Happy Holidays!

Click for full image

Merry Christmas, Joyous Yule, Happy Holidays, Season's Greetings, and Happy New Year!
Now, of course lions, rabbits, and songbirds don't really look like that, and certainly you'd never find them all together peacefully in real life; however, my theme for this year's card was "my favorite things" (including fluffy-maned lions, birds, knotwork and bunnies), so I chose to do it in my favorite-to-do "not-quite-real" style. I just felt like doing something fun. It's a variation on my actual printed card, which had a different border and was printed on parchment-patterned cardstock. Original pencil drawing is HERE.

I hope your holidays are wonderful!

Sketchbook Work

This year I've been trying to draw as much as I can; even if I can't draw every day or for as long as I'd like, I've been fitting it in whenever possible - though often that means drawing hunched over my sketchbook in the car, waiting to pick up my husband at the train station. Not that I'm complaining - any chance to draw is a good thing.

Here's an assortment of sketches from my current Pen Sketchbook Project, and a few assorted older pieces; as usual, most are done without reference, and all were done just for fun - they are not meant to be accurate by any means.

              

Wild Cats of the World Card Deck Art - Leopards

There's been so much gorgeous art for the WIld Cats of the World Card Deck posted already; still, I wanted to hold off on mine until they were available for sale (see below). So, here are my two leopards. The left is a more muscular, male tawny leopard (from Africa, with a Masai-type shield) and a sleeker female melanistic leopard (from India, with a temple-like sculpture piece). Yes, there's sort of a yin-yang thing going on. There are many wonderful stylized pieces in the deck, and many fantastic realistic ones; mine fall somewhere in between.

  

I know black-and-white / graphite pieces aren't usually as interesting to many, but since I feel my graphite pieces are better before I color them (or for those who are curious), here are the two pre-Photoshop:

  

I have some decks I may sell myself at an art show later this year; I'll post an update when I do.

Art: Pen Sketchbook, Tiger Gods, Dragon Dog, More

Short & sweet this time, a mixed bag of art. Click for full image (many are cropped, all are resized).

                  

1. A creature for the awesome and generous Mel. 2. More from my Pen Sketchbook Project, Synnabar: "Glance". 3. Desert-type creature I saw in a dream. 4. Big cat-thing I scribbled in a Licensing Meeting, and 5. the Sketchbook version (it's supposed to be huge). 6. Another "skull-demon". 7. & 8. Two more of my "wolf-cats" (see also 2006 and 1987). 9. Lastly, just for fun, a "dragon dog" from 1996 I found while going through older sketchbooks.

          
You may remember my Tiger Gods from 1995 and 2003; above, here's another, from my Pen Sketchbook. You can see I enjoy playing around with tigerlike anatomy and markings (these aren't supposed to be real): for fun, here is one from 1993 (book spine!), two from 1996, and another warped one from 1997. Except for the 1993 one, they usually do NOT have whiskers, on purpose.

Happy Halloween!

HAVE PUMPKINS:


We had planned to do Bert & Ernie, but were too tired after work, so we ended up with a "Generic Jack-O'Lantern" and a "Generic Cat Thing" instead. Guess which one is mine!

Totem Card Project - Leopards and Thylacine Cards

Here are two pieces I'd worked on prior to attending a summer art show, but didn't get to touch up in time to bring with me. They are for the Totem Card Project. First up is the Leopards Card: leopard (Panthera pardus), clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa), and snow leopard (Uncia uncia) - (click for full)


I wanted to try using acrylic paint (which I haven't used full-scale in years), in a different style than my usual (LOTS of hair-detail) - but I struggled with this a lot. Apparently my acrylics are too heavy-bodied for fine detail work, plus I need practice. It's mostly acrylic, with some pencil and Micron pen, on illustration board. Suffice it to say, it was quite a learning experience, though an enjoyable one; leopards are among my favorite animals of all!

There are many variations in the various spotting patterns and coat colors of these cats, though I tried to go with more typical colorations for these.

Close-ups (though I tried to make sure it looked good at actual card-size; bear in mind this will be printed much smaller): snow leopard, clouded leopard, leopard.

Next, here is my card for the Thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus) - (click for full)


Having had enough of a time struggling with my leopards card in acrylics, I went back to my usual style (symbolic & stylized) and my favorite painting materials (gouache on watercolor paper). I love to paint skulls, so I added one in, to symbolize the fact that it is considered extinct, though I secretly hope there are some hidden and alive somewhere out there. The eyes are empty for that reason, too. Additionally, the skull provides a definite "up" direction - so it has, for totem deck purposes, a "reverse" if it is drawn from the deck upside-down.

I looked up hundreds of references for the thylacine, and did it in my own way, with a little bit of artistic license, as I'd seen - and enjoyed - in some other cards so far. Funny thing - the creature looks different in every photo! Sometimes the head looks long and narrow, sometimes more rounded and doglike, sometimes more like a kangaroo's; I went for an appearance that sort of averages them all. Please note that this was not meant to be completely scientifically accurate.

It's mostly gouache on Strathmore watercolor paper, with a bit of pencil and Micron pen. Slight touchups in Photoshop.