Halloween Zombie Doll and Comic Noir

After saying I was going to stay in last night I ended up in the Cathouse! I didn't feel like wearing my cheerleader costume again so I put on a little dress with a petticoat underneath, and did some 'zombie doll' type makeup. It was good fun I'm actually glad I went.

I'm planning on doing some comic noir style drawings for my current college project. I have to design a book cover for The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. We have been asked to come up with something original and give a new take on it, as it has been illustrated so many times already. I am still learning how to draw comic book style, these are some quick sketches of detective Philip Marlowe.

Here are some examples of comic noir style. I think this style would be fitting for the book cover because it is a more modern take and may appeal more to younger people. 

Happy Halloween! Subcrawl and Sugarskulls.

For halloween this year I dressed up as Claire Bennett from Heroes and did the Glasgow Sub crawl with my friends.

 Getting into the spooky theme with sugar skull nails.

 Sugar skull makeup I did on my friend Lesley. Worked out really cool considering I did it just after I'd woken up!

Some more instagram photos.

Random cups of tea and the full moon on Monday night.

My sketchbook with blood splatters which I later stuck pictures on.

Lots of fun! I am spending actual halloween sitting at home infront of the tv.

Life Drawing

If you are an art student at art school or college, you will probably have to do live drawing at one point. It is a great way of improving your drawing skills or sharpening them up a bit if you haven't drawn for a while. It is important, as an artist, to know the anatomy of the human body and draw it right.

trying out comic book style drawing.

Some instagram photos.

It has been really nice in Glasgow the past few days, quite sunny, I went for a walk in Kelvingrove park in Glasgow and took these snaps.

Drawings and gigs

I'm off college for the October break now, so plenty of time to get more drawing and painting done. I got a new phone, so I can now blog on the go, I might give it a try. Lately I've been doing a little drawing, going to cinema, gigs and stuff. I went to see Sound Over Silence and two other bands last Saturday at Pivo Pivo in Glasgow, it was a dress up EP launch night, lots of fun! soundoversilence.co.uk

I went along to the exhibition at my local art centre on Saturday. It was interesting to see all the fantastic pieces that people had entered. I enjoyed getting different responses from my painting. One woman even said when she looked at it, it made her feel sad, but she liked it... I think some people didn't know what to say about it too. The experience has definitely inspired me to create more art that will shock, or get people thinking 'why has she painted that?'. I was really pleased to find out that someone had put a reserve on my painting, turns out it was the lovely girl who worked at the reception. It is a great feeling knowing that someone actually liked my work so much they bought it.

Sugar Skull Girl Painting

A painting I finished about three weeks ago. Sugar Skull Girl, acrylic on canvas. I am very pleased with how it has turned out she looks pretty alluring and haunting I'd say. I'm putting it into an exhibition at the beginning of August so I'll see what other people make of it.

Mixed Media Sketchbook

These are my own mixed media creations.

Mixed media is a form of visual art which combines more than one technique or use of material.

I am planning on doing more blog posts on my college projects. It is likely I will be incorporating a lot of mixed media in my drawings in the next two years, since I love experimenting. This project featured was one I did last term at college. It was the first time I had ever done a mixed media project. I had to choose a song, memory or play as my inspiration for my final piece. I chose the song White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane. It probably was not the best choice because that song is very psychedelic and when I listen to it I imagine vibrant, smoky, melty colours. We were told to work in neutral colours. Anyway, I had fun experimenting in my sketchbook - burning, ripping, staining, battering, chopping, sewing, melting etc a whole bunch of different materials, metals and paper. For one of my final pieces I sewed some lyrics from the song I chose on to some material which I then distressed and stained with tea and coffee. I was very happy with the result. It was all about experimenting and having fun! It didn't have to be neat.

A Few Words

Some recent sketches.

I am going back to college in a week and can't wait! I had my induction day last Wednesday and I got to meet everyone in my class, it was good to see some old faces. There was alot of new faces too! We got given our timetable, new sketchbook, a long list of materials to buy and an introductory brief. They want us to do some drawings from memory. I've done that before and it's actually really difficult. I bought a new moleskine sketchbook for the year. I have not been doing much drawing lately but I'm hoping I will feel more inspired when college starts! I have started a painting today, I am going to try and get a painting in to an exhibition in October, it would be so cool if I got a painting on display! I have a month til the deadline! My cat enjoys lounging in my bed when I'm not in it.