Sneak Peek at new short comic: "Fool's Gold"

So these are just of small taste of the new one shot comic I've been working on since last month.  The inking is taking me a long time as I'm trying very hard not to rely on the use of screen tones too much, which is proving to be a very hard challenge for me as I love to use screen tones to excess.

It's actually been quite fun discovering how to use inks and all the different effects that you can render with a pen.  I took out a huge book from the library on pen and ink effects, I love it so much that I wish I didn't have to return it. *laughs*  I will though.   I feel like it's helped me with improving my lines so much so, that I've become more confidant when I set out to ink a drawing.

This little tale is of a more scary twist on an old fairy tale from the brother's Grimm and a more urban Japanese myth of the slit mouthed woman.  I'm not going to say anymore than that...does this have a happy ending or a sad one? I'll keep you guys updated once it's done.  While drawing this though, I kept in mind the simple question, will the fairy tale monster be vanquished or will it feed?  Gruesome, yes, but it helped keep the dark mood of the story.

That's all for right now, my dear friends.  Are you all looking forward to Easter celebrations?  Ah, another holiday full of chocolate...did I mention how I love this time of year? *laughs*  Have a creative week everyone!

Lukash: The Spring Lamb

Oh man, hello dear blogger friends!  I'm so very happy that the scent of spring is finally in the air....and the trees are beginning to bloom.  I can't wait for the cherry trees and the magnolia's to be out in full and filling the air with their sweet scents.  It's also becoming better walking weather, so when things get warmer I plan on going to the local park and have a nice lazy walk. Maybe even bring my sketch book too.

This here is a  little drawing I made for my good friend Sasha , as a gift. I met with her and another friend for coffee on Valentine's Day, they both gave me wonderful little gifts as well.  I'm now the very lucky owner of a pair of Sasha's handmade ear rings....which are gorgeous!  She loves Bishie boys (Bishie is short for Bishonen, which means beautiful boy in Japanese), and adores faeries, so I decided that I would draw her a Fe or a faerie prince.  I played around with quite a few rough sketches before I came to one that I actually liked.  I am so in love with how this turned out!  The eyes are what I'm particularly proud of, as I have been wanting to improve and make them a little less lash-y.  I don't know why, but, I seem to always have to put pointy ears and horns on almost every character I draw.

I used dry watercolour pencils, sepia ink and white ink for some sparkly effects, since I can't resist not sprinkling white on every drawing that I do. Sometimes I use a little too much force when spattering, as I broke one of my brushes while doing so last month. *laughs*  But I didn't throw it out...I think if it's top end is still useful, it can still do work yet.  This took about two weeks from start to finish as I'm also busily working on a drawing for another friend and two short comic stories.

Sasha was so nice to spend almost all day with me yesterday, even though she and I were so very tired from being up all night previously.  She being a night owl was being such a creative girl making art cards, I was up for a different reason.  I've been having such a difficult few weeks, and her taking time out to come and see me was such a blessing.  I am much calmer today thanks to her and things are looking like they just might turn out alright again.   It's been a scary ride and I hope to get to that light at the end of the tunnel soon...and I'll be so happy when that happens.  I won't depress you anymore with the specifics....so why don't I cheer things up a bit now yes?

I had a lovely day out at Starbucks this week, thanks to a little gift card a friend got for me. Yay!  It's been awhile since I had a Starbucks coffee and I was jittering like washing machine for a bit afterwards.

My mum loved the lettering by the entrance.

And I loved that I got one of their left over Valentine's Day cups!  When my mum took this I didn't think she got my face as well. *laughs*  I have on way too much eyeshadow. 

So I decided to play around with the cup after we got home, and I decided to do this with it:

My mum has a box full of little quail's eggs and dried roses. I dug out some fancy scarves from a suitcase, draped them inside a jewelry box and nestled everything inside.  I then dragged the photo's into Coral DRAW and just had some fun with playing around with different layers and effects...this was the one I liked best of all.  Which surprisingly has about 7 layers in all.

Sorry to run late with a blog update again, my dear friends.  I hope you all have been doing well and I can't wait to read about what you've been up to.  Hope you all are having a fun and creative week!