Drawing in progress…

Here is the full page. Not quite satisfied with their faces in the bottom part. But will finish and then possibly do again.

Happy 1st of May!

Madame Woof Woof_ink drawing dog Labrador illustration process _ Melanie Franz

Back to Work

I finally got over my creative block, related to my book project, AND I fixed page 2 which had been bugging me for the last 3 months! So far I am quite happy with the result.

Here is a sneak peak of the work in progress.

Blue feet still missing

Finished inking this little fella. Still need to add the blue fee, to make the blue-footed booby complete.

ink drawing blue footed booby _ Melanie Franz

Current status of my desk as bonus.

ink drawing desk status _ Melanie Franz

Apparently Blue-footed Boobies are a thing

and quite popular. I only discovered these funny looking birds last week. As I am still procrastinating from other things, I felt like drawing a second one of these funny creatures.

2404 blue footed booby ink drawing _ Melanie Franz

Life is Better Upside Down

It’s been only two weeks since the last aerial hoop class, but I already miss hanging upside down in the air! Need to make sure I get to the studio on Friday.

Until then I am having fun with more poster designs for my Etsy shop.

Who else likes hanging upside down in the air?

Hello there! Part 2

Nice to have a break from drawing dogs and teddy bears and try new animals. After my lama sketches the other day, here a finished lama drawing.

Sunny greetings from the rock!

2404 Lama ink animal drawing _ Melanie Franz

Hello there!

On my Pinterest search for inspiration and odd animals I came across this fella. A Blue-footed booby! Blue feet will follow!

So I am still procrastinating, avoiding my book project, by drawing other animals.. It could be worse I guess.

Off to the pool! Have a great weekend!

Don’t overthink it.

Poster design and motto of today. After I had a good two weeks run working on my book project I think I hit one of those micro pits of despair again. It kind of feels like I am out of drawing energy. So I have been doing something else until I get my mojo back.

Was playing around with a few new poster designs for my Etsy shop. They will be up by the end of the week. And I have been drawing more lamas… Maybe I’ll add them too.

2404 Dont overthink it_Shoebills stork ink drawing poster design_ Melanie Franz

Something different

Suddenly felt the urge to draw lamas. Inspired by my daughters sweater. I thought their funny faces might make for a fun poster design.

Which one is your favourite?

Weekend Motivation

Time apparently flies when you are having fun. I have been drawing like a mad woman all week. Will be relaxing at the gym tonight. Guess my party days are over.

Happy Weekend!

P.S. Check out my Etsy shop for the print below.

shoebill cool ink drawing Etsy printable poster_Melanie Franz

Book Project – Work in Progress VI

After a short East break I am back on the drawing table. After a break it always takes me a bit to warm up again. So I spent about 2 hours sketching and inking people. I am still on my way to 100. Currently at 76…

Not sure if these two below count. Maybe they should! They are part of a page from my book project . Keep walking and talking…

Book Project – Work in Progress V

Hoot hoot! 🙂 Quite happy how this owl turned out.

For this page I thought I will try to put the whole image together digitally after drawing all the individual parts. I couldn’t make the page work with the first rendering, plus I had spilled some ink, so I decided to try it this way instead of starting with the full page all over again. One of the biggest challenges when drawing traditionally it the lack of the CTRL + Z shortcut….

Do I have fun drawing traditionally? Definitely. Would it be easier to do it all digitally? Most likely.

Do you prefer digital or traditional drawing?

Let’s see what will happen.

Book Project – Work in Progress IV

Here is a close up, sneak peak, of another page I just finished. The original sketch for this page was completely different, I had the book dummy and layout, did the drawing and rendering and half way through I gave up, twice actually, as I simply couldn’t make the drawing work. So I then completely change the whole page around from a close up to a high angle perspective… Not 100% sure yet whether I like it or not… I might redo it again.

2403 city lights at night people walking and cat running ink illustration book project _Melanie Franz

I guess these are the micro despairs along the way, crawling slowly uphill from the pit of despair (see picture below.)

Book Project – Work in Progress III

Another page sketch ready to be inked today. Although I still need to tweak a few bits and pieces.

2403 Book project dog Labrador children's book pencil sketch work in progress _Melanie Franz

Book Project – Work in Progress II

Another page almost finished for my upcoming children’s book. It will be total 32 pages and I think almost finished are about half of them. So expect more progress shots coming up.

The biggest part eventually will be the scanning and editing of the images. But that is for next month. Goal for this is to finish most of the drawings.

Have a great weekend!

2403 Labrador Teddy ink drawing illustration work in progress children's book_Melanie Franz

Book Project – Work in progress

I am currently working on illustrating a children’s book that I have written. Inspired by our loveable and sometimes silly black family Labrador and why she sometimes barks at night.

After a lot of ups and downs the last months and being stuck in the Hendrix’s pit pf despair for what felt like an eternity (see image below), I have been on a great climb for the last week! And I have been really enjoying it!

I am trying to make the most out of the current momentum and therefore have been drawing the last couple of nights. Sleep deprivation is a small price to pay to get out of the pit I guess.

Do you know about this long project arc? Have you been there?

I am currently redrawing the frog page which I have posted previously. The first rendering does not fit the overall style of the other illustrations anymore and I wanted to tweak the composition a bit. I can really get lost in the hatching now. It is rather soothing.

2403 frog ink drawing illustration work in progress children's book_Melanie Franz

A little bit of everything…

This week I feel like I have been all over the place. New uploads to my Etsy shop, book illustrations, people drawing…. And nothing really got finished… Oh well..

2403 ink drawing street at night _Melanie Franz
Current page I am working on. A work in progress…

At least I haven’t spilled any ink today…

What’s next?

Honey Badger Coffee ETSY 5x7 printable Greeting card _Melanie Franz