Posts Tagged ‘all rights reserved’
Cuppa Confidence
Wednesday, March 25th, 2015
Cuppa Confidence, commission by Amy Crook for Jo Van Every
Another commission for the delightful Jo Van Every! This time it was for her website, where we were trying to find a good visual metaphor for one of her services. I suggested the cup of tea, something calming and confidence-boosting, and added in the “confidence” on the tag in Photoshop later.
After a recent client meeting I realized that one of the things I do for people is help them feel more confident before a big thing. This particular client got short-listed for a job. We had a session before her interview. She hung up feeling more confident about what she could bring to that job, how to communicate that in the interview, who else she could go to for support, and how to ask them confidently. It may be a cliche but a picture is worth a 1000 words, so I talked to Amy about how to capture that outcome in an image and we came up with the Cuppa Confidence. Because tea makes everything better.
-Jo Van Every
I was so inspired by this idea that I’ve started a little series of watercolors around this theme, and you’ll see Exuberance in this April’s Floating Gallery very soon.
Cuppa Confidence, 7″x5″ pen & ink and watercolor on paper.
Categories: Completed Commissions, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: all rights reserved, cartoon, commission, cuppa, jo vanevery, nfs, pen and ink, tea, watercolor
Raptor
Monday, March 23rd, 2015
Raptor, commission by Amy Crook for Jo Van Every
Jo’s commissioned a lot of things from me over the past couple of years, and this was one of the simplest, though it took some thought before setting brush to paper. She’d found this lovely image of a raptor diving out of its nest on a cliff that we both loved, and I wanted that feeling of the leap without burdening the image with too much detail.
This is what Jo has to say about it:
I recently restarted a yoga practice. Doing sun arms seems to summon an image of me as a raptor taking off from a cliff edge. Which is a wonderful feeling of freedom. I decided to commission Amy to paint it so I can have a reminder on the wall above my computer even when both hands are busy doing something else.
-Jo Van Every
Raptor, 7″x5″ brush and ink on paper.
Categories: Completed Commissions, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: all rights reserved, bird, brush and ink, commission, jo vanevery, nfs, not that kind of raptor, sold
Coffee, Tea… or Me?
Monday, March 16th, 2015
Coffee, Tea… or Me? fan art by Amy Crook
One of my lovely patrons is a huge fan of my favorite silver fox, DI Greg Lestrade from BBC’s Sherlock. We haven’t seen nearly enough of him of late, so he’s brought us a little something, and is using the classic line, “Coffee, Tea… or Me?” I’d go for him and the tea, personally, how about you?
Since the original was a commission, he’s off to his new home, but I decided to put this flirty card up on Etsy for those of you who want a little extra charm (and caffeine) in your lives.
Coffee, Tea… or Me? 5″x7″ pen & ink and Copic marker on paper.
Flirty Lestrade greeting card by Amy Crook on Etsy
Categories: Card Design, Completed Commissions, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: all rights reserved, commission, copic marker, etsy, kim, lestrade, nfs, pen and ink, sherlock, sherlock bbc, sold
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Core Freedom
Monday, February 23rd, 2015
Core Freedom by Amy Crook for Jo Van Every
Another commission done, this one a new addition to my Horizons series. This one is entirely watercolour, even the raptor circling above in the clear blue sky. Jo had this to say about her newest acquisition:
Since moving out to a rural area and acquiring dogs, I walk through woods and fields daily. I’ve been paying attention to subtle differences in colour as the seasons change. I can identify several tree species by shape in winter. I am more aware of the subtle differences in bark colour and leaf colour, especially in spring. I also notice the change in the colour of the sky depending on season and humidity. Amy’s paintings of bare trees and crows resonate with this landscape that I observe daily. She painted another painting of autumn trees with a moodier, cloudy sky. While I liked that one, the orange leaves against a blue sky speaks to me much more clearly and Amy was happy to paint one just for me.
Core Freedom, 8″x4″ watercolor on Fluid watercolor paper.
Categories: Completed Commissions, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books
Tags: all rights reserved, bird, commission, horizons, raptor, tree, watercolor
Navy Squid
Wednesday, February 18th, 2015
Navy Squid, commissioned art by Amy Crook, all rights reserved
This commission was a Christmas gift, it’s just taken me a while to get it into the schedule with all the other madness going on.
