows, who was scribbled in with a fountain pen and then smoothed out with a paintbrush and water to give him a soft, almost glowing quality. Below, you can see the piece in the frame that inspired it, nearly as small as my iPhone.
A Murder of Crows 2, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books
Tags: crow, for sale, murder of crows, pen and ink, watercolor
K is for Greek Key
Thursday, October 4th, 2012
K is for Greek Key, calligraphic illumination by Amy Crook
It’s a bit cheating to use the Greek Key pattern for K, but it was the option that appealed to me the most. It’s hard to do kerning with only one letter, after all!
I ended up designing my own Greek Key in Illustrator, printing it, and using my lightbox to copy it in blue glitter gel pen onto the K. All the tools of the modern age are getting put to use as I explore the historic art of calligraphic illumination.
K is for Greek Key, 5″x5″ pen & ink, Japanese watercolor, and glitter gel pen on paper.
K is for Greek Key, detail, by Amy Crook
Between the color and the glitter, I had a really hard time photographing this piece. The Key pattern blends into the soft blue background to the camera, but of course your eye immediately catches the light. Below, you can see it in a frame, spelling out the word I said when I realized I didn’t have a framed photo for it.
K is for Greek Key, framed art by Amy Crook
(with A is for Arabesque and C is for Counter)
Categories: Daily Art, Illuminated Alphabet, Series and Books, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: alphabet, blue, calligraphy, for sale, glitter gel pen, green, illumination, pen and ink, watercolor
Denouement – How Commissions Work
Wednesday, October 3rd, 2012
(or at least how this one did)
Denouement, commissioned oil painting by Amy Crook
Denouement, 36″x24″ oil paint on canvas, nfs (commission).
This commission was many months in the making, as all my oil paintings are, but in the long run both Kristen (the commissioner) and I are happy with the results. I believe there was something about squeaking noises during the unboxing, specifically…
We chatted a little about the commission process from her end, and this is what she had to say:
I tend not to buy ‘pre-created’ art a lot. Much of what I have in my possession (walls, hidden in the closet, etc) is from commissions, because it’s exactly what I want. I’ve had some smaller things done from other people, but nothing else on this large a scale. I was Natalie’s roommate when she got Till the Walls Shall Crumble to Ruin, and that was kinda what pushed me to go to you for this big piece. She told me that you guys had some many conversations about her art that you had to use a separate conversation on gmail, which boggled my mind, but then we ended up doing the same!
Mostly I just thought of every beautiful thing I really wanted to put into it, and how to make an amalgam of six different things into one idea, and what would that idea look like at the end of the day. So even though the image was so freaking clear in the my head I knew it needed to be adjusted. That’s where you came in. And I knew the basic idea: the hero standing at the end of a journey and going into the light, but the specifics were hard coming. Photo references were totally helpful, plus the mood I wanted, melancholy instead of heroic. It’s Luke burning Vader rather than a bunch of ewoks singing.
Then there were sketches — it was like slowly seeing what I had in my mind’s eye but also redefining it, because what i had in my head could never be exactly put onto canvas, and I knew that. So it was looking and quirking an eyebrow and readjusting and asking questions, figuring out what worked in silhouette and what didn’t. The waiting from my end was agony, but a lot of it was on me. It took ages to figure out exactly what I wanted.
It was a very interesting little journey but completely worth it. It’s amazing to have something so important to me on my wall, in my life, tangible. Which is what is. It’s an incredibly important idea that I can touch, and that’s a wonderful thing. Overall, it was a very pleasant experience, even the agony of waiting. It went on my wall very quickly once it came, though!
Denouement commission, various studies by Amy Crook
Above you can see some of the sketches we went through, starting in the lower right of the four-panel page I made myself. I did a lot of studies for this one, because I knew once I was painting the process demanded I know exactly what I needed to do. The watercolor study came out a bit mushy because of the paper I was using, which wasn’t at all suited to it, but I took a very good scan of the sketch on that page before I added color.
Denouement commission, transferring to the canvas
That sketch got printed off onto a few sheets of paper, and then I cut them out and used them to transfer exactly the image we’d agreed upon to the canvas.
Denoument commission, work in progress by Amy Crook
Then I painted in the color, which looks super bright with the background still white. You can see where I wanted to have everything decided upon before it got to this stage. Plus, this way the carving above the door was almost perfectly symmetrical, heh.
Denouement commission, detail, by Amy Crook
Here you can see a really nice view of the sunlight glow, which was the last thing to go in, and also the texture of the paint that gives all of the detail in the black areas without any actual color variation beyond the glow.
It takes me months and months to do one of these commissions, but I always love the results. There’s something really special about doing a painting just for someone else, knowing it’s just what they wanted.
What about you, would you like to commission one of your own?
Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Words Words Words
Tags: all rights reserved, commission, info, nfs, oil painting, words
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