Archive for the ‘Things I’m a Fan Of’ Category
Squid a la Gorey
Thursday, April 14th, 2011
Squid a la Gorey by Amy Crook
The watery environs of this squid were directly inspired by the cover of The Raging Tide: Or, the Black Doll’s Imbroglio by Edward Gorey. I didn’t even realize it was out of print until just now, though, oops.
I’ve been wanting to move away from doing just Sherlock cartoons in this style, and so I went to one of my other dorky fannish loves, cephalopods. This little squid looks like something unfortunate is about to befall him, which seems appropriate for something done in Edward Gorey’s style. Perhaps the black doll will come falling through the water, or maybe the squid will be called upon to help fill out another set of childhood obituaries. “G is for Gretchen, pulled down by a squid,” perhaps?
Squid a la Gorey, 7″x5″ pen and ink on 8.5″x5.5″ drawing paper.
You can also get this piece printed on a handmade card on Etsy.
Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: edward gorey, for sale, pen and ink, squid, studio gallery
Weeble Wednesday: Sculpey Cthulhu
Wednesday, April 13th, 2011
Weeble Cthulhu, Cultists, and Extra Tentacles, sculptures by Amy Crook
Cthulhu has been summoned into this dimension! You can see that his otherwordly color confuses my digital camera into giving it white highlights, though in reality he’s quite matte in appearance. The cultists who summoned him seem to have gotten a bit more than they bargained for, as one’s in his grip and another got scooped up by his tentacled friends.
A friend of my commissioned Cthulhu for his girlfriend’s birthday, originally intending it as a cake topper. Unfortunately he turned out too heavy for the cake, but I’m told he’ll end up in a place of honor with his cultists and tentacles. Making something that big with Sculpey was a real challenge, and I ended up making a core of aluminum foil over which the sculpey was laid, since they recommend you not try to make or bake anything out of it that’s more than 1/2″ thick. Given that he’s about 5″ overall, that wouldn’t have worked out too well!
Sculpey Cthulhu by Amy Crook
As you can see, his color seems to baffle the camera even in the shade, the vibrant green-screen green just a little too much for its pixely heart.
Sculpey Cultists by Amy Crook
Each of the cultists was done with a different skin and hair color, and they’re about an inch tall, though I made sure to vary the height as well. Cthulhu is a multicultural destroyer of souls!
Sculpey Tentacles by Amy Crook
The tentacles started out rather flat, and then I figured out ways to drape and pose them during baking so they could have some extra dimension when they were emerging from the depths of R’lyeh, or the cake. Whichever.
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Tentacles, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: cthulhu, nfs, sculpey, weeble
Cartoon Sherlock & John 2
Friday, April 8th, 2011
Cartoon Sherlock & John 2 by Amy Crook
I couldn’t resist drawing up full-body color version of my Sherlock & John cartoons, though I’ve rather exaggerated their height difference here. Somehow it just seemed appropriate to make Sherlock a million miles tall and rail-thin compared to the more solid John Watson.
They’re supposed to start filming the new series next month, with new episodes coming out in the fall, and I’m absurdly excited. I’ve been slowly working my way through the original Holmes novels and short stories (in order, of course!), and I always enjoy spotting something from the show in the books, since the writers are both huge Sir Arthur Conan Doyle geeks. It makes me feel a little better about my own fannish obsessions.
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, watson
6 Comments »
Seuss Heart
Wednesday, March 9th, 2011
Seuss Heart by Amy Crook
Since I posted weebles yesterday, I thought I’d post something else today for variety.
This watercolor piece came together very organically, out of the rich pigments in my Japanese paints and my own random thought processes. I started out painting a very pink heart, and when that didn’t suit me at all, I added the deep red along one side, and then the half-circle of purple nestling up next to it. The wet pigments ran and mixed to create something much more interesting, textures that kept evolving until they’d dried completely.
A touch of the original fuchsia shows up in the left lobe of the heart, and so when I signed it, I chose a fuchsia fountain pen (also from Japan) to echo that.
The piece felt incomplete, however, so when I found this quote about love from Dr. Seuss, I wrote it into the curve of the half-circle with a violet fountain pen, knowing from experience that the ink would blur and run. Though it’s nearly impossible to read, I think the words add layer of visual meaning to the piece.
“We are all a little weird and life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness
is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.”
