Barnabas Oley Bookplates

Finally, things that aren't fairies!

I was hired to make some designs for my old primary school (Barnabas Oley), that could be used either as certificates or as bookplates for excellence or progress in handwriting. I hand-wrote the text using the letter forms the children learn.

I said 'things that aren't fairies', but later I was also asked to do some powerpoint slides featuring Poppet the House Hob for the awards assembly, so there were fairies involved after all!

Maroon Flower

A miniature painting I included with a notebook sale recently, by way of apology for a shipping delay.

Moth

A birthday card I made for my Grandma last week, it's loosely based on that Venezuelan Poodle Moth photo that went round a while ago.

Windflower

I heard my Grandma has shingles, so I whipped up a get-well-soon card for her. I hope it cheers her up until she feels better.

These... may not be the most botanically accurate windflowers I've ever drawn...

Flight

The front cover for a compilation of all my Bear Pit comics so far.

I think I need to specifically practice covers. Every time I have to make one, even for my own comics, I spend at least one working day banging my head on my desk, unable to think of any appropriate ideas. I just don't want to misrepresent the contents of the book!

Blackthorn

Cropped out of the cover of What's the Time, Mrs Woolf? Spring 2014.

2014 Monthly Challenges

Well, this is a little embarrassing after only two months, but I need to stop doing these daily drawing challenges. I got a stern talking-to* from my good friend Sammy, pointing out that for someone so upset about not finishing my new portfolios last year, I was investing a surprising amount of time in doing unrelated drawings every day. She's right, it was a bad decision. Hopefully I can actually manage to stay focused from now on!

* 'a stern talking-to' here means 'some gently worded advice'.

Fanart February - Part 3

Day 21 - Chihiro from Spirited Away. I only had a sort of flesh pink and this hot pink in my marker set, I'm still not sure I made the right choice.

Day 22 - Kiki from Kiki's Delivery Service. I understand the book is quite different from the film, I'd like to read it some time.

Day 23 - Ginta and Hakaku from Inuyasha, the last surviving members of Koga's wolf demon clan. They seem to spend their lives trying to catch up with Koga.

Day 24 - Haru from Free!

Day 24 - Toph from Avatar: The Last Airbender

Day 26 - Antimony Carver from Gunnerkrigg Court. I coloured her for marker practice, but I wasn't too pleased with the final result, so I also messed around with it in Photoshop and made two alternative versions.

Day 27 - Link from Legend of Zelda... um... Twilight Princess? I just wanted to draw an adult Link, so his face isn't right for TP, but that is where I referenced his clothes from.

Day 28 - Last but not least, Duo from Gundam Wing. Obviously I wasn't going to get through a fanart challenge without at least one picture of Duo and his stupid trousers.

part 1, part 2

Fanart February - Part 2

I had to downgrade this challenge from (mostly) finished drawings to sketches, because it was starting to eat up too much of my time. (I'm supposed to be prioritising better this year, after all.) I thought I'd rather upload these in batches if they're not as good quality.

Day 11 - Jean from Attack on Titan. I don't really have a favourite character in that anime, but if I were forced to choose I'd pick Jean.

Day 12 - Koga from Inuyasha, my favourite supporting character from that series.

Day 13 - Eren in titan form, from Attack on Titan. Drawn without reference in a train station.

Day 14 - Aisling from The Secret of Kells. I was going to try to draw something appropriate for Valentines day, but this seemed better.

Day 15 - Frank and Len from Ruby Gloom. Drawing two heads on one body while making one head taller than the other is really hard!

Day 16 - Mulan from Disney's Mulan. Another of my animated role models.

Day 18 - Link again, this time from Wind Waker. In his lobster pyjamas.

Day 19 - Makoto, from Free! Only I was having pose trouble so I... um... drew him as a merman. Am I embarrassing myself too much with this challenge?

Day 19 - Marco from Attack on Titan.

Day 20 - the small totoro from My Neighbour Totoro.

part 1, part 3

Fanart February - Part 1

Fanart February, day 1- Nausicaa, from Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. I was watching it while painting something for my portfolio.

Day 2 - Rin Matsuoka from Free! I was informed by tumblr that the 2nd of February is Rin's birthday, so it seemed appropriate to draw him. Although I did end up messing up his face about six times and live-tweeting my emotional reaction. I'm not sure why I thought that was a good idea!

Day 3 - Mabel and Dipper Pines from Gravity Falls. I was re-watching this show and I had completely forgotten how funny it is!

Day 4 - Link, from The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. LoZ and Pokemon are basically the only games I have time to play any more. I usually keep Link in his hero clothes regardless of game, but he looked so cute in his train engineer outfit in Spirit Tracks that I put him back in it immediately! Look at that little hat.

Day 5 - Kagome and Inuyasha, from Inuyasha. I get about 2 volumes of this manga a year as presents, so I'm still only on volume 28 and have no idea how it ends, but I absolutely love it to pieces.

(What? Buy it myself? Madness.)

Day 6 - Chiri Kitsu, from Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei. This anime makes me wish I spoke more than fragments of Japanese so I could understand all the puns. So many puns!

Day 7 - San from Princess Mononoke. If I were forced to choose, I would probably call Princess Mononoke my favourite film. Certainly San is my ultimate role model in life.

Day 8 - Levi and Bertholdt from Attack on Titan. I'm starting to feel like this challenge is just revealing me to be a hopeless anime nerd.

Fun Sarah Fact: I am the exact same height as Captain Levi.

Day 9 - Ashitaka from Princess Mononoke. Since I said before that San is my ultimate role model in life, I may as well admit that Ashitaka is my one true love.

Day 10 - Sokka from Avatar: The Last Airbender. I find Sokka really hard to pose, so this is a face/gesture he makes in the background in episode 2.

 part 2, part 3

January Challenge - Observational Drawings pt. 3

Woops, these are a bit late! Here's the last batch of observational drawings from the January challenge. Near the end of the month I started drawing objects from my Treasure Box, which is a small cardboard box containing items of sentimental value. It's... mostly essentially rubbish. Things like old coins, lost keys and sea glass. Most of it I wouldn't be too upset if it got lost, but I'd never deliberately throw it away.

And that's all for January, next is Fanart February!