Featured In Art Doll Quarterly!

Hellooooo! First I want to apologise for last week's sorta dark post that I wrote.  I've made a note that when feeling lower and low and not my happy self, leave blogging till that passes. *laughs* So, I'm also sorry for not going around to visit. Forgive me, please! *Giving Sad Puppy Eyes*

Anyway...I'm feeling sky high happy today, which is such a great feeling to have again. I think I said some time back that I would have some news in November? Riiighhhtt?? And if you've been with me on Face book during the summer, I kinda blabbed early, but I was so excited!  I'd like to announce now that one of my paper dolls, Toko has been featured in Art Doll Quarterly!!!  I'm still excitedly waiting for the issue to arrive in my mail slot, but I just couldn't wait to share!!

And here's the little lady:

And the gorgeous front cover this the winter issue:

I'm just so super happy to be part of this issue, with all the marvelous doll artists that are are always in there and to share a page with them is such and honour and treat that I could ever hope for!
So, in my uber excitement, I'm going to create some new paper dolls this weekend.  I have one here that is actually part of the book I'm working on:

Her name is Fable and I'll have a better photo shot of her up a little later on. She's fully articulated, her wrists, ankles, head, torso, knees, elbows and shoulders all move.  My first time making a larger paper doll.  I have another one waiting, for the past two months actually, to be inked and coloured, then put together.

My gosh, I still cannot go on about how happy I am.  I've spend the last four years really pushing at the direction I really want to go in.  Submitting things and submitting things and feeling like I've been getting no where. No even getting rejection letters....just a void of silence.  But with this, I strongly feel a change in that, I see a light at that dark tunnel's end.  Seeing that email in the summer, that joyful acceptance letter....someone saying "yes" and thinking that it fits in with their publication, has given me the courage and strength to keep fighting for longer now. You guys have given me that too! So thank you all and Art Doll Quarterly!  The future looks bright again!

Ooh! Before I go, I'll share a little sketch:

I originally posted this on Face book. This is "Juliet" from William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet". Just a simple pencil sketch while watching a movie.  I always liked Clare Danes outfit from the 1996 film version and I wanted to draw something like it.

Well, that's all for today. ^_^ Wishing you a wonderful, happy and creative week! Cheers my friends!

Little Red Ridinghood

Happy November 1st everyone!  How was your Halloween? Did any of you dress up or take your kids out?

I stayed in, my street is a little scary to actually go out after dark on that night. So I stayed in and watched the Charlie Brown Halloween special on TV and also watched Paranorman. There was a ton of fireworks going off right outside my apartment! Just happy nothing caught fire. *phew*

 

So, as for this young lady you see here, this was done close to the end of last month. I wanted to post her up yesterday, but just plain forgot. I'm still feeling a little blue. Anyway, it's my own little take on the Grimm's fairytale, Little Red Riding hood.

I wanted the whole drawing to sort of tell the story and I purposely made the lines of the house a little off to make it seem like there was something not quite right about it. I'm still not too happy

about how the wolves look....but, I'm going to spend some time practicing drawing animals. This took so long to draw! A little too long, about three weeks and 1/2...I think. *laughs* 

 I did this with a mechanical pencil and white ink.

 

So, I've also joined a few challenges this month.  I'll be doing PiBoIdMo this year, and already have about ten ideas so far! Yay! I also signed up for NaNoWriMo. (wow...lots of acronyms! *laughs*) After my head nearly exploded from plotting my first book, I think I'm ready to start writing out the first rough copy of it. Don't know if I'll get to all 50,000 words, but I do my best!

 

I finally  started up my Face book page ! I'm doing this all in the hopes to get myself and my work out there. I desperately want to do this for a living...I want so much to be able to do children's book and write them too! I want someone to at least see that I can do good illustrations and I want to share that with so many people that I admire and hope I can be part of their ranks one day. I'm not good at marketing, but again, all I can do is try my best and see what happens.  Hope this doesn't sound like I'm complaining,  never would, not that kind of person....I just want this more than ever to be a dream come true. Thank you my lovely friends, for always being my sunshine and I hope I show as much support for your work like you always do for me. Much Love to you all!

 

Wishing you all a lovely, and creative weekend ahead! Cheers you awesome people!

