Posts Tagged ‘brush and ink’

Sunday Round-Up & Sherlock Brush Sketch

Sunday, June 2nd, 2013

this week started sketchy and then went all meticulous

this week started sketchy and then went all meticulous

I hope you all are having a lovely Sunday, it’s warm and sunny here (well, all right, when this posts it’ll be 3am and totally dark, but you get the idea). This week we started out on Monday with a sketchy crow, and then Tuesday a differently sketchy goldfish swum onto the scene. Wednesday I totally failed to tell you how to paint a goldfish but did show some nice shots of my background making process. Thursday I reminded you of the age-old internet adage: the orange ones are poison. Friday’s art was morbidly meticulous, and Saturday cheered us up with a somewhat belated eleventh Doctor.

Finally, we go back around to a brush-and-ink sketch of my favorite consulting detective and his cheekbones.

Sherlock brush and ink sketch by Amy Crook

Sherlock brush and ink sketch by Amy Crook

Categories: Daily Art, Sunday Round-Up
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Motherf-cking Bunny

Thursday, May 9th, 2013

This is a Motherfucking Bunny drawn by Amy Crook

This is a Motherfucking Bunny drawn by Amy Crook, $250

This bunny’s life is narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, he’s such a badass motherfucking bunny. He was drawn with my gorgeous but perpetually clogged fountain pen, which gives lovely scribbly broken lines. Then his ink was spread and smeared and turned from black to blue and brown and green and grey on the page, using a simple brush and water to affect the change.

Motherfucking Bunny, 5″x7″ pen, water & ink on paper, $250 with free shipping.

Motherfucking bunny, some goddamned details, by Amy Crook

Motherfucking bunny, some goddamned details, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the subtle shifts in color from blue to brown to grey, especially the nice navy blues in the shadows and soft warm greys around his face. Below, he has consented to occupy a frame for a short while so you can contemplate the magnitude of his attitude.

Motherfucking Bunny, framed art by Amy Crook, with Vorpal Bunny for good measure

Motherfucking Bunny, framed art by Amy Crook,
with Vorpal Bunny for good measure

  • Title: Motherfucking Bunny
  • 5 in. x 7 in. pen & ink and brush & ink on paper
  • $250 for the original (tax will be added if you live in CA)
  • Frame is not included, but can be added for $50 (shipping included)
  • Shipping is free anywhere in the world
  • Payment plans are available, just email me
  • If you’d like to make an offer, just let me know and we’ll make sure no one got the drop on you

Categories: Daily Art, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
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Pattern Recognition

Friday, March 30th, 2012

Pattern Recognition, abstract art by Amy Crook

Pattern Recognition, abstract art by Amy Crook

This piece started out as tiny bead-like droplets of salt-infused ink on the paper. The salt crystals that grew were small and black, evenly spaced across the ink circles, and the ink was actually coating the salt so they hardly sparkled at all. I took a wet brush and idly doodled the uppermost right-hand pattern by re-wetting the ink and drawing it out in three long, swooping lines. Using water to separate this ink shows off its complex color structure of blue and orangey-brown, and so I used the same method to make patterns around the rest of the ink dots as well.

Since I gently dissolved some of the ink off of the salt crystals, they regained a tiny bit of sparkle, so this image that could have been boring black and white had I made it with pen and ink, has a three-dimensional, full-color palette of tiny details. Sometimes it’s worth it to do things the ridiculously complicated way.

Pattern Recognition, 5″x5.25″ ink and salt on paper, $234 framed, with free shipping.

The detail shot below shows off both the color variation in the “black” ink, and the dull shine of the tiny salt crystals. To give you a sense of scale, the entire design in this photo is about the size of a quarter.

Pattern Recognition, detail, by Amy Crook

Pattern Recognition, detail, by Amy Crook

I haven’t yet framed this piece, it’s just a tiny bit too big for a 5″x5″ frame, so it’ll get mounted into a larger 8″x8″ frame before going to its new home.

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
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ATC: Flourish

Monday, January 16th, 2012

Flourish, artist trading card by Amy Crook

Flourish, artist trading card by Amy Crook

I still have a bunch in my pack of Artist Trading Cards, so I decided to pull one out and just doodle a bit. Once I’d drawn in the little vine pattern in the corner, the word “flourish” sprung to mind so I went ahead and wrote it in messy calligraphy. Then I got out a brush and, using water and the ink already on the card, I smoothed out the shapes, and even ‘painted’ some new ones.

