Archive for the ‘Series and Books’ Category
Fairy Flower
Saturday, December 7th, 2013
Fairy Flower by Amy Crook
Our week of the Floating Gallery is almost over! It closes Sunday night, and all the art floats away, leaving me to relax and enjoy my holiday season.
As part of my long month of working on the sequel to The Courtship of Julian St. Albans, I decided to do an illustration for the cover. There’s a lot of plants in the second book, but the fairy flowers feature in both of them, and I wanted to give a visual to them.
They’re described as a common flower, so I wanted something that reminded me of the wildflowers I picked as a kid, but that had a bit of magical whimsy to them. You can just imagine the butterfly fairies that are attracted to these little blossoms, giving luck to your home as a reward for letting them grow.
Fairy Flowers, 5″x7″ pen & ink and Copic marker on paper.
Fairy Flower, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see a close-up of the flower’s five fat little petals, and the way the purple ink wanted to bleed out past the lines. Tricksy blending. Below, you can see the piece in a frame with Horace, the bird from the cover of the first book.
Fairy Flower & Horace, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books
Tags: apprenticeship, consulting magic, copic marker, for sale, i made this, julian st albans, pen and ink
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Still Life With Fandom 1: Who?
Thursday, December 5th, 2013
Still Life With Fandom 1: Who? by Amy Crook
It’s Thursday of this December Floating Gallery week, and today I have an actual still life for you. I have a lot of nifty things, knickknacks and props and oddities, and I thought it would be fun to use some of them to explore the idea of a still life.
A lot of things we’re fans of evolve over time, reboot themselves, or just make changes, so it’s interesting to me to also see this as a reflection of the way our own love for things evolves with them. I have the 10th Doctor’s sonic screwdriver prop because that’s when I was interested enough to get one, but then the show’s moved on and the prop itself is only still current because of the 50th anniversary special.
This painting started with the deliberately loose, wobbly pen-and-ink outlines, and then it sat for a long time until finally I was inspired by The Day of the Doctor to finish it. I even added a little homage to the white paper in the foreground to help fill the big empty space.
Still Life With Fandom 1: Who?, 8″x8″ pen & ink and watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper.
Still Life With Fandom 1: Who?, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see a close-up of the sonic screwdriver and its soft blue glow. Below, you can see the piece in a frame, ready to bring a little grown-up fandom to your walls.
Still Life With Fandom 1: Who?, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Floating Gallery, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: doctor who, for sale, pen and ink, watercolor
Five for Silver
Tuesday, December 3rd, 2013
Five for Silver, watercolor by Amy Crook
Tuesday seems like a good day for some crows flying through the gloaming. The moon has risen early, gibbous and pale above the evergreens. Soft clouds curl and five black birds fade ghostlike into the shimmering twilight sky.
This is a mix of very different paints that all fall under “watercolor,” with the trees done in pine-scented Christmas paint, the sky textured layers of shimmering Iridescent Moonstone, the moon made of opaque Japanese watercolor, and the birds a translucent black.
Five for Silver, 8″x4″ watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper.
Five for Silver, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see some of the delicate shimmer on the sky, and the painterly brush strokes in the trees and birds. Below, I have it temporarily matted into a frame so you can get a feel for the unusual size.
Five for Silver, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books
Tags: crow, horizons, iridescent, moon, more cowbell, nfs, sold, tree, watercolor
He Knows if You’ve Been Bad or Good
Friday, November 15th, 2013
He Knows if You’ve Been Bad or Good,
a Sherlock parody comic by Amy Crook
I’m still hard at writing with NaNoWriMo, but yesterday’s card demanded a companion.
Mycroft Holmes is Santa Claus. It makes perfect sense, in a creepy sort of way, he’s already got Minions to do the work and everything. I’m especially partial to the candy cane striped tie, an everyday acknowledgement of his very special secret role. Even more powerful than being the British Government, sort of!
He Knows if You’ve Been Bad or Good, 5″x7″ pen & ink and Copic marker on paper. Buy this as a holiday card at my Etsy shop!
two Sherlock holiday cards and a spooky pen made of bone
Categories: Card Design, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: christmas, copic marker, etsy, holiday, john watson, nfs, parody, pen and ink, sherlock, sherlock bbc, sherlock holmes, sold, watson
Secret Santa
Thursday, November 14th, 2013
Secret Santa, a Sherlock parody comic by Amy Crook
Despite NaNoWriMo taking over my brain, the holiday cards continue to trickle out of my pens! This one ended up inspiring tomorrow’s comic, in the way that these things do.
It’s Christmas morning at 221B Baker Street, and John’s a bit mystified by the extra gifts that have appeared under the tree overnight from “Santa.” Sherlock is merely disgusted that Mycroft can’t seem to keep his fingers out of Sherlock’s life for one single holiday.
Secret Santa, 5″x7″ pen & ink and Copic marker on paper. Buy this as a holiday card at my Etsy shop!
two Sherlock holiday cards and a spooky pen made of bone
Categories: Card Design, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: christmas, copic marker, etsy, holiday, john watson, nfs, parody, pen and ink, sherlock, sherlock bbc, sherlock holmes, sold, watson
Misty Moon 2
Friday, November 8th, 2013
Misty Moon 2 by Amy Crook
A black crow flies against the darkest part of the sky, while mist swirls and floats all around, obscuring the shining moon. The mist drifts in wispy tentacles that light up into spirals when the light hits them just right.
Misty Moon 2, 6″x4″ watercolor and iridescent watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper.
Misty Moon 2, detail, by Amy Crook
The scanner captures the painting in an in-between state, but you can see above how the stars light up violet and the mist glows blue when the sun hits it. Below, the painting in its frame appears more like it does to the naked eye, with the shimmering spirals hidden, and only the slithering tentacles of mist show through.
Misty Moon 2, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: crow, fairytale sky, iridescent, moon, nfs, sold, watercolor
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Sleep Paralysis
Thursday, November 7th, 2013
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Sleep Paralysis
pen and ink art by Amy Crook
If you’ve never experienced sleep paralysis, this particular Uncanny Fear might not quite make sense to you.
You’re lying in bed, just on the edge of sleep, and your body has descended into some nether region of unresponsiveness. A fear grips you along with the strange paralysis, and you look around as much as your frozen eyes will allow. Dark figures loom all around, watching, waiting, though you don’t know what for. You probably don’t want to know.
Although I enjoy the pattern on the rumpled bedding immensely, I think the staticky quality of the shadowy figures if my favorite part of this one.
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Sleep Paralysis, 5″x7″ pen & ink on paper.
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Sleep Paralysis, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see the spooky, swirly footboard on this narrow bed. Below, the piece is in a frame, with my iPhone for size reference.
A Series of Uncanny Fears: Sleep Paralysis, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: a series of uncanny fears, crosshatching, edward gorey, for sale, gorey, pen and ink, uncanny fears
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