Was a Work In Progress

Now I may just leave it.

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Long Days

Decided to extend my stay here at my parents house for the weekend, I've been feeling a little isolated lately, so I'm glad for the company and easy conversation.
I've been trying to get my butt out of the drawing rut it's been in, it's sort of happening, sort of not... It's odd because I've been on such an artistic high lately, I guess it was only a matter of time before the crash, lol.

Anyways, I pushed myself to get at least something creative done yesterday and this is what I came up with. It's something, right?




These are tile-able images I've created for Spoonflower (this link will take you to my Spoonflower store/gallery), I'm going to get them printed on fabric then use said fabric to cover some books (click on the "all" tab to see the rest of my fabric designs that aren't for sale yet).
The flower image is currently set to private so this is the only place to see it. :3


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Snapshots of Current Works in Progress

Here are a few updated 'snapshots' of what I'm currently working on. :)

Some of these you might have already seen early versions of, here or on my other (now defunct) blog.

All vectors, of course. I'm completely and utterly hooked.

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Whatchadoin? Vectors??

I was about to say, "not much" but in reality, I've been doing a fair bit of art things lately.

Unfortunately, I don't have very much to show for it as most things end up scrappy and/or permanent works in progress.

However, I've been going back to quite a few of those older WIP's from my failed days of "365" and finishing some of them up.

I've also been very interested in participating in competitions and such, I'd love to maybe get some of my work published some day, especially now that i'm starting to feel a little more comfortable in my chosen style... whether I continue in this new style or not is to be seen, but for the time being, I'm just going to go with it.

Erm... tangent.

ANYways, I'm aiming to get some work published (already have been accepted for a book coming out in 2011 some time), unfortunately, the software I am using may or may not be commercially legit (I may or may not have only the student version from uni), and thus I am having a crisis of conscience right there; I want to participate in published and commercial work etc but I need legit software.

Illustrator, the one I'm playing with at the moment, is out of the question. $2000+ dollars for the standalone program or $3000+ for the package. Yeah. Let me just pull that amount out of my richly bejewelled @$$.

So, I've had to leave Illustrator aside for now

*sob* when it comes to commercial work, and I've started experimenting with freeware and more wallet friendly programs.

So far, I've only found one I've felt relatively comfortable with and that allows me to create in a similar way than in Illustrator: Xara.

I like it enough to take the time to learn it so here's hoping I'm not so pigheaded as to be unable to adapt.

This is what I've managed so far, it's taken me probably 3 times as long to get to this point in the drawing but it's a start. :3

Sorry, it's only a scrap and blogger compression is evil on vector images.

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Moved... for now.

Have successfully moved into a new place off Tamborine Mountain (thankGOD for that!). This is, however, only a temporary move as I shall be moving into the city in early January-ish with the fantabulous Dr Nayu. I'm highly looking forward to moving to the big smoke! :D

Here's an arts in the meantime. :3

Cyber Blue - Vectors.

Available as a print on RedBubble and DeviantArt.

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Moving House + Arts

We're moving in about 3 days time so things are hectic and crazy and nerve-wracking, especially since we only found out TODAY that our application was accepted.

This, of course, leaves me with little time to work on my art or bookbinding projects (as most of my binding supplies are packed away anyway) and I'm sleep deprived and low on art motivation.

However, I have been working on a new vector illustration lately which will probably be finished after the move.

Hoorey! no more crazy long drives up and down the mountain!! :D

Here's a peek at what I'm working on:

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Some July Works-In-Progress

We're currently in the middle of a major renovation of our current home while looking for a new place to live. My life is currently a mess of rather large proportions with packing, painting, house hunting and constant CONSTANT driving which is, frankly, driving me a little nuts!

I thought, with the untimely demise of my day job, I'd have more time to pursue my creative passions... this is infuriatingly not so :(

Ah well, I'm still managing to chip away at a few current art and binding projects, here's a peek.

