Adelaida

DS II 23

2012-02-01T12:00:00.000+01:00

Finally got to the point. It's the last of the late Daily Sketches, now I'm up-to-date :)

It feels nice.

Here are next 2 catmarks. I like the white one, it's the same silly type that this U-cat :3

All the bookmarks and catmarks are on my Etsy shop - feel free to check them out :) They're really cute!

A.

DS II 22

2012-02-01T09:00:00.000+01:00

Two cats for day 22. With the first one I did not have a specific idea how to cut it out so it's more oval. But I think that the 2nd version looks better. Don't you think? :)

Check out my Etsy shop for more bookmarks.

A.

DS II 21

2012-02-01T08:30:00.001+01:00

And the last U-cat bookmark :)

Check my Etsy shop, section Bookmarks for more kitty cat cuteness :3

A.

Illustration Friday - Forward + DS II 20

2012-02-01T08:30:00.000+01:00

Do you remember my cat? Well, it's a secret but I'll tell you, she became a super cat lately :) She often disappears and when comes back she wears a cape :P I should tell her that she is supposed to hid it before showing up again.

You can find this picture in my Etsy shop in the Little Pieces section.

A.

DS II 19

2012-02-01T05:30:00.000+01:00

All those dots and spots remind me of a circus and/or clowns. This cat looks silly with them :)

Find this bookmark in my Etsy shop in the Bookmark section.

A.

DS II 18 - Misiokot

2012-02-01T05:00:00.001+01:00

This is Misiokot - my Love's cat. He's not a zombie here - he looks like this when I learn him walk on two legs ;P

DS II 17

2012-02-01T05:00:00.000+01:00

Siamese cat for day 17! When I was young we had a Siamese cat named Casper (after the cartoon ghost, I think). He was a silly cat always falling from places and being clumsy :)

Check out Bookmark section in my Etsy shop for more kitty bookmarks.

A.

DS II 16

2012-02-01T04:30:00.001+01:00

A little set of book tags I've made for day 16 :)

Check the Bookmark section in my Etsy shop to find them.

A.

DS II 15 - Fox

2012-01-31T22:12:00.000+01:00

Bookmarks I've promised to do for my friend Kamila.

One goes to her, the rest to my Etsy shop :3

A.

DS II 14 - You

2012-01-31T20:44:00.001+01:00

So I have a lot of cats to show you :) I've been making them everyday (as it is supposed for a Daily Sketch) but for some reason I have not been showing them here.

So get ready for a pack of cats :3

As usual all Daily Sketches are in my Etsy shop.

A.

DS II 13 - Machinery

2012-01-23T02:15:00.002+01:00

Robo-cats? Yeah, why not :)

And this is another bookmark that you can find in my Etsy shop :)

A.

Twirl - Illustration Friday + DS II 12

2012-01-23T02:06:00.002+01:00

I'm not sure if I'll do a bookmark from it too - I have accidentally used a too thin paper and now it's all too wavy. :/ Damn.

But still, you can find the rest of my bookmarks in my Etsy shop :)

A.

DS II 11 - Pack

2012-01-22T11:30:00.000+01:00

That's a big pack! And there are more to come :)

And here are my packs:

Wolves

Horses

Super cats (flaying on a super secret meeting - that's why they don't wear their capes)

All of those bookmarks will be available in my Etsy shop!

A.

DS II 10 - Arrival - commissioned work

2012-01-19T00:17:00.001+01:00

I guessed that, since those French cats suit the theme so much and I have made them today, they actually can be treated as today's Daily Sketch :)

Here are some sketches from which they were chosen. M and S are capitals of their names and the pictures are relevant to their nature :)

I could paint cats every day!

A.

DS II 9 - Geography

2012-01-19T00:09:00.001+01:00

Word 'geography' appeared to be quite hard to picture. Unlike with other illustrations I had to figure out the idea, it has not been waiting for me in my head. But I guess it's a good thing - making my brain work harder :)

Find it in my Etsy shop :3

A.

From my sketchbook

2012-01-18T11:55:00.000+01:00

In this part of sketches most of them were made for my DS II works - just jotted some ideas down.

The first idea for a 'relationship' picture were girls making braids to each other. Oh, and on the top of the page you can also see a hedgehog with his favourite brush :)

Working on the look of the girls in 'relationship' illustration. Then suddenly a faerie appears! She looks like some kind of a warrior faerie here.

But here she does not look like that anymore ;) As you can see, at the beginning she was holding a sword - I have no idea from where that match came..

Here someone is getting prepared for a party. Firstly I wanted her to paint her lips but I thought that adding mascara on lashes is more silly - especially with a mouth always open ;) The cats you can see are first sketches for 2 commissioned cat pictures I'll be making today.

And here are the ideas for the last 4 Daily Sketches. The 'leaf' one I had already clearly pictured in my mind so I just had to decide on the composition. As for 'arcade' I wanted to make something that looked like from an arcade game. And since I already had Faceless Faeries in my mind, then here's what came out of it :) Silly thing, when I got to 'chewing' I thought of chewing a cat ^_^" Some weird stuff is living in my head! The lady at the bottom will be a Daily Sketch II 9 - 'geography'.

Enough for today :) With DSII I make a lot of sketches everyday so soon enough I will show a new bunch of them.

A.

DS II 8 - Chewing

2012-01-18T02:12:00.000+01:00

And that's the kind of silly idea I get so often...

*om nom nom*

Check out my Etsy shop if you're interested in purchasing this picture or any other Daily Sketch illustration :)

A.

DS II 7 - Arcade

2012-01-18T02:08:00.000+01:00

Fabulous Word Generator has given me this word - arcade. I checked if it has got a different meaning than I'm used to and, actually, the way I think of arcade is so much different than the dictionary's way ;)

For me word ARCADE will always be connected to games.

And here's my fierce and adventurous Faceless Faerie Warrior on her quest :)

If you'd like to get this tiny little faerie to accompany you every day, just check my Etsy shop. You can find there all of my Daily Sketches (look in the Little Pieces section).

A.

DS II 6 - Leaf

2012-01-18T02:01:00.000+01:00

This time a word has been given by my friend. But she gives me words not to paint or draw them but to write short stories about them. However, as it usually is when it comes to visual creators - the image came to me faster than the plot ;)

Actually, plot is still way way behind ;]

UPDATE 2012 I 18

I've added few more layers and I think it looks better now :)

As usual, you can find this illustration in my Etsy store.

A.

Prepare - Illustration Friday + DS II 5

2012-01-17T22:42:00.002+01:00

Day 5! :) I should post it on Friday so I guess I'm a bit late. But, let's face it, better later than never!

You may not know it but I have a very big crush on everything 50's-like, retro & rockabilly style, tattoos and corsets. And red hair. So here's all-in-1 :)

You can find this image in my Etsy shop in the Little Pieces section.

