The Messy Princess

I will be done with education in under three weeks and I'm not sure how I feel about it. The search for a full-time job begins... Not to fear though, I shall be keeping up this blog with my illustration work among other exciting things I get up to.

I've been busy right now with a project for a client that I was sent on by the college, plus working on getting all my work sorted and presented for the end of the year show, which is on the 10th to the 13th of June.

I did this sketch a while ago and only recently coloured it on Photoshop. I like the way it has turned out and I feel like doing something childrens book related again.

I call it -  The Messy Princess

Everyone likes owls.

Nicola

Bear Hug

I love simple illustrations that are childlike. I took a quick pencil sketch I did and coloured it on Photoshop.

 Sketch

Illustrating a Children's Book

Here is the finished product of my illustrated version of 'Daga and the Flying Troll of Sky Mountain'

An old Swedish tale, originally illustrated by John Beaur. 

If it was to be published, this is basically how it would look.

 I drew each illustration in pen, used watercolours and finished digitally using Photoshop and Illustrator.

This one did not originally have a starry sky with a moon, I took that out and added one I did using inks, watercolour and acrylics, among other things.

This is the cover I decided on.

Hope you like!

Check out my Facebook page - www.facebook.com/strawberryskullsillustration 

Illustrating a Fairytale Part Two

My progress on this project;

I have been experimenting with media and playing around with thumbnail ideas. For this I used watercolours and white ink. I adjusted the tones slightly after I took a photo of it.

I watched a tutorial on Youtube on how to paint a galaxy. I tried it out using watercolours, bleach and acrylics. I like the way it turned out, I might do a few more of these.

 Experimenting - Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Thanks for stopping by.

Nicola

Speed Paint Watercolour

I made another attempt at using watercolours last night. I did this Dia De Los Muertos inspired sugar skull girl. I used the paints very loosely, I like splashing on the paints and using them very watery. I used a black fine liner for the details. I made my first YouTube video doing this too :)

A Midsummer Nights Dream Illustrations

As I said in my previous post, I was illustrating magazine spreads based on the play 'A Midsummer Nights Dream' for my graded unit at college. These are a few more pictures of some of my finished illustrations. These are three different illustrations featuring Titania, the queen fairy. I'm so glad this unit is over it was so stressful trying to get it finished on time! I will find out if I've passed by next week hopefully! 

I scanned them in and altered the colour on Photoshop slightly.

I mainly used inks, pen and graphite. 

Thanks for stopping by

Nicola x

Princess Mononoke

I did this drawing entirely with Derwent coloursoft pencils. I liked the movie, the characters and strangeness of it. I'm really happy with how the wolf and her face has turned out. It has taken me a while but it was fun!

Gothic Beauty Illustrations

This is what I have been working on recently on my current project at college. Design a deck of cards. It is mixed media and the theme is Gothic. 

 For this illustration I started with a pencil drawing on water-colour paper and I used plum and violet drawing ink for the background. I went over the pencil with black pen and ink. I added more ink later on for a darker look and glued on some lace for her top. I wanted this to be scary but beautiful so I added some skulls and roses.

 Mixed media - trying out prints in my sketchbook for my reverse card design. I wanted it to look like a window from the Notre Dame. 

 The same print on some hand-made paper. I created a dripping effect and filled in parts with ink. I also stuck on some lace.

 The style I am going for but more patterned and more of a circle for my final.

 Got one of these stamps with my initial to seal envelopes. I thought it would fit in my sketchbook, since I was inspired by the Victorian Gothic era.

 An idea for the queen card. I'm not completely happy with this, but I'm going to do it again anyway. I used tea stained paper and added plum and violet ink for the background effect I painted the girl in acrylic.

 Idea for my number card. Tea stained paper with acrylic sponged on and ink dripping from the top. I used acetone to transfer the images on to the paper.

 My joker card. Kind of Harley Quinn/gothic lolita inspired.

This one is one of my favourites, I like the look, it is simple but striking and I think it would work as a queen card. Again I used tea stained paper, acrylic sponged round the edges, lace and acetone transfer.

If your reading this, I hope you like my work!