Archive for the ‘People, Figures and Faces’ Category
Potato Fairy
Thursday, October 28th, 2010
Potato Fairy by Amy Crook
When I first started making my own holiday cards, I carved stamps from potatoes, mushrooms, and sponges, and painstakingly hand-stamped dozens of cards — one year I sent nearly 100 cards out! I’ve since graduated to doing one original and printing the cards from that, though I still sometimes add a bit of hand-painted flair to personal cards.
This was the test print for one year’s cards, done using watercolors (including metallics) painted onto those rough handmade stamps. I chose the crouching fairy, though as I recall the cards didn’t get the mushroom-stamped object he’s crouching in front of. I was experimenting with different methods for making the wings, so there’s some extra texture added as well, in metallic gold, red-violet and softly brushed-on blue-green.
Potato Fairy, 9″x12″ watercolor on sketchbook paper, not for sale.
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books
Tags: fairy, holidays, nfs, potato stamp, watercolor
Dancing on Glass
Friday, October 22nd, 2010
Dancing on Glass by Amy Crook
This is another piece from about the same era — I got into a phase where I was painting with acrylics on shards of broken glass. Surprisingly, I didn’t cut myself nearly as much as you might think. You can see the same fascination with dancers, though — I’ve always been pleased with the feeling of grace in this piece.
I never did figure out a good way to display any of these pieces, though, and I’m not sure I even still have them. If I recall correctly, this one’s about the size of a 3″x5″ index card, and the background is literally painted on the back side of the glass, with the figure floating a few millimeters above it on her own surface.
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces
Tags: acrylics, glass, nfs
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Inertial Dampeners
Thursday, October 21st, 2010
Inertial Dampeners by Amy Crook
This piece is a bit of a blast from the past — as the signature says, it was from 1991 and probably originally done in a cheap drugstore sketchbook. I had a real fascination with dancers back in the day, probably due to an utter lack of grace on my own part. Even today, though, I like this as an image of winding down to a state of rest and safety.
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces
Tags: nfs, sharpie marker
Weeble Wednesday: Leila and Her Monkey
Wednesday, October 20th, 2010
Leila Lloyd-Evelyn and Her Monkey by Amy Crook
Leila Lloyd-Evelyn doesn’t literally have a monkey, but she wanted her cartoon to represent her sense of playfulness and fun, and dancing with a monkey certainly fit the bill!
Leila and I talked about her cartoon for a long time, batting back ideas back and forth before her budget and our inspiration connected and we went for it. Her awesome old-timey boots are monkey brown to match her imaginary friend, her own dark hair and rich coffee eyes, and the deep forest green of her curvy babydoll t-shirt made an excellent complement.
Her actual cartoon is a little shorter than my usual weebles, because I drew it sideways on the page (so it’s 7″x5″ instead of 5″x7″), in order to make room for the monkey and their little weebley dance step.
Have you thought about being a cartoon? I’ve got a few spots free, and I’d love to draw you in your Halloween costume, holiday glamour, or just your awesome everyday self. You can click here to go read up on what’s what, or just use the buy button below to get going.
Be a Cartoon – $79
I’ll email you some questions to the email address from which I got the payment, so keep an eye out!
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: cartoon, copic marker, holiday special, leila lloyd-evelyn, monkey, pen and ink, weeble
Creature Cards
Friday, October 15th, 2010
Creature Cards by Amy Crook
Last month I posted a pencil drawing I called Friendly Card Game and mentioned I was thinking of doing a watercolor version. I traced the basic outlines onto some thick watercolor paper using my light box, so I’d still have the delicately pencil-shaded original, and then it sat around on with my works in progress for a month.
Sunday I got out my watercolors for a tiny client project, and used that chance to experiment with painting up these two. I’d originally pictured them in soft, washed-out colours but I ended up with a much richer palette. I especially like the way the mushroom came out. I’m still pretty new to watercolors, so it was fun to experiment with the different methods of shading.
Creature Cards, 7″x5″ watercolor and gouache on watercolor paper
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: made-up myths, nfs, sold, watercolor
Chibi Catherine Caine
Tuesday, October 12th, 2010
Chibi Catherine Caine by Amy Crook
The latest of my cartoons is the awesome Catherine Caine! She asked for a chibi, which I haven’t gotten to do many of, and I had a lot of fun drawing her irresistible grin while she gave the world a big giant hug. I find this wonderfully appropriate, since Catherine’s enthusiasm for everyone and everything is unassailable by anything but rain.
She’s an Aussie, so instead of a cartoon North America as is usual around these parts, I got to draw a cartoon Southern Hemisphere, which was an interesting challenge since I’m less familiar with the necessary features of the geography there. One of my deep dark secrets is that I’m terrible with the whole social studies realm — geography, history, the works.
Catherine’s red corduroy trousers were striped with one of my awesome refillable Pilot fountain pens from Japan, which is my new favorite place to get art supplies. I almost forgot her awesome spiky ear plugs, since they were hidden in her hair in the photo I’d chosen for drawing her face, but she reminded me.
I love the bright, primary look of this piece, simplified and full of every bit of cheer that Catherine herself showers us with on a regular basis.
Stay Awesome, Catherine!
Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: all rights reserved, cartoon, catherine caine, chibi, commission, copic marker, nfs, pen and ink
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Naomi’s Jack, and her Monster
Friday, October 8th, 2010
Naomi's Monster by Amy Crook
Back in May I offered three slots to draw people’s Monsters, so I could by Havi’s Monster Coloring Book. It’s taken a while to get both of us connected (she’s a busy one!), but I finally have the third one done, for Naomi Dunford of Ittybiz.
Naomi didn’t have a specific Monster she wanted colored, so she sent me some pictures of Jack and we talked a little, and I did a sketch for her of this friendly little hill monster offering Jack a pink rose (Naomi has a thing for pink roses. Who knew?). It took a while to get it from idea to finished product, but I love the cheerful green and pink result, a non-creepy monster for her to hang on the wall.
Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, People, Figures and Faces, Tentacles, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: all rights reserved, cartoon, commission, copic marker, monster, naomi dunford, nfs, pen and ink
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