illustration

Shoot it, Sketch it: Black bird

| Anna Cull
Black bird on a grey day – ink and watercolour, 125 x 170 mm, 2012

Here is my second sketch for Shoot it, Sketch it — take a photo of something and then sketch, draw or paint it. The initial sketch was done with dip pen and ink. The watercolour background (something I painted for another project last year) was added in Photoshop.

The photo (below) was taken on a grey, spring day when I spotted this little bird on a tree outside my studio window. It was taken in a hurry, through the less-than-spotlessly-clean window, but was still good enough to use as a reference. Something about the silhouette appealed to me and I thought it would be fun to draw — and it was.

original photo
original sketch

Check out what Bec from Clouds of Colour and Alana from The Little Leaf have done this week too. They’re the bloggers who introduced the Shoot it, Sketch it feature.

Shoot it, Sketch it: Blue door

| Anna Cull

Blue door – ink and watercolour, 220 x 205 mm, 2012.

Bec from Clouds of Colour and Alana from The Little Leaf started a new feature on their blogs this week. It’s called Shoot it, Sketch it. The idea is that you take a photo of something and then you sketch, draw or paint it. Just for fun. And I’m joining in…

Here’s my first offering. The reference photo (below) is not great quality — it was taken on my nothing-special Nokia phone which I carry everywhere mainly so that I can collect images for drawing and painting (such as this door) when I don’t have my camera with me. It’s quite handy as a phone too ; )

Out of the blue

| Anna Cull

Seagull #1 – acrylic on card, 210 x 297 mm, 2012.

I’ve been spending a bit of time on digital illustrations lately and felt the need to get back to something altogether more analogue. So I spent an hour messing about with acrylics…

Whether it’s good, bad or mediocre — if I don’t create it, nobody else will.

Polishing cats

| Anna Cull

Unpolished cat sketch – ink on paper, 55 x 60 mm, 2012.

My friend has introduced me to the wonderful world of polishing cats.* Closely related to procrastination, it’s a term for doing things that don’t really need to be done right now but which mysteriously rise to the top of your ‘to do’ list when there is something important that requires your attention.

I’m supposed to be working on a logo. I have the concept, the reference material and I’m now ready to draw it. I really like drawing and I enjoy designing logos but, for some reason, I can’t seem to settle into the sitting-down-and-getting-on-with-it stage. Instead, I have posted a birthday card, put petrol in the car, done the dishes and finished my mise en place for dinner. I’ve also written to my friend telling her all about it and now I’m preparing this entry for my blog. That’s a whole lot of shiny cats… and still no logo.

*DISCLAIMER ~ The author of this blog does not advocate or in any way condone the literal polishing of cats. That would be silly.

Mole in New Zealand

| Anna Cull

Mole in NZ – ink and watercolour on paper, 290 x 410 mm, 2012.

MOLE THE WORLD — international art project

Mole the World is a global connection of artists from many countries through photos, drawings, graffiti, graphics and any other creative use of the project symbol: Mole. The goal of the project is to spread the idea of ‘moling’ — using the symbol in artistic ways.

Feeling creative? Visit the website: Mole the World.

My thanks to Katya for her post about the Mole the World project.