Archive for the ‘Series and Books’ Category

The Brothers Holmes: The Early Years, part 1 of 6

Monday, November 12th, 2012

The Brothers Holmes: The Early Years, part 1 of 6, comic by Amy Crook

The Brothers Holmes: The Early Years, part 1 of 6, comic by Amy Crook

I’ve finally finished both of my 6-part The Brothers Holmes comic series for my lovely commissioner, Holly, and so this week and next you’ll get to see them! The originals are, of course, spoken for, but I’ll have prints up in my Etsy shop soon.

In this first half, we explore the early years of the Holmes brothers growing up together. Each of these comics is its own little moment in the lives of the brothers, and we start with Sherlock at age 3 and Mycroft at 10, taking his little brother for a walk. I can imagine Sherlock’s “why” stage was more annoying than most.

Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
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Don’t Bend John Watson

Sunday, November 11th, 2012

Don't Bend John Watson sketch by Amy Crook

Don’t Bend John Watson sketch by Amy Crook

Poor John, he’s already got some awful bedhead, I hope the postal workers treat him gently on his way to his new home.

Happy Sunday!

Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
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Shut Up and Help for the Holidays

Saturday, November 10th, 2012

Shut Up and Help for the Holidays, Sherlock BBC fan art by Amy Crook

Shut Up and Help for the Holidays,
Sherlock BBC fan art by Amy Crook

I decided I wanted a second Sherlock holiday card this year, and I decided it had to have Sherlock being his usual annoying self. I spared John any truly awful Christmas sweaters, but made him carry all the boxes.

Shut Up and Help for the Holidays, 5″x7″ pen & ink and Copic markers on paper, nfs (sold).

Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
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O is for Origami

Thursday, November 8th, 2012

O is for Origami, calligraphic illumination by Amy Crook

O is for Origami, calligraphic illumination by Amy Crook

I believe this pattern is actually for an origami fried egg, when done with yellow paper and the colors reversed, but I wanted a big, bold shape for my O. The four corners created little points when folded back, so I actually drew the gold pattern on the entire 3″x3″ square background and then glued just the points on the back of the O down. The O floats above the background serenely, and it has to be framed with no glass in order to make room.

This was the first non-flat letter I made, though there’s a few more coming, including the ampersand (&). I’m nearly done with the series, half a dozen letters to go, so if you are curious about one we haven’t seen yet (perhaps for a holiday gift!), just drop me a line and I’ll give you a sneak preview.

O is for Origami, 5″x5″ Origami paper, watercolor and glitter gel pen on paper.

O is for Origami, detail, by Amy Crook

O is for Origami, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the way the origami floats on its background, letting the gold glow beneath it as it sits serenely above, the whole thing surrounded by a simple red border. Below, M is for Majuscule and Miniscule is hanging out with my O to make OM!

O is for Origami and M is for Majuscule & Miniscule, framed art by Amy Crook

O is for Origami and M is for Majuscule & Miniscule, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Daily Art, Illuminated Alphabet, Series and Books, Whimsical and Strange
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What What What

Tuesday, November 6th, 2012

What What What, Doctor Who fan art by Amy Crook

What What What, Doctor Who fan art by Amy Crook

After making the Eleventh Doctor’s holiday card art, I had to do something with Ten. The darling Tara Swiger suggested the idea for the text, “What? What? No! What?” on the outside of the card, and inside it says, “It’s Christmas already?”

I also decided to draw the other side of the TARDIS on this one, just for variety, but then there was a magical result — the two images together had two Doctors with one TARDIS between them!

What What What, 5″x7″ pen & ink and Copic markers on paper, nfs (sold).

Doctor Who cards by Amy Crook on Etsy

Doctor Who cards by Amy Crook on Etsy

Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
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Lost Arcadia

Monday, November 5th, 2012

Lost Arcadia, watercolor by Amy Crook

Lost Arcadia, watercolor by Amy Crook

I’ve been reading a lot of HP Lovecraft lately, and aside from being occasionally stunned by the epic racism, I’ve noticed that a lot of his descriptions of paradise have a certain common form. There’s tall spires, glowing domes, beautiful temples and perfumed gardens awaiting the lucky person who can find the various lost cities. Of course, doom (or DOOM in the case of Sarnath) often comes to destroy those idyllic cities or sink them to the bottom of the ocean, but it wouldn’t be Lovecraft if it didn’t.

This is painted using three shades of near-black, the soft green, midnight blue and deep purple, and a tiny bit of actual black thinned out to almost nothing to give texture to the glowing moon, plus a wee bit of white for the few stars that peek out above the clouds. I like the loose way I can just paint with no sketch or reference using the blacks, getting a whole range of values that aren’t just plain grey due to the subtle tinting.

Lost Arcadia, 8″x8″ watercolor on paper, nfs (sold).

Lost Arcadia, detail 1, by Amy Crook

Lost Arcadia, detail 1, by Amy Crook

I have a hard time convincing Photoshop to clear away the blue tinge of sunlight from the image without over-saturating the subtle colors on the image, so I left the one above without much adjustment so you can see the detail on the buildings. Below, you can see the swirling blue-black clouds and violet-tinted night sky as it lightens up in the glow of the city below.

Lost Arcadia, detail 2, by Amy Crook

Lost Arcadia, detail 2, by Amy Crook

And finally I have it in a frame! My 8×8 frames don’t have stands, just wall hanging hardware, and my iPhone couldn’t jump that high, so I’m afraid you’ll have to imagine how they look together.

Lost Arcadia, framed art by Amy Crook

Lost Arcadia, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
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Thinking in Grey

Saturday, November 3rd, 2012

Thinking in Grey, Sherlock fan art by Amy Crook

Thinking in Grey, Sherlock fan art by Amy Crook

Copic markers have four kinds of grey — warm, cool, neutral and toner. I used warm and cool greys to put in all shading here, giving the whole image a muted effect like an old photo. You might recognize the pose from last week’s bookmark, which was sort of practice for this bigger piece, though of course I widened the view quite a bit.

Thinking in Grey, 7″x5″ pen & ink and Copic marker on paper, nfs (sold).

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