A.

DS II 4 - Synonym

2012-01-17T14:25:00.000+01:00

It appears that this picture is really my 2nd one from this Daily Sketch, not 4th. When I was making posts about the previous ones this hedgehog hid somewhere and I thought 'that's all'. Then I found it. Good to know that I'm one less behind ;)

As usual, you can find this picture ready for purchase in my Etsy shop.

A.

DS II 3 - Caring

2012-01-17T00:50:00.002+01:00

Firstly, I wanted her to be a very cute fairy but at some point she got that mischievous face grin and then, from nowhere, a match appeared in her hands. I think she may not be caring in a way positive for you anymore... Now it's more like - caring to burn your house down when you least expect it ;)

You can find this picture and the rest of my Daily Sketches in my Etsy shop. They all are in the Little Pieces section where the prices are always less than $20 :)

A.

DS II 2 - Relationship

2012-01-17T00:45:00.001+01:00

I've got some sketches made for this one. I will show them all in a separate 'from my sketchbook' post :)

This illustration can be found in my Etsy shop.

A.

For choosing words for every day's sketch I'm using this Word Generator. It's more handy than picking up words from a dictionary ;)

Bunny girl day

2012-01-09T20:34:00.003+01:00

It has been a day of bunnies :)

Grounded - Illustration Friday + Daily Sketch II 1

2012-01-09T18:46:00.001+01:00

Some time ago I've been making Daily Sketches and, looking back, it was not only fun. I've learnt a great deal then. That's why I've been aiming to try it one more time. Wonder what will I learn this time :)

Also - I will put all those images for sale in my Etsy shop. They will be, probably, mostly Little Pieces so their price won't reach more than $20. Hopefully, all of them will find a new home =:3

I don't remember if I have ever been grounded, but every time I had to study something for a test/exam I felt like being punished more and more with every single page ;)

A.

Christmas baby angels

2012-01-04T00:42:00.000+01:00

This Christmas my family was a host, what happens quite rarely. I liked it a lot, it was so much more peaceful but it also didn't feel like true Christmas. I'm just used to going to Pulawy city where all my family was born and where the rest of our relatives live.

My mum was quite excited with all that Christmas preparations and she got crazy decorating house. For example, I with my youngest sister have to make napkin holders. I never thought that just laying the napkins next to plates is so yesterday ;)

Here are the holders:

We had to sew together those angels and straps (in shape of Christmas trees, of course!). It was my sister's first time of using needle so the first angel she made was a bit bloody ;P

And here are some more photos, my family really wanted to see those ^^ And you will also see a bit of my life.

Those are my two sisters - Kate (bigger one) and Zuzia (smaller one). They both are younger :)

Here are my grandparents (from mum's side of family). In the background you can see a fish tank on which my cat usually sleeps.

This is my dad and a fish plate I won last year through Design Files. My dad loves to eat fish so he decided to make a very fancy version of a pike perch with apples, cranberries and I-have-no-idea-what-more. It was yummy!

Mmmm... :3

I hope that we will be hosting Easter breakfast too!

A.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-02T07:03:00.000+01:00

Here's a brand new illustration I've made for F My Life.

Its story:
Today, I went out for New Year's. When I got back, I found my house had been broken into. I found a note saying, "Happy New Year, sucker." FML

But I wish that your New Year will be happy indeed :)

A.

Highlights - Illustration Friday + contest picture

2011-12-31T21:18:00.002+01:00

Highlights of this year? I don't really know - so much have happened. But you can say that this little green droid became very important so here's a picture with it :)

It's been a while since I've shown the whole process. You can see how I've made this illustration - I've used Wacom Inkling for sketches and Photoshop for colouring.

Here's a sketch of another illustration I've started - you can see it on my facebook.

Do you know this guy? :)

Done! :D

You may not know - since it's a traditional thing only in Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia and Czech Republic - they are sharing Christmas wafers and wishing the best for one another :)

I've made a Christmas card out of this illustration and, hopefully, I'll win a cute white tablet. The contest is on this page - tabletowo.pl

Going on a New Year's Eve party now - see you again in the 2012.

Happy New Year!

A.

Messenger - Illustration Friday

2011-12-28T14:22:00.000+01:00

This year is quite weird. We had no real summer in Poland - whole summer holiday period looked like autumn. It rained almost all the time and the sun hid itself somewhere. Then came autumn (the real one) so the weather stayed the same. Now it should be middle of winter and it hasn't snowed here ONCE. It's only a bit cold. I'm getting bored of autumn ;P

However, all those autumn colours are too fabulous to not use them.

So here's my messenger of autumn who came too early and stayed too long :)

You can buy this picture in my Etsy shop.

A.

Girls

2011-12-24T15:24:00.001+01:00

There are 4 girls, except me, working in our coffee shop. We spend quite a lot of time together while working almost every single day, so it was quite obvious that I should give them something pretty this Christmas. And here's what it was :) (I can show you already because they haven't waited and unwrapped their presents as soon as they got home yesterday...)

Monika

Justyna

Agnieszka

Marlena

And here are some photos from our Christmas Eve meeting yesterday :) It was fun!

My muffins, they were great :)

Pierogi.... Do you have pierogi out there in your country to eat? If not, you must be really unhappy ;)

Those drinks were delicious *__*

All the pictures were in white frames like this - I have totally forgotten to take photos of them all together so this is the only thing I have now. Picture taken by the new owner, Justyna :)

Merry Christmas to you!

Bracelets for you and me

2011-12-21T22:10:00.000+01:00

Here are two bracelets I have made recently as commissions. I think they look fabulous :)

Both were bought through this listing in my Etsy shop - custom made bracelets.

Here are some photos of the process :)

26 things on 26th birthday

2011-12-21T19:40:00.000+01:00

The idea has been copied from Hanna :)

Although 4 months have passed since my 25th birthday, I think I will still manage to make those 26 things. Or at least try to. It's a good thing to always have a goal. And I think it's so much easier if the goal (the big one) or goals (all those little ones) are written down and hanging in front of you every day. So you won't forget and try, try, try, always try to reach them :)

Here's my 26:

1. Get driving licence. At last.
2. Write and illustrate my own book.
3. Make my web site.
4. Create a T-shirt design (and get that Tee to wear!).
5. Learn to sew.
6. Sew something for me to wear.
7. Sew something for the house to have.
8. Make an inspiration board (because it's not so inspiring right now..).
9. Learn Italian (go through the whole beginning course I've got).
10. Learn Finnish (same thing)
11. Get a new pretty tattoo :)
12. Keep my weight.
13. Get more girly.
14. Make Daily Sketch vol. 2 for at least a month.
15. Read all books by Trudi Canavan.
16. And 'Witcher' books.
17. And all 'Moomins' books :3
18. And finish reading all those books I've started and stopped reading for some unknown reason.
19. Find a representative in UK and/or US.
20. Win a contest.
21. Buy something valuable for my Love.
22. Get more into zen.
23. Practice yoga.
24. Take my Etsy shop to a next level.
25. Visit two places I have never been to before.
26. Get out to my own place.

