Posts Tagged ‘pen and ink’
Tentacle Deeps 5
Tuesday, March 15th, 2011
Tentacle Deeps 5 by Amy Crook
And then there were five! I’m not sure how this morphed into such a big series, but I’ve enjoyed playing with the variations on a theme.
I did this one the same day I inked all the tiny details in my Gorey-esque illustration from Monday’s post, and I used the same tiny, long lines in the background here as in the background of John’s wallpaper. In this piece, the original wash was a very soft red-to-orange fade, so I chose my vivid orange fountain pen to carefully draw in the texture in the background. The pen is nearly the same color as the border of pooled watercolor around the top edge, so it really meshed well with the paint and brought the whole piece together.
I think this might be my favorite of the series so far.
Tentacle Deeps 5, 5″x5″ pen and ink and watercolor on watercolor paper.
Tentacle Deeps 5, framed, by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Series and Books, Tentacles
Tags: nfs, orange, pen and ink, tentacle deeps, watercolor
Los Muertos 1
Monday, March 14th, 2011
Los Muertos 1 by Amy Crook
This piece was born out of pure play. I first brushed in a spiral in watery black ink, and then I watered the ink down even further to make lighter and lighter greys to play with. I also added in a tiny bit of color here and there, which is almost completely obscured by the later crosshatching. Then I used a green fountain pen to crosshatch around the main shape, starting while the paper was wet and letting it dry as I worked, so some of the lines are more blurred than others.
Then I wet down the central area all over again and used a black pen to ink there, and when I was done, the whole thing reminded me of one of those elaborately decorated Day of the Dead skulls. I got my dark red fountain pen (which the scanner decided was rather more magenta than the real thing) and drew spiral eyes, and then signed the piece using that red as well.
The end effect is rather creepy, but as I’m fond of creepy, that works out well.
Los Muertos 1, 5″x7″ pen and ink and watercolor on watercolor paper.
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: crosshatching, for sale, pen and ink, skull, watercolor
Tentacle Deeps 4
Thursday, March 10th, 2011
Tentacle Deeps 4 by Amy Crook
Yet another installment of tentacles, this one exploring a couple of different techniques than the previous three.
I got the paper itself damp this time before doing the greyish wash, and then dripped in a bit of colour here and there to add dimension to the grey. Then I washed again over the whole paper, which muted the bright white borders and caused some but not all of the wash to bleed around the body of the image. Since the paper’s recycled, there’s also a bit of colour bleed-through from the inkjet printing on the back, which is covered by the darkest part of the wash but still adds some depth.
Then, once it was dry, instead of painting in the tentacles, I got out a blue-black pen and used obsessive crosshatching to create them. It’s always interesting and rather haphazard to create shapes like this freehand out of texture, without the comfort of penciling things in first, so the tentacles seem a bit less graceful to me this time around, and there’s no second or third layer of faded background shapes. Instead, I used a dark red to highlight the red blotches in the wash, and then slipped dark green spirals subtly into the tentacle shapes themselves — you can click on the image to see it bigger, which lets you really see all the details.
Tentacle Deeps 4, 5″x7″ ink and watercolor on watercolor paper.
I also made another computer wallpaper and iPhone wallpaper for this one — please let me know if you download them.
Tentacle Deeps 4, framed, by Amy Crook
Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, Free Wallpapers, Series and Books, Tentacles
Tags: for sale, grey, pen and ink, spirals, tentacle deeps, watercolor
Seuss Heart
Wednesday, March 9th, 2011
Seuss Heart by Amy Crook
Since I posted weebles yesterday, I thought I’d post something else today for variety.
This watercolor piece came together very organically, out of the rich pigments in my Japanese paints and my own random thought processes. I started out painting a very pink heart, and when that didn’t suit me at all, I added the deep red along one side, and then the half-circle of purple nestling up next to it. The wet pigments ran and mixed to create something much more interesting, textures that kept evolving until they’d dried completely.
A touch of the original fuchsia shows up in the left lobe of the heart, and so when I signed it, I chose a fuchsia fountain pen (also from Japan) to echo that.