– Dr. Seuss
Seuss Heart, 5″x5″ pen and ink and watercolor on Arches cover white paper.
You can also get this piece printed on a handmade card on Etsy.
Seuss Heart, framed, by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: Dr. Seuss, for sale, heart, pen and ink, quote, watercolor
4 Comments »
Naomi’s Ninjas
Tuesday, March 8th, 2011
Naomi's Ninjas by Amy Crook
Naomi Dunford of Ittybiz has ninjas. That’s right, she’s cooler than all of us, and you don’t even know why yet. A while back, I drew up these little weeble ninjas for the exclusive* use of her Ninjas, who have helped me out several times without having to call in Naomi herself.
Today’s Naomi’s birthday! Well, March 8, who knows when you’re reading this.
As a little gift from the internet, we’re all supposed to be posting about how awesome Naomi is, and how she’s helped us along our path to Ittybiz awesomeness.
I’m in a slightly different position than most of the people she’s helped — my day job was already working at home, already freelance. What happened to me was that the recession hurt my biggest client, and that hurt my ability to pay the rent, and then I discovered Naomi and learned a whole lot about marketing in a short period of time. I’d been spoiled by my early success (I went freelance in 1998 and have had steady work from my biggest client the whole time), and having to suddenly market in order to get work was an unpleasant wakeup.
Naomi made that suck a lot less.
She encouraged me to find in-person ways to network. She answered questions, did SpeakEasy lessons on the things that baffled me, and even helped me plan the art sale that paid for me to attend my Mom’s wedding last year. She’s got a no-bullshit attitude about getting off your ass and getting things done, and without her, I’m not sure I’d have stopped making excuses and started up the site you’re reading this on right now.
Happy Birthday, Naomi. Thank you.
*That means they’re not available under Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution, all rights are reserved for the Ninjas.
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: all rights reserved, copic marker, do not steal the ninjas, nfs, ninjas, pen and ink, they will come for you, weeble
6 Comments »
J is for John
Monday, March 7th, 2011
J is for John by Amy Crook
My second Sherlock Holmes/Edward Gorey pastiche, this one is based off of “J is for James who took lye by mistake” from The Gashlycrumb Tinies and BBC’s new Sherlock tv series.
Click the image if you’d like to really see the ridiculously obsessive line work — the wallpaper was particularly labor-intensive, and I have no one but myself to blame. I’ve been in a mood lately to do work like this, that involves a lot of tiny pen-and-ink details, and unlike similar attempts when I was younger, I find it rather meditative now. I often put on audio recordings and just sit and let the two things filter into my brain, though there are frequent breaks to IM friends and goof off online, not to mention stretching my back and resting my poor hand.
Now that I’ve got the techniques down, I have to figure out what I can do with them that isn’t a parody, pastiche or plain old copy, though.
J is for John who took lye by mistake, 8.5″x5″ pen and ink on sketchbook paper, sold.
You can still get the pair of them as handmade blank greeting cards on Etsy, though!
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: baker street tinies, crosshatching, edward gorey, nfs, pastiche, pen and ink, sherlock, sold, watson
3 Comments »
S is for Sherlock
Thursday, February 24th, 2011
S is for Sherlock by Amy Crook
Edward Gorey’s The Gashlycrumb Tinies is my absolute favourite of works — I get to die first, after all — and so when I was experimenting with my Micron pens the urge to parody BBC’s new Sherlock by mashing up the two was irresistible.
Click the image if you’d like to really see the ridiculously obsessive line work, or just enjoy the smaller version where it all blends into a texture.
I decided to combine the pose from “S is for Susan who perished of fits” and the caption and setting from “N is for Neville who died of ennui” in order to capture the essence of modern Sherlock in his state of utter boredom. The window isn’t precisely true to the show (there’s an ornate railing of some kind outside, and curtains), but I really liked the boring brickwork from the N page, so I copied that faithfully and tediously.
I never really thought I’d learn to like shading in such a time-consuming style, but I’m already thinking about other ways I can make use of it. I’ve already got plans to do a companion piece to this for poor John, since Gorey set me up so very well with “J is for James who took lye by mistake.”
S is for Sherlock who died of ennui, 8.5″x6.5″ pen and ink on sketchbook paper, sold.
You can still get the pair of them as handmade blank greeting cards on Etsy, though!
Categories: 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, nfs, pastiche, pen and ink, sherlock, sold
3 Comments »
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