Archive for the ‘Sea Creatures and Other Animals’ Category

It’s finally 2022!

Saturday, January 1st, 2022

Self Portrait for 2022 by Amy Crook

Self Portrait for 2022 by Amy Crook

May your 2022 be measurably better in some way!

It’s been a crazy year, and the last quarter especially sapped my will to create, but, as the very end of the year came around I’ve finally gotten some stuff done. A lot of it was on a personal project that’s currently secret, but I do have a backlog of sketch cards to show you. Plus, there will be our traditional State of the Kitties post in a few days, and then a Floating Gallery sometime very soon.

How soon? Who even knows, time is meaningless.

 

Categories: People, Figures and Faces, Sea Creatures and Other Animals
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May 2021 Patreon Sketch Cards

Wednesday, July 28th, 2021

Another day, another bunch of Patreon sketch cards! I got some nifty black mixed media ones in, and tried that out with my shiny paints for the cocktails on the bottom left. I try to have fun with my sketches whenever I can, y’know?

7 small sketch cards by Amy Crook

From the top left:

  • Amber’s April showers/May flowers
  • a summer bat for The Other Amy
  • Nott the Brave for Eric
  • Wally the Nonbinary Welsh Walrus for Booskerdu
  • Cocktails for Jefferson
  • Kim’s new job ft. books
  • and 40s music for Roxanne B, with my personal favorite song from the era, “Swingin’ on a Star.”

Carry some moonbeams off in a jar, darlings!

Categories: Completed Commissions, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, People, Figures and Faces, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
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Waning

Monday, July 19th, 2021

mixed media artwork of a blue-purple twilight with a waning gibbous moon, tree, and birds

Waning, 5″x7″ mixed media on paper

This misprint had an alignment issue that made it all sky and no earth. I couldn’t resist painting in the very end of twilight in rich blue and fading violet. The moon is a special iridescent paint that looks white at some angles and lavender at others. The tree has some intriguing physical texture, painting over with soft-body acrylic paint, and its details were extended into a network of lacy growth.

There’s a few little birds in the sky as well, hidden mostly behind the mist of tiny dots that might be fireflies or snowflakes or even a light rain reflecting moonlight at the viewer.

Every part of this artwork got a touch of new life, from the waning gibbous moon to the color-washed streaks in the sky.

Waning, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the way the paint shines, the moon going purple and the tree’s texture picking up the golden sunlight. Below, this piece is in a frame and happily showing itself off for you.

Waning, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books
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Wyrm

Saturday, July 17th, 2021

a watercolor painting of a green dragon's head with spiral scales

Wyrm, 7″x5″ watercolor on paper

A wyrm is a type of dragon with no legs or wings, basically a giant snake that’s still gonna eat you for breakfast. This one is essentially the result of doodling, playing with shapes formed in a loose wash of paint, building up shadows and lifting highlights until the dragon emerged from the swirling mist.

There’s sparkle throughout but especially in the fog, and my favorite shape features heavily. Spirals in the fog, in the scales, in horns that lay flat against its neck.

Sinuous and menacing, this wyrm looks hangry and you look like a snack.

Wyrm, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see some of the pearlescent shimmer, and a close-up of our wyrm’s baleful eye. Below, he’s in a frame, awaiting his next snack.

Wyrm, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books
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Artifacts of the Resolution

Wednesday, July 14th, 2021

a mixed media painting of a tree, crows, and a ghost

Artifacts of the Resolution, 5″x7″ mixed media on paper

Making prints work out is always an interesting challenge with a new program and a new printer.

Instead of recycling this low-res misprint, I used my mineral-based watercolors to paint over it. I added the cloudy russet sunset and gave the tree texture, body, and new details. All of the birds stayed at their original resolution, which gives the painting its name.

Look, I can’t be expected to resist a pun that good.

Artifacts of the Resolution, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see up close the motion-blur of the branches next to the clear pixelation on the birds, as though they’re visiting from some other, lower-resolution reality. Below, the painting is resting in a frame, waiting to be sent to someone new.

Artifacts of the Resolution, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, People, Figures and Faces, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
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April 2021 Patreon Sketch Cards

Wednesday, July 7th, 2021

Having standardized the sketch size to these pre-cut ATC/ACEO cards makes my life so much easier — they come in vellum for drawing, watercolor paper, and some cool new stuff like Yupo synthetic substrate. It gives me a lot of room for play! Which I did with several of these that weren’t for anyone specific, heh.

6 sketch cards by Amy Crook

From the top left:

  • Do Good Recklessly, a recent tumblr meme
  • Capybaras for Rebecca S
  • A wee Concentric doodle to play with some of my new watercolors
  • Bats and Mushrooms and Sun and idk man, sometimes you just gotta paint mushrooms I guess.
  • Purple dragon for Andria, who wanted to have a golden hoard of their very own, which was pretty easy since they are very wee
  • Amy B asked for a kitten and got a blobcat with a Christmas tree tail, which is a feature of kittens of a certain age that I find delightful. It has brought you a mouse toy like the mighty hunter it is, and is all fluffed up about it.

4 sketch cards by Amy Crook

From the top left:

  • Amber asked for “seasonal (holiday) allergies” and I may have chosen to tease her husband.
  • A is for Amy wants to play with her yupo paper some more.
  • Roxanne asked for Falcon & the Winter Solider and apparently this is what my brain wanted.
  • Rey asked for “conditionally huggable” and of course I had to draw a hedgehog.

I love my Patreon supporters with all my heart — thanks, you guys! You’re the best.

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Completed Commissions, Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Illuminated Alphabet, People, Figures and Faces, Pretty Words, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
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Yupo sketch cards

Tuesday, May 25th, 2021

I got a new substrate to try, Yupo, which is an interesting synthetic that comes in a transluscent thin sheet, a more normal sheet, and a fat cardstock, all very smooth and non-absorbent. Basically the opposite of watercolor paper! I got a package of sketch card sized pads, and did some non-request sketch experiments on them in various media.

5 sketch cards with watercolor on yupo paper

5 sketch cards by Amy Crook

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Pretty Words, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books
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