Tree Pattern

Repeat pattern design. Watercolour trees put together using Photoshop.

Purple Hue Mountains

I thought I should do an update with an illustration I have finished lately. I have been enjoying painting mountains in pinks, purple and blues. I also recently opened a store over on Redbubble - https://www.redbubble.com/people/dagastars This should help encourage me to complete more finished pieces and get them online!

Warrior King Illustration

Here is my latest illustration I am in the process of completing. I thought I was finished until I stepped back and saw that the cloak blended in with the background. Not good. Handy tip; always step back and look at your work from a distance, you will almost always notice something that doesn't quite look right.

I was influenced by some pictures I found on Pinterest of some people in warrior costumes on a film set or photoshoot.

I used pens and watercolours.

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

An Illustration Project

An Illustration Project - Design a single page and double page spread for a magazine based on a play.

I chose A Mid-Summer Night's Dream by Shakespeare. I'm not keen on Shakespeare, but we had to chose from the suggestions given. This play was not on the list but since we could do any Shakespeare play I chose this one. I had never read it before. It is a comedy about a mischievous fairy, an angry king, a beautiful fairy queen and some other youngsters that get caught up in a love triangle. The play is a comedy and has magic and fairies in it. The themes are magic, love and dreams. I decided to give it a modern take and illustrate it in a fashion magazine style. I used inks, water-colour, pen and graphite. 

 This is my single page spread finished artwork. I decided to have Puck - the mischievous fairy in the silhouette of a moon because the moon is mentioned a lot in the play, which highlights the theme of dreams. I gave him tattoos which relate to the story, to make it look more modern.

 This is the scanned artwork which I altered slightly on Adobe Illustrator.

 In my sketchbook - the development.

 Some sketches for Titania the fairy queen who gets tricked into falling in love with a man with a donkeys head.

Hope you enjoyed looking at my blog. The work featured here is for my graded unit at college.

Nicola x

Nutshell, Illustration & outfits

First post of 2013. I have to say, I have not had much time or motivation for my blog lately. I have a few plans of posts to do very soon, including a book review and a post on my children's book that I wrote and illustrated. This post is very random, but I'm not a professional blogger so hey!

 A graphite sugar skull drawing.

 New favorite trainers - Pink Vans!

 OOTD - leopard print cardigan - H&M I added studs to the top and denim shorts

 A character sketch idea for a flower fairy in my childrens book, done with watercolours.

 Pencil drawing of a crocodile skull I did when I was at the Glasgow zoology museum.

 OOTD - T-shirt - H&M Shorts - New Look 

 Pink Rimmel nails

 OOTD - I got this car dress as a present.

Another character sketch done in colour pencil.

Hope you enjoyed looking at my pictures.