Posts Tagged ‘gel pen’

Teacups

Tuesday, December 5th, 2017

Teacups, illustration by Amy Crook

Teacups, 7″x5″ Copic marker and gel pen on paper

A lovely, solid seafoam green mug. Beautiful blue-painted china with gold accents. A standard diner cup. A travel mug that says, “I like my coffee more than I like you.” A fluted, delicate china teacup in dreamy lavender. And finally, a giant piglet mug.

There’s so many ways to take your tea and coffee, from to-go cups to a favorite mug, fine porcelain to hand-thrown pottery. Enjoy half a dozen vessels drawn with no sketches or linework in loose, graceful art marker and highlighted in white gel pen.

How do you take your tea?

Teacups, detail, by Amy Crook

Teacups, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see a bit of detail on the cups, though the color is more accurate in the scan. Below, the teacups are displayed in a frame, taking up quite a lot less space than the real thing!

Teacups, framed art by Amy Crook

Teacups, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Floating Gallery, Whimsical and Strange
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Dark Grove

Monday, July 3rd, 2017

Dark Grove, abstract art by Amy Crook

Dark Grove, 4″x6″ gel pen and watercolor on Arches cover buff paper

A strange, swirling white mist furls through the tops of the strange trees in this grove. Or perhaps it’s flowers, or low-hanging clouds that’s half-obscured by the reaching, rattling black branches.

The Pathways series takes a strange turn with this one, almost not an abstract at all with is tree-like shapes and hints of deliberation among the randomness.

There’s a beautiful simplicity to the materials in this painting, opaque black paint, opaque white gel ink, and the swirling interactions between the two on top of the warm buff of the soft, textured paper.

Dark Grove, detail, by Amy Crook

Dark Grove, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see the ghostly white shining through the deep black and floating atop the warm buff paper. Below, you can see this tiny painting in a frame, ready to add some spook to your space.

Dark Grove, framed art by Amy Crook

Dark Grove, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Floating Gallery, Series and Books
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30 Day Marker Challenge, part 4

Tuesday, May 2nd, 2017

The amazing Sadynax gave herself a 30-day Marker Challenge last month, and I decided to do it for April to help get back in the swing of art after my surgery.

I managed to make art nearly every day this month (once I doubled up and skipped a day), and I can definitely see how I got back into using my materials as the month went on. I also got more energy to put into the finished pieces as my stamina returned, so hooray for healing!

Spilled Tea by Amy Crook

Day 25: Draw liquid.

Polar Stars bookmark by Amy Crook

Day 26: Use your favorite colors.

Jigglypuff by Amy Crook

Day 27: Choose 3 colors blindly, again!

Queen of Swords by Amy Crook

Day 28: Use only markers that end in the number 7.

Spring Moleskine by Amy Crook

Day 29: Use cheap markers.

Aquamarine (left) and Amethyst Spear (right) by Amy Crook

Day 30: Redo a challenge you were dissatisfied with and compare the two pieces.

Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Moleskines, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
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30 Day Marker Challenge, part 3

Tuesday, April 25th, 2017

The amazing Sadynax gave herself a 30-day Marker Challenge last month, and I decided to do it for April to help get back in the swing of art after my surgery. Three weeks and counting I’ve managed some daily art, hooray!

I’m giving my wonderful Patreon supporters some bonuses at the $5+ sketch levels this month, so it’s a good time to become a patron!

Celadon Teapot by Amy Crook for Kim

Day 18: Use colored paper.

Amethyst Spear by Amy Crook

Day 19: Draw stone or crystal.

Podovich by Amy Crook

Day 20: Draw fur.

Jellyfish by Amy Crook for Molly

Day 21: Draw water.

Charmeleon by Amy Crook for Eric

Day 22: Draw fire.

Coffee Warms the Soul by Amy Crook for Jefferson

Day 23: Draw cold atmosphere.

Desert by Amy Crook

Day 24: Draw warm atmosphere.

Categories: Card Design, Completed Commissions, Daily Art, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, People, Figures and Faces, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
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Fairytale Cottage

Tuesday, March 7th, 2017

Fairytale Cottage by Amy Crook

Fairytale Cottage, 6″x6″ watercolor and gel pen on Fluid watercolor paper

Calling to mind the darker side of fairytales, this shadowy cottage lurks against a rainy sky. The brightness of white clouds and gingerbread detailing is almost unsettling in it sweetness, with everything around it muted and grey.

In a strange reversal, only the frothy white curlicues look solid, while the house and sky seem like mere shadows behind the spirals.

What’s your favorite fairytale, and which ending do you prefer?

Fairytale Cottage, detail, by Amy Crook

Fairytale Cottage, detail, by Amy Crook

Above, you can see up close the slightly raised spirals on the buildings and the softly receding spirals of the clouds, decorating the shadowy secrets held by this confectionary cottage. Below, the frame becomes a window into a dark fairy tale world.

Fairytale Cottage, framed art by Amy Crook

Fairytale Cottage, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Floating Gallery, Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Whimsical and Strange
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Sherlocktopus

Saturday, September 8th, 2012

Sherlocktopus cartoon by Amy Crook

The Wily Sherlocktopus in His Natural Habitat
cartoon by Amy Crook

There’s a fandom trope where Sherlock, who is both offputting and always up in John’s space in the show, is one of those sleepers who wraps around his bedmate like an octopus and never lets go. Poor John is clearly used to this, and they’ve kicked the covers off to compensate for being overwarm this lovely end-of-summer evening.

In case you’re curious, I used white gel pen on John’s pajama pants while the green Copic marker was still fresh, so the marker bled through a little making the pattern light green on dark rather than a stark white. Sherlock’s stripes are bright blue pen on lighter blue background. It’s the little things that amuse me.

Sherlocktopus, 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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Fish Skellington

Thursday, July 5th, 2012

Fish Skellington by Amy Crook

Fish Skellington by Amy Crook

The inspiration for this piece came from a bunch of things crashing together in my brain. We played Small World the other day and one of the races I played had a cute little fish skeleton as its icon. My tiny fandom pieces were making me think I might want to do more things like them, in and out of the realm of fannishness. I painted a bunch of washes using my red watercolor palette and one of them I considered drawing on with the white gel pen. And then all of a sudden I thought, no, the white gel pen would be better on black paper, and I got out the blue palette and made this wash that’s much more like the deep ocean.

So for once, there’s not much to say about the technique but I actually know what I was thinking when I created the piece. Weird.

Fish Skellington, 7″x5″ watercolor and gel pen on Arches cover black paper.

Fish Skellington, detail, by Amy Crook

Fish Skellington, detail, by Amy Crook

Above you can see a close-up of the wee little fishie, who just isn’t all that happy about his lot in, er, death. Below, you can see him in a frame with the paint catching the sunlight just a bit, and the little skellington reflected in my iPhone’s screen.

Fish Skellington, framed art by Amy Crook

Fish Skellington, framed art by Amy Crook

Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
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