Archive for the ‘Series and Books’ Category

Sherlock Bookmark 3

Wednesday, February 15th, 2012

Sherlock Bookmark 3 by Amy Crook

Sherlock Bookmark 3
by Amy Crook

Bookmark week continues with another Sherlock Holmes!

He skulks on this black bookmark in pencil, which makes his details vanish at the wrong angle, though the graphite catches the light nicely at the right angle. I painted in his green eyes, red buttonhole and blue scarf on a whim, and I like the way those little details leap out of the page at you.

Sherlock Bookmark 3, 1″x5″ pencil and watercolor on paper, nfs (sold).

Sherlock Bookmark 3, detail, by Amy Crook

Sherlock Bookmark 3, detail, by Amy Crook

You can really see his detailing in the detail photo, above, and of course I couldn’t resist a shot of him peeking sneakily up out of a book, below.

Sherlock Bookmark 3, with book, by Amy Crook

Sherlock Bookmark 3, with book, by Amy Crook

Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
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Tentacle Bookmark 1

Tuesday, February 14th, 2012

Tentacle Bookmark 1 by Amy Crook

Tentacle Bookmark 1
by Amy Crook

I couldn’t neglect Tentacle Tuesday for Valentine’s Day, now could I? After all, it is a nice lovely red.

After I finished this one, I texted a photo to a friend who immediately replied, “Are you giving me the tentacle?”

I drew this in pen and ink on a thick, textured watercolor paper that’s a nice warm white base for the tentacle and its background.

Tentacle Bookmark 1, 1″x7.625″ pen and ink on paper, nfs (sold).

Tentacle Bookmark 1, with book, by Amy Crook

Tentacle Bookmark 1, with book, by Amy Crook

Above you can see this bookmark’s quite a bit longer than yesterday’s, but will still nestle nicely in a hardcover book. May I suggest a volume of Lovecraft?

Tentacle Bookmark, detail, by Amy Crook

Tentacle Bookmark, detail, by Amy Crook

The usual obligatory tentacle shot, which is tamer than it sounds. Don’t forget to visit all the bookmarks from this week.

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles
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Tentacle Deeps 25

Tuesday, February 7th, 2012

Tentacle Deeps 25, watercolor painting by Amy Crook

Tentacle Deeps 25, watercolor painting by Amy Crook

Tentacle Tuesday is upon us once again! I decided to go old school with this next set and paint the wash in the middle of the paper, which gives a very interesting edge to work with. This wash started golden yellow at the bottom and faded up to lemony yellow, but I wanted to give it a bit more oomph, so I went in with a deep goldenrod fine-point Sharpie marker and drew tiny crosshatching in all the background areas. The marker nearly fades into the watercolor down near the base of the tentacles, but you can see the texture clearly in the upper areas.

There’s something soothing about doing these really tedious patterns sometimes, especially since I can do a tiny area for just a minute or two and then do something else (mmmminternets), and then go back to it, which cuts up the process into manageable bites. Otherwise, my wrists might never forgive me!

Tentacle Deeps 25, 5.25″x5″ watercolor and Sharpie marker on paper.

Since this one’s slightly larger than a standard frame I didn’t get a photo of it in its new home yet, but you can see the texture of paper, paint and marker in the cool depth-of-field photo that I can’t resist taking every single time.

Tentacle Deeps 25, detail, by Amy Crook

Tentacle Deeps 25, detail, by Amy Crook

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles, Things I'm a Fan Of
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Tentanet

Saturday, February 4th, 2012

Tentanet sketch by Amy Crook

Tentanet sketch by Amy Crook

Another Saturday, another tentacle monster sketch! This time it’s tentacles over the internet, a subject of which I am obviously quite fond.

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books
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Blue Moon

Thursday, February 2nd, 2012

Blue Moon, watercolor painting by Amy Crook

Blue Moon by Amy Crook

I chose soft blue pen and ink to pair with a rich, deep blue background, and then added salt in two different ways for texture. The brightest stars are the now-familiar salt pools, and there’s a scattering of dimmer ones formed by salt sprinkled onto the damp watercolor paint and brushed off once it dried. It was still too stark for me, so I went and found my tiny dot-card sample of interference blue and added haloes of half-there light around each salt pool and the moon, too, which you can barely see in the above scan, and better down in the detail shots below.

Blue Moon, 7″x5″ salt, pen & ink, watercolor and iridescent watercolor on paper, nfs (sold).

Blue Moon, detail 1, by Amy Crook

Blue Moon, detail 1, by Amy Crook

Above you can see three of the salt pools up close and personal, light glinting off their facets and a faint shadow of the interference blue. Below, the shimmer’s caught the light and you can see the brushed haloes around each large object, as well as the little starbursts of texture in the background of the deep blue sky.

Blue Moon, detail 2, by Amy Crook

Blue Moon, detail 2, by Amy Crook

And of course I took a photo of it framed, once I had it all ready for the show. In the sunlight, the background looks less black, though it’s still velvety-matte against the shimmering, sparkling stars and moon.

Blue Moon, framed watercolor by Amy Crook

Blue Moon, framed watercolor by Amy Crook

Categories: Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books
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Snape and Harry Shrinky Dinks

Wednesday, February 1st, 2012

Snape and Harry Shrinky Dinks by Amy Crook

Snape and Harry Shrinky Dinks by Amy Crook

Yes, that is a dime off in the distance there. Yes, they are just that wee. Somehow, I forget every time just how small they’re going to get! I have no idea what I’ll do with these, possibly a random giveaway. I have jump rings for them (which are ginormous compared to the actual charms) but it’s much easier to photograph them flat without.

Here you can see them before shrinking, next to a pair of scissors for relative scale. Their colors are also less intense, since they get much more pigment-dense when the material they’re on shrinks.

Snape and Harry Shrinky Dinks, before, by Amy Crook

Snape and Harry Shrinky Dinks, before, by Amy Crook

And then a clearer shot of the after, with the same pair of scissors and the additional dime for reference. SO WEE.

Snape and Harry Shrinky Dinks, after, by Amy Crook

Snape and Harry Shrinky Dinks, after, by Amy Crook

Snape and Harry Shrinky Dinks, incredibly wee, Sharpie marker on Shrinky Dink plastic, nfs.

Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
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Tentacle Spiral 2

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

Tentacle Spiral 2 watercolor by Amy Crook

Tentacle Spiral 2 by Amy Crook

As predicted, I’ve got a second installment for my Tentacle Spiral series. This started out as something else, but once I looked at the smudgy, swirly green background I just knew it needed tentacles. I mixed up a very dark green that’s a little translucent, so you can see some of the other colors where the tentacles grow thin, as though they’re not quite fully in this world.

Tentacle Spiral 2, 8″x8″ watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper.

Tentacle Spiral 2, detail, by Amy Crook

Tentacle Spiral 2, detail, by Amy Crook

These tentacle spiral pieces also look very cool when photographed at an angle like this, so much so I even made a wallpaper of this one. It’s been ages since I shared one, so I figured it was about time.

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Free Wallpapers, Series and Books, Tentacles
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