Painting on cardboard

Just thought I'd post those gouache paintings I mentioned from the previous post. They turned out pretty well, I 'm quite pleased. Usually I make irreparable mistakes when I paint. At least when it's digital I can press "undo" over and over if I make massive blunders.
This weekend I'm really praying my felt cupcakes reach their destination for the foodstuff exhibition before the deadline on Tuesday. I posted the pesky things LAST THURSDAY and I got an email from the curator saying she still hasn't received them. I feel pretty frustrated, all that effort and nothing to show for it, but there isn't much I can do now is there? I just have to hope that those lazy-arsed postmen get their act together on time.

Girly Little Bogger

I've been posting the odd photo on Flickr recently and I got a comment saying that the Little Boggers are cute but scary too. So to balance that out I made a little girly one from a pink daisy sock. Its been cloudy today so the photo isn't great. I can retake it after I've created a friend for her.
I've been painting with real gouache paint too, but only on scrappy bits of cardboard. I remember at art college being really scared of paint. I think I'm over my fear now, I don't care I people tell me I'm doing it "wrong". Once I've had a few successful goes that I'm pleased with I'll post my efforts up here.

Cute Pixies

It has been a super summery day today. Its great that the time of picnics by the river with cold beer and frisbees has reached Bedford again, but where are the April showers? If we don't get some rain soon it'll all be dead and brown by the time we get to June.
Anyway, i felt the urge to draw something, so I decided on some pixies. I am very tempted to put paint to canvas some time soon, but until then i need to make an eflyer for a summer party we're organising for the summer.

Crafty Cakes

These 6 cupcakes are very small, only 2 inches tall and wide. They were made from felt, lace and bead details. Although their bottoms are flat, I wish I stuffed them with something more weighty to keep them stable. They are all hand stitched and I've submitted them to the Food Stuffs exhibition, but I don't fancy my chances as I'm just a beginner really. But I like them anyway. I think they are cute.

Little Boggers

I've been sewing again! I enjoy sitting around the flat on my own on Sundays when Jack is away rehearsing. Well, I thought I might call them Little Boggers. I think I can get away with that. Some chums of mine popped over for tea this afternoon and they really like the Bogger with the arms, so the next few in a set will have some limbs I think. They're so egg-shaped. It must be Easter time.

More Invitation stuff and Zombiegirl part 2

I didn't realise just how much wedding stationery there is out there that needs consideration. I looked at some stationery websites and companies offer all sorts of things! There's the invitation, a RSVP card, a thank you card, the place card at the meal. Some design the menu, some do gift tags and then these things are all different sizes too. Phew, I have much to learn. So I'll do it a step at a time. Tonight I played around with a thank you/ RSVP card design. I think it'll serve both purposes.

And from weddings to...

...Zombies!

A cute zombie character I drew a while back is up on the Zombie dollars website. Its just a bit of fun...

...Fun if you like zombies that is.

Zombrella is in the 3rd square down, 3rd square across. She was originally from an old post of mine called Zombiegirl.

More Plush Toys

Here are some more creatures made from my old socks. The candy coloured ones have turned out really well, but as the socks used to be ankle length I only had enough material for two! The chap with the arms, I have a future adventure planned for him...
Also, Bunnycup Embroidery have finished the full set of cheerleader designs. They look so cute!

Cheerleader & A Wedding 2

Another cheerleader design in all her embroidered detail!
And here is how the wedding invitations are shaping up:

I've also been busy with sewing more little egg-shaped critters. These guys need to be photographed in some decent light though, so I'll post pictures of the new members of the family over the weekend. My desk is getting over run by the things.

Cheerleader & A Wedding

Here's how the cheerleader designs will turn out once they've had the embroidery treatment. Ain't she just so cute!

Also, Jack's brother, Tom is getting married in the summer. The reception will be at Maggie's farm (!) So the I've sent him and his fiancee, Karen some roughs of how I thought I could tie in the wedding, summer and farm themes together into a rough design. Here's just a few of the sketches, thankfully they were pretty pleased with them.

