Archive for the ‘Daily Art’ Category
Use Me, Baby
Wednesday, March 14th, 2012
Question: Can you use my art for this thing you want to do?
Answer: Maybe!
Growth by Amy Crook
Useful, huh? Well, maybe not.
Let me elaborate.
First off, everything I make is under copyright. Everything any artist makes is under copyright, unless they’ve specifically stated it’s not, or they’ve been dead long enough for it to expire.
That said, I’ve put most art on this site under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. This sounds complicated, but it’s not, I swear. Basically this means you can use my art if:
Tentacle Deeps 6 by Amy Crook
- You’re not making money off your use of it,
- You don’t change it,
- You credit me, and
- You link back to my site (either the specific post or the site in general) in the place you use it.
If you skip one of these steps, then you’re stealing my art, and that’s not very nice.
When can’t you use my art?
- If the post is tagged “all rights reserved” or it’s marked as a commission (often I’ve done both), it’s not available for re-use at all, period.
- If you want to put the image on or in a product such as an eBook, album cover, t-shirt or umbrella, you need to contact me about paying for a rights-restricted license. Basically, if you expect to make money off of it, then you need to pay me to use it.
- If you want to change the art, such as slapping text on it for a blog header, using it as a background for your own art, or shifting the colors to match your post theme, that’s not okay.
Don’t make me send this guy after you.
If you make money with your blog (either as marketing for your business or by getting advertisers), blog headers count as commercial use, anyway.
If you’re not sure, just email me! I’m totally open to helping you out here.
Okay, so when can you use my art?
If you want to use it as a blog post image, go ahead, as long as you credit and link back.
Summer Reading
by Amy Crook
If you want to use it as a wallpaper for your computer (or print 1000 of them and wallpaper your apartment), have at. There’s even a category for posts that have free wallpapers in them. Some are cropped for iPhone, some are just huge-sized for the biggest monitor you might happen to have.
There’s probably a ton of stuff I haven’t covered here, but the basic idea is, if you want to put some tentacles on a blog post you’re probably okay. If you want to put some tentacles on your own line of handmade back-scratchers, that’s probably not okay, but email me and we’ll talk.
You can also ask questions here, if there’s something I haven’t covered. Someone else is probably wondering the same thing, after all.
Sherlock Bookmark 4 by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Words Words Words
Tags: creative commons, info, licensing, use my art
2 Comments »
Tentacle Deeps 29
Tuesday, March 13th, 2012
Tentacle Deeps 29, watercolor by Amy Crook
Unlike last week’s tentacles, these, you can have if you want to. Yes, Tuesday is upon us once again and this time I used the opaque Japanese watercolors on black paper to create a wonderful bright green background with an intriguing squamous texture. I used black paint to put in the tentacles, letting it re-wet the green and mix in, giving the whole thing a monochromatic, layered feeling. I’ve been trying to get back to doing the fading layers of tentacles, dark at first with lighter and more transparent ones fading off into the distance, though I do love some of the ones I’ve done with a single layer, as well. Basically, I just like tentacles. I know, you’re shocked.
I’ve been flipping through some of the last year or so’s worth of art, and it’s interesting to see how the tentacles started out in one specific style and then evolved into something else. Revisiting those older pieces, I’ve been revisiting some of the original ideas, like having the wash only take up a portion of the page instead of running edge to edge.
Tentacle Deeps 29, 5″x7″ watercolor on paper.
Tentacle Deeps 29, detail, by Amy Crook
Above is your usual close-up of the reaching tentacles. Maybe one of these days I’ll take a photo of them reaching toward the camera, instead, just for variety. Below is the usual picture in the usual frame. Who ever thought there’d be “the usual tentacles” in your life?
Tentacle Deeps 29, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles
Tags: black paper, for sale, green, tentacle deeps, tentacles, watercolor
Violet Way
Monday, March 12th, 2012
Violet Way, abstract art by Amy Crook
This is a larger piece like Golden Moon, done with the same black paper. This time I used a pearlescent violet paint and created a swath of larger stars, then filled in with smaller, salt-free spirals to give a feeling of clustered stars, like looking up at the Milky Way. This paint looks white from some angles and a lovely pale violet from others; the scanner picks up the violets pretty well, so for once I think the colors are pretty accurate.
Violet Way, 10″x8″ iridescent Japanese watercolor and salt on Arches cover black paper.
Like most of my salt paintings, this one started in the spirit of experimentation. I just bought some new watercolors from Japantown (along with ALL the pens), and I wanted to see how they’d work with the salt. techniques. I made a special effort to mix extra paint into the water droplets after they were on the paper, and you can see how it looked while I was working on it below.
Violet Way, work in progress, detail 1, by Amy Crook
You can see one freshly-painted spiral at the bottom, and then the water droplet just above that and to the left is opaque with swirled paint. It settled out after a while, as you can see in the droplets further away, but the salt pools have a definite coating of iridescent paint you can see in the next photo.