Will check how I'm doing in four months time, in April, when I'll be in the middle of my 26-things-on-26th-birthday journey :)

A.

Stars in Wayne's Coffee

2011-12-03T10:23:00.001+01:00

Time to get ready for Christmas :)

Her name is not Ola, if you were wondering ;] it's mine.

There'll be more stars to cut, glue and hang! :)

A.

Tarot

2011-12-02T17:04:00.001+01:00

I don't know if there's a holiday like this somewhere else, so you may not know that the day of 30th of October is the day of fortune-telling in Poland.

There are many many different ways of telling what will be one's future - some are used all over the world (like pouring liquid wax through a key hole and finding meaning of the given shape by seeing its shadow) and some are, maybe, used only in Poland. I haven't looked closely to it so I cannot tell you :)

Back to the point. Because of this holiday we had a special guest in our coffee shop. He stayed with us for few hours and used his tarot cards to answer people's questions.

I've decided to give it a try before any other customer got interested. I do believe in fortune-telling as I cast runes from time to time and they have never guided me wrong.

I've asked if my illustrations will conquer the world.

First, I had to draw a card that describes me and where I actually am.

I'm the fool ;P And I'm beginning my journey. It's a beginning of a beginning so not even a single step had been taken.

Then came three cards describing (probably) past, present and future. Although the tarotist said something like "Let's see what your fate thinks about it..". I don't know much about different tarot layouts so I'm not sure. Maybe you know?

I'm not sure if I remembered the last 2 cards right. I'm sure that the 2nd one got wands and that there were 5 or 6 of them and only the one with 5 fits what was described. About the 3rd - picture on a card was presenting a man like Odysseus - on a boat with his eyes covered, tied to some ship's part, with few mermaids in water in the background. I have not read what was the card's name so it was really hard to find it. And I have totally not seen any swords there. Or cups or anything else of this sort. But the person with covered eyes looks just like it. Hope I got it right :)

And this is the answer:
I have to go out to the world with what I make. What is happening now is just the beginning, and it's even hard to tell where this journey will lead me.

After all this fortune-telling I was asked to draw another card to check if I understood what I've been told, and this is it:

I'm still alone in my journey but there's a bit of light ^^

Hope everything will go well. I really do.

A.

Legs over head

2011-11-17T00:15:00.001+01:00

I'm wondering how it would look if people were sleeping curled like that with legs just next to head :P Someone should totally draw it!

My blog felt lonely with so many posts without my cat :3

A.

Bookmarks

2011-11-16T23:26:00.001+01:00

Some time ago I have made custom bookmarks of a sheep, a cow and a cat - here's how they turned out.

Maybe you'd like to get a personalized bookmark too? :) If yes, here's where you should click - >>click<<
:)

A.

Christmas gift tags

2011-11-10T15:12:00.001+01:00

Each year I make gift tags for Christmas for my family and sometimes even for my Love's family. So this time I've made them earlier and I am wondering if you think they are cute :)

For unknown reason I love how those ribbons look :3 When I was still in art school I went through a 'Ribbon Stage' when everything I drew or painted had ribbons everywhere. It feels that this stage may be coming back ;)

The sets are for sale in my Etsy shop:
- home pets
- wild animals

A.

First professional photoshoot..

2011-10-27T21:28:00.000+02:00

..of my cat! :) Yesterday, my friend Aria was tricked to come and visit me with her brand new camera and then she had no other choice than to take photos of my cat. I liked all of them but she decided that only 5 are good enough to show.

You can see the rest of the photos on her blog - here.

Hopefully, I will steal the rest of those photos from her and show too ;)

A.

From my sketchbook

2011-10-27T11:00:00.000+02:00

This is what happens when I watch a movie for a second time and I'm not really into watching it and there is a paper and a pen somewhere near :)

There are mostly MEs and MY LOVEs there. But you can also find My Love's cat and my dog :)

A.

Scattered - Illustration Friday

2011-10-22T12:29:00.001+02:00

In the shop they said that this Carrot Carrot-Collector would be the best because carrots were not afraid of it and would be easily pulled out. Well, they were... Pulled out in all possible directions!

Be careful when buying technical gadgets ;)

A.

Hibernate - Illustration Friday

2011-10-12T09:48:00.000+02:00

I feel like hibernating for all Fall and winter... It's becoming more and more impossible to get up early and when I see that it's still dark outside then I loose all my faith in this season of the year ;)

The picture is available in my Etsy shop - Secret Drawer.

A.

Contraption - Illustration Friday

2011-10-11T11:22:00.000+02:00

Is a swing enough to be called a contraption? :)

This is a custom illustration I did recently. It was made for Moomins' fan. I'm also a fan of those stories so it was a pleasure to paint it :)

A.

Pizza part 3

2011-10-03T01:58:00.000+02:00

After another weekend at work in a cafe I was back to painting the walls. I had 3 days and a morning of the 4th to start and finish the last wall and add some small details to the previous ones. So it was a lot to do considering that previous walls took me 7 days to (almost) finish :P But! I took my Love with me again and when I was making the details he was, again, painting base colours and drawings straight lines and so on and so on. What a helpful creature :3

Here are the pictures:

First sketch. The whole painting was supposed to be based on this picture. But there was no way of making it the same (and absolutely no fun!) so I've changed it. A lot ;)

This wall colour suited the furniture so well.. But in the end both of them looked different than here.

This time I took my music in a more convenient way than a huge laptop. And I could just concentrate on painting. I cannot imagine creating anything without any music in the background.

My Love helping, drawing straight lines. What would I do without him? :)

Five days left till the opening, 2 days left for me to paint. And I'm sitting and posing ;P

Finally, got back to work. Comparing with previous weeks, when working with such a close deadline, I felt an urge to eat all the time. Chocolate mostly, Kinder Country, to be specific :3

And sandwiches with cheese :) Made in a pizza oven. Pizza would be even better but there was no one to make it back then.

A shelf with toys - everyone could suggest what toy should find its place there.

This wall was more like a real painting for me, with more possibilities and giving me a lot of fun. When I painted the forest on the previous one I just used green. This green, that green, a bit of blue, a bit of brown, no invention - it was just a forest and it needed to look like 'just a forest' for normal people. But here I could change my idea every minute and it still was ok.

Although I sometimes missed Ctrl + Z buttons ;P I always do when switching from digital to traditional painting.

