Posts Tagged ‘squid’

Salted Squid 1

Tuesday, July 19th, 2011

Salted Squid 1, art by Amy Crook

Salted Squid 1, art by Amy Crook

More of my experiments with making salt into Actual Things, we have a happy little squid! He’s got his feeder tentacles tucked away, but you can count all 8 arms waving cheerily at you from out of the blue. He’s surrounded by colorful coral, or maybe iridescent bubbles, made using salt that had acquired a coat of paint from other pieces and then been saved. The squid is faintly green, but there was a lot of him to spread out a little bit of watercolor pigment, so you’ll have to forgive his pale complexion.

Salted Squid 1, 5.5″x4.25″ pen & ink, watercolor, and salt on paper.

You can see below how the paper gained some fascinating texture in the places where the salt pools formed — that’s because sometimes the salt crystals form inside the paper instead of on top.

Salted Squid 1, detail, by Amy Crook

Salted Squid 1, detail, by Amy Crook

This cutie insisted to me that he doesn’t need a frame to be awesome, and I’m inclined to agree — the paper’s got a bit of a curve, and it tucks quite nicely onto a shelf. He enjoyed hanging out with my duckies so much, I’ve left him there for the moment. These days I make so much art that I keep swapping out what’s on display.

Salted Squid 1, in situ, by Amy Crook

Salted Squid 1, in situ, by Amy Crook

Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Series and Books, Tentacles, Whimsical and Strange
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Not My Squidhole!

Tuesday, July 12th, 2011

Not my squidhole!

Not My Squidhole! by Amy Crook

Something a little silly for your tentacle Tuesday — squid meets monster. It’s not true love. Sad.

Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles
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3 Squid and a Mouse

Saturday, July 9th, 2011

3 Squid and a Mouse, sketches by Amy Crook

3 Squid and a Mouse, sketches by Amy Crook

I was considering squid for a painting I eventually left abstract, but these guys got doodled up while I was contemplating how to add the squid in without disrupting the flow of the piece. It’s also part of my tiny emerging practice of doing some sketching in pen, without the crutch of my eraser

3 Squid and a Mouse, pen and ink on scratch paper, not for sale.

Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles
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Shrinky Dinks 1

Saturday, June 18th, 2011

Shrinky Dinks, set 1, by Amy Crook

Shrinky Dinks, set 1, by Amy Crook

Do you remember Shrink Dinks? I had forgotten all about them until I ran across the Klutz Press book on them, which of course I bought, and then proceeded to store away for years with my art supplies. Well, today is the day they finally got put to use.

I used about 1/3 of a sheet for these guys, and wow, they got soooo wee. Seriously, I was somehow not expecting them to shrink quite so much, but I have future wicked plans for making more. Here you can see them with a dime for size comparison — on my screen, they’re actually larger than they are in real life.

Shrinky Dinks, set 1, by Amy Crook

Shrinky Dinks, set 1, by Amy Crook

Dark-colored Sharpies are still quite dark on the semi-transparent plastic, though you can see the colors clearly above with the lights shining through. I’m definitely going to have to experiment with some more of these, and then figure out how to price them and what for. Perhaps a set of ninja stitch markers? Zombie zipper pulls? Cthulhu on a cord for a necklace?

Categories: Angels, Cthulhu, and Other Myths, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles, Whimsical and Strange, Zombies, Skulls, and Other Morbid Things
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Super Cute Squid Redux, Now With Vectors!

Saturday, June 11th, 2011

Super Cute Squid illustration by Amy Crook

Super Cute Squid illustration by Amy Crook

If you remember the sketch I posted a while back, this guy will seem awfully familiar. I wanted to do something polished with him, so I busted out my little-used Adobe Illustrator skills and drew him up.

I’m thinking he might need to be cards or t-shirts, what do you think?

Super Cute Squid Redux, vector art, not for sale (because he’s only virtual!).

At least if he’s not real, he’s got a friend to be virtual with him.

Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles, Whimsical and Strange
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Squid a la Gorey

Thursday, April 14th, 2011

Squid a la Gorey by Amy Crook

Squid a la Gorey by Amy Crook

The watery environs of this squid were directly inspired by the cover of The Raging Tide: Or, the Black Doll’s Imbroglio by Edward Gorey. I didn’t even realize it was out of print until just now, though, oops.

I’ve been wanting to move away from doing just Sherlock cartoons in this style, and so I went to one of my other dorky fannish loves, cephalopods. This little squid looks like something unfortunate is about to befall him, which seems appropriate for something done in Edward Gorey’s style. Perhaps the black doll will come falling through the water, or maybe the squid will be called upon to help fill out another set of childhood obituaries. “G is for Gretchen, pulled down by a squid,” perhaps?

Squid a la Gorey, 7″x5″ pen and ink on 8.5″x5.5″ drawing paper.

You can also get this piece printed on a handmade card on Etsy.

Categories: Daily Art, Sea Creatures and Other Animals, Tentacles, Things I'm a Fan Of, Whimsical and Strange
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Dance of the Octopi

Friday, April 1st, 2011

Dance of the Octopi by Amy Crook

Dance of the Octopi by Amy Crook

I can almost imagine sleeping in a room with one wall papered with dancing octopi, squid and jellyfish, all swimming in their Victorian frame of swaying seaweed. Though, actually, once I get the colors adjusted to my satisfaction, I may upload the design to Spoonflower and see about making some pyjama pants out of it, so I can sleep cool in my underwater dreams.

I drew the individual pieces up with pen and ink, and then scanned them in simple black, adding color as I worked with the design. There’s no original per se for this one, just a bunch of sketches in a couple of sketchbooks. At some point I’ll need to crop just one panel out for repeating properly, but I want to adjust the blue background and purple squid first.

Now you can better imagine the Octopi as wallpaper/curtains: Click here!

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