Working on a ‘fairy tale’ parade with animals and characters. I just love barn owls, they are gorgeous.
Muscle pain
It feels like having two little monsters chewing on your calves while trying to walk. I regret I used cheap sneakers with soles less than a cm thick for my first run. Next time I will use newly bought running shoes to keep the pain at bay and hopefully away.
Special meaning
Last Year’s Christmas was all about second chances, hope and most of all cherish what I had. This year’s Christmas is a moment to mourne, cry and also a moment to reflect on how thankfull I am for everything that is still here. Christmas is my Thanksgiving this year.
Some people may not know how big of an impact they had on me by only saying two or three word or maybe nothing and just give me a smile. School was a place to hide, being normal and pass precious time with no regrets. This card is a ‘thank you’ gesture to all who have supported me. No matter how small or big, I thank you for making this year unforgetable.
A handfull of people in particulair I truly thank you from the bottom of my heart. Crying, being angry or being depressed wasn’t part of these wonderful few months. We all smiled, laughed, lived with no regrets. He was so brave till the very last moment. I was his little girl, he was my rock and biggest supporter. Now I must go on without him. He talked endlessly, was loud, rude, sarcastic.
This endless silence is the hardest part
Thank you all
Artemis and Jack Frost
Last year I drew a girl with brown fury clothes and antlers (for last years Christmas card, click here). I named her Artemis after the God of Hunting and childbirth. She eventually grew on me as a character and I drew her a few times for fun. This year I was highly inspired by the the 3D animation serie ‘Rise of the Guardians’. I got so jumpy and overly excited by The Sandman. So cute and adorable, lovely colors and shapes and so magical with his glittering sand. Eventually all guardians seemed all intriguing but Jack Frost especially.
Jack Frost seemed to me like a magical character, full of joy and fitting into Artemis her world. Colors and temperature wise they seemed to be the opposites of each other and they would combine perfectly this year. I searched and searched for a perfect composition for this years Christmas card.
When I finally set myself for one of my sketches I had trouble in photoshop. How do I want to use the colors? What kind of lines should I use? I struggled a lot but eventually tried a new type of technique. I came across some gorgeous art from ‘Rise of the Guardians’ where they only used sharp pieces of color (example here) . I created my card with the polygonal lasso tool. It was so much fun!
The Wizard
I imagined him as a ‘he’ but some may think its a girl. He does seem kind of girly. I love Japanese art and Ghibli Studio is one of the things that lifts my spirit every time. He is probably inspired by the gorgeous Howl from ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’. I say probably because it was never my intention to make him so much a like. I wanted him to create magical things that I specifically liked. I love sweets, cupcakes, tea, magical stories, owl’s, bunnies and figures of light and smoke. I wanted a relaxing and floating atmosfeer instead of the energetic “Be our guest” in Beauty and the Beast, which comes to mind.
His hair is quit long but only added to make him more magical. Graciously floating hair adds more magic, at least for me it does. Its kind of like a anime mental thing, not everything has to add up as long as it works for the story.
Around the time this sketch came to life I was blocked by an big thick wall of art blokkade. I sat down with a piece of paper with only the joy of creating in mind and it kind of broke down that wall. So in a way this design is special for me.
The coloring was again a different story, how to proceed? I tried painting with different opacity, creating smooth overflowing colors. It became a mess so I decided on hard shadows and hard lighting. Lighting was a very important part of the card, in the end I think I could’ve done a much better job but my first step toward stronger contrasts and experimenting with lights.
Printed @ Moo Uk, many thanks for their great customer service
So I finally decided to buy a Dudebox at Mintyfresh with the intention to give it as a birthday present for my boss. At the moment the Paladin team is working hard on Momonga Pinball game. Kuton is the large evil owl that stands in Momo’s way, our cute squirrel hero. You can also see a little boy on the dudebox. This is Arthur the mascot of Paladin studios. On the back I painted a chibi Iron man. The reason for this is that within paladin they named each level after a comic hero to keep them apart instead of referring to numbers and get all confused what level they are talking about. Off course the names will be replaced before the game is released. But is was a funny double meaning since my boss also likes Iron Man a lot and within the company is has a different meaning. I had a lot of fun making this! I work as an intern at Paladin so I will be busy all day and when I come home its already dark. That’s why all the photo’s are so dark and dull. At the end, after all the painting and vernis layers I had time for a photo shoot and use some lovely daylight.
Fell in love with a character of Momo & Sprits and drew her in my style. All credits goes to Momo & Sprits, this is a fanart. You can also find them on Tumblr (time spent 1-2 hours)
Sweet green eyed boy
While working I thought he might look like an older ‘Jacob Double’
After giving a green background I thought he resembles one of the triplets of ‘Brave’ Either way I doodled around and tried some painting..
For quit some time I have been ‘itching’ to use my watercolor tools but I wasn’t sure what I should draw. My boyfriend’s birthday was a few days away so decided to make him a birthday card. Since we both were born in the year of the dragon and this year (2012) is the year of the dragon I decided on making him a dragon. A happy birthday dragon!
Went to the zoo a few weeks ago and made a lot of photo’s. This hornbill really drew my attention. Black feathers, turquoise skin around the eyes, orange beak. He was so close-by that I could almost touch him. So I drew this with one of my photo’s as reference.
Personal Birthday wish for my illustration teacher who’s name could be written as Disney’s Dumbo.
This drawing is a few years old, it was not finished yet but I really wanted to finish it. The hanged man of the major arcana of tarot.
