Archive for the ‘Whimsical and Strange’ Category
Dance of the Octopi – Fabric!
Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011
Dance of the Octopi fabric by Amy Crook
You may remember a while back I posted a design called Dance of the Octopi and contemplated how it would make good wallpaper or fabric pattern? Well, I’ve finally gotten around to putting it up on Spoonflower for sale! You can see my little sample above, which is a fat quarter of unironed quilting weight (I don’t own an iron, haha) gathered into a pretty swath for the photo.
I love the dreamy, blue and purple creatures and vibrant green seaweed against the soft blue background, and am still contemplating whether I want to get a few yards and try to sew myself a tentaclicious pair of pajama pants. I suppose I’d have to buy an iron, though…
Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: fabric, fish, jellyfish, octopus, squid
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Salted Squid 1
Tuesday, July 19th, 2011
Salted Squid 1, art by Amy Crook
More of my experiments with making salt into Actual Things, we have a happy little squid! He’s got his feeder tentacles tucked away, but you can count all 8 arms waving cheerily at you from out of the blue. He’s surrounded by colorful coral, or maybe iridescent bubbles, made using salt that had acquired a coat of paint from other pieces and then been saved. The squid is faintly green, but there was a lot of him to spread out a little bit of watercolor pigment, so you’ll have to forgive his pale complexion.
Salted Squid 1, 5.5″x4.25″ pen & ink, watercolor, and salt on paper.
You can see below how the paper gained some fascinating texture in the places where the salt pools formed — that’s because sometimes the salt crystals form inside the paper instead of on top.
Salted Squid 1, detail, by Amy Crook
This cutie insisted to me that he doesn’t need a frame to be awesome, and I’m inclined to agree — the paper’s got a bit of a curve, and it tucks quite nicely onto a shelf. He enjoyed hanging out with my duckies so much, I’ve left him there for the moment. These days I make so much art that I keep swapping out what’s on display.
Salted Squid 1, in situ, by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books, Tentacles, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: for sale, pen and ink, salt, squid, tentacles, watercolor
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Goth Vines
Thursday, July 7th, 2011
Goth Vines by Amy Crook, $222
Inspired by the same sort of Tim-Burton-esque design as Saturday’s Deplorable Figurine, this piece combines the fractal salt images with pen-and-ink drawing that was later softened with a wet brush.
Despite the fact that I no longer dress up much, my Goth tastes still permeate a lot of my life, from the Living Dead Doll in her coffin atop my bookshelf to the plethora of Nightmare Before Christmas collectibles around the house. I’ve always enjoyed things that make me say, “That’s so weird!” That sensibility shows up in my work sometimes, like today’s piece, not to mention all the zombies, vampires and other such cartoons.
Goth Vines, 5″x5″ ink and salt on watercolor paper, $222, framed, with free shipping.
The now-blue spirals started out as black fountain pen ink, but the water drew out the brown-gold portion of the ink, making golden haloes around the blue-grey centers. The effect gives them an odd glow where they attach to the end of the vines, though actually the vines were drawn in later.
Goth Vines, progress, by Amy Crook
I really think this detail shot I got is gorgeous, especially at extreme closeup – click on it (or nearly any image in my posts) to see it bigger!
Goth Vines, detail, by Amy Crook
I like the way the vines seem to grow out of the narrow black frame I found for them.
Goth Vines, framed, by Amy Crook, $222
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: black, for sale, goth, pen and ink, salt
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Shrinky Dinks 1
Saturday, June 18th, 2011
Shrinky Dinks, set 1, by Amy Crook
Do you remember Shrink Dinks? I had forgotten all about them until I ran across the Klutz Press book on them, which of course I bought, and then proceeded to store away for years with my art supplies. Well, today is the day they finally got put to use.
I used about 1/3 of a sheet for these guys, and wow, they got soooo wee. Seriously, I was somehow not expecting them to shrink quite so much, but I have future wicked plans for making more. Here you can see them with a dime for size comparison — on my screen, they’re actually larger than they are in real life.
Shrinky Dinks, set 1, by Amy Crook
Dark-colored Sharpies are still quite dark on the semi-transparent plastic, though you can see the colors clearly above with the lights shining through. I’m definitely going to have to experiment with some more of these, and then figure out how to price them and what for. Perhaps a set of ninja stitch markers? Zombie zipper pulls? Cthulhu on a cord for a necklace?
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles, Whimsical and Strange, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: cthulhu, ninja, omgwee, shrinky dinks, squid, zombie
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Super Cute Squid Redux, Now With Vectors!
Saturday, June 11th, 2011
Super Cute Squid illustration by Amy Crook
If you remember the sketch I posted a while back, this guy will seem awfully familiar. I wanted to do something polished with him, so I busted out my little-used Adobe Illustrator skills and drew him up.
I’m thinking he might need to be cards or t-shirts, what do you think?
Super Cute Squid Redux, vector art, not for sale (because he’s only virtual!).
At least if he’s not real, he’s got a friend to be virtual with him.
Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: illustrator, squid
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Whiteboard Gremlin
Saturday, June 4th, 2011
Gremlin whiteboard sketch by Amy Crook
A proper sketch Saturday at long last! I was sleepy and contemplating a cartoon I’m doing for a certain Delightineer, and so I doodled this happy guy on my whiteboard while I was making the next day’s to-do list.
Categories: Daily Art, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: nfs, whiteboard
Puppy Love
Friday, May 20th, 2011
Puppy Love by Amy Crook
This cute little guy is one of the tea experiments I posted last Friday. Rather than watercolor, I made the wash with strong black tea, and then enhanced it with a brown fountain pen and, you guessed it, more tea. The shape that the tea left when it dried suggested a puppy to me, so I played a little bit with the pen and brush and eventually got something I was happy with.
The end result is warm and whimsical, just the perfect thing for a dog lover.
Puppy Love, 7″x5″ pen & ink and tea on paper.
Categories: Daily Art, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: nfs, pen and ink, puppy, sold, tea, whimsy
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