Greeting Cards

Well, time passes. Been busy getting my cards to the printers and packed. Which has taken a lot longer than expected. It's been a great experience though slightly nerve wracking. With the help of friends I chose four designs, (a couple of which have been shown on here previously) Posy, Rock 'n' Roll and Early Bird...



The three shown above are all part of my quirky range.


All the cards are available to buy on our website either individually or in sets.

http://www.kitchimama.com/

Partridge

I am currently designing greeting cards - above is a representational drawing of a partridge which will be in a pear tree, this design is for Christmas of course.

the background is on a seperate sheet so that I can have a play around with the composition in photoshop. It may well be coloured eventually, first though I'll try to make sure it's all balanced.





To begin with I roughly sketch out my design and then I start to flesh it out by working gradually across the sheet, sometimes I take a photo as it is a useful way of seeing the light and dark areas that may need addressing. These are two such examples of that process, they were taken as reference shots. I am currently working with derwent graphite which comes in different darknesses to build up the tone I simply overlay the pencil in layers till I have the effect I'm looking for...

As I said earlier eventually this may well be coloured, in which case I will probably print out a copy first to see if the colour option is viable.

Fish

Fish are one of my favorite subjects to draw. Above is a Mackerel, and below an Orfe.
They are both drawn with pencil (I occasionally use pen).
I've been drawing fish for years - the scales and their peculiar proportions fascinate me.
I also love drawing birds, which I'll also show a few examples of later.

Rock'N'Roll

Part of my joy at illustrating is having the freedom to wear many different hats. This picture is part of my 'Quirky' range. A very different style, incorporating animals in various humorous scenarios. Usually with a slight twist....

cecilia

A portrait of a friend from years ago.
Cecilia went to University with me (Brighton).

Life has a habit of coming full circle, you start with an idea, you go off on a couple of jaunts but eventually your path leads you back to the place you know and trust.

The joy of doing something that feels as natural as breathing cannot be under estimated.... too frequently though I feel like the prize is not worthy unless the journey has been arduous - but in reality it need not have been anymore troublesome than getting out of bed and making a cup of tea.

We've been staying in our friends house in Lewes, which has been lovely, they have a very inspiring home filled with arts and crafts. Lewes seems to be a place we are frequently drawn back to.

Counting Crows

I've been working on a couple of pictures that are basically an indication of how with a few changes you can radically alter what is essentially the same picture, the original was loosely based on the tale of a young girl who's seven brothers are turned into crows. She is told that if she weaves shirts out of nettles that have been picked by the light of the moon and throws them over the head of each brother then they will resume their human form. Her plight is further complicated by the muteness she must keep up while she performs her task, because of her beauty she is taken into the royal household but tales that she is a witch begin to circulate and it becomes a fight against time to achieve her and her brothers salvation....





An earlier version insisted on having red hair which didn't quite go with the imagery of the crows, I liked the idea of her knitting the shirts rather than weaving and decided to just leave the crows out. The same face and pose but a very different look.

Right, well another week - Monday was spent sorting out 'stuff' did manage to sketch a horse which I may well flesh out some other time. Today is Tuesday and this evening I decided to do a piece based on the red shoes. I took some photos of my sister dancing many years ago and they came to mind as I was thinking about a spinning movement. I'm into the circus and carnival related imagery so wanted the costume to reflect this... This is the sketch I came up with.

The Crow

On wednesday I decided to draw a crow, I'd spent much of the morning photographing and putting outmoded toys on ebay, so decided a bit of light relief was in order. Tuesday had been spent agonising over a much larger portrait of a Tibetan monk. paper issues and fighting against myself (asking for too much advice, dangerous state to be in for an artist). So thought, sod it I've been wanting to draw a crow for ages and I'd really liked the vibrancy of the red in Mondays portrait (Tuesdays picture was very pastel coloured in comparison).

I drew straight into my A4 sketchbook with one of my mechanical pencils using a photo as reference - it looked really wrong at first and I huffed and puffed for quite a while, but eventually I found my zone. Afterwards it was a bit odd, I can't work out whether I like it or not - hence my latest mantra 'mine is not to judge, mine is just to create'. It eases the anxst somewhat.

Fun with a Face

On Monday I drew up the logo for the header on this page. It began as a doodle in my book which I scanned in, increased in size on my computer, transfered the image with the use of tracing paper and then coloured.

I picked up a new A4 sketchbook at the weekend. The paper is thick but slightly more grainy than I would wish for working on (creates pockets which I really have to press in to apply the colour evenly). In the past I've had a love/hate affair with sketchbooks - I get a bit put off by wanting to turn every page into a work of art, which makes me way too precious.

Anyway I had fun, originally I had wanted a design for a business card so in my 'doodle' book I'd sketched out some rough ideas, the transfered image was coloured in using prismacolor markers - I really like their vibrancy and immediacy. Then I over colour with pencil - there is something I really like about adding tone and colour variations with pencil. Some days it feels like a real slog creating artwork - but on others it's a real joy and brings a kind of peace with it. This was such a day. I could feel my soul breath a sigh of relief.

Flying Hare Mobile

I've had a thing about hare's for years, One of my all time favourite illustrated books was 'Masquerade' by Kit Williams. I used to spend my time after school curled up in a chair looking at the pictures and some years later I decided to make some mobile's based on the magical image's in his book.

A series of them where made in various colours to sell in a local craft shop. Unfortunately I'm a bit ramshackle in my approach to keeping a record of my work but I did manage to take a couple of photos.

They are painted with acrylic and sealed with varnish.
Each animal (I made a horse too) had to be carefully balanced for the wings to flap, which took some working out!

Grendal the dragon
and his friend Ralph the bat.

Grendal is a rather sad and unhappy dragon who has never thought of leaving his deep, dark, cave. That is until he meets the cheeky Ralph who is determined to show him there is much more to the world...

This is an idea I came up with many years ago*, whilst still at university - in the original version called the crystal dragon Grendal is made of ice and when he eventually leaves his cave he melts in the heat of the sun and becomes a cloud.... and (cough) floats away...

*This picture was drawn a year ago? maybe two but I've been playing around with variations for years...

The Robots are coming.... quick hide!

As a child of the seventies I grew up on a steady diet of Science fiction and fantasy, I was desperate for a robot dog like the one in battlestar gallactica (muffit). Silent running and it's trio of gardening bots had me in tears, buck rogers had me tuning in every week with a thrill of anticipation whilst clutching my buck rogers doll and Doctor Who had me ducking for cover behind the sanctuary of the sofa. Ever since Robots have held a fascination for me. and I've been having fun this week drawing up a few of my own...

The Robots are coming.... quick hide! was probably one of my little boys first coherent sentences.