Book binding:

Arts:

(vector work for now, as I only had photoshop open and it doesn't open painter files :/ )

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Printable - Cardigan Dolly Stationary

Printable JPG.
A cute little stationary sheet to jot down cute little notes. ^_^


Feel free to save to your computer or print for personal use. :)
p.s. If you'd like a higher resolution, lemme know here.

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Bob Girl.

Another work-in-progress (to add to the hundred or so other works-in-progress I have sitting on my hard drives).
So far, I like her hair. :P

SCREENSHOT!!! XD
( coz it's quicker :3 )


The title has absolutely nothing to do with this pic.
Vector WIP.

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Transparent-Horned Girl

Today's daily is also up on my Red Bubble Gallery.

Note to those who may actually visit this blog (thank you!), I need a little help with something:

I recently got a new monitor and I'm having some troubles with calibrating the colours. Does this image look too blue or brown or cool to anyone? please let me know, it's a rather warm tonality to me but looks completely different on my laptop monitor O_o. Thanks guys. In fact, everything has a much yellower tone on this new monitor... :(

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Feather Tattoo

Another daily girl finished and finished!

Drawn and coloured with vectors.
I actually began with just a feather and it sort of went from there.
I was consciously trying to make her face more 'interesting' than conventionally beautiful, thus the odd, androgynous features. I rather like them. :p

This pic is also up on my Red Bubble Gallery for sale.


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Up To No Good

A daily that turned into a finished image again, i never realised how easy it is to get carried away with vectors. :p
I initially wanted to do a portrait of some kind but when I got started it became more and more stylised, so I just pushed that further until you have this. :)

I recently purchased a fashion and costume book from the Kyoto Costume Institute and I've been ogling the gorgeous styles, craftsmanship, fabrics and the whole opulence of, in particular, 18th and 19th century fashion. As I moved through the fashionable ages, I noticed, however, a distinct lack in the 1920's section and a sad lacking of the lovely flapper style I admire, so I threw in some of that deco influence here as well, to make up for it in my mind. :p


Hmm. I can't decide whether I feel this one is right for Red Bubble gallery or not, any thoughts please?

Also cross posted to my Daily365 blog.

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Palest Doll WIP

A work in progress again, once finished it's going up on my Red Bubble account. :)
Vector illustration of a doll since it's become my recurring theme these days ^^'
I'm having some issue with the background colours though, i'm just not sure it's working... any feedback would be greatly appreciated there.


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New Dolly WIP - Cardigan Girl

A work in progress that began as a Daily on my Daily365 blog.
Drawn in Illustrator.
I've slapped down some colour for now but i don't know if i'll keep them as i'm planning to colour her in Painter rather than in vectors. However, with my current passion for vector I may end up colouring her there anyway lol. We'll see.

Now, her face.
I would have had this up sooner except I couldn't for the life of me get her face right, something about the angle and the style I was aiming for and it just didn't want to turn out.
I must have reworked and reworked and reworked that face way too many times and I'm still not sure I'm happy with it. Sigh.
I am, however, happy with her outfit, particularly her legs, which means it wasn't a total waste of time after all ^_^.


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Rapture in Red

Another finished image yay!
More vector art. If it wasn't obvious by now, red is my favourite colour.
I'm rather fond of the strange, symbolic feel to this one. I was going for a classical look to her features, which was pretty much the only thing that remained from the initial design... the difference from what this could have been is actually quite laughable. If anybody asks, I'll post the initial vector sketches at my own humiliating expense :p
This image is also on it's way to becoming a print on Red Bubble.

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Red Bubble Away!

Finally posted my first print on Red Bubble, I'm ridiculously excited lol.
Let's see how this venture fares. I'd better get moving on more stuff to upload. :3

This is the print, thought the one submitted for printing has had a few tiny adjustments and cleanups.

