Photo Inspiration ~ Books & Things

Long post for today! I was organizing my closet this afternoon and suddenly got motivated to take some pictures.

I got these antique books from my grandfather, some of which are over 300 years old. I just love them! I think most of the books are in German, at least one is French, and one of them might be Hungarian... The small gold book with the red Vita Del P. Paolo written on the spine was printed in 1646! The red one is also pretty old, from 1767. And the black prayer book with the leather cover is dated 1812, and has some beautiful letterpress engravings. One of the books even has a Tolkien-style map folded at the back. When I first discovered that I was fascinated... I am a geek for anything to do with letterpress or typography. :)

The necklaces I made myself from various beads and suede leather (except the gold heart one). Recently I bought the soaps at a local gift shop. I thought the packaging was gorgeous, and immediately wanted to take pictures of them. I keep them in a large tin on my dresser.

So there you go. Hope you enjoy the pictures. :)

Sketchbook Saturday ~ Let Them Eat Cake!

I am so excited!! I am currently working on an illustration of Marie Antoinette, which is to be displayed as wall art in a bakery! (So cool!) I've been given quite a lot of freedom so I went wild with the concept. These are some early thumbnails. The middle one was picked and will be full-figure. The final work is still in progress but coming along very nicely! :)

Hats and Wigs

Continuing on with rococo-style headgear. These are pretty much doodles... I like the one on the top best.

Sketchbook Saturday ~ Gainsborough

Found this in my sketchbook today! :)

I have mini sketchbooks where I only draw in ink or felt pen. I find this nice because if I make a mistake, I won't spend a lot of time trying to perfect it. I think this encourages me to pick up speed & let loose in my illustrations once in a while. Before I drew this, I found a site that had an enormous collection of fashion plates of hats. It is awesome! I've got the link below for those who'd like to take a look.

The Mode in Hats and Headdress

Gun Girls: 2

Time for another gun girl!

This one is still in progress. I've blocked in the main colours and almost finished her hair & face. I'm still deciding on what kind of background would work best. She is holding a 17th century flintlock rifle (really cool!) but I don't think it stands out enough... I'll see what I can do with it but I am loving it! :)

On another note, I've completely re-designed my website! Check it out here!

Life Drawing

Thought I might add some study work, as I love drawing real objects too! These are a couple of life sketches done in pencil crayon.

Work in Progress

It's 4:30am, and I'm currently working on this image of The Tormented Soldier in photoshop. I'm trying out a simpler style of colour-blocking. Quite enjoying the composition so far! :)

Waitin' on Spring

I seem to draw this character a lot. (All ready with her gardening gear!) :)

Here's hoping spring will come as soon as possible! I'm starting to prepare some new projects and ideas to work on for the next few months. I've been meaning to do a short story comic for quite some time now, so I'm gonna try and make it happen!

Happy March!