Lick it or you will get stains!

Today I found out that I have only time till midnight to create and artwork, make movie out of it and upload it on YouTube if I want to take part in a competition. And I wanted.

So I've spent few hours of non stop creating and then few hours shouting at movie maker software but I've made it on time :) I'm so glad ^^

The contest was about showing how you create a character from one of the Heroes of Might and Magic games. First of all I have chosen to do Raksha Rani - because it's a cat and I usually play with this nation. But it appeared to be too complicated to make his four arms co-operate with each other and the rest of the body....

This is how the sketch looked after more than one hour of sketching - I was constantly erasing some parts and changing them and then I had to change the rest to make it fit and then I've changed my mind and tried another pose and... it was a disaster.

So when I found out, today in the afternoon, that I have not much time left to make my entry I have decided to do something that always comes quick. Sexy girls :) Sexy girls made with pencil and scanned and then coloured in Photoshop - that's my quickest way of creating.

 Played Christina to get into the sexy mood and I was ready to go :)

Normally I use Procaster from LiveStream for screen capture. But, unfortunately, it saves videos in .mpeg4 format and I had no (absolutely no) time for converting them to .avi. So I have used a different software and it was a disaster :/  You can see it on the movie. It was slowing down my computer and the video it created made a lot of errors while processing. Will not use that program again!

Nevertheless, the image came out really neat :) I like it a lot!

A.

Cat brooches

I've been commissioned to make 2 cat brooches but because I have no more cat brooches to sale on my Etsy shop I've decided to make three more.

 My little helper ^^

And here it got dark and I had to take photos with my lamp light. Why had to? Because I gave them away when it was still dark in the morning, so there was no other time to take good photos. You just have to imagine that this pinkish colour looks the same as on the pictures above ;)

And here it is with the second cat of which I have got absolutely no photos... I was too tired and I've actually forgotten to take them ;P

Now I have 3 more cats to do but it's not such a hurry with them as it was with the first two. So will probably paint first - I miss painting :D

A.

Book illustrating - what I like and what I hate

Some time ago I have finished illustrating a book for kids with few stories inside. It was my first time I did all the illustrations with watercolours. Sometimes it was dramatic - you can check my previous posts or twitter cries if you don't remember ;)

Anyway, here's a glimpse:

It all went quite well. I was working every day as long as there was even a bit of sun outside. I could do it as my regular job *nods*

But when I make a project with a very limited amount of time and a lot of pictures to create after some time I have this feeling to change my approach to the given theme. But when you have to work fast there's no time for that. And, actually, it has never been the right time.

Now I'm hoping to have the opportunity to really WORK on a book. Not just sit down and start painting ready images but to think about them and then re-think them few more times.

Hope this wish will come true :)

A.

Books of inspiration - March and April

 As you know, for an artist it's very important to be inspired as much as possible. But during bad times it's almost impossible to feel this creativity flowing in your veins. So for times like this and for those one's that appear to be gloomy or sleepy or just colourless, I collect books. Books to stare at :)

What I've got:
1. 'Chester' by Mélanie Watt
2. 'Beauty and the Beast' by Max Eilenberg with illustrations by Angela Barrett
3. 'Splat the Cat' by Rob Scotton
4. 'Russell the Sheep' also by Rob Scotton

So check out those illustrations. Some are simple, some are amazingly complicated but they all inspire me to work more and always give me a good kick of motivation :)

I have totally forgotten that I have also bought next book by Beatrix Potter to my collection. This time it was 'The tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle'. I have now 11 books written by her - there's still a lot to buy!

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Duet - Illustration Friday

Again - I've missed few IF topics and I will make them now. Slightly outdated but a picture is a picture, it always looks nice :)

It's an illustration to a short story I have written. You can read it on my writing blog - Adelaida Pisze! . Wonder if more IF topics will suit my stories :)

A.

Spring comes together with changes

I don't remember if I have already announced it on Twitter but let's do it properly - I've got a proper job! :) This is one of my New Year's Resolutions and is very important for me.

It's not only about the money. I feel that I need to have a constant income so I can slowly upgrade my artistic style. Lately, I've been feeling so not-in-my-own-skin when it comes to illustrating. So I need time and a lot of, probably lame, tries on a new way of creating without a never fading worry about the money.

Going further, I want to start something more complicated in my illustrations. I would like them to be more sophisticated and "beautiful", not just "nice". I don't know if I can explain it properly but I fave this feeling inside and hopefully it will show me which path is the best. In this try-out period I won't be searching for commissions or other art jobs as much as I usually do; I would like to concentrate only on my personal upgrade. It's a very bad feeling I've got right now, I just want to work on getting rid of it ;)

About my job - I will be working in a coffee shop (Wayne's Coffee, a Swedish shop) :D Gosh, I love coffee! And now I will be making it all day long. And drinking as much as I want (but not too much - it could get really unhealthy ;P). I have, of course, made a goal to achieve there too! I will be practising Latte Art! Right now I'm not that keen on it but I will have plenty of time and plenty of coffees to practise on :) When I get better I'll take photos of what I create and post them here. Hope my Latte Art will look superb!

And now few spring photos: crocuses in a park.

 A.