Finished furniture is more reddish than it was on the 2nd photo. The free space on my painting is where the flat screen will be.

Shameless self promotion :)

Finally open! Everyone loves the place!

Especially my pretty paintings :)

Those were busy 10 days of creating. I got really off my daily routine then and lost track of everything else but painting, but I liked it. I could do it more often, no problem :) Anyone wants a wall painted?

And this is a cone pizza. Will eat it every time I'm there :)

Pizza part 2

2011-10-01T23:55:00.000+02:00

After a weekend at home (or at work actually) I came back to Pulawy to keep on creating my wall painting. You can see the previous bit of painting here.

There were only 9 days left till the grand opening. And the 3rd wall wasn't even started (and won't be until next week!). I was changing pictures and making the count down every day :)

I took more paints with me. Those layer and layers of the forest ate most of those huge green paints.

I was working about 8 hours everyday. It doesn't sound harsh but with the possibility of not finishing on time hanging over my neck I felt very exhausted every evening.

But still got power to dance :)

This time my Love came with me to help. And helped a lot! He did the most nasty thing - he was putting the base colours on walls (giving me time to paint more creative things).

Oh, and he was fixing my messy edges ;)

But also got some free time for himself! Everyone needs a rest from time to time.

But maybe he had too much free time if he got the possibility to cover paper tape with rabbits ;P

The bar was finished and it was time for the rest of the furniture to drive in.

And a bit of it you can see here. I liked the original colour of this wood, but it was not my task to decide about it. On this photo you can see the almost finished 1st and 2nd wall - I just needed to add few tiny details later.

And this 'wooden' wall is ready to welcome some pictures hanging in fancy frames. Fancy WOODEN frames, of course :)

Hope you liked what you saw!

A.

From my cell phone

2011-09-26T18:14:00.000+02:00

So don't be shocked with the quality ;) My cell phone's camera is no killer, really.

A big sketch of a contest work. You can see it finished here.

Few copies of my book. Well, book with my illustrations - I'm pretty lame at writing rhymes so there's no way of me creating poems for kids ;)

A cat from my neighbourhood that I visit as often as possible. I call her Grahamka but her owner calls her Pela. She was pregnant when I was taking this photo. Now there is a little version of her running around the yard.

Panda T-shirt - shame it was so shapeless, otherwise I would totally buy it :) A tee with Bubbles you can see on the right was not right too :(

My cat in a white boot ;P She got bitten just a while before by some bug but she didn't seem to care and was chasing them all the time.

Eating birthday cake at work. I've baked it :)

And this is my cake, also at work, which I got from the girls :)

Me and my friend Aria on my sister's reception party.

One of the gifts my sister and her husband (this word sounds weird) got for a weeding. A BIG piggy bank :)

Dog named Brudas living (from time to time) with my aunt and uncle. He's silly and incredibly big.

My newest book :) Will share more photos of it soon!

That's how people looked through windows to see what I was painting on pizza restaurant's walls. It was stupid and they've got me really distracted.

Now my cell phone's memory is clear and I have space to take more photos!

Pizza

2011-09-12T23:45:00.000+02:00

Some time ago I've been asked to paint 3 walls in a pizza restaurant. I have painted wall pictures but this one would be the biggest so I was a bit reluctant... But I gave in ;P Free pizza for a pinter was too tempting *__*

Andrew is an owner of this restaurant and he already had an idea for the whole place, including walls. He wanted everything to look country-like with a bit of mountains in the background. Pure polish folklore from Tatry mountains.

The first idea was of paintings representing inside of rooms with a lot of folklore things, furniture and art in them. But then we got outside and mountains are the main theme.

Here are some photos of the place before painting - when I went there to see what's it like.

Oh, those walls are huuuuge.

And here are some photos of the process. I have forgotten to take my camera with me on the first day, so you can only see those from the second day.

The bar.

A house in the forest ;)

I am going back to painting tomorrow. Wonder how many days it will take me. And there is still 3rd wall to go!

A.

Mysterious - Illustration Friday

2011-09-06T09:39:00.000+02:00

You should read the STORY to find out about the mystery :)

Cat of the day

2011-09-01T23:08:00.000+02:00

Yesterday, while talking seriously with my Love a cat approached us. I thought it would run away, as most of the cats, as soon as I turn to it. However, to our surprise, this cat was very friendly and wanted to stay :)

It was quite small - smaller than my cat - and some kids had painted its leg red.

We took it home, checked that it was a She, named her Parch and gave some food. Or rather - she took food on her own. As soon as we entered my Love's flat the cat appeared in a kitchen. Next to my Love's cat's bowls. And got them empty ;)

After a bit of cuddling we took her outside and gave her a take-out meal. Hope she's doing fine :)

From my sketchbook

2011-08-30T13:07:00.000+02:00

Sometimes there's no time to even take out my notebook during work and sometimes it's like the best day and moment for drawing (and all those customers are so not welcome :P). Here's what appeared in my notebook lately:

Sketch for the 'perennial' IF topic. Usually I don't make sketches because the idea is clear in my head. Well, I can make more of them but they would look exactly the same.

Started drawing girls again, it's such a pleasant subject. Girls with tattoos especially :)

And sexy girls.

And of course beautiful and romantic-looking girls. Dreamers. Oh yes, that's what I like the most *nods*

Here's a sketch for the newest IF picture (look at the previous blog post). Again - I had the idea in my mind and no matter how many sketches I would do the concept would not change. So I've done only one sketch. Plus a mood scene of a parent and a child ;)

Oh, that's a very important thing because those are sketches of my earrings-to-be. For sell on Etsy of course :) cats cats cats *__*

Influence - Illustration Friday

2011-08-30T09:28:00.000+02:00

When I was little my parents taught me to read and they had the patience to listen how I progress. When I could read fairly well and found pleasure in it they've decided to buy me a book every month. And they did :)

Now I can't imagine a day without even a little bit of reading and my shelves are full of books with almost no place for next ones (which will surely appear sooner or later). My parents have taught me to love it :)

Kitty of the day

2011-08-29T21:14:00.001+02:00

My Love took this picture today. He saw a kitten in a backyard and decided that we should totally catch it ;) Then it appeared there were 3 kittens, all belonging to a little girl you can see in the background of the photo. She's let me hold one and even wanted to sell it to me! :D

Perennial - Illustration Friday

2011-08-29T20:27:00.001+02:00

If you were ever wondering why it takes so much time for flowers to grow...They must be doing something very entertaining down there!

Big bed and tough sleep

2011-08-26T11:58:00.000+02:00

Some time ago I've been asked to make a try out (sample) illustration to the Andersen's story 'The princess and the pea'. Good picture would give me an opportunity to illustrate the whole book so I wanted to do it the best I could. Obviously :)

Oh, illustrating Andersen's fairy tales would be like an early Christmas! *__*

I've started with designing the princess. I wanted her to be slim and 'long'. It fits princesses in my opinion :)

This one looked nice enough so I stayed with her as my princess. Then it was time for the whole illustration's composition.