Captured Butterfly ATC

Wonderful evening to you everyone! Man, it's super foggy out tonight, the fog horn has been going off for quite sometime now.  At first I thought it was the movie I was watching, only to poke my head out and realized it wasn't. *laughs*

So, this has to be one of the smallest drawings I've done...ever!  It's on a 4" x 4" square card and I used a mechanical pencil and white ink.  I did this for a reader challenge call, "The Faces Of Mixed Media", over on Cloth Paper Scissors.  I have to get the original mailed off, but, if it doesn't make it in time I went and shared it on their reader forum today.  I had originally titled this, "No One Suspects The Butterfly"....buuuttt...I wanted something that sounded a bit more ethereal.

This one was done close to the beginning of this month and took about a week from start to finish.  I can't believe I forgot all about it sitting in my closet until I was tidying up and it fell to my feet. *laughs*

For a little size comparison:

Thank you all for the wonderful comments you guys always give me....I love reading them and they always make me smile. I've been feeling a little more up beat this week and I can't wait to feel like myself again.

So that's it for tonight....I wish you all a lovely creative and happy week! Cheers!

From My Messy Desk: Part Two: More Sketches On the Drafting Table

Hello you wonderful people! How are you this week? Halloween is coming ever closer, which leads to the best thing about this scary day....horror movies and chocolate! I'm partial to "The Shinning", but if you want cute scary I'd suggest "Paranorman", which is insanely cute and has one of the best heartfelt endings ever.

Which leads me to this drawing you see up there. This month's auction over on Femme Thou Art Collective is "Grimm's Fairy tales" and Halloween just a few weeks away made me think of Little Red Riding hood.  Which is a nice combination of sweetness and darkness.  I like the original French Folk Tale, which in that case the wolf is really a werewolf and there is no wood cutter in that story, but for this illustration, I wanted to put in Grimm's version as well.  I made it really detailed, so I hope I can finish in time.  The auction starts on the 21st of this month.  Doing this made me realize that I really have to improve my skills on drawing animals.  I found trying to draw the two wolves really difficult, to make them look right. So it's to the library! Tally-ho!

Here's the other sketch I'm also working on getting finished:

I call this "Tangled", as I was going for the idea of a summer nymph caught up in her own growing spell.  Weird thing about this one was it was already there is my head, and it just wouldn't let me get anything else done until I sketched her out.  It was the strongest impulse I had, and I haven't felt such a pull like that in a year. Which is awesome.  I think I might make thins into some fancy writing paper when it's done.

I wish I had more to show you guys, but I've been in a bit of a depression for the last two weeks due to some situations and I haven't been motivated to do much of anything else, other than just sketch.  I won't go into it, cause I'm not out to make anyone as depressed as I am. *laughs*

So my dear friends...

I wish you a very happy week ahead and the coming weekend. Love you all! Cheers!

The Little Prince

Afternoon all you little wonders out there! The sun is shinning, it's a beautiful day and the crisp fall air is deeply tangible now....ahhh..and, I'm getting very excited for November to roll around. I'm sitting here all giggles and smiles, but I can't tell you yet what it is. But I cannot wait! I feel like an impatient child with a brand new dress, but not allowed to wear it just yet.

So, leaving you with that cryptic message, let me introduce you to another lead character  for my middle grade novel.  Of which I'm just starting to plot out...it feels kind of daunting and scary to plot, but I've got a number of books out to help that path along smoothly.  It'll be awesome to see where it leads to.  Then, I'll move on to the actual writing part....which will be very messy and I'll have to learn to not edit as I go along.

Anyway, this young man right here is Nemo. (Again, I'm going to be mean and not mention his last name...because I love doing word play that incorporates the story) The male lead and is Sandy's closest companion in her strange new world.  He's not actually a prince, he kinda looks like one though in his white and gold finery.  He is twelve years old and has been in this other world for so long that he no longer remembers what his last name is, how he got where he is and only partly remembers where he's from.  (Shh, just between you and me....he's from Cornwall, England. *winks*)  He loves battle games, sweets and stories.  He enjoys being a bit of a joker and playing pranks on certain people that scare easily.  He's headstrong and very independent after needing to fend for himself for such a long time.  But also he's kind and gets great pleasure of helping those in need.  He becomes very protective of Sandy and will stop short of dangerous heroic acts to aide or save her from harm.