Violet Way, work in progress, detail 2, by Amy Crook
Below you can see a more oblique shot of one tiny detail in the finished piece, one single pool of salt surrounded by the little echoing spirals. I really love the way you can see each individual salt crystal, especially if you click through to the larger version of the image.
Violet Way, detail, by Amy Crook
I’ve also made a computer wallpaper, should you like to splash my artificial stars across your computer screen. Finally, you can see it in its frame below, attempting to turn itself into a mirror. Glass reflects, who knew?
Violet Way, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Free Wallpapers
Tags: black paper, iridescent, moon, nfs, salt, spirals, violet
Tea Mug sketch
Sunday, March 11th, 2012
Tea Mug, sketch by Amy Crook
This little sketch christened my new pocket sketchbook! I drink my tea super cream-and-sugary (mmm half’n’half), so the white at the bottom is actually my drink. I didn’t let myself spend too long fussing over perspective or shading, so it’s got a funky slant I quite enjoy.
Have a cup on me this Sunday — what’s your favorite sort?
Categories: Daily Art
Tags: nfs, pencil, sketch, tea
2 Comments »
Sherlock in Grey
Saturday, March 10th, 2012
Sherlock in Grey
by Amy Crook
I wanted a tall, thin piece of Sherlock art to put on my giveaway bookmarks for my Etsy shop (sometimes I slip them into the larger orders as a freebie), and nothing I already had quite fit the bill. So, I drew this guy! He’s done with one of my nifty Japanese brush pens that’s black on one side and grey on the other — I’m always using up the black and leaving a ton of grey, so sometimes pieces like this can help me use up some of the extra. I self-indulgently drew in his red buttonhole, though I’m not sure anyone but me will notice it when it’s printed out half the size.
I also used him on my Sherlock gift tags, complete with characteristic sarcasm.
Sherlock in Grey, 5.5″x8.5″ pen and ink on paper.
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: grey, pen and ink, red buttonhole, sherlock
1 Comment »
Positive Space
Friday, March 9th, 2012
Positive Space, abstract art by Amy Crook, $333
The inverse (and slightly smaller) companion to yesterday’s piece, Positive Space uses coppery paint and copper-colored glitter gel pen on black paper to create a halo of light around the spiral “stars.” I had actually created the salt pools on this one at the same time I did Monday’s Moonglow. I have two little pots of iridescent paint I got as samples, and I tend to use them on pieces at the same time, though rarely the same piece.
I liked the effect of Negative Space so much, however, that I took this work in progress and used the same technique to make a not-quite-mirror image. I like that they’re not exactly the same — the halos on this one tend to be bigger and scatter wider, and of course they’re different sizes. A bit like last week’s Spirals Trio, thematically linked but not matchy-matchy.
Positive Space, 5″x5″ mixed media on paper, $333 framed, with free shipping.
Randomly, if you ever get frustrated with the term “mixed media,” just check out the tags at the bottom of the post. I try to list all the media I’ve mixed down there.
Positive Space, detail, by Amy Crook
The sunlight reflects beautifully off the copper-toned salt, ink and paint in the detail photo, above. Below, you can see the painting with my iPhone for scale. To see it beside its friend, check out yesterday’s post.
Positive Space, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Series and Books
Tags: black paper, copper, for sale, glitter gel pen, iridescent, salt, that space pair, watercolor
Negative Space
Thursday, March 8th, 2012
Negative Space, abstract art by Amy Crook, $333
I was messing about with some blue paints, trying to get them to impregnate the salt crystals better (heh), and I ended up with these 9 scattered blue pools in manganese blue hue (aka not-actually-manganese blue because real manganese blue pigment will kill you). I have a glitter gel pen in a complementary color, and I just started doodling with it around one of the pools. I’d just done a piece where the lines radiated outward (that you’ll see next week, I never said I posted them in the order I made them), and so I did a different sort of radiation.
I used to use this pattern to create a halo of sunlight against a darker blue sky, so the title came from the feeling that these were dark stars floating in a white sky somehow, radiating their negative light. I liked the idea so much I made a piece with copper on black paper, which you’ll get to see tomorrow.
Negative Space, 5″x7″ mixed media on paper, $333 with free shipping.
Negative Space, detail, by Amy Crook
Above you can see a close-up of the glittery gel ink and the sparkling salt pools taken in the sunlight. Below, you can see it in its frame with tomorrow’s art. I’m thinking of switching it out for a white frame to complete the contrast, we’ll see.
Negative Space and Positive Space, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Series and Books
Tags: blue, for sale, glitter gel pen, salt, that space pair, watercolor
1 Comment »
« Or Head Back That Way
More Art This Way »