The main idea was to show how big is the bed because of all the blankets and mattresses. But the princess needed to be clearly visible too (the publisher wrote so).

And that's what I liked the most.

It has been quite hard to draw the princess, though. With this long neck and big head she looked like a lollipop. Or as if her head was just to fall off. It was hard!

But I've managed :)

As you might have noticed - sketches were prepared for a horizontal illustration for two pages but the final is vertical. That's what happens when you read without understanding! Thankfully I've noticed this point of description before colouring, so I just had to play a bit with the sketch in Photoshop. Uf!

Still, I didn't get the job :(
But publisher said that they liked my illo a lot and they will remember me. We'll see what comes out of it.

A.

Obsession - Illustration Friday

2011-08-16T14:19:00.000+02:00

I have this little obsession..
I'm in love with soft wooden pencils, the ones that smell of pure inspiration (hope anyone understands what I'm saying ;P). I have got masses and masses of them and I like to sharp them till they become kill weapons :) Super sharp! Every day!
Because of that obsession they tend to end up quickly but, well.... it can't be helped ;)

Imperfect - Illustration Friday

2011-08-15T19:00:00.000+02:00

Perfect in its imperfection :)

Biala's kids

2011-08-15T10:07:00.002+02:00

A cat (named Biala or Biola = White) of my friend has recently given birth to 3 adorable kittens :) Oh, how cute they are! XD

Sorry for the photos quality - a room they are kept in is actually quite dark. I didn't want to blind the little sugars with a camera's flash light so I've only used one of the possible modes of taking pictures. That's why they're so yellow. And awful ;)

For now they live in a box and have actually learned to walk. Previously they were crawling. What was cute too :D

Now they are so quick they blur :D

And now a little heart warmer :) If I had a possibility I would totally take her home!

Awww... *__*

Swell - Illustration Friday

2011-08-14T23:35:00.000+02:00

Oh, gosh... I've missed a few!

From my sketchbook

2011-08-13T20:14:00.000+02:00

Enjoy :)

Stay - Illustration Friday

2011-07-14T21:51:00.000+02:00

Let it stay like this for as long as possible.

Journey - Illustration Friday

2011-06-27T13:03:00.000+02:00

I'm trying to do all those missed IFs. Wonder if I'll manage to achieve it till the end of this month... That would be great :)

Faceless Faeries are always my companion during travelling. They are sometimes too loud but mostly it's just pure fun and enjoyment to share a journey with them.

A.

Midsummer night - Illustration Friday

2011-06-26T10:52:00.000+02:00

Be careful. Entering old forest on a midsummer's night can end up quite unexpectedly ;)

Boy's busy day

2011-05-04T09:50:00.000+02:00

Yesterday I was working on this little boy's story for the whole day. A publisher has sent me a text some time ago and has told me to try if I fit. Here's my try :)

Here's the boy and small sketches of illustrations. I liked the idea of him wearing dungarees but it was clearly stated that he had a red sweater on top. Shame :3

The boy in a sweater. Looks quite cute ^^ You can also see a bigger sketch of the first illustration where he is sleeping and holding his dream by its tail.

Sketches for the next illustration - the boy is having a bubble bath and playing with a sponge frog and a plastic turtle. It's hard to draw a frog in a different way than the obvious one.

Final sketches of two first illustrations.

And here's the third illustration - the boy is holding his mum when she brings him to a kindergarten. I liked the first idea of boy "spreading" across two pages but I was quite sure that, considering publishing rules, the main character should not be not-facing the viewer and should not be on the pages' bend.

Final outline of the first illustration. It will stay on the illustration. However, I was not making FINAL illustration - it's only a try to illustrate the story and what I needed was sth that will show the publisher my idea. So if I were to make this book I would make everything once more and looking more fancy and swirly :D

Second illustration - I have an idea for a better composition in it with the boy being much closer. But this one isn't that bad, is it?

The last one. Very simple. I think that the story would have few small illustrations on white pages - like this one and maybe more smaller ones.

And here are finished (but not FINAL) illustrations:

My youngest sister likes them a lot so I think they are initially approved :D

A.

Bicycle - Illustration Friday

2011-05-03T09:27:00.000+02:00

Didn't quite manage to do it on time..
*But it's because of the Easter just being in the way!*
Yeah, right :]

Hamsters love to ride on bicycles. Not so long ago I had a hamster named Fryderyk (you can see him here and here) and he loved those slow rides on a bicycle through our city park :) And what he enjoyed the most was riding across puddles with his legs up so they won't get wet. Just like me when I was little!

Does your hamster like to ride a bicycle too? :)

A.

Cultivate - Illustration Friday

2011-05-02T18:59:00.000+02:00

Sometime ago my Love bought me an orchid. A beautiful white one (that was the point I fell in love with white flowers). It always stays just next to my screen and I like to watch it grow. It's a very thankful flower - not much work is needed to get incredible flowers looking like taken out from a Japanese etching.

It's quite weird I haven't named this flower yet...

A.

From my sketchbook

2011-05-02T18:42:00.000+02:00

I think I have not shown some of the sketches I've made recently and ideas I have had. I love to use my sketchbook all the time so maybe I should systematically show you what new appeared in it :)

My cat :) I would love to draw her more often but she always sleeps in the same position..

Two ideas I've done for a publisher some time ago. But it wasn't the thing they were looking for. Well, you can't be the right person for everything ;)

Sketches for commissioned ACEOs.

First book cover concept. I wanted to leave space for the title and all that text that usually is on covers but the publisher said it's not necessary. So the idea changed only a bit, but the whole background was also to be done.

And few ideas I will probably use someday :)

Lick it or you will get stains!

2011-04-29T23:57:00.001+02:00

Today I found out that I have only time till midnight to create and artwork, make movie out of it and upload it on YouTube if I want to take part in a competition. And I wanted.

So I've spent few hours of non stop creating and then few hours shouting at movie maker software but I've made it on time :) I'm so glad ^^

The contest was about showing how you create a character from one of the Heroes of Might and Magic games. First of all I have chosen to do Raksha Rani - because it's a cat and I usually play with this nation. But it appeared to be too complicated to make his four arms co-operate with each other and the rest of the body....

This is how the sketch looked after more than one hour of sketching - I was constantly erasing some parts and changing them and then I had to change the rest to make it fit and then I've changed my mind and tried another pose and... it was a disaster.

So when I found out, today in the afternoon, that I have not much time left to make my entry I have decided to do something that always comes quick. Sexy girls :) Sexy girls made with pencil and scanned and then coloured in Photoshop - that's my quickest way of creating.

