IF: Clutter

"Fashionable Clutter": Mixed Media: china marker, pencil, ink, collage, gouache, watercolor, acrylic.

IF: Memories

October 1994: digitally colored pen and ink drawing layered onto a scanned acrylic ground.

IF: Routine (Flight), CD Cover Mockup

Routine Flight: Pen and ink on paper, scanned, digitally colored, layered on acrylic painting that was also scanned, type added digitally.

My entry for this week's Illustration Friday topic, Routine. The text got a little squishy when compressed since the original is 2200x2200 pixels.

IF: Detach

For this week's Illustration Friday topic "detach".


And one more within the same theme.

IF: Sail

For some reason I'm finding a lot of work challenging lately. I think I'm still narrowing down my style... which can be frustrating and somehow restraining. One moment I'm not sure what I want to achieve and the next I am eager and ready to work with a million and one ideas in my head.

I think if I could have chosen a profession for myself I would've picked something a bit more consistent or at least less motivated by emotion. I wish I could be those artists that are all about technique and mechanics. I'm just not that kind of artist. For me it's all about moods and feelings and dreams. And being that kind of artist makes it hard to do anything else. I have to make art. It's not a choice.

Details: Hand drawn in ink (prismacolor liners 0.05, scanned, digitally colored.
Illustration Friday: Sail

IF: Garden, Chartpak Markers, Etc.

Here are a couple of Garden Girls for Illustration Friday's topic this week: Garden. I really like the color combos and line work. As always I love me some feedback and welcome your opinions. Read below for more info.




I went out and made an investment in some Chartpak AD markers. There is nothing else like them out there. The end results are really great - hardly any noticable strokes at all. Just be prepared to get a little high while using them. I can typically stand the smell for a little bit but lately I have noticed a distinct belly ache after using them for too long. That could be due to a recent battle with the flu though. Bottom line: If you're easily offended by smells then these are not the markers for you. Stick with Prismacolor and deal with the dried-out-marker-stroke-look. If you can tolerate something smelly for art's sake then Chartpaks are the way to go.

The line work is done with Prismacolor Fine Liners. I love them. They are waterproof - and really are waterproof - plus they hold up against the solvent base of the Chartpaks without running or smudging. Nice! They come in about half a dozen colors and all the standard fine line sizes. I prefer the tiny .005 over anything else. The illustrations above have some blue, green, and brown - all .005 line widths.

Oh, I tried the recommended marker paper as well - Beinfang Graphics 360 - and I'm not crazy about it. I have been using archival, bright white copy stock instead which these two pieces are done on.

Edit: Beinfang seems to be a great drawing paper. It takes ink without bleading and is transparent enough to trace with. I'm just not thrilled with how it handles the Chartpaks. They seem to make the paper more transparent then it already was - almost a glassy, vellum kind of thing happens to it.

IF: Another Tale and/or Legend

Yet another image for IF this week. It's inspired by images of Indian (Hindu) female deities and the idea around the possibility of them being everyday women. I'm calling this one everyday Shakti.

IF: Tales and Legends

This weeks Illustration Friday topic is Tales and Legends. So yeah I went with the cliched myth of the mermaid and twisted it a little in an effort to make it my own.

I'm just not sure how I feel about this one. At one moment I like it and the next I really don't. I just can't seem to find the look I am trying to acheive. Ah well... practice makes perfect so I am back to work. Feedback is always welcomed. :)

IF: Plain

The Illustration Friday topic this week is plain and for some reason my head went straight to bagels. Or I guess they could be doughnuts or something. Anyway, the ink drawing came out okay but I am still playing with the color and texture after the scan. Still trying to get the hang of my new graphics software.