Plush Toy Experiments

These little critters are made from my old socks. At Christmas I got loads. Its common knowledge I like stripy colourful long socks. Now I have so many I've decided to transform the holey ones that I don't wear anymore. The middle one needs stitches around his mitts. And of course I washed them first!! I'm toying with the idea of making some more. Maybe I could sell them somewhere? For the moment, I quite like the little trio sitting on my desk.

This is my attempt at a plush doll bogg-girl style! Her eyes looked really wrong, so I wussed out and just used some little dots of felt. She was time consuming for me to make, I'm not a fast sewer without the luxury of a machine, but she looks sweet enough. She now lives in my bedroom, next to the ewok and a pile of books.

Hide

A little girl hiding in the woods, then a bunny with waistcoat, spectacles and cane spots her. Only thing missing is a pocket watch huh? And possibly a tea party? I'm still trying out new digital painterly techniques. I had a good go with the woodland background, but I've neglected the focus of the painting which is suppose to be the girl, she needs way more detail. Oh well, must try harder next time...

Messing Around with Paint

I bought a copy of ImagineFX magazine on Saturday. it had loads of tips on painting in Photoshop and Painter. A lot of the art is sci-fi and fantasy and its all done digitally. Anyway, I thought I'd give it a go and the results aren't too bad. Her lips look a bit stuck on. She's modeled on a black and white portrait of a ballerina (hence the haughtiness!). The texture is a polaroid I took out camping in the Lake District one Spring when I was at university. Maybe I'll try some more fantasy style art. I'm one of the nerdiest people I know, so I suppose its only natural for me to like pixies.

Ferret Friend

Now I've drawn a ferret to go with the badger. I'm enjoying this, messing around with my new watercolour technique on photoshop.

Freedom magazine

Here are some pages from an article I was in from Freedom magazine, which is published in Taiwan. Its about working in the design industry and where I live in the UK. In it I talk about working as an in-house greeting cards illustrator and my personal work I do when I'm not at work, which has been published! I also talk about Bedford and what I enjoy doing in my free time.

Badgers are great

I love badgers. Unfortunately since Thursday there's been a poor little deceased one on the main road to work. I've never seen a live badger (wah!), I see plenty of poor little squished ones though. Makes me a bit sad.

Also feeling a bit blue about other stuff in general. Mostly to do with my drawing abilities (or lack of). I always have my greatest ideas when I'm really tired and I'm drifting off to sleep. All sorts of colourful characters before my eyelids in excellent detail and vibrant poses, but I'm too tired to scribble in my sketchbook, since I have to get up for work at 6:30 every morning.

When I came home from work to do something creative all I could think of is this badger.

Valentines Day Card

That I made for Jack, the wolf man.

bunny toy

Just a hand sewn red bunny I made from some scrap bits of felt. I knitted his little scarf too. I'm planning on making a bogg girl like this too for a little chimp society project, but I thought I'd start with a bunny to practice some basics. I used to make a lot of toys like this, but don't have the time anymore. I think he's kind of cute.

Softer side

Working as an in-house cute illustrator for greeting cards means that the illustrations I produce have to keep up with trends. When I joined 2 years ago bears were getting tired, now bears are back (thanks to Forever Friends... grrr). Working digitally enables me to try a whole range of different media in Photoshop and Painter, but they operate differently. For example, colours don't interact and blend the same way when you layer then up, you end up faking it. Watercolour is fashionable at the moment in cutes and I've been playing with different brushes to get the look and fool people into thinking they're seeing a traditional painting.
This image was made digitally at home using the similar techniques and brushes I'm also using at work. Its good to see a bogg-girl in a softer style.

Cheerleader

I've finished outlining 10 different cheerleader designs. This evening I've had a go at adding colour and backgrounds to one of the characters. After my previous rant about folk wearing too many bright colours 1980s style, I don't know what I was I thinking here. I suppose I have a secret love affair with the fluorescent and I'm actually in denial. Next time I colour a cheerleader I'll calm the colour palette down. It is a tad bright.