The giftee for this was formerly in the Navy, and is a fan of two of Boston’s sports teams, so we incorporated both those ideas into his cheerful blue tentacularness*. He’s either doffing or straightening his cover, which is at a bit of a jaunty angle for a proper naval serviceman. Or servicesquid.
Navy Squid, 7″x5″ pen & ink and Copic marker on paper.
*tentacularness is totally a word
Categories: Completed Commissions, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles
Tags: all rights reserved, commission, copic marker, nfs, pen and ink, sold, squid, tentacle
Home Sweet Yurt
Thursday, January 15th, 2015
Home Sweet Yurt, commission for Jess by Amy Crook
I think Jess can explain this commission way better than I ever could, so allow me to put it in her words:
Have you ever had a friend who just totally gets you, right down to your very core, and she still doesn’t run away screaming? That’s my friend, A. Her friendship came into my life during a time of major changes and chaos, and having that friendship has really helped me stay grounded; she’s able to help me grow as a person while still totally accepting me, no questions asked, for the person I am right now.
I knew Amy had a lot of experience with fanatical fangirl expressions in art form, because I’ve long been a fan of her Etsy shop. I wanted to get a custom illustration for my best friend that would represent our friendship in a way that was both awesome and full of nerdy fun. I asked Amy to draw Spock to represent me (knowing she was already quite experienced in that area), and I hoped she wouldn’t turn me down when I asked her to put Spock next to Ironhide, who’s a Transformer (A is a big fan). And, on top of that, I wanted them to be making a quilt together (because, of course they’d be making quilts together! Right?!?).
Of course, I should have known, Amy was totally up to the challenge! This illustration is perfect; it’s everything I wanted, and THEN some. It’s so whimsical and fun while being a true representation of two fandoms that my best friend and I are really into, and it’s the perfect tribute to our friendship.
I gave it to her for Christmas, and she totally loved it! Her inner spark just glowed at the way Amy was able to translate our friendship onto paper, proving once again that a picture is definitely worth a thousand words (and then some)! It was the perfect thing to symbolize the past year of growing our friendship in ways neither of us imagined, and it’s a gift she will treasure forever.
In case you’re wondering, if you’ve got even just a faint idea of a cool piece of art you’d like to see come to life, Amy’s your girl. She was able to firm up the details and really polish the rough idea I had in my head to turn it into something that is going to be a treasured piece of art in my best friend’s collection. It was so easy to work with her on this project, and her talents did NOT disappoint.
Every fangirl dreams of having an an artist who gets it, to bring our fantasies to life with markers & paints. Amy is that artist; she’s one of us.
-Jess C.
https://instagram.com/p/xSeERTKu7A/
If you’re reading this as an email and can’t see the Instagram above (it seems to get broken going through Mailchimp, click here to see the full post!
Categories: Completed Commissions, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: all rights reserved, commission, copic marker, get your own, nfs, pen and ink, sold, spock, star trek, transformers
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Commission: Paul and Balances
Wednesday, November 19th, 2014
Paul the Octopus, Balance the Force, & Gru Coins
by Amy Crook for Mathlords
This odd little trio is for the same awesome client who got the Continuations art a while back. He wanted something to represent the way some systems worked within his larger project. We named the octopus Paul after the late Paul the Octopus who predicted the world cup results back in 2010. I asked Zack to explain them for you, and this is what he had to say:
“In a marketing illustration for an industrial automation system, our hardworking cephalapod Paul keeps the monies and goods flowing to the highly trained minions and lizard monkeys. Complex processes? No problem. Send down more worms and coins, Paul! These eager minions and rainbow-hued lizard monkeys handle it all with flair and elan. Any rumors that the system’s creator is a somewhat unstable polymath with limited social skills are greatly exaggerated and he asks that this fact not be weighted heavily in purchasing decisions during any ERP downselect process.”
-Zack Galler, Mathlords
We wanted some extra color, so the Hutt got greened up, and the Kowakian Monkey-Lizards were colored rather like Fraggles, plus of course Paul himself is a lovely mottling of ocean green and violet. Gru refused to be dressed up for mere commerce however.
Paul the Octopus, Balance the Force, and Gru Coins, all 7″x5″ pen & ink and Copic marker on paper.
To get a commission of your own, for work or for play, check out my Commissions pages!
Categories: Completed Commissions, People, Figures and Faces, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: all rights reserved, commission, copic marker, nfs, octopus, pen and ink, sold
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