Posts Tagged ‘nfs’
Toby
Friday, December 3rd, 2010
Toby by Amy Crook
Back before I ever did a NaNoWriMo, I briefly considered doing a webcomic — the intensive schedule forces one to really develop a style and refine it quickly, which sounded more appealing than slogging through years more of feeling like an incompetent. In the long run, though, I decided that I just didn’t have the motivation to keep up a comic schedule, shelved the idea and turned it into my very first NaNoWriMo win.
This is Toby, one of the two main characters from Makeshift. It’s one of the first things I ever did using Copic markers, which then languished on my shelf for a long time before I picked them back up and got busy learning the long, hard way to suck less.
Toby, 5″x7″ pen & ink and Copic markers on sketchbook paper, not for sale.
Categories: Daily Art, Nudes and Other Sexy Things, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books
Tags: copic marker, makeshift, nanowrimo, nfs, pen and ink
Dancer Shard
Thursday, December 2nd, 2010
Dancer Shard by Amy Crook
Another piece that shows my fascination with dancers! This one is also long lost to the mists of time, or possibly in that one box on that shelf I can’t actually get to right now. There was a local shop that made stained glass windows and would let me come raid the stuff that was broken for interesting pieces. The background is painted in pearlescent white on a thick shard of semi-opaque buff stained glass, and the foreground daubed in wetly with a fat brush and barely-mixed colours for a rough, abstract effect.
From what I recall this piece is about 3″x5″ or a little smaller, heavy in the hand.
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces
Tags: acrylic, glass, nfs
Wedding Invitations
Tuesday, November 30th, 2010
Wedding Invitations by Amy Crook
When my Mom decided to get married at short notice, she actually arranged everyone’s attendance by phone — it was a small wedding of just immediate family, so mainly she had to work around everyone’s schedules in time for me to get a reasonably-priced flight out. She asked me to make wedding invitations as sort of a keepsake for everyone, and after a bit of prodding added the descriptors “bright green swirls” to her vague request of “something nice.”
I picked up the cardstock first, simple non-folding cards with a nice embossed “frame” that I’ve faked in here in Photoshop. Names & details have been changed, of course, but this is what I came up with. I first made two sets of swirly, romantic designs in watercolor and scanned them, then I ended up deciding on the lighter green and making them into transparent Photoshop files so I could layer them in InDesign. I printed them by hand at home the same way I make my holiday cards, on my high-quality inkjet printer.
The project (which was my wedding present to them) ended up being a fun combination of fine art, design, and actual production work. She was pleased with the final product, and I kept forgetting to make this “generic-ified” version so I could post them to the site.
If you’re interested in having custom design done for you, you can take a look at my portfolio over at Not Dead Yet Studios or just drop me a line to discuss your project. My December is pretty full, but I’d love to work with you to make something beautiful and functional to fit your needs.
Wedding Invitations, 5.5″x8.5″ hp inks on cardstock, not for sale.
Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: all rights reserved, commission, design, nfs, wedding
2 Comments »
Alex Benedict
Monday, November 29th, 2010
Alex Benedict by Amy Crook
A few of you might be aware that I’m doing NaNoWriMo this year — it’s my 6th year & 5th win (I passed 50K on the 25th). I haven’t titled this year’s novel yet, but in the inevitability of being an artist writing about the same thing every day, I decided to do a sketch of my main character, Alexander Benedict.
Since I was drawing him as procrastination for actual writing, he’s in the client meeting notebook I use, which is a proper sketchbook that got wet at some point in its life and has warped pages — perfect for taking notes in, not so great for art I want to scan and/or keep later. Oops.
Alex Benedict, 4″x7″ pencil on sketchbook paper, not for sale.
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books
Tags: nanowrimo, nfs, pencil, sketch
Coloring Book Doodles
Sunday, November 28th, 2010
For most of the buyers of my Cthulhu Coloring Book, I’ve had time to put a little 5-minute sketch in the inside front covers. I remembered to scan most of the doodles before mailing them, so here they are for your to enjoy!
Weeble Deep One sketch by Amy Crook
Evil Brain sketch by Amy Crook
Evil Cheeseburger sketch by Amy Crook
Weeble Death (classic) sketch by Amy Crook
Yig sketch by Amy Crook
Weeble Death (Sandman) sketch by Amy Crook
Octopus sketch by Amy Crook
Hello Zombie Kitty sketch by Amy Crook
Nyarlathotep sketch by Amy Crook
Flying Polyp sketch by Amy Crook
Weeble Skeleton sketch by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Whimsical and Strange, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: coloring book, cthulhu, doodle, nfs, silly
Bronze Roses
Saturday, November 13th, 2010
3 Bronze Roses, detail 1, by Amy Crook
I made these roses using the lost wax casting method; each one started life as a dried long-stemmed rose, which I dipped in wax and made ready for casting. The process only worked about 25% of the time, because of the long thin stem the metal had to travel to get to the solid flower, and the leaves almost never cast.
I left the bits of flash and other imperfections on them as part of their character, the human element intervening in nature long enough to create these haunting pieces. The element of randomness is one I enjoy exploring in my art, and you can really see how it gave these roses a new life.
They get their color from a chemical patina, another process involving water and fire that has slowly evolved over time thanks to exposure to the air and handling.
I’ve sold all of the half dozen or so that I originally made, but maybe someday I’ll be in a position to create more.
3 Bronze Roses by Amy Crook
Categories: Flowers, Trees and Landscapes, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: bronze, nfs, rose, sold
2 Comments »
Marbled Eye
Monday, November 8th, 2010
Marbled Eye by Amy Crook
Years ago and miles away I learned a little bit about making marbled papers, the kind used in the endpapers of wonderful old books. While dropping in colour to try to make a pattern, something interesting formed, and I captured it before it could be disrupted — a perfect eye in the middle of all the random swirls.
Sometimes, art is about knowing when to stop at accidental beauty.
Marbled Eye, 8.5″x11″ marbling on paper, not for sale.
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
Tags: marbling, nfs, paper
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