I stumbled across a poll on an illustration site asking if the changing of the seasons affected my work. Here is proof that it doesn't! Anyway, I usually have to draw Christmas cards in August, so I can't let things like that take influence or santa would be wearing speedos.

6 Weird Things

Penny from Natural Attrill has recently tagged me to list 6 weird things about myself, and then "tag" another six to do the same.

Here are the instructions (which I've just copied from Penny's blog!):
"The Rules: Each player of this game starts with "6 weird things about you". Each person who gets tagged needs to write a blog post of their own 6 weird things as well as clearly state this rule. After you state your 6 weird things, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says "you're tagged" in their comments and tell them to read your blog for information as to what it means."

So here we go!
1. I am totally deaf in my left ear. So if you try to converse with me on my left side, forget it, I can't hear you. So now you know why I sometimes switch sides as we're walking down the street or why I always have to sit in a particular seat in a bus, train, pub, resturant etc. It really bugs me if I have to rotate my head 180 degrees at a social gathering.

2. When I get worried or bored I chew the inside of my mouth. Its disgusting and I know its not good for me. I'm really trying to give up.

3. I eat ALL burgers and hot sandwiches with a knife and fork. No exceptions.

4. I am a grade 6 trumpeter.

5. I will judge you on how you wear your hair and clothes. I can't help it, there must be something wrong with me. I consider it a type of discrimination, so honestly I'm not proud. If I meet you for the first time and you are victim to wearing something like elecro-punk fluorescent colours, mirrored aviator sunglasses, asymmetrical messed up hair with expensive highlights that took you 12 hours to straighten/ back comb, leg warmers, 2 belts, skinny jeans, etc etc, do you like The Towers of London and The Horrors? OH NO! Then too late, I have already considered you to be a total pillock. (Oh, apart from Vince Noir and Russell Brand.)

I'm 27 years old and I shouldn't care how the youngsters dress these days. But for some reason it does and it really offends me!

6. I love blankets. If I'm at home, I'll have one around me. I've tried a poncho, but its not the same. Snuggling under a blanket is the best.

Here are the six who I've tagged. I don't know many people who blog very regularly, so I do hope they don't mind so much!
Jeff Woodall
Jamie Brindle
Garreth F Hirons
The Midnight Orchestra
David's Drawings
Kristian Purcell 

Red Work

Last week before the mac disaster (which thankfully seems to be resolved now) I completed some embroidery designs. They have been worked on in a style called redwork which is an outline stitch. I think the characters look really striking like this and I'm pleased with how the whole set have turned out. Pretty cute, but not too corny! All 9 characters can be seen at Bunnycup Embroidery. I was just really pleased with the results and wanted to share it!

Dead Mac!

Yup, that's right. My mac is dead. Its currently being revived by magical computer wizards who know all about that type of technical mumbo jumbo. Here are some embroidery designs that I did recently before disaster struck. Stupid computers. I hope he gets well soon though.

Buzz

Buzzy bees flying around a bouquet of posies. Don't fret though, they are friendly bees and they're only interested in gathering pollen to make tasty honey for honey monsters like me. They won't sting the cute little girl. Its only nasty wasps that do that. Boy, I hate wasps, they're pretty horrible.

Girl in snow

And now she has a pretty wintry scene too. I also added some textures to her face and hat but its hard to tell on the picture as the resolution knocks out the detail.

Work In progress

Here is a work in progress of a little festive picture I've been doing. It needs a nice wintry background next, with pretty snowflakes too!
Last night the xmas tree went up along with the home-made decorations. Next is the repetitive task of wrapping up all those pressies.

Merry Christmas!

Hello out there! Merry Christmas and I hope y'all have a very wonderful new year. I haven't been updating my blog like I should, but it has been a very busy time for me recently. Lots of work to do and Christmassy things to organise. Anyways, I'll make it a resolution to try and update this blog more regularly in 2007!

Christmas Card Blunder

I thought it'd be a good idea to make my own Christmas cards this year and half way through this attempt I knew it wasn't going to work... However I read somewhere that you should always finish your projects, so I preserved and I still don't like it. Ha! I should have stuck with a comfortably safe snowman or 'Lil Baybeee Jeeesus (Aw bless!).

