Year 3 of the 52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 3

Week 3: Theme Park

"The Rotor, Luna Park Sydney." Red and gold Quill Metallique and black card, cut freehand, and collaged onto Ingres paper. Human characters detailed in black and white Sharpie and watercolours.

Update:

Week 3: Theme Park II

In memory of the late S John Ross, silhouette artist at Luna Park and theme parks and agricultural shows all over Australia. Collage and silhouettes using natural shadows.

Week 3: Theme Park III

"Mr Minotaur's A-mazing Theme Park". Black Sharpies, white opaque Signo and watercolour on Quill "marbletone" cream paper. Details in watercolour pencils and some yellow Puffy paint.

Return of the 52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 35

Week 35: Botany

Watercolour of Botany Bay, New South Wales, featuring the Cook's Landing obelisk, and Australian wattle and banksia plants in the foreground. Details in black finepoint Sharpie, watercolour pencils, Puffy paint and yellow cellophane.

Update:

Week 35: Botany II

"Hedges trained by Bark's Backyard". Out the back of Mr Minotaur's famous labyrinth, of course, was his lesser-known, but just as complicated, hedge maze. Collage of watercolour on textured cards, with details in black finepoint Sharpie, a little oil pastel, and some yellow Puffy paint.

Return of the 52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 33

Week 33: Mythology

"Icarus flies too high..." Drawing of Icarus with finepoint black Sharpie. Highlights in watercolour on white Quill linenbond paper, collaged onto a yellow paper Origami circle and blue felt background. Cloud formations created with cotton wool unwound from a cotton bud. Several photos of Pygar the angel from Barbarella used as reference.

Update:

Week 33: Mythology II

"Behind every successful Minotaur is a clever publicist." Drawing of Mr Minotaur and his aide, Mini Taur, in finepoint black Sharpie. Highlights in watercolour on Quill papers: white linenbond collaged onto cream "marbletone".

Week 33: Mythology III

The dugong, origin of the mythological mermaids. Charcoal sketch on blue card with metallic silver Sharpie and opaque white Signo highlights. Based on my own photograph of Wuru, the Sea Life Sydney Aquarium's female dugong.

Return of the 52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 30

Week 30: Portrait

"Mr Minotaur's Portrait Gallery". A3 collage using Quill "marbletone" cream paper, with details in black finepoint Sharpie, watercolours and white opaque Signo.

And in closeup:

Return of the 52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 10

Week 10: Night

Watercolours on white watercolour paper. Permanent black Sharpie inked outline, with silver Sharpie highlights.

Update:

"Mr Minotaur prepares for bed after a hard day's night in the Labyrinth." Freehand sketch in black permanent Sharpie, with watercolours on watercolour paper. Live from my hotel room!

Week 10: Night II

52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 51

The Minotaur in his labyrinth. Collage of black card over red "bricks", textured with sponged watercolour.

Week 51: Silhouette

Update:

"Lions of Taronga, 1960s". Based on a friend's photograph and my own childhood memories. Background in watercolour and double-ended black Sharpie; lion and lioness silhouettes cut freehand from textured, handmade paper. So many times in the 60s, 70s and 80s did I lean on the fence staring into the lion pit. The pit is still there at Taronga Zoo, but totally remodeled so that it is viewed from the side at the lions' level. The wall depicted at the back is now glass and the public can't access the rim of the pit. This particular enclosure, which used to have a large map of Australia painted on its concrete floor(?) in the 50s and early 60s, now houses a tiger family.

Week 51: Silhouette II

There is a version of this b/w background sketched in pencil onto a canvas frame for "Black + White" week but, at the last minute, I realised the canvas was treated to repel water! I then tried to replicate it onto white watercolour paper, but totally ran out of time to finish the detailing (not to mention the lions). Then I realised I should just save it for "Silhouette" week, so I completed it tonight... after many weeks mulling it over in my head.

52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 21

Week 21: Boxes

Coinciding with the 2014 National Simultaneous Storytime, this box of elephants from the picture book, "Too many elephants in this house" (by Ursula Dubosarsky and Andrew Joyner) was created with masking tape, red acrylic paint with sponged shading, blue corrugated cardboard, black ink permanent marker and pink and silver waterbomb balloons. Trunks were cut from matching pink and silver plastic partyware bowls. This prop will be part of my school's celebrations of this annual ALIA event.

Back of Elephant house

This back panel was left unpainted deliberately. Note the yellow plastic ladder emerging from the chimney hole.

One more elephant squeezes in!

Udates:
Inspiration struck tonight whist walking home in the dark from the train station. Here's the Minotaur in his labyrinth on Crete, created in just ten minutes with a cardboard box and a kitchen knife to make some slots.

Week 21: Boxes II.

Black Unipin fine line pigment ink cartoon on cartridge paper. Seemed like a good week for a soapbox.

Week 21: Boxes III.

An idea flashed into my head during breakfast and I simply had to do it immediately. Before this Challenge, ideas like this probably would be fleeting - and never made permanent. Corrugated craft board, with colour highlight from an ancient Faber-Castell Metallic Silky Pastel.

Week 21: Boxes IV.