A progress post. I’m starting work on a project I initally put together as a proposal for a commission. I didn’t get it, so I’m turning it into a project for myself!

I will create a series of prints inspired by illuminated manuscripts and medieval bestiaries, with the aim of exhibiting them in a local gallery. I created three rough drawings for the initial proposal so I thought I’d develop one of those first to see how it would turn out. Above you can see the work-in-progress developed piece, and the original rough. Obviously, this one is based on the original medieval interpretation of the Unicorn.

It will be in full colour and shaded by the time I’m done, but I quite like it in just white and yellow too. :)

A drawing of a weird preserved squid-thing from the Zoology Museum the other day. :)

Here’s the refined/updated version of the dollhouse drawing everyone seems to like so much! This was part of the commission for the Cambridge and County Folk Museum (now the Museum of Cambridge). It’s one of four card designs based based on objects within the museum. You can see all four earlier in my Tumblr feed. :)

Colour Palettes:
I used my latest piece as a chance to experiment with colouring technique! I found a thing online somewhere (I forget where) which suggessted using the ‘crystallize’ filter in photoshop to create colour palettes from old photos, found images etc as guides. I decided this could be a useful way to make myself think more about the colours I use and it turned out to be a pretty successful experiment!

Above you can see two different crystalized colour palettes I tried, next to rough mock-ups of colour schemes using those palettes and the finished image. Although it adds an hour extra to my photoshop time (this image was 16+ hours after intial line drawing), I think this technique is definitely worth the effort. My colour balance appears much more refined. I think I’m going to carry on using it for everything I can, until choosing successful colour palettes becomes second nature!

My second attempt at making a gif! I thought it might be fun to record some of the steps of my illustration process while I was working on my Ten Paces and Draw ‘Bravery’ swap.

(Steps: initial scans, altered compostion/lines, base colour monster, base colour man, a few shading and lighting layers, fur and bg texture, monster texture then more shading and lighting layers.)

I signed up for Ten Paces and Draw’s latest sketch swap! The theme was ‘bravery’ and I got to work from a nice sketch from Tyler Parker. You can see my final piece next to his sketch, as well as his final from my sketch, on the Ten Paces website here.

I had fun using this as an exercise to experiment with technique, so I may put up some progress posts later on. :)

Daenerys progress gif! This is my first ever attempt at a gif. Hope it works. :p

This is meant to give a rough idea of my process, although I do tend to do bits of each rather than all at once like this (I’m pretty eclectic and distractable when I work!)

Shown: lines, flat colour layers, altered line colour, texture layers, shading layers, lighting layers.

My Daenerys portrait with finished colouring etc. No dragons, but hope you like it anyway! I’m trying to work on something with my technique with every piece I do at the moment and this time I tried to challenge myself to do some more difficult/detailed shading work. Hence, dramatic uplighting! Hopefully it makes her look a bit more challenging, plus sort of like she’s lit by fire from below? :/

Outlines for a portriat of Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones. Based on the TV series version, but tweaked a little. I may add dragons.

Oh hell! How is it 3.30am?! I got home from work and have been on photoshop since 7pm! NOT GOOD! O_o …my eyes hurt! Bed now!

Another drawing from the Anthropology Museum from a little while back. I forgot about these drawings completely, until I opened my sketchbook to draw some lizards in the Zoology Museum!

A drawing from the Anthropology Museum a few weeks ago. I’m trying to make myself experiment more with my drawing, by changing the media I use, so I’m working with coloured drawing pens instead of just black fine liners for a while.

The second lizard drawing from my drawing sessions in the Zoology Museum on Tuesday. Those scales took forever!

emmelinedraws:

…or the visual media career of someone you know - take a look at this, consider signing and share with your pals. It’s absolutely crazy. 

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/49422

A drawing from the Zoology Museum yesterday. I’m trying to make myself experiment more with my drawing, by changing the media I use, so I worked with coloured drawing pens instead of just black fine liners. Turned out a bit more realistic than my usual style.