Amateurillustrator.com Article

Ingmar Zahorsky, one of the three administrators over at amateurillustrator, has used a screenshot of my website for an article about building a website and establishing an identity online. Its a good overview for beginners and can be viewed over at
www.amateurillustrator.com/articles/.

Black and Orange

This is my entry for the Black and Orange collaboration gallery for Halloween. Seven of us are going to a secluded English country cottage this weekend for birthday fun and Halloween antics. I hope it doesn't get too spooky.

Ghost girl and Cat monster

Halloween is approaching and the theme for Illustration Friday is ghost, so here is my effort. I don't understand my cat obsession at the moment. I keep putting them in my drawings. "Hmmm, what does it need.... Heck, it needs a cat!" I've even got Cat girl in this issue of Creaturemag too and you really must take a look because its a pretty nice website with loads of nice quirky artwork (much better than mine), photography and little puppets n toys to coo at.

I'm Really Stupid

Listen to your teacher. They always used to go on and on about checking your work. Its actually sound advice. I didn't realise until just right now that the contact email address on my website was one letter out... How dumb am I? All that spam about discount watches and viagra that I've missed out on. I'm totally kicking myself. What if somebody out there actually liked my work and wanted to tell me? How many opportunities have been missed? I'll never know now dammit!
Anyways here are some roughs for a logo. It's for my chum whose new music adventure is called Brainwig.
Bloody email....

Illustrated Tapestry

This here is my submission for the AOI illustrated tapestry. Based on the theme of love and affection. Unfortunately for me I've got a heavy load of work on at the moment... Good for money, but not good for personal development, so there'll be no time for birds in hats or bogg girls for a while, which makes me very sad because I get a lot of enjoyment from doing my own thing in my spare time. Couldn't turn my nose up at a bit of well needed extra cash though. My new website is up and running too. Looks better than before and I've learnt a bit about web design too.

More Wolf People Stuff

Mister Bogg has been very busy being cooped up playing with all his retro musical gadgetry. Then someone from the new Battered Ornaments label heard it and liked it so much they decided to release it on gorgeous vinyl complete with a well flash picture on the front.

Birds In Hats... Are back!

Thanks to the enigmatic, Zetty Boins who emailed me this photo of a very lovely sparrowhawk-barrow-boy creature thingy. Isn't he luverly? I take my hat off to you, Zetty!
The birdies will make a return, I know a lot of folks like them, but I want to reinvent them a bit... I'm still working on that in my sketchbook. Also, I have to sort out my website because it needs a mammoth make-over and my skills are pretty limited. I'm doing my homework though, so hopefully my next attempt at showcasing my doodles to the world will look a tad more professional (if I'm lucky!)

Phobia

Yeah that's right! Domesticated cats have a phobia of water yet little girls still insist on bathing them... Everyone knows that! They look so silly when they are drenched and pretty sorry for themselves too. Mwah ha ha!

I should also mention that catgirl will be in the next issue of Creaturemag, which I'm really excited about! Creaturemag is a quartely online magazine with lovely folky undertones, where it shows pretty lovely things. Things that people took pleasure in creating just for the joy of creating it. Hope that makes sense. I've had 2 Leffes and 2 glasses of red wine so I'm a tad fuzzy. Sorry.

Digital Show and my first interview!

A couple of my pieces can be seen in an online digital show from September 16th - November 26th 2006. So click on this here link and check out all the cool stuff on there.

Also, I have just done an online/email based interview about my work and quiet life for a design magazine based in Taiwan called Freedom Magazine . The magazine explores and shares the experiences of people around the world in all aspects of the design industry. They also report some interesting things (like special hotels or fantastic shops...etc) from around the world. They aim to make their readers feel free and widen their view which I think is great. I don't know when it will be published, but it will all be in Chinese so I'll just have to look at the pretty pictures!