Played Christina to get into the sexy mood and I was ready to go :)

Normally I use Procaster from LiveStream for screen capture. But, unfortunately, it saves videos in .mpeg4 format and I had no (absolutely no) time for converting them to .avi. So I have used a different software and it was a disaster :/ You can see it on the movie. It was slowing down my computer and the video it created made a lot of errors while processing. Will not use that program again!

Nevertheless, the image came out really neat :) I like it a lot!

Cat brooches

2011-04-29T12:09:00.000+02:00

I've been commissioned to make 2 cat brooches but because I have no more cat brooches to sale on my Etsy shop I've decided to make three more.

My little helper ^^

And here it got dark and I had to take photos with my lamp light. Why had to? Because I gave them away when it was still dark in the morning, so there was no other time to take good photos. You just have to imagine that this pinkish colour looks the same as on the pictures above ;)

And here it is with the second cat of which I have got absolutely no photos... I was too tired and I've actually forgotten to take them ;P

Now I have 3 more cats to do but it's not such a hurry with them as it was with the first two. So will probably paint first - I miss painting :D

A.

Book illustrating - what I like and what I hate

2011-04-28T13:27:00.000+02:00

Some time ago I have finished illustrating a book for kids with few stories inside. It was my first time I did all the illustrations with watercolours. Sometimes it was dramatic - you can check my previous posts or twitter cries if you don't remember ;)

Anyway, here's a glimpse:

It all went quite well. I was working every day as long as there was even a bit of sun outside. I could do it as my regular job *nods*

But when I make a project with a very limited amount of time and a lot of pictures to create after some time I have this feeling to change my approach to the given theme. But when you have to work fast there's no time for that. And, actually, it has never been the right time.

Now I'm hoping to have the opportunity to really WORK on a book. Not just sit down and start painting ready images but to think about them and then re-think them few more times.

Hope this wish will come true :)

A.

Books of inspiration - March and April

2011-04-26T19:29:00.001+02:00

As you know, for an artist it's very important to be inspired as much as possible. But during bad times it's almost impossible to feel this creativity flowing in your veins. So for times like this and for those one's that appear to be gloomy or sleepy or just colourless, I collect books. Books to stare at :)

What I've got:
1. 'Chester' by Mélanie Watt
2. 'Beauty and the Beast' by Max Eilenberg with illustrations by Angela Barrett
3. 'Splat the Cat' by Rob Scotton
4. 'Russell the Sheep' also by Rob Scotton

So check out those illustrations. Some are simple, some are amazingly complicated but they all inspire me to work more and always give me a good kick of motivation :)

I have totally forgotten that I have also bought next book by Beatrix Potter to my collection. This time it was 'The tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle'. I have now 11 books written by her - there's still a lot to buy!

A.

Duet - Illustration Friday

2011-04-22T19:48:00.000+02:00

Again - I've missed few IF topics and I will make them now. Slightly outdated but a picture is a picture, it always looks nice :)

It's an illustration to a short story I have written. You can read it on my writing blog - Adelaida Pisze! . Wonder if more IF topics will suit my stories :)

A.

Spring comes together with changes

2011-04-11T13:51:00.000+02:00

I don't remember if I have already announced it on Twitter but let's do it properly - I've got a proper job! :) This is one of my New Year's Resolutions and is very important for me.

It's not only about the money. I feel that I need to have a constant income so I can slowly upgrade my artistic style. Lately, I've been feeling so not-in-my-own-skin when it comes to illustrating. So I need time and a lot of, probably lame, tries on a new way of creating without a never fading worry about the money.

Going further, I want to start something more complicated in my illustrations. I would like them to be more sophisticated and "beautiful", not just "nice". I don't know if I can explain it properly but I fave this feeling inside and hopefully it will show me which path is the best. In this try-out period I won't be searching for commissions or other art jobs as much as I usually do; I would like to concentrate only on my personal upgrade. It's a very bad feeling I've got right now, I just want to work on getting rid of it ;)

About my job - I will be working in a coffee shop (Wayne's Coffee, a Swedish shop) :D Gosh, I love coffee! And now I will be making it all day long. And drinking as much as I want (but not too much - it could get really unhealthy ;P). I have, of course, made a goal to achieve there too! I will be practising Latte Art! Right now I'm not that keen on it but I will have plenty of time and plenty of coffees to practise on :) When I get better I'll take photos of what I create and post them here. Hope my Latte Art will look superb!

And now few spring photos: crocuses in a park.

Masking fluid problems

2011-03-22T19:22:00.000+01:00

It happened to me before so I can say I have been prepared.. But actually, every time it happens it shocks me and is a great (and sad) surprise.

When masking fluid goes off with paper and your painting.

Previously it happened to me because I wanted to rip off the fluid when the painting wasn't dry enough. That was my mistake and now I always wait as long as necessary or even longer, just in case. But this time I have no idea why it happened. And as you can see it went off with a lot of the outline.

Thankfully those ripped off spots are not that visible on the finished picture.

However this one ladybug is kind of fluffy ;)

After this dramatic situation every time I use masking fluid I'm afraid it will ruin my painting. Wonder what was the reason. Maybe you know?

A.

Bye bye winter

2011-03-21T20:00:00.000+01:00

Next part of progress photos. This time I was making two big illustrations to nursery rhyme about winter going away and a beginning of spring.

In the first picture there was a lot of snow and ice shown so I had to use plenty of masking fluid to cover it, just in case. My way of making first two layers of watercolour paint is rather spontaneous so many areas are painted even if they shouldn't ;)

For applying masking fluid I use old and cheap brushes. Those are the three I've used this time (I have a big bunch of them). From the left: used to make masking fluid outlines, used for smaller parts, used to covering bigger things.

Easy way to add details and make picture look more complicated - spots on bushes or trees or grass. Then you can leave them white, colour them so they look like flowers or fruit or cover the whole element with another layer of green paint and it just makes a nice texture.

Almost finished painting. It's hard to paint with light like that - paper's texture is too visible and disturbing.

See what I mean? You can overlook some details and forget to paint them ;)

And, at last, finished pictures :) I've taken this photo at night with my table lamp so the colours look actually a bit different. Don't you think that those clouds are fabulous? :D

And Marie Antoinette again! :D I must say, I had no idea her tail has got a brown end! Lately, she hasn't been sleeping in her bed because there was not enough sun here. However, spring started today and it's already more sunny :) So I hope she will come back to her pillow, just next to me.

First nursery rhyme done

2011-03-20T14:27:00.000+01:00

Right now I have more illustrations made but since I haven't shown all the photos I've taken just when they were up-to-date, now I have to divide them into smaller parts :)

Part one: The making of next 2 illustrations to a first story about a naughty little girl who makes pranks. In the previous post you can find the 1st illustration of this set.

