Archive for the ‘Series and Books’ Category
S is for Sherlock
Thursday, February 24th, 2011
S is for Sherlock by Amy Crook
Edward Gorey’s The Gashlycrumb Tinies is my absolute favourite of works — I get to die first, after all — and so when I was experimenting with my Micron pens the urge to parody BBC’s new Sherlock by mashing up the two was irresistible.
Click the image if you’d like to really see the ridiculously obsessive line work, or just enjoy the smaller version where it all blends into a texture.
I decided to combine the pose from “S is for Susan who perished of fits” and the caption and setting from “N is for Neville who died of ennui” in order to capture the essence of modern Sherlock in his state of utter boredom. The window isn’t precisely true to the show (there’s an ornate railing of some kind outside, and curtains), but I really liked the boring brickwork from the N page, so I copied that faithfully and tediously.
I never really thought I’d learn to like shading in such a time-consuming style, but I’m already thinking about other ways I can make use of it. I’ve already got plans to do a companion piece to this for poor John, since Gorey set me up so very well with “J is for James who took lye by mistake.”
S is for Sherlock who died of ennui, 8.5″x6.5″ pen and ink on sketchbook paper, sold.
You can still get the pair of them as handmade blank greeting cards on Etsy, though!
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: baker street tinies, crosshatching, edward gorey, nfs, pastiche, pen and ink, sherlock, sold
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Tentacle Deeps 2
Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011
Tentacle Deeps 2 by Amy Crook
Apparently, this is a series! Who knew?
I had another blue wash sitting around from my last foray at watercolors, and this one, too, seemed to just really want tentacles.I mixed a little green into the black again, but once again it seems to have been swallowed up as the paint dried, though I saw glimmers of it when it was wet.
I used a bigger brush on a smaller piece this time and I’m not sure I liked the coarser control, so of course I’ll have to try again. Perhaps green, or something in a rich blood red?
Tentacle Deeps 2, 4″x6″ watercolor on watercolor postcard.
I didn’t bother with wallpapers on this one, but if you’d like them, just let me know.
Tentacle Deeps 2, framed, by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles
Tags: blue, for sale, tentacle deeps, watercolor
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Tentacle Deeps 1
Thursday, February 17th, 2011
Tentacle Deeps 1 by Amy Crook
This piece started as an experiment with the soft blue wash, which I let sit around for weeks and weeks while I contemplated what to do with it. The other day I had a flash of what to do, and then it took me a few more days to take the time to sit down with my watercolors and add the sinuous tentacles rising up from the deeps.
I’m quite pleased with the results, the feeling of depth and the texture of the soft paper and how it interacted with the watercolors (which are really Japanese sumi-e inks, for the most part). I did mix some green in with the blacks to set it off from the teal wash, but I think that in the end the wash won out and the whole thing has a lovely monochromatic feel.
Tentacle Deeps, 5.5″x7.5″ watercolor on watercolor paper.
I also made a computer wallpaper and iPhone wallpaper for your downloading pleasure (right-click or ctrl-click to save). Well, okay, I made them for my own use, but I figured it’d be nice to share.
Tentacle Deeps 1, framed, by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Free Wallpapers, Series and Books, Tentacles
Tags: blue, for sale, iphone, tentacle deeps, wallpaper, watercolor
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Resplendent Ennui
Friday, February 11th, 2011
Resplendent Ennui, a Sherlock comic, by Amy Crook
More silly Sherlock cartoons. I spent some time with this exploring a new style, the idea of repeating panels, the textural shading I could do with my snazzy new Micron pen set, and sleep deprivation. Enjoy!
If you’d like a print of this comic (the originals are already gone, yay!), you can pick one up at my Etsy shop.
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: etsy, john watson, nfs, pen and ink, print, sherlock, sherlock bbc, sherlock holmes
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Weeble Wednesday: Wolfman Hearts You
Wednesday, February 9th, 2011
Wolfman + Heart by Amy Crook
This guy’s a little fuzzy on some things, but his heart is warm and furry and all for you! Werewolf, wolfman, lycanthrope, whatever you want to call him, he’s not on anyone’s team.
This Wolfman is the last of the new illustrations for my Monster Heart Coloring Book, aside from the bonus brides. He’s such a classic movie monster I had to include him.
Wolfman and Wolfman’s Heart, both 5″x7″ pen and ink and Copic markers on watercolor paper.
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: coloring book, copic marker, for sale, heart, monster, pen and ink, weeble
Cartoon Sherlock & John
Friday, February 4th, 2011
Cartoon Sherlock & John by Amy Crook
I think we all need to accept right now that, for the next while, whenever I’m not sure what to draw for an art post, it’ll be characters from the BBC’s Sherlock. (Also that I’m a serial comma abuser.)
This was done last night about midnight on my teeny tiny bedside sketchbook, as an experiment with drawing some cartoons that were a bit easier to pose than weebles but just as cute and cartoonish. Expect to see a revisit of these two doing ridiculous things in future posts. I just got some new Micron pens, and these seem like they’d be a perfect fit.
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: nfs, pencil, sherlock, sketch, watson
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John Watson
Thursday, February 3rd, 2011
John Watson by Amy Crook
During the opening of the first episode of the BBC’s new Sherlock, there’s a scene of John Watson sitting, back straight, staring blankly out into the darkness of the room. I wanted to try to capture that moment here, and so I found some screencaps and drew up this rather detailed sketch.
It’s funny how many little details it takes to make a person recognizable — after the first draft, I scanned the sketch and laid it over the original screencap in Photoshop and looked at all the little places that needed to change. The curve of the nose and chin, the angle of the lines of the forehead, the placement of this shadow and that highlight — nothing big, but once I went through and made the changes, the drawing coalesced from ‘a random guy staring off into space’ and into what, at least to me, is recognizably John (as played by Martin Freeman).
I admit I cheated a little when I scanned him in the second time and gave him a much bigger expanse of space to stare aimlessly off into than he has in my sketchbook (not to mention cleaning up all the finger-smudges in the white). I wanted to give a sense of how the image was in the show, which was incredibly well-shot with gorgeous composition and cinematography throughout.
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: nfs, pencil, sherlock, watson
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