Pandagirl

I've had a quiet day today, so I finished another piccie in the same style as the previous post. Besides that, I've been playing Super Mario Bros on the Nintendo DS, knitting my luscious green scarf (its very long now) and clearing my wardrobe out. Yawn! How boring. I have the pop quiz at the pub tonight though, so that might be entertaining (gawd, I must be getting old). *sigh* I can't help thinking that this weekend has been an uneventful blip but at least I have done lots of nice drawings.

Change

For the first time in ages, my doodling and messing around on the mac at home has conjured up a character I feel kind of proud about. Its a change of style, but as I flick through my sketchbook I find that its also natural evolution. I like the way the background is influenced by my experience of card design working for Riverdale Publishing and how the textures I started to use in previous posts has progressed and I'm using them in a more sophisticated way. She is still cute though! I suppose I can't help myself! And Japanese-esque. I lurve Japanese character art. I picked up my Yoshitomo Nara postcard book before starting this and it shows. He also uses a lot of texture in his paintings. Even the kitty is cute, though he has a moody little face on him.

Little card

This is a card I made for Tony's girlfriend, Agnieszka. I can post it now as it was her birthday yesterday and the surprise won't be ruined! I hope she liked it. A narrative project I was involved with has now been finished called Layerbylayer which is part of the increasingly popular startastory website and I have some work in the digital show for the Liverpool Biennial, but the site isn't ready until Friday, so I will post a link then.

Safe

Its another bird in a hat! Surprise! This was scribbled super quickly, so its a bit rough around the edges and the magpie has a head that looks more like a duck's. I suppose I should think about some sort of direction as to where I should go with my increasing collection of birds, but for now I'm just enjoying the fun of it.

Its September, its colder, its darker and as my wardrobe mostly consists of scarf and cardigan I thought I'd try my hand at knitting. So far I'm doing pretty well and hopefully I'll have a lovely long dark green scarf to swish about in about a week. Yay!

Finally, there is the Forgotten Sausage. If you would like to listen to songs about sausages and maybe submit your own (again, just for fun) then check out the bloomin' hilarious

Forgotten Sausage!

Green Man

I've been away at the Green Man folk festival in Wales and it was pretty marvelous although a tad wet and scary in my little tent on the first stormy night. It gradually brightened up though and the music was great and the people who I camped with were very very lovely indeed. I just wish I was still there, but imagine how stinky I'd be by now... And my hair would be crawling. Highlight of the festival for me would be a film we watched in the cinema tent called Vali. Its a "documentary" about a 1960s witchy reclusive who lived in some grotto in Italy and freaked out the local children with her hippy attire and orange birds nest hair-do. She also had a wild/pet fox (don't ask, but she like rubbing her face in his fur). Ahh cute. Apart from the fleas, of course. And she collected really ugly dolls. And she was probably the most bizarre lady I have ever seen. I wonder what she's doing now?

I've been neglecting my little blog and there's an increasing back log of little projects that I'd said I'd do for people. Argh! Sorry!

Yet another bird in a hat

It turns out that there are many people out there with a love for birds in hats! I have to mention Lisa's photos of pigeons in hats because they are hilarious click here to see her blog. This ostrich was created from a variety suggestions I've received from previous posts and has some flash accessories too. I'm toying with a drawing of a "birds-in-hats" wedding photograph. Imagine them all posing outside a bird box/ birdy church, but that'll take bloomin' ages and I wonder if I'll actually have the time and patience! I've a few other drawings I need to finish first though. Hey-ho, always busy busy busy!

Two budgies

Thanks to Penny for suggesting, budgie in a trilby. I don't know why but I find birds in hats all so amusing. I think I'm going to start adding colour to these critters, but they need to look more ridiculous! If anyone can help me out with more stupid/ genius combinations, that'll be great. Also, Garreth has kindly sent me a ludicrous link involving some sparrows dressed up looking stupid. I like it a lot.

Birds In Hats

Is an idea Jack had at the start of last week. Its not exactly an original idea, but it made me giggle and I'm fresh out of inspiration today so I thought I'd give it a whirl. There are all sorts of possibilities and combinations of birds in hats. Pigeon in a policeman's helmet is a bit cliched actually, as is macaw in a tricorn which was my second choice. Sparrow in a bowler hat and monocle might be cute... And what about a finch in a fez? Not as good as a monkey in a fez I know, but monkeys are harder to draw.
Any weird suggestions of birds in various hats would be gratefully received, ta!

