"The witch's mirror." Sketch in black and silver Sharpies, with red, yellow and blue coloured pencil.
Update:
Week 52: Reflection II.
"Duck on the pond." Freecut silhouette symmetrical collage using metallic bronze card, watercolour pencils, white Signo pigment ink and black Sharpie. Based on a photo viewed in Google Images.
Sketch in finepoint black Sharpie, plus with colored pencils. From several inspirational elements found in a Google Image search.
"Catwoman consults her script." Sketch of Eartha Kitt from "Batman", based on a publicity photo. Black finepoint Sharpie and white Signo opaque pigment marker on gold Quill Metallique card, mounted on black card.
Update:
Week 38: Cat II.
"Belling the cat." Sketch of the famous fable in black finepoint Sharpie on pink card, coloured with watercolour pencils and white opaque Signo.
Week 38: Cat III.
"Meggsie hides." Watercolour, finepoint black Sharpie and watercolour pencils on watercolour paper. Based on a 1976 photo of Meggsie from my album.
"Grandfather time." Freehand sketch in black Sharpie (no pencil, no eraser), shaded with graphite and yellow, red and blue pencils. Inspirational photos sourced from Google Images.
Sketch in black Sharpie and Biro on coffee-washed paper, with shading and highlights in 2B graphite and yellow, red and blue pencils. Counter arrangement based on a vintage haberdashery store.
Freehand sketch in finepoint black Sharpie, with watercolour pencils and shading in graphite pencil and coloured pencils.
"Jack at 14." White Signo pigment ink sketch on red Quill Metallique card, with black finepoint shading and coloured oil pastel highlights. Based upon two photos from my collection.
Update:
Week 24: Birthday II.
"Happy birthday, Bert!" Oil pastels and gold glitter on black card, based on a photograph found in Google Images.
Sketches in black, blue and red Sharpie, white Puffy Paint, white opaque Signo, and gold Kindy Glitz on remnants of salted watercolour wash, mounted on black card. Inspiration from many pics in a Google Image search.
"Komodo dragon." White opaque Signo ink on brown paper, with black ballpoint detail, drawn with my left hand. Based on my own photo of a garden ornament.
Update:
Week 12: Non-dominant hand II
"Easter Bunny". Watercolours on watercolour card. Based on my own photo of my grandmother's rabbit ornament. I am a leftie; his was also with my weak right hand.
"Surprise!" Sketch in finepoint and metallic Sharpies on watercolour paper, with highlights in watercolour and dayglo yellow marker.
Update:
Week 50: Party II
Party balloons in coloured cartridge papers, collaged onto Quill glitter-finish Galaxy card.
Freehand composite sketch in waterproof black laundry marker on watercolour paper, with painted watercolour highlights. References were photographs found in Google Image searches.
Update:
Week 46: Endangered II
"New Zealand Kakapo." Sketch from a photo, found in a Google Image search. Drawn freehand (no pencil lines!) with a black laundry marker on green card. Background is watercolour spatters (around a temporary paper mask). Highlights in watercolours.
Week 46: Endangered III
"Count them while you can." Lions in gold Quill Metallique card, cut "paper doll" style, initially with two tails each, then elements removed and added to break up the symmetry. Details in black Sharpie and white Puffy paint. Count them while you can, 'cos they are disappearing!
Week 46: Endangered IV
"Mr Minotaur thinks about organising a snack." Drawing in finepoint black Sharpie. Highlights in watercolour on white Quill linenbond, collaged onto cream "marbletone" card.
"Steampunk style." Self-portrait sketch in red, black, silver and gold Sharpie markers, with watercolour highlights. No pencil, no eraser!
Update:
Week 27: Style II
Freehand cut silhouette and lettering collaged to an Origami paper circle and A3 black card. Gold foil highlight. No guidelines, some silhouette inspiration from a Google Image search.
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.)
Week 12: Costume
"Science fiction media convention costume parade". All of these entrants are me - Tellarites, Andorians and Robin the Boy Wonder - based on photos from several decades of costume parades, drawn and painted in a Perth hotel room. Sketch inked in black Sharpie on watercolour paper, coloured in watercolours and metallic Signo.
Update:
"The Not-So-Happy Dragon." Based on an actual event - when I walked into a dressing room at a charity fundraiser, to put on my superhero costume, and met half a naked dragon! No one is supposed to see who's inside the St George Bank's Happy Dragon mascot. But I did - and now... so have you! Black and green Sharpie markers with watercolour on watercolour paper, collaged onto purple handmade paper.
