Archive for the ‘Sea Creatures and Other Animals’ Category
Gift Tags
Wednesday, November 9th, 2011
Holiday Gift Tags by Amy Crook, $9.99 a pack
A couple of people asked me about gift tags this year, so I took 5 of my favorite holiday cards and turned them into tags! They’re printed on parchment cardstock, with a hole punched for easy attaching. 15 cards in a pack, either all one thing or an assortment of 3 each, and shipping’s free.
You can pick them up at my Etsy shop during the holidays!
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: christmas, cthulhu, etsy, for sale, gift tags, goth, squid
Squidtini
Tuesday, October 25th, 2011
Squidtini by Amy Crook
My friend, G, is a big fan of both gin and squid, so one night I drew up this little guy with her in mind. He’s even made friends with the olive, which he’s got clutched in his feeder tentacles, though the gin’s given him a bit of a blush on his fins and cheeks. This little squid is sloshed!
Squidtini, 5″x7″ pen and ink and Copic markers on paper.
I think it would make a great invitation to a New Year’s dinner party, so I made cards for my Etsy shop.
Squidtini, framed, by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: card, copic marker, etsy, for sale, martini, pen and ink, squid
Squid in a Scarf
Wednesday, October 12th, 2011
Squid in a Scarf by Amy Crook
It’s this year’s holiday card! I decided to do something extra silly, so not only is our little squid freezing, he comes in colors. You can see his feeder tentacles wrapped around all 8 arms as he shivers in his hat and scarf a bit anxiously. I decided on a chilly ocean blue for his main body color, which works well with all the color schemes I’ve tried so far, from Hogwarts houses to TARDIS blue and white.
Squid in a Scarf, 5″x5″ pen and ink and Copic markers on paper.
Check out my Etsy Shop to get him as a card, print, or even buy the original.
Squid in a Scarf, original art by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles
Tags: card art, copic marker, customize me, etsy, for sale, pen and ink, squid
Jellyfish Deeps
Tuesday, October 11th, 2011
Jellyfish Deeps by Amy Crook
Most of my salt pieces come together in an almost Zen-like way, with the long wait for the salt crystals to form and then a quick flurry of activity as I work with the results. This piece started out with the watercolor background, which took a long time to dry, giving the mixed paint time to separate out into its component colors in some places, while staying a murky purple-black in others. Pen and ink and salt came next, and then the jellyfish in their white gel pen currents swam in last.
It’s interesting how sometimes you can keep adding things to a piece until you ruin it, but other times you have to keep going until it gets past a certain point and turns itself around into something worthwhile. My friend Jeff (who paints wargaming miniatures) calls it “the ass point,” where the piece looks like total ass until you get it to a certain point, and then suddenly all its potential starts to shine through.
I find this point more intimidating than the blank page, since it represents a lot of lost work if it never gets past that point, but there’s a certain satisfaction to having pulled a piece past the ass point and turned it into something I’d want to admit I created.
Jellyfish Deeps, 5″x7″ mixed media on paper, nfs, (sold).
Jellyfish Deeps, detail, by Amy Crook
This one has a lot of detail that just doesn’t show up until you really look at it, from the colors glowing through the white gel pen to the strange salt pools and their range of crystal sizes and densities. You can see it in its frame, below, with my iPhone for size reference.
Jellyfish Deeps, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles
Tags: crosshatching, for sale, gel pen, jellyfish, pen and ink, salt, tentacles, watercolor
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A Murder of Crows
Thursday, September 29th, 2011
A Murder of Crows by Amy Crook
This piece uses several different techniques together but really just one pen, although I did go back in and add just a hint of color to the shadowy, sunlit crows in their flight. I’m very pleased with the overall effect, which makes me think of a cover or title page to some mystery novel or horror story. There’s even 13 crows in my murder to make it extra spooky.
A Murder of Crows, 6″x6″ pen & ink and salt on watercolor paper.
I like the way the salt is nearly invisible until the sunlight hits it, adding sparkle and color to an otherwise monochrome image.
A Murder of Crows, detail 1, by Amy Crook
The curving edges on each bird were partially created by the puddles of inky salt water, an imprecise process at best, which helps to give them a sense of being backed and blurred by strong sunlight.
A Murder of Crows, detail 2, by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: brush and ink, calligraphy, crow, for sale, murder of crows, pen and ink, salt
1 Comment »
Squamous Turtle
Friday, September 23rd, 2011
Squamous Turtle by Amy Crook
I made this little guy in a very similar manner to the Opera Squid, except I mixed rich quinacridone gold with the grey-green zoisite genuine for his palette. He gets his name from one of Lovecraft’s favorite adjectives, which means scaly, and from the texture created when the granular zoisite settles out of the mix, leaving the quinacridone to stain the paper gold.
Squamous Turtle, 7″x5″ watercolor on paper, nfs (sold).
Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals
Tags: nfs, sold, turtle, watercolor, zoisite
Opera Squid
Saturday, September 17th, 2011
Opera Squid by Amy Crook
This little guy is made of another delightful real-mineral paint, zoisite, mixed with the eye-searingly vivid opera pink from the same company. The grains of the mineral paint separate from the finer, more staining pink in some places, which gives this cheery little squid a lovely duotone texture. The grey-green of the zoisite becomes a warm neutral when mixed with the pink, ranging from an almost violet grey to a brackish brown.
I had fun with this quick brush sketch, using the quality of the paints themselves to create texture, shape and value. Plus, you know how I do love to paint tentacles.
Opera Squid, 5″x7″ watercolor on paper.
Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles
Tags: nfs, sketch, sold, squid, tentacles, watercolor
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