Autumn in July

Its been so unbearably hot here recently, that I've little motivation to do anything constructive after work. There are wilting tired old trees near my flat with dry orangey brown leaves and freakishly early big spiky conkers on others. On my way to the studio, the flat Bedfordshire landscape looks pale. Everything looks like its given up because its just too darn hot and dry.
At work I'm going to start to figure out a convincing way to get a watercolour look because the watercolour brushes in Painter are a tad weird. I suppose I could just use real watercolours and scan the images in and tweak them digitally, but I feel like the challenge and I enjoy making my own brushes anyway. Actually, I'm bloody rubbish with a real paintbrush, it goes so well until the last moment, then I accidentally splodge the page with some stupid colour or spill my dirty water over my work. I've also had suicidal insects get stuck to my page and I end up trying to scratch them off, but I'm always left with a brown smear.

Jesus!

When my niece got baptised a few weeks ago, it was the first time I had been to a church for years and years. Still not sure why my sister decided to christen Sienna, perhaps she is more religious than she lets on.
Anyway, my point is, the stations of the cross are unbelievable! The images are so powerful and kind of scarey. Poor Jesus! I'm not really that religious myself, but I do like him, I like drawing him too ( I've drawn him before). He's a hippy for starters, maybe the first, and his hair and beard combination is pretty fashionable at the moment too, don't you think? Why do all the cool boys have long hair and beards? It's because of Jesus, what a trend setter!

Illustration Friday: Skyline

I think I could have worked on the sky a bit more, but I went swimming today and I didn't eat well, so my head is throbbing, my body aches and Lost has just started so I've kind of rushed it at the end. What a naughty girl. I like it though, so I'll come back and finish it properly one day.

A zombiegirl

Well! It has been brought to my attention recently that I am starting to slip into a world of cute! I blame this on my Nintendo upbringing... Super Mario and Mushroom Land have a lot to answer for. Anyways, I hope this satisfies the horror-lovers out there. If not, I'm sorry, I did my best!

At work I am working on some traditional floral greeting cards. I find painting flowers all day quite tranquil actually!
(Now where are my woolen slippers and knitting patterns?)

Bedford Italians

Apparantly there are 14,000 people of Italian origin living in Bedfordfordshire (that's why we have no stinkin' Starbucks because they'd get laughed out by our superior family-run authentic coffee shops) and if Italy win the world cup on Sunday they are all going to be down the Embankment waving flags out of their cars, tooting their horns and banging drums in celebration. Its great fun at the river when Italy win an important game and its been a Bedford tradition for many years. When we won the semis against Germany I was at the river with my pa and bro and half of the extended family along with many other Bedford Italians getting excited about being in the final!

The little Italian kids go nuts chanting and whistling and a lot of families go for the atmosphere and community spirit. There are some real characters too... Like the fiat500 with the salami and Italian bread taped to the bonnet of the car, the chap with the green white and red wig and matching frock and various others dressed for the occasion, draped in flags and azzuri blue. Its England's little Italy, I guess. And there's never any trouble because its family friendly, no pissed-up meat-heads getting aggressive, even though the police are present just in case. You can even get an ice-cream! Lord knows what the residents who live by the river must think.. Hey-ho, its only once every 4 years!

Anyway, it'll be great if we win because I don't remember 1982, and there's bound to be an amazing celebration if we beat the French! Perhaps I should change my name to Signora Bogg?

Too Hot!

Feeling rather delicate today after more summer party antics. England lost the football in the cruelest way as always, but I don't mind that much because due to my Italian heritage there is still a chance of world cup glory, at least for my family. And the Bedford mob haven't smashed up half the High Street either, so well done for loosing graciously, you goons.
The red hot blazing sun is not to my taste, it makes me grumpy and my back is uncomfortable and sticky. I've been playing around, adding a few new bits to my website and sticking my feet in washing-up bowls filled with cold water.