Week 12: Costume II
Week 3: Retro
Retro robot. Black ink Sharpie (both Stained and finepoint) and acrylic sketch on pre-cut blank jigsaw. Revealed retro television test pattern has been sepia-toned in iPhoto before printing out.
Update:
Pattern created on black "scratch paper", which comes in a pack of five sheets (plus tool) for $4.00 from a toy shop.
Week 3: Retro II
Week 1: Fairy Tale
Facebook Friend Tania McCartney is running the 52-Week Illustration Challenge again in 2015. My first effort (above) is Little Red Riding Hood: a watercoloured artwork on dampened watercolour paper. Outlined in black Sharpie - freehand with no pencil lines.
I shall be adding the artworks to this Flickr slideshow each week. Enjoy!
I did the Challenge in its inaugural year, which saw its membership surpass 2500 members! (2728 at last count!) Last year, I got into a fairly good routine of painting on a Sunday afternoon (and perhaps a little tinkering the next night), then creating the scan or digital photo so I'd be ready to post to the Challenge's Facebook page at midnight on the Tuesday. Of course, originally, I had no intention of doing a second artwork each week. I started getting intensely jealous of people putting up multiple works of a theme... so now, if inspiration strikes, I'll alway do more. I'm looking forward to seeing who's still here - and how artistic we all feel - in another year's time!
Update:
Week 1: Fairy Tale II
Peter Pan. Charcoal sketch of my Chicago actor pal, James Edward Dauphin, from a publicity shot of his featured stage role. In a costume he designed himself. Highlights in green oil pastel.
Week 1: Fairy Tale III
The Witch - of numerous fairy tales - as portrayed by Meryl Streep in 'Into the Woods'. Charcoal over watercolour wash on A3 watercolour paper. Based on a publicity photo.
I saw the movie, Into the Woods, on Sunday night and that particular image of Meryl Streep as The Witch has been haunting me ever since. I did exaggerate her nose because she was looking too pretty. I was excited by the randomness of the watercolour wash. Just as it was close to drying, I patted off excess green in the centre, with a scrunched paper towel, guessing where the face needed to be. Then I kept reorienting the paper, trying to decide which way was "up". Working with charcoal takes me back to the late 70s/early 80s. Nostalgia plus!
Again live from Michigan, USA! Sitting here in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on a drizzly Tuesday morning, patiently(?) waiting for it to be Wednesday in Australia, so that I can share my "Week 28: Feather" before I'm out of Internet range for a whole week! Here is some assemblage art, which uses sequins, plastic jewels, chenille sticks, stickered lettering, a touch of gold glitter, a wiggly eye - and real feathers - on a wooden blank of a rather plain bird who now feels Very Pretty.
Week 28: Feather
The original blank (right) and an outdoors shot (left and below) of the complete work.
Update:
When my brother's then girlfriend planned on wearing a Scarlet O'Hara crinoline for a fancy dress party in the late 70s, she ordered him the Rhett Butler outfit at the hire store. He examined it, baulked at the price and, instead, asked me to help him make a crepe paper chicken costume. Girlfriend was appalled - and my brother the chook was startled to meet a butcher at the party, who chased him all night with a giant plastic meat cleaver. Not easy to run in swimming flippers! Based on a Polaroid photo taken by me, the sketch is done in oil pastels on Ingres paper.
Week 28: Feather II
Week 28: Feather III
As in Arnold Feather (Jeff Kevin) of "Number 96", inspired by Andy Warhol's infamous Marilyn Monroe artwork. Freehand sketch with black Sharpie on transparent plastic film. Six coloured papers were placed on top, to colour areas with pencils, then placed underneath for individual photography. Six digital thumbnail tiles were then sorted in iPhoto and a final "screenshot" taken.
Week 17: Horse I and II
Horses and Seahorse in double-ended black Sharpie on acrylic backgrounds over primed canvas miniatures. Detail in metallic gold Signo pigment ink. Horses are based on a sculpture displayed in the foyer of the Manning Building, Pitt Steet, near Central Station, Sydney CBD. Seahorse is from a photograph I took at Darling Harbour Aquarium.
Updates: I saw a giant permanent marker in a discount store and had an idea to try sketching a zebra with minimal pencilled guidelines. I'm quite happy with the result. It's huge in comparison to the miniatures!
Week 17: Horse III - ZebraZebra sketch inked with 7mm "extra broad" black permanent marker, with watercolour muzzle and background on A3 art paper. I also had a burning idea for a cartoon:
Week 17: Horse IV - Washing day at the pantomimeDouble-ended black Sharpie (no pencil lines!), plus watercolour on white primed gesso canvas sheet.
Toy chicken and polar bear. Double-ended waterproof black Sharpie.
Week 8: Crosshatching
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