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?
Tag: sketching
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.
I guess these are the micro despairs along the way, crawling slowly uphill from the pit of despair (see picture below.)
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..
At least I haven’t spilled any ink today…
What’s next?
OneWeek100People 2024 – Getting to 37
More people… I guess I spend about 2-5 minutes per person.
OneWeek100People 2024 – Getting to 100
I totally forgot about One Week 100 People this year! I had so much fun doing this challenge last year and I actually was looking forward to it again but completely forgot to check the dates. So it apparently started Monday the 11th and runs until Friday. I started to play catch up last night and just went to my Pinterest board from the previous year as there are about 300 people pins that I never got to.
Drawing feels much easier than in the previous year, although I think I haven´t sketched any people since then. Anyhow, great practice and warm up for other drawings. I will try to make it to 100 until the end of the week. Currently I am at #37.
Are you taking part?
Practice makes perfect
More doggies. I had so many ups and downs this past week. One day was great and I was all happy about my book progress and the next I felt like I cannot draw a single line and I should give up then and there. Quite a rollercoaster. And the progress is slow. I am seriously considering to start going digital after this. It will certainly be quicker. On the other hand, having ink stains on my hands is also fun….
But I ran out of paper and now I cannot find the same paper in the art supply shop anymore… bummer. Will do another shopping spree tomorrow to see what I can find. Until then, happy weekend!
Another round of dog sketches…
More doggy sketches on this sunny day. Currently my illustration process alternates each day from “I love it” to “I hate it all and I cannot draw shit..!” I suppose that is normal? Either way, I decided to push trough and get all the pages done by the end of this month. So watch this space.
More dog sketches
As you might guess from the sketches, Mouse´s favourite past time beside eating and running around is napping. I mean, dogs sleep 12-14 hours per day. I am pretty much envious at this point as I have been sleep deprived for a month.
And more dog sketches…
I have been pretty much drawing dog after dog, exploring different poses and especially sleeping positions. Dogs can look too funny while sleeping.
I was stuck with my book dummy and some of the spot illustrations I wanted to add. So now I have a huge number of sketches from which I will pick my favourite ones.
Sketching Dogs!
Actually it’s supposed to be character sketches for the same dog 🙂 I mentioned previously a book I am working on. So this is it. The original idea started 2 years ago with the first sketches, and it has been brewing ever since. As I am not a writer it took me a bit to put the story together and to have it professionally edited.
Since getting into illustration, I realized that for many illustrators it’s a race to the bottom with some authors not willing to pay more than dumping prices. So I decided I would rather do my own stories and illustrate them. I know that marketing will be the hardest part, but I will deal with that later.
Anyhow, since I started working on this book I have been coming up with multiple other story ideas, so there will be no shortage of ideas to explore once I am done with it.
Inspiration for the story is Mausi (Mouse, yep, what started as a nick name when she was little became her actual name.), my sister’s adorable Labrador. She is gentle, loveable, cheeky and a bit gaga at times, especially when it comes to water and sticks.
Capycapybara…
Coming your way…
Capybara work in progress
More capybaras are about to come. So much fun inking them!
C is for Civet
Let’s start off the new year with another digital drawing attempt. I am kind off having fun with it in between actual ink drawings. And I am actually learning a lot of new things which is great and after the initial struggles I feel like the learning curve is getting easier. One of the project ideas I had in my head over the last year is an African animal ABC book in collaboration with a Kenyan friend.
So civets are the ones that eat and poop out coffee beans and make them taste delicious in the process… I worked once in a coffee roastery, amazing job. Before that I thought coffee just had to be black to qualify as coffee. I learned better. The most expensive coffee I tried was the Galapagos coffee.
Art vs Artist II
For the beginning of the year I felt like putting another one of these together. More as motivation for myself than anything else. Just as reminder of what I did during the last year, beside travelling a lot and raising a tiny human.
I am excited about the coming months. Lots of creative plans are in the works. Now I just need to make the time to get started.
Happy New Creative Year to Everyone!
Art vs Artist
Another year is slowly coming to an end. I feel like I haven´t done much illustration wise, but going through my files it actually looks like I got more done than I thought I did.
I tried lots of new things – media and styles – started on my own book projects (more about that soon) and I am looking forward to see where this journey will take me next year!
How about you? Did you try anything new this year?
Capybaras revisited
I am currently redoing my second capybara colouring book. While I sold quite a few of the first colouring book – Capybaras and fun facts, I only sold 2 copies of the second one. So I thought I update and republish it, as personally I like the drawings in part two better. But then, I am also not objective.
If you are still in need of a Christmas present, here you can it. Do people still give books as presents?
And this is the current, not yet updated, sequel, Capybaras and Friends.
Should I go back to drawing more capybaras? I kind of miss their grumpy looking faces.
G is for Galago
Also known as bush babies. Yes, it is wearing its party hat. Because, why not? The first digital drawing I am actually very happy about! What do you think?
I just used the same pencil to get the traditional look.
After being once again knocked out by the flu for the last couple of days I am full of energy, ready to continue drawing. Have a great week!
K is for Klipspringer II
Alright, another digital version of a Klipspringers feet.
They don’t actually skateboard. Or do they?
This small antelope is found in East Africa and South Africa. More of a browser than a grazer, the Klipspringer enjoys fruits, flowers and young plants. It’s also an agile rock climber.
Have a great weekend!
Melanie Franz 