The whole thing has a feel of decorative whimsy, which goes quite well with the idea of adding flourishes, and also of flourishing in a more personal sense, at least for me. A life without whimsy or decoration would be awfully boring, after all.

Flourish, 3.5″x2.5″ ink on paper, nfs (but available for trading).

We actually had some sunshine this morning, so I took a photo and got a slightly better view of the very pale details in the middle of the card.

Flourish artist trading card, detail, by Amy Crook

Flourish, detail, by Amy Crook

If you’re an artist who makes ATCs of your own, and are coveting this one, let me know!

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
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Drifting Down

Monday, January 9th, 2012

Drifting Down by Amy Crook

Drifting Down by Amy Crook

Another salt experiment, this time using pen and ink in a different way. The spirals inside the salt pools are actually watercolor, which the water didn’t really pick up at all this time, and then the grass and vines are both pen-and-ink that’s been brushed with water to give it a different texture.

I really like the peaceful, floating quality of this piece. The little salt pools seem weightless as they rest like the barest fluff on the upright grass. Actually it reminds me a bit of Horton Hears a Who — I wonder if there’s any Whos hiding there?

Drifting Down, 5″x7″ ink, salt, and watercolor on paper.

Drifting Down, detail, by Amy Crook

Drifting Down, detail, by Amy Crook

The meagre winter sunlight this time of year doesn’t catch the sparkle on the salt very well, but you can really see the texture of the paper and the watercolor-like quality of the curling ink vines. Below you can see it in a frame (with my iPhone for scale – not included, heh). It would fit nicely on a desk at work, for anytime you needed a moment of peace and weightlessness, growth from above and below and the effortless connection between them.

Drifting Down, framed art by Amy Crook

Drifting Down, framed art by Amy Crook

If you think you’d like to bring this piece into your life, or are just too shy to comment, feel free to email me! I’m always happy to help find the right home for my art, or just chat.

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes
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A Murder of Crows

Thursday, September 29th, 2011

A Murder of Crows, art by Amy Crook

A Murder of Crows by Amy Crook

This piece uses several different techniques together but really just one pen, although I did go back in and add just a hint of color to the shadowy, sunlit crows in their flight. I’m very pleased with the overall effect, which makes me think of a cover or title page to some mystery novel or horror story. There’s even 13 crows in my murder to make it extra spooky.

A Murder of Crows, 6″x6″ pen & ink and salt on watercolor paper.

I like the way the salt is nearly invisible until the sunlight hits it, adding sparkle and color to an otherwise monochrome image.

A Murder of Crows, detail 1, by Amy Crook

A Murder of Crows, detail 1, by Amy Crook

The curving edges on each bird were partially created by the puddles of inky salt water, an imprecise process at best, which helps to give them a sense of being backed and blurred by strong sunlight.

A Murder of Crows, detail 2, by Amy Crook

A Murder of Crows, detail 2, by Amy Crook

Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Whimsical and Strange
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Tentacle Deeps 15

Tuesday, September 20th, 2011

Tentacle Deeps 15, Cthulhu art by Amy Crook

Tentacle Deeps 15 by Amy Crook

Days of work went into today’s piece, but I think they’re my favorite tentacles yet. I used the same technique of softening pen-and-ink with water as in Tentacle Deeps 14, but then I went through and grew salt crystals along the body of each tentacle. The cross-hatching used three different pens to create the sense of light and depth, and my friend Eric L suggested that it looks like the tentacles are starting to dissolve where the light is hitting them.

Tentacle Deeps 15, 5″x7″ mixed media on paper.

Here you can see a closer view of the texture and the way I created the effect of light fading to darkness.

Tentacle Deeps 15, detail 1, by Amy Crook

Tentacle Deeps 15, detail 1, by Amy Crook

I love how this shows off the variation in the tentacle colors, and the way the salt crystals sparkle even with the dark ink suffusing them.

Tentacle Deeps 15, detail 2, by Amy Crook

Tentacle Deeps 15, detail 2, by Amy Crook

I finally had the brilliant idea of putting something in the framed shots so you’d get a sense of scale, so enjoy this shot of the tentacles in their frame, hanging out with my iPhone.

Tentacle Deeps 15, framed art by Amy Crook

Tentacle Deeps 15, framed, by Amy Crook

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles
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