Return of the 52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 21

Week 21: Stripes

"Pinguins". Pinstripe tuxedo penguins, freehand-cut from photocopied pinstriped material, collaged onto a salted watercolour background, with handmade paper ice mounds, white Puffy paint eyes, and black finepoint Sharpie details. Adjusted to grey tones in Photo.

It actually felt like one of my simpler collages. Glad I went with photocopied fabric and not actual fabric, as I think the edges would have frayed. The sky was my second attempt at salting (didn't realise it had to be rock salt, but this time I raided my salt cellar and it worked quit well!) Turning the blue section to monochrome was actually an accident in my new Photo app, but I liked the effect. The original sky is a gentle blue.

Update:

Very excited that my "pinguins" (above) were reposted by the TOFOP gang, the Facebook page for Wil Anderson and Charlie Clausen's hilarious "Thirty-Odd Foot of Podcast"! (Charlie once revealed, in an early episode, that he couldn't say "pinguins", and it became a running gag.)

Week 21: Stripes II

Here's "The leopard who changed his spots". Freehand-cut tiger (from the patterned paper cover of an old sketch pad), decorated in black Sharpie and white UniPaint opaque markers, watercolours, and then collaged onto red handmade paper with some fur fabric remnants.

I finally glued down all the elements. I was so scared I'd wreck something! Sometimes collage has a mind of its own. I must say, S. John Ross, the late Silhouette Man of Luna Park Sydney, is my inspiration when I'm freehand cutting shapes out of paper. It's very empowering to create with only scissors - and no pencil guidelines or erasers!

Week 21: Stripes III

"Barber shop, Ann Arbor, Michigan". Watercolour with black and red Sharpie markers and white opaque Signo. I photographed this traditional, rotating, striped barber pole in winter, during a vacation to my penpal's home town in USA. Loved the row of outdoor chairs for waiting customers - rain, hail, sleet or snow.

Return of the 52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 20

Week 20: Melancholy

"Why the long face, Melan-collie?" Sketch using red Sharpie, white UniPaint and black fineline markers and coloured pencils on goldenrod paper. Based on a Google Images photo and childhood memories.

Update:

Week 20: Melancholy II

Morticia's perpetually sad Cousin Melancholia, "The Addams Family". Black and blue Sharpie and Signo white inks, and watercolours on corrugated cardboard. Based on a publicity photo of actress Hazel Shermet. (The hat looks great on my iPhone. Looks like I collaged it from straw, but just tan watercolour over black and white ink lines! I was a little disappointed, when researching Cousin Melancholia's likeness, that she was the least bizarre of all the Addams and Frumps! But I'd never forgotten her name. I really love how the purple wash worked out. The moon had been too-stark white until I added the purple.)

Return of the 52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 19

Week 19: Eat

Symmetrical whale and fish templates freehand-cut and fringed from folded watercolour paper, mounted onto textured black card. Decorated in watercolours, black Sharpie ink and white Puffy paint.

Update:

Week 19: Eat II

Luna Park - Just for Indigestion. I know people who refuse to walk through the Luna Park Sydney entrance because they imagine this might happen! Outlined in thick black Sharpie, coloured with watercolour, silver Sharpie and white opaque Signo ink, and collaged onto word-processed card.

Return of the 52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 18

Week 18: Art Deco

"RT-Deco". It seemed appropriate for Star Wars Day ("May the 4th be with you") this week. Art Deco-inspired droid, sketched in blue and black Sharpie inks on textured white card, with watercolour highlights.

Update:

Week 18: Art Deco II

Diana Lamp base in silver and black Sharpie and white Signo pigment ink on textured black card.