Archive for the ‘Works In Progress’ Category
Holiday Progress
Tuesday, December 18th, 2012
holiday cards and Valentine designs in progress
Given Instagram’s lovely new TOS, I figured I’d continue my week of silly posts with the alternate photo tools on my phone. I keep wondering what will happen when someone’s photo of a third party’s copyrighted designs (say, a car, given that all car designs are legally protected in every which way they can) ends up being used for a commercial purpose by Instagram, when the person who took the photo didn’t own the copyright of the thing in the photo in the first place, and therefore couldn’t actually pass it on to Instagram. This is a bit different than everyone else’s likeness rights worries, but then, I never take photos of my likeness, so it makes sense I’d think of it another way.
Other companies’ idiocy aside, I saw The Hobbit and I unabashedly loved every minute of it. I pretty much spent any slow time trying to remember which dwarf was which, and therefore the nearly three-hour movie passed in a blink for me.
Today’s photo is one of my personal holiday cards (yes, some people got tentacles), and the inks for one of next year’s Valentines. Ironically one of my designs was Instagram-centric, so I’ll probably be scrapping that idea and sticking with the other nerdy concepts. It’s too bad, too, because I loved the silly wee painting I did for the front!
I hope you’re staying warm, dry and happy this week, whichever holidays you love best. Personally, I’m a fan of Halloween, Christmas, the solstice, and of course the New Year! How about you?
Categories: Daily Art, Words Words Words, Works In Progress
Tags: wip, words
Update: Cthulhu Divination Deck WIP
Wednesday, September 7th, 2011
Cthulhu Divination Deck, Card Mockup by Amy Crook
Progress is moving forward on my idea for a Cthulhu Divination Deck! I decided on a card size, a deck size, and got some price quotes. I’m planning to add some ornamentation to the card frame (and possibly change the layout a little), but this is the basic idea. So far I’ve decided that card #1 needs to be Cthulhu himself, and #42 (the last one) will be “The Stars are Right.” Now I just have 40 more cards to decide on. Then I’ll sketch out the art double the size it will be on the original cards, ink and color each piece, and somewhere in there I’ll put together stuff for the Kickstarter.
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Whimsical and Strange, Works In Progress
Tags: cthulhu, lovecraft, nfs, sketch, tarot, weeble, wip
WIP: Weeble Cthulhu Divination Deck
Wednesday, August 17th, 2011
Weeble Cthulhu Divination Card sketch by Amy Crook
Since it’s been a while since I released my two Coloring Books, I want to get back to my original weeble monster love and do another Cthulhu project. This time, I want to make a parody divination deck starring Weeble Cthulhu and his other creepy cute pals. This is inspired both by my love of tarot cards (they’re like little packs of themed art!), and the completely awesome Fantod Pack by Edward Gorey.
I’m still making a lot of the basic decisions, but I made this sketch as a motivator for myself. I love how his tentacles float up in the water, and the weird angles on his altar bed, though I’m pretty sure I won’t bother to show the surface of the water in the final, just shade it to give sense of being below the depths. I just felt like drawing a tiny sailboat.
Stuff that needs to be decided (feel free to weigh in!):
- What size should the cards be — playing card or tarot card size?
- How big should the deck be? (I’m thinking 42 cards right now.)
- Or, do I want to add a whole extra research dimension by trying to do an entire 78-card Tarot deck?
- If I did do a Tarot deck, how would the suits work? Obviously Tentacles would be a suit, but what about the other 3?
- If I did a 42-card “divination deck,” what should I do for the actual instructions for use?
- Either way I need to assign numbers and meanings to the monsters, which should be hilariously fun. I love the universal gloom of Gorey’s predictions, though mine will of course involve more tentacles.
- Where should I have them printed? How fancy should the accompanying booklet be?
- What other rewards should the Kickstarter off than packs and more packs? Originals, obviously, but what else?
I want to get at least half if not most of the art done before I even consider a Kickstarter, so that if/when it does fund it’ll be ready to send off to the printer very soon after. Having supported several Kickstarters now, I have to admit that the wait after funding is interminable, and the one that was ready for press right away and has already shipped to me has a very special place in my heart.
So, what do you all think, dear readers? Would you want to divine that you were destined to be detained by demons, tickled by tentacles or poked by psuedopods? Or have I lost too much of my sanity to be trusted?
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles, Things I'm a Fan Of, Works In Progress
Tags: cthulhu, lovecraft, tarot, weeble, wip
2 Comments »
Work in Progress: Dragon Skin
Monday, May 23rd, 2011
Dragon, commission in progress, by Amy Crook
Just a little work in progress today, a teaser of the textured skin on Molly’s oil-painted dragon. It’s taken ages to get even this far, since I have to let the thick scales dry between painting sessions or I just smear them when I’m working elsewhere, and I still have his hoard, the details on the forest, and even his face to finish. Or is it a her, in the rich warm purples and blues? The paint I’m using is iridescent, which makes the whole dragon shine on the canvas, especially with the extra physical texture of the impasto.
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Works In Progress
Tags: commission, iridescent, nfs, oil painting, wip
4 Comments »
Works in Progress – Tea Edition
Friday, May 6th, 2011
Tea Washes, works in progress by Amy Crook
In the spirit of exploration, and because it’s something I drink nearly every day, I decided to make up a very strong little cup of tea and experiment with using it as a wash. I used two different kinds of paper, and only added salt to one of the pieces, over-wetting the other two so they could air dry overnight into interesting patterns. Once I see how I like the effect, perhaps I’ll try a few more.
I’ve also left the tea, which you can see in its little dish on the right, to strengthen overnight so I can do a few more experiments.
Categories: Daily Art, Works In Progress
Tags: salt, tea, wip
Firefly Fairy, sketch 3
Friday, April 15th, 2011
Firefly Fairy, sketch 3, by Amy Crook
I’ve had a half-finished tiny painting lurking in my studio for a while now, waiting for me to decide just what to paint on it. I wanted to have a fairy with a firefly tail coming to visit a lovely globe thistle, a more fantasy-themed echo of my other thistle tiny painting, but my first two sketches for it weren’t really right. I’m not sure this one quite has what I’m looking for, either, but it’s a step in the right direction.
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Works In Progress
Tags: fairy, nfs, sketch, thistle
WIP: Zombie Crayons
Monday, April 4th, 2011
Zombie Crayons work in progress by Amy Crook
I spent several hours this weekend making art and managed not to really finish anything suitable for posting, oops! Here’s a sketch for my upcoming Zombie Family Coloring Book, an idea of how zombie kids might play with crayons. Note that, like all good zombies, she’s drawing her favorite thing – brains!
Categories: Daily Art, Works In Progress, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: pencil, wip
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