The piece felt incomplete, however, so when I found this quote about love from Dr. Seuss, I wrote it into the curve of the half-circle with a violet fountain pen, knowing from experience that the ink would blur and run. Though it’s nearly impossible to read, I think the words add layer of visual meaning to the piece.
“We are all a little weird and life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness
is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.”
– Dr. Seuss
Seuss Heart, 5″x5″ pen and ink and watercolor on Arches cover white paper.
You can also get this piece printed on a handmade card on Etsy.
Seuss Heart, framed, by Amy Crook
Categories: Abstract and Just Plain Weird, Daily Art, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: Dr. Seuss, for sale, heart, pen and ink, quote, watercolor
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Naomi’s Ninjas
Tuesday, March 8th, 2011
Naomi's Ninjas by Amy Crook
Naomi Dunford of Ittybiz has ninjas. That’s right, she’s cooler than all of us, and you don’t even know why yet. A while back, I drew up these little weeble ninjas for the exclusive* use of her Ninjas, who have helped me out several times without having to call in Naomi herself.
Today’s Naomi’s birthday! Well, March 8, who knows when you’re reading this.
As a little gift from the internet, we’re all supposed to be posting about how awesome Naomi is, and how she’s helped us along our path to Ittybiz awesomeness.
I’m in a slightly different position than most of the people she’s helped — my day job was already working at home, already freelance. What happened to me was that the recession hurt my biggest client, and that hurt my ability to pay the rent, and then I discovered Naomi and learned a whole lot about marketing in a short period of time. I’d been spoiled by my early success (I went freelance in 1998 and have had steady work from my biggest client the whole time), and having to suddenly market in order to get work was an unpleasant wakeup.
Naomi made that suck a lot less.
She encouraged me to find in-person ways to network. She answered questions, did SpeakEasy lessons on the things that baffled me, and even helped me plan the art sale that paid for me to attend my Mom’s wedding last year. She’s got a no-bullshit attitude about getting off your ass and getting things done, and without her, I’m not sure I’d have stopped making excuses and started up the site you’re reading this on right now.
Happy Birthday, Naomi. Thank you.
*That means they’re not available under Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution, all rights are reserved for the Ninjas.
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: all rights reserved, copic marker, do not steal the ninjas, nfs, ninjas, pen and ink, they will come for you, weeble
6 Comments »
J is for John
Monday, March 7th, 2011
J is for John by Amy Crook
My second Sherlock Holmes/Edward Gorey pastiche, this one is based off of “J is for James who took lye by mistake” from The Gashlycrumb Tinies and BBC’s new Sherlock tv series.
Click the image if you’d like to really see the ridiculously obsessive line work — the wallpaper was particularly labor-intensive, and I have no one but myself to blame. I’ve been in a mood lately to do work like this, that involves a lot of tiny pen-and-ink details, and unlike similar attempts when I was younger, I find it rather meditative now. I often put on audio recordings and just sit and let the two things filter into my brain, though there are frequent breaks to IM friends and goof off online, not to mention stretching my back and resting my poor hand.
Now that I’ve got the techniques down, I have to figure out what I can do with them that isn’t a parody, pastiche or plain old copy, though.
J is for John who took lye by mistake, 8.5″x5″ pen and ink on sketchbook paper, sold.
You can still get the pair of them as handmade blank greeting cards on Etsy, though!
Categories: Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Series and Books, Things I'm a Fan Of
Tags: baker street tinies, crosshatching, edward gorey, nfs, pastiche, pen and ink, sherlock, sold, watson
3 Comments »
Weeble Wednesday: Bat!
Saturday, March 5th, 2011
Weeble Bat by Amy Crook
When I asked my friends what other cards I should do for Halloween, they were unanimous in requesting a bat, so here he is! I elected to save myself some future carpal tunnel and colored the background with Photoshop, but the rest of it’s done by hand with my trusty Copic markers.
I love the patterns bats make when they fly, so different from birds somehow, so I drew in a few of his friends who are flying off into the sunset without him. Don’t worry, though, he’ll catch up, he was just mugging for the “photo.”
Weeble Bat, 5″x7″ pen and ink and Copic marker on watercolor paper.
Categories: Daily Art, Series and Books, Whimsical and Strange, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
Tags: bat, copic marker, halloween, pen and ink, photoshop, weeble
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