I was making two big illustrations at once. One is a kitchen scene and the other one shows a bit of a living room.

First of all, after preparing the paper (what was described several times) I have put on a masking fluid. You can see the bottle of it on the photo.

Cat in the picture :) I wanted to add the cat, the one which got its tail green, somewhere in the presented room. But since there was not enough space I've decided to make a picture of it.

When the masking fluid was drying I could use my desk again. However, it dries quite quickly so I got back to work soon.

I've bought myself a new green watercolour. Just in case. You can see the two greens I have - one is emerald and the other one is dark and dirty, so it's sometimes hard to make a perfect shade of green out of them.

In the painting process. And a cat :) There must be a cat!

I like the moment when the colours start to look so vivid and bright.

Finished! They look nice together :)

And my kitty at the end :) In the sleeping mode - as always.

Hope you like the pictures!

A.

Sleepy day but with no sleep at all

2011-03-05T00:23:00.000+01:00

I am recently illustrating a children's book with nursery rhymes so I don't know how much time I'll have left for personal work. I will surely make all Illustration Friday pictures but to keep my blog more busy and you more interested I think I will show photos of how progress is going :)

So let's start with today:

I have changed my cat's bed's place so now it's next to a window right beside my desk. The cat likes it so I can watch her sleep almost all the time now. What makes me sleepy too =o=

Yesterday I have prepared outlines for three illustrations to one of the stories. It's about a little girl that makes tricks to her family.

First of all I have used tape to stick the paper to a board. Then I have "painted" it with water. In that way no matter how much water you use later the paper won't get wavy.

But first you have to let this water layer dry completely. It's best to leave it for the rest of the day.

Because I couldn't work on that illustration for a moment I've started another one - this one is smaller and won't have a background so there was no need to soak it with water first. I have used masking fluid to cover places where I definitely want white or places that shouldn't get brownish while painting fur.

Then goes the painting process. My cat enjoys walking across wet paintings, licking paint and drinking water from a water jar... And if the level of water is too low and she can't reach it then she just puts her head inside and stares through the glass ;P

Finished illustration :) It will be on the 1st page of the book. Cute beginning.

And then the sun came to my window and I felt like sleeping on my desk :D But I just glued the 3rd illustration to another big desk and soaked it. So for tomorrow I will have them both ready for painting. The beginning process of such big illustrations is rather slow: I make several overall layers of paint waiting between each of them to dry (so I won't get nasty stains). It takes a lot of time and it doesn't even feel like PAINTING. But I can work on one when the other one is drying. And I have more sketches and outlines to prepare too :)

Busy busy me, oh how much I like it ^^

A.

Swarm - Illustration Friday

2011-02-28T23:19:00.000+01:00

A swarm of bees? No no no... A swarm of super cats is flying in my mind :)

I have painted this illustration on a peachy paper I found in my artistic mess. It's not a messy mess - it's just a mess with a lot of things I have forgotten about, never used sheets of fabulous papers, newspaper cuts collected for inspiration, etc. I just need to check this mess from time to time and I'll surely find many treasures there :)

Wonder when my cat phase will end. Not that I dislike it :) I'm just wondering.

A.

Stroll in a park

2011-02-27T12:39:00.001+01:00

I like parks. As soon as the snow will disappear I will go there almost every day just to walk to and fro. Sometimes it feels the best to go alone with a sketchbook and a pencil and sometimes it's better to take someone with me and talk, feed pigeons or have a little picnic. When it comes to picnics the more is the better! :)

This illustration was also made in my watercolour Moleskine while playing Heroes of Might & Magic V with my Love. Even now when I think of the game my minds turns on to creative mode :) Lovely feeling.

A.

Warrior shaman

2011-02-26T20:43:00.000+01:00

I have invited my Love to my place so we could be ill together :) We have spent whole days on watching movies, sleeping and playing Heroes of Might & Magic V. We are great fans of this game and we can't wait for a next part to appear.

Some games can inspire me so much. I just need a bit of fantasy, an elf or two, a lot of magic and beer+snacks :D My inspiration always comes out in a form of game related pictures and this is how they can look.

I've made this illustration in my little watercolour Moleskine and I must say - it's just great to paint in her (her name is Elaina and she's one of my comrades :3). The paper acts a bit differently than one of my favourite papers by Canson and Arches but I like its heaviness and slightly textured surface. It goes well with that lot of water I usually use. I should get a bigger sized watercolour Moleskine, too!

A.

Let's dance

2011-02-24T22:04:00.000+01:00

I have this need to create something little. I have been ill lately and I had no power to do anything - but with small steps getting back to my normal art mode will be surely easier :)

Super cats save the day

2011-02-22T18:11:00.000+01:00

Something I've made recently. The blue one was made especially for me - because my coat looks too boring and dull. But the grey one is for sale in my Etsy shop - The Secret Drawer.

The blue one is named Midnight and the grey one - Rain Bringer :3

'F My Life' said kitty; Layers - Illustration Friday

2011-02-20T10:31:00.001+01:00

This week you can see my little comic on the front page of FMyLife :) A story I have chosen to illustrate of course has got a kitty in it - that part was obvious ;)

The story: Today, I was playing around with my sister's kitten. As a joke, I put him underneath the sheets and farted. He attacked my nuts. FML

And here is a short interview I have also given - click click

The kitten was inspired by my Love's new cat :)

A.

Sweater - Illustration Friday

2011-02-12T16:12:00.000+01:00

It's been a while since I used a bunny in my paintings. So I thought it's hight time to change it and even had an idea of a bunny wearing a sweeter in a windy and cold day. But then it occurred to me that four bunnies are better than only one.. and a sweater has precisely 4 places to put bunnies into! What a coincidence! :D

Reverse - Illustration Friday

2011-02-08T18:40:00.000+01:00

That's the first idea that came to my mind :) I've decided it's silly enough to use :D

Finnish mouse

2011-02-07T10:55:00.000+01:00

I've started learning Finnish some time ago and it's been a pain since. Maybe if I concentrate on it more then I could see some real effects ;) However, I have a Finnish mascot to accompany me in the process and here it is:

This mouse have no name yet. But he surely will get one! (Now I only know that he is a he-mouse ;P). I have a bad feeling that I will have to ask him in Finnish.

A.

Surrender - Illustration Friday

2011-02-06T11:26:00.000+01:00

I have this feeling that a cat stage of my work came. I want to draw cats all the time. Even now. I have dozens of cat-ideas in my head. Blue and cats - that's what's hot in Adelaida's world now ;)

I surrender!

A.

Full of colours and work

2011-02-03T15:15:00.001+01:00

What I've been doing lately? A lot! :) But somehow I feel that many things are still untouched and should be already finished.

