Posts Tagged ‘pen and ink’
Salt Cell 2
Thursday, March 31st, 2011
Salt Cell 2 by Amy Crook
After exploring the combination of salt and watercolor last week, I picked up some larger crystals of sea salt. Wanting to do something else that echoed Salt Cell but incorporated some pen-and-ink work as well, I decided on a rather tedious methodology. The process affected the outcome because the paint began to dry before I was done putting the salt back on the little circles.
I think I might try it again, but with fewer salt crystals.
Salt Cell 2, 5″x5″ pen and ink and watercolor on watercolor paper, $229 with free shipping.
You can see more about how this piece came together below the cut.
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Series and Books
Tags: for sale, pen and ink, purple, salt, watercolor
1 Comment »
Weeble Wednesday: Brides of Dracula
Wednesday, March 30th, 2011
Brides of Dracula by Amy Crook
Now that I’ve got my super-pale-skin marker refilled, I’ve finally started coloring the bonus brides from my Monster Heart Coloring Book. These toothy gals are inspired by the many movie depictions of the three brides that I’ve seen, and some judicious image googling to figure out what styles would have been appropriate for the era, for 50 or 100 years before. I liked the idea that they might still dress in the fashion of their own times, and that each one had been born in a different era.
Brides of Dracula, 7″x5″ pen and ink and Copic markers on watercolor paper. $89, with free shipping.
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Whimsical and Strange, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: cartoon, coloring book, copic marker, Dracula, for sale, monster, pen and ink, vampire, weeble
Texture in Brown
Monday, March 28th, 2011
Texture in Brown by Amy Crook
Everything about this piece is a combination of deliberation and randomness, letting my choice of materials dictate the final product.
I didn’t like this when I started it out, at first just the red-brown leaf shape at the center of the page. then I added the redder wash down at the bottom, and an even softer red wash in the upper area, and used salt to give a rough texture to the lower area. I let that dry and sit a few days before coming back to it with a quill and some ink that used to be black, but has aged in its bottle to a soft, walnut brown. The quill caught and stuttered on the rough paper, giving the lines a rough look as the ink bled.
I think the end result looks like some sort of landscape, each piece working together to create a rich field of texture and earthy color.
Texture in Brown, 7″x5″ watercolor and pen and ink on watercolor paper, $129 with free shipping.
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art
Tags: brown, for sale, pen and ink, salt, watercolor
Yarr! Bonus Michael
Friday, March 25th, 2011
Yarr! Bonus Michael by Amy Crook
I turned Michael into a cartoon a while back, and since he’s been a completely awesome programmer for me, I couldn’t resist tossing this little 10-minute bonus doodle into his package. I’m reliably informed he doesn’t actually have a wooden leg, he just wanted his avatar to be more piratey.
And really, who wouldn’t want to be more piratey? Well, aside from Ninjas…
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces
Tags: all rights reserved, cartoon, nfs, pen and ink
Weeble Wednesday: Kristine Beeson
Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011
Kristine Beeson Cartoon by Amy Crook
Kristine Beeson, also known as kadyellebee on Etsy, is a wonderful knitter of shawls and other lovely things. When our paths crossed and she expressed a wistful interest in being made into a Cartoon, I took the opportunity to offer her barter — a shawl for a cartoon! She helped me choose the perfect yarn (a warm, lightweight blackberry-colored cotton), and got right to work so I’d have my shawl while winter was still upon us. I was a bit slower, but I’ve finally finished up her cartoon (alas, I was waiting on marker refills).
She sent me some great photos of herself and her cheeky grin, not to mention her favorite outfit, and despite a bit of a struggle to get my scanner to accept the idea of hot pink, this is a pretty good representation of her and her gorgeous pink-striped hair. She asked for her ubiquitous iPhone, but I couldn’t resist slipping some pink knitting needles into the image, as well.
The pattern she knitted for me is called wren, and you can see her very own wren shawl on her cartoon above, in a soft mossy green that goes great with her eyes. Mine’s a dark purple that’s not quite black, but looks great where it lives on my blue chair, waiting for me to get cold while I’m working. It’s just light enough for me to forget I’m wearing it, but it keeps the cold off my aching shoulders.
Wren Shawl by Kristine Beeson
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces
Tags: all rights reserved, cartoon, copic marker, nfs, pen and ink, weeble
7 Comments »
Growth
Friday, March 18th, 2011
Growth by Amy Crook
I finished this little piece and then had to let it sit overnight to think of what to call it. The central circle initially put me in mind of a moon, or a planet, or possibly a pirate’s black spot when it was all by itself, a dark blue-black shadow of painted ink that dried to a gorgeous matte finish.
Then I came in days later and decided to add the little clusters of circles around it in black fountain pen, knowing that the ink would blur and spread as I made the little circles, adding texture and shadow. As I built up the outside texture, it reminded me of a decorative border, or a cluster of marine eggs, or possibly a layer of industrial growth around a planet, building up and sending off pieces out into the space around it. Or perhaps floating down from the white to aggregate, giving life to the lifeless rock in the middle.
Growth, 5″x5″ pen & ink and Japanese watercolor on watercolor paper.
Growth, detail, by Amy Crook
Above, you can see a close-up of the tiny little circles that make up the pattern of growth, pushing off and away from the central mass. Below, you can see it in a narrow-edged frame with its brand-new sibling, and my iPhone for scale.
Growth 2 and Growth, framed art by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Series and Books
Tags: black, brush and ink, for sale, growth, pen and ink, planet, studio gallery, watercolor
2 Comments »
Weeble Wednesday: Michael Beckwith
Wednesday, March 16th, 2011
Michael Beckwith cartoon by Amy Crook
I’m back to cartooning! I’ve finally gotten the marker refills I was waiting on, and so the first of the new weebles is my code monkey. Michael Beckwith does a lot of the programming for my client sites (and this one, too!), learning all the ins and outs of WordPress development so I don’t have to.
When he asked to be a cartoon, I couldn’t resist adding a few extras — he wanted the piratical wooden leg and crutch for his props, so I also gave him the little pirate hat, and added the monkey on his t-shirt. He doesn’t actually have a wooden leg that I know of, but he’s definitely on the Pirate side of the war against the Ninjas, so that’s good enough for me.
Click here to find out how you can be a cartoon, too.
“Becoming a cartoon was surprisingly painless. A few questions, a picture,
and some patience, and soon enough I was a whole new man. Or, well, cartoon.”
-Michael Beckwith
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Whimsical and Strange
Tags: cartoon, code monkey, copic marker, pen and ink, weeble
2 Comments »
« Or Head Back That Way
More Art This Way »
