I’ve been experimenting with my new paints… and I’m in love with quinacridone magenta!
Today’s Shoot it, Sketch it is all about colour and texture. The subject is something I sketched a few years ago (see below). The original photo is even older (2004 is not a typo). Just for fun, I used the sketch of the photo (rather than the photo) as my reference.
Some people call them mistakes. I like to call them unexpected outcomes.
It can be very frustrating when a drawing doesn’t turn out as planned. Why can’t I draw a straight line? Why isn’t the perspective right? The figures are flat. The colours are wrong. The ink has dripped onto the paper and now the sky is frowning.
Personally, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with this kind of creative struggle. Quite the opposite. I believe that unexpected outcomes are an essential part of the creative process. They’re an indication that we’re exploring possibilities, stretching ourselves and continuing to grow as artists.
You start with a blank piece of paper. You draw. After ten minutes (or an hour or a day), you’ve created something that NOBODY ELSE IN THE WORLD has created. Something new exists because of you. Okay, so it’s not what you imagined it would be and maybe you’re a bit disappointed. But sometimes, sometimes it takes your breath away. I did that? How did I do that? I wonder if I could do that again?
Sometimes the very thing that we didn’t intend is where the magic happens.
I enjoyed a little sketchbook time while away on holiday last month and thought I’d use one of the pages for this week’s Shoot it, Sketch it ― although it’s really a Sketch it, Shoot it. The drawing I originally planned to post today is still a long way from being finished. Why, oh why do I tackle such complicated illustrations? You’ll see what I mean next week.
Also taking part in Shoot it, Sketch it are Clouds of Colour, The Little Leaf, Lunch Sketch, Poppytump, Two Scamps, Baaps and 30 Minute Art.
I entered this design in a logo competition a few months ago. The brief was to create a logo for dog spa Lilac Wolf NZ that was positive and memorable. The concept behind the brand is that every dog dreams of feeling like a wolf and being treated like a king.
My design shows Lilac Wolf surrounded by bubbles. He imagines they are craters on the moon… or snow falling in the forest. He is howling with happiness — or is he blowing/chasing bubbles?
These are the initial sketches. I really liked the texture of #1 but I decided to work with #2 because of the body shape.
The scanned sketch became a vector trace (flipped and altered slightly).
The traced fur was used as a guide for the coloured vector shading.
I deleted the original fur, continued to edit the shading and the bubbles, and gave the moon a gradient fill. I then redesigned the fur and tweaked a few things for the final logo.
P.S. For those who are curious, I’ve just been told that there was no winning design in the competition.
I drew a quick sketch of this historic Akaroa house a couple of years ago (see below) and thought it might be fun to revisit it — figuratively and literally. The photo was taken a few months ago with this Shoot it, Sketch it project in mind. Windermere was built as a boarding house in 1877.
Can you spot the subtle difference? The house no longer has a chimney (the earthquakes that have rattled the Canterbury region over the last couple of years are probably to blame — an awful lot of chimneys and brick buildings were damaged in 2011).
Others participating in Shoot it, Sketch it are Clouds of Colour, The Little Leaf, and Poppytump.
Anna Cull ~ Art & Music 