All that black hair of his came out slightly more Emo than I thought, *laughs*, so I hope that aspect will somehow work out in his favor, a young man that's already unusually stylish.

I used watercolours pencils from Faber Castel used dry as they give a wonderful air brushed look along with a colourless blender to smooth things over. In all took about three weeks to finish.

Currently I'm working on a drawing for a friend.  He runs a comic called "Reynard City", which is so cute and zany to read.  I'm making for him a decorative writing paper drawing:

 

Colouring is about halfway through. Yay!

 

That's all for this week my friends, I'll leave you now with some words that I hope will inspire you all to go for your dreams!  I saw this in a car ad, I believe and it got me so charged up, I cut it out and stuck it in my inspiration journal.

Wishing you all a very happy and wonderful week! Cheers!

The Dreaming Elf

Good evening!  I hope you all had a splendid week and are enjoying a good weekend.  It's been a busy few weeks for me.  There's been a lot of planning and preparing for Rosh Hashana this past week and now upcoming is  Yom Kippur. I wish you all a very happy L'Shana Tova this new year!

Phew, man, I didn't think I would ever finish this drawing...it has taken me at least three weeks to finish. I've been so obsessed with my current book project, that I have to remind myself to also juggle the other illustrations I have started on the side as well.  She's done with mechanical pencil and white ink.  I wanted the chance to brush up on my pencil and shading skills with this piece and it reminded me how much I love to work in black and white...and...with pencils too!  I found the pose in an old hair magazine and I knew I wanted to incorporate it in a drawing somehow as it was such an elegant and dreamy pose.

I wanted to have a background that sort of reflected what she was dreaming about.  Some far away land that maybe she had not seen in a long time, and missed.  The bird represents my own dreams where I'm flying and the egg meaning to represent unhatched ideas. (At least that's the best way I can describe it.)  An elf who has horns?! Well, I just can't help it, I love to draw horns on about everything...and you never know, maybe some elves do have horns. Right? *laughs*

Anyway, I've been taking daily walks down to the pier park in downtown New Westminster for a little inspiration and quite time to just sit and think by the water.

Ha ha..well, I'm not the best photographer ever, but I think I need something better than just my phone one day. I love going down by the water, nothing is more relaxing than watching the water lapping against the rocks. I'd love to make it out to Stanley Park one of these days.  I haven't been there in a very long time.

Wishing you all a very wonderful week ahead! Cheers!

The White Lady: Drawing Up For Auction

Good Sunday afternoon to you all!  Hope you are all doing well and have had a good week that's now past and headed into a new one.  The cooler weather here in New Westminster has been a very grateful relief after a nearly two month long heat wave and endless sun.  I love the sun, but I also love cool, cloudy days like now too.  Where I can curl up with something warm and watch the day slip by.

So! This lady up here will be up for auction tomorrow evening and all next week until next Monday at Femme Thou Art Collective on Face book.  This month's theme was "White Lady".  The thought I immediately had for this theme was a white elf of the night who can swoop in the moon with one twirl of her mantle.  I wanted the beads on her head-dress to mimic the stars.  The jewel on her forehead is inspired by Ozma from the Wizard of Oz books, she wears the same piece of jewelry on her head as well that very stylishly spells out "Oz".  (I have a lovely old copy of "Rinkytink In Oz")I loved it so much that I wanted to put it on this lady as if she too could have come from the Emerald City royalty.  The ram's horns just sort of snuck themselves in there...so maybe she's half ram as well. *laughs* 

I did the background digitally...in part to save some time and also in part that I thought something digital would look very cool.  This was originally supposed to be a black and white ink drawing, but I had a thought that just a single pair of red eyes would had something interesting to the black and white inks....as you can see....I totally gave way to colouring entirely!  I just could not help myself...so maybe she wanted to be in colour after all. *laughs*  This has taken nearly two weeks from start to finish.


I was going to share some photo's of a little trip I took to the Pier Park in downtown New West....but for some reason blogger will only let me up load this one drawing, so, I'll try and share those pictures with you loves next time.

Until then, wishing you all a wonderful week ahead! Cheers!