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Classical Dolly

Another Dolly in vectors :p
This time a somewhat classical, coy girl, the details in the outfit might not be historically/realistically correct but I don't really care, she's a dolly, she doesn't have to be realistic :3 (another reason why I love making them).
She is also unfinished, I'm yet to add shading and such.


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Pink Loli Dolly

Cross posted this one from my Daily365 blog as I'm quite pleased with it and am going to continue along this vein every now and then.



A vector dolly.
She's still a work in progress though. I'm really enjoying manipulating basic shapes in illustrator; every part of her was made by using circle and rounded corner square shapes that I manipulate.
Fun!


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Grungy Notepad Tutorial and Printout

Day 21 of my 365 Design a Day, I created this little vectored printout project: To make your own grungy little notepad!


Get the download here: Notepad Pages PDF

The design was created in illustrator (so still vectors!) using a few grunge and dirt brushes and a texture background as well as various layer blending effects.

Free to download and print out for personal use only. :)


Mini Instructions:
1. Click on the link, download the PDF file to your computer, open it, print it out onto A4 or Letter size paper (may need a little resizing) of a decent weight/thickness and not too opaque; I used an 80GSM weight, smooth paper. Regular printer paper works fine.
2. Print out more than one page, say, between 10 and 20 (5 or 10 double pages), depending on the weight of the paper (lighter/thinner paper = more pages can be bound together, thicker/heavier paper = fewer can be bound together as it becomes much more difficult to either punch holes or staple).
2. Trim if you prefer not to have the white borders showing.
3. "Bind" the pages together at the top section using a hole punch and strong thread/ribbon or staples.
4. Cover the binding with sticker paper or fabric of choice.
5. Enjoy your new notepad! :D


Photo Tutorial:


Gather your materials, here I have my printouts (I printed 9 pages so that's 18 sheets in my notepad, for more printing info, check the mini instructions above), a piece of recycled cardboard for the backing, sticky backed patterned paper for the upper wrap and tools of choice.

Trim your printouts to your desired size, here I've cut all the white out but you can leave it in if you like a border around each sheet.
Cut your backing card to the same size as your printouts.
Cut your sticker paper or fabric etc to the same width as the printouts and between 8 and 10cm high. You can easily measure how much you want to use, however, by putting the paper against the top margin of the printouts and roughly measuring and marking how far down you'd like the paper to go. Just remember to leave enough to wrap over the block of printouts and down the the back a little.

Gather your printed sheets and backing card together and jog them a bit to get them as aligned as possible.
Staple about halfway down the top margin on the printouts - Make sure your stapler is strong enough to staple cleanly through all your papers and card.
Another method here is to punch two holes halfway down the top margin and tie a ribbon or heavy thread through the gathered sheets. The next step is optional if you chose the hole punching method as your ribbon may make too much bulk for the covering sticker paper/fabric.

Stapled block of sheets and card backing!
Covering sticker paper ready to be attached.

Remove the backing paper from the sticker paper and carefully align it with the sides of the bookblock (your block of printed sheets and card), a little over halfway down and covering the staples, just make sure you have enough of the sticker paper to wrap around the top and attach to the card at the back, as in the next photo.

Turn your block over and using a bone folder to help with the crease, pull the sticker paper over the top of the block and down to stick to the card backing.

Use a bonefolder or equivalent to apply pressure, carefully! or you might tear the paper where the staples are.
Smooth out creases and press the sticker paper firmly to the front and back of the block of sheets.

Enjoy your new notepad!
An easy little project under 30 minutes. :D



Cross posted to my 365 Days of Vee Blog also.

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Colouring book Illustration

As promised on TaD, here's the full sized image and the actual page for the colouring book I'm making to send to Victoria bush fire child victims.


The image was drawn and vectored in photoshop. The cropped page edited in indesign.
That's 2 down, 8 more to go! :D

I also managed to source some little coloured pencils I'll be sending along with the books.



I'll be getting my hands on a few more of these soon ^^