Run, run, run!

Pencil drawing, photoshop colors. I was trying to give it more of a pastel effect.

Illustration Friday - Soar

Hmm...

Just finishing up some things tonight and putting aside 'till tomorrow to look at closer.

Hoping you all are having a terrific holiday season. Me, I'm going to go run off with my brand spankin' new moleskine sketchbook now.* Between that and the Dunder-Mifflin mug my sister gave me, I'm thinking it can't get much better.

*Is it just me, or is there something incredibly intimidating about a new sketchbook?

Every time a bell rings...

An angel gets its wings. We watched "It's A Wonderful Life" last night; one of my favorite movies, hands down.

Merry Christmas!

*Pssst, hey you last minute gift wrappers. Here's some tags I made to put on presents this year if you're in need of some gift identification. They look pretty swell if you have scalloped edge scissors.

Fa La La La

Trying to squeeze a little extra work in before Monday, so I'm breaking out the eggnog and holiday hits! Since I don't think I can really handle hearing the same song for the 459th time on the radio, here's my seasonal playlist for your listening pleasure. There's a little bit of kitsch, a little bit of indie, and just some old fashioned chesnuts in there:

1) Christmas Wrapping - The Waitresses
2) Santa Claus is Coming to Town - The Jackson Five
3) The Christmas Song - The Raveonettes
4) Sleigh Ride - The Squirrel Nut Zippers
5) Christmas at the Zoo - The Flaming Lips
6) Snoopy vs. The Red Baron - The Royal Guardsmen
7) Marshmallow World - Dean Martin
8) We Wish You A Merry Christmas - John Denver & The Muppets
9) Christmas Song - Weezer
10) Winter Wonderland - The Andrews Sisters
11) Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight) - The Ramones
12) Christmas Time is Here - Belle & Sebastian
13) Blue Christmas - Johnny Cash
14) You're A Mean One, Mr Grinch - Sixpence None the Richer
15) Lo, How a Rose E're Blooming - Feist
16) Baby It's Cold Outside - Royal Crown Revue
17) White Christmas - The Pipettes
18) Come, Thou Font - Sufjan Stevens

Illustration Friday - Backwards

Illustration Friday - Backwards. Pencil sketch, digital texture.

The evolution of an animal cracker

Dipped in milk of course. Makes you grow you know. At least that would have been my logic as a kid...

Actual size!

For Christmas this year I wanted to knit my nieces hats. But then, I started thinking about their dolls, Mimi and Flo and thought they'd all look pretty swell in matching threads. So... After a fair amount of gnashing of teeth, dropped stitches, and generally painful mathematical figuring, here's the hats. Done. Good thing I started these VERY, VERY early before the holidays hit.



I'm always kind of intrigued by textiles/colors in the characters I draw, so was hoping to capture some of that in these. At any rate, they were a blast to make, even if my eyesight will never quite be the same...

Sticking your neck out there

Sorry, bad pun.

I was doing some sketching from photo references this weekend. It really isn't the same as drawing from life, but seeing as that there isn't a whole lot of giraffes in Northern New England, I guess a photo will just have to do.*

And here's the more stylized version from later on. I'm not satisfied with the colors (the values are a bit too close), but here's a peak:



And now off to shovel. Again. I can't really complain though; as Dean Martin sang, "It's a marshmallow world in the winter..."

*For whatever reason, when writing this all I can think of is a pack of marauding, wild giraffes running undiscovered between the Maine/Canadian border. They'll have some real territorial struggles though with all those moose.

Illustration Friday - Little Things

I was sketching some more feline antics this afternoon and was thinking it fit this week's Illustration Friday theme, "Little Things." My cat is a stray, small, with a personality much larger than his size.

Eye to Eye

And now, off to bed.

But before I forget, if you're in and around Seacoast New Hampshire, you can find some really nifty ornaments (including my angel ones) at Three Graces Gallery in downtown Portsmouth.

Les Etoiles

My goodness, where's the time going? Lately it just feels like the days are zipping by.

A euphonium playing carols near the Salvation army bell ringer outside? I like that.

Scraping my car windshield in 9 degree weather? Not so much... That said, a brand spankin' new layer of snow covering everything is pretty beautiful. Here's hoping for another storm so that there will be enough to outfit the yard with some snowmen!

Illustration Friday - Excess

Illustration Friday - Excess. Pencil drawing, digital color.

This is why you always, always, always check your gague when knitting. That is, unless you have a family member with excessively long limbs.

Under Wraps

I love old black and white photos where the bows the girls are wearing are bigger than their heads.

*The Ephemera Society of America has a terrific site. I'm really enjoying this article on the Goldfish in Victorian art. Random, but fascinating.

*CG Textures is an impressive resource for digital artists (or anyone looking for a decent photo reference).