But here's what I have:

Lately I have finished a new commissioned illustration. If you remember the previous one then here the characters are having a snack party :)

Ha. I tried to take a photo of my cat today to show you how big she is now but it appeared to be quite impossible ;P All of the photos ended up like this or with no cat in them at all.

Yesterday I finished varnishing my two latest bracelets that are available in my Etsy store Secret Drawer. Gosh, they are lovely. Can I keep them? :3

That's all for now, I think. I have many artistic plans for this month and I hope when February ends I will feel much better with my creative self than when January did.

A.

Let me introduce.. Misiokot

2011-02-03T14:12:00.000+01:00

Home without a cat is a weird place.

That's what I thinks and that's why I was so stubborn in repeating to my Love it's time for a new cat. You like cats? Yes? So why you're still catless?

And here's what my Love has got now:

Isn't he a cutie? XD

His name is Misiokot (Teddy Cat) and he's a Maine Coon. He looks like a toy with his tail pointed up and clumsy moves :)

A.

Kindergarten

2011-01-29T12:36:00.001+01:00

I have this feeling that most of the kindergartens are Winnie-the-Pooh themed. I like it but aren't there other funny children's stories?

In November I was painting a wall in a kindergarten. It, of course, was supposed to be a Pooh connected painting. (I had a photo of the projects I've made somewhere but I cannot find them right now) The budget was rather low and the wall to paint sooo long (10m) but anything on it would make it look better.

Marie Antoinette was helping to choose which characters' poses were the best :)

Somehow it's very hard to find a proper yellow acrylic paint that is not transparent. But when mixed with a bit of white it all covers just right.

Painting grass and flowers took me a whole day. Except the 10 meters long wall where the characters are the whole hall had a grass on this one side.

Every door was surrounded by flowers.

Some time after finishing the wall I was asked to do the grass and flowers on the opposite wall too so it would look more completed. I did it yesterday and it looks cute now :) I have also added few butterflies which you can see on my TwitPic profile.

Painting kindergartens is fun. Hope I will have an opportunity to do it again.

A.

New photos

2011-01-26T12:48:00.000+01:00

After some time spent actively on my Etsy store I've decided that a lot of my items' photos are not good enough to catch attention. So I've made new ones and will be replacing them together with relisting the items. Hope they will look great now :)

Quick journey on a broom

2011-01-17T11:23:00.001+01:00

Some time ago I have made illustrations to nursery rhymes written by Ewelina. She wanted to publish her creations and has decided that my style of illustration was the best match. Here's what came out of it :)

The book is rather slim but small size makes it even more cute :) It's a nice feeling to have a book with your own illustrations on a shelf.

A.

Chicken - Illustration Friday

2011-01-16T11:50:00.000+01:00

Inspired by Geninne and her birds (and a video of how she creates her birds) I've decided to try it out too. My chicken, if you've ever seen a chicken like this, is not as pretty as hers but it's a good start. I can already feel that this way of painting gives a lot of possibilities.

Tea Party

2011-01-13T21:38:00.000+01:00

Recently I have finished making a big commissioned illustration. I really like how it turned out and it's a super good things since works with coloured pencils not always end up as I wished them to. But this one looks amazing ^^

Here are few photos and sketches I've made on the way:

A quick first sketch just to catch the first impression while reading a text (because this illustration is based on the text).

After that I've made a more accurate character designs. I know that for some those still are sketchy sketches but for me it's enough to remember and be sure how a character looks ;)

Then I remade sketches and compositions of the scenes. (There are two different illustrations - I'll start making the second one tomorrow)

Fixed and cleaned sketches with a bit more details.

And the same sketches with base colours just to give this overall feeling.

Then the idea changed a bit - I had to make the illustration longer so it would fit into a 2 page spread in a square book.

This is what I've printed out to trace lines on a paper where final image will be made. I use my enormous light table Aurora for tracing.

Few photos of the progress.

And here are close-ups of the finished image. I really like how the water came out :)

A lot of flowers :)

This is really nice paper for coloured pencils. I don't like it for watercolours (although they are its supposed destination medium) but this way of using it seems great :)

And the final image! This is a scanned version (have to scan it in 4 parts). This picture looks a lot better when viewed live or on photos but it's too hard to take a nice photo of such a big illustration with my amateur camera...

Hope you like my new illustration as much as I do :)

New Year gifts from me to me

2011-01-13T17:05:00.000+01:00

Not much time has passed since my last gift I gave to myself. But I felt it was time for something new to try. For this year I have planned for myself to learn how to sew. And learn it well. There are many styles, techniques and projects that inspire me - two of them are cute and cosy vintage-looking stuff and simple designs with Scandinavian feel into them. Or to make it even more simple - I like ribbons and embroidery :)

Here are two new gifts:

Few things from the 'Scandinavian needlecraft':

And a couple of ideas from 'Home-made vintage':

Tomorrow I'll take my mum's sewing machine to a doctor to check if she's all right and as soon as I'll get her back I'll start creating! >o< Can't wait for that!

A.

Cell phone cases aka Christmas gifts

2011-01-11T21:18:00.001+01:00

Here are beauties I have made for my sister and mum as Christmas gifts. I didn't want to spend a lot of money this year (even if you try to do it in a more cheap way, it still is expensive. A bit less expensive but expensive) so I've decided to share my new talent of making cell phone cases. I think they came out really neat! :)

For my sister Kate:

For my mum:

I've made photos of the green case before Christmas and the purple one's photos are more recent. So my mum have made the case a bit 'fluffy' as she called it ;) But it still looks nice (I just have to trim it once in a while so the heart on the back side won't disappear under this fluffiness).

How do you like them?

I'm just in a progress of making 3 more cell phone cases. All of them will be available on my Etsy shop - Secret Drawer.

A.

Resolutions - Illustration Friday

2011-01-06T01:27:00.000+01:00

I've made a list of resolutions for this year, have you? :)

One of the ideas to always remember is to keep balance throughout the year. In work, in love, in relationships, in everything - sometimes it's hard but it's always worth trying *nods*

It's resolutions time, isn't it?

2011-01-03T22:53:00.003+01:00

It's already 3rd January so it's high time to write down all the resolutions that will accompany me during this year. But first, let's check how the previous resolutions and their achieving came out:

Finish school on time with a satisfying grade -This point got totally messed up. I'm still waiting for my last big exam. Failure.
Get my watercolour pieces to a higher level (composition, colours and lines are the main point to focus on). - I think I did it. Earlier I have never spent so much time on any work. I've just sit down and started painting/drawing.
Work on details more. - Got it :)
Spend more time on each work; think what exactly I want to achieve. - I'm still mastering this point. But it's getting better every time I make something.
Start writing children's stories - STARTED! And that would be it...
And show the 3rd one somewhere for people to read. - Failure.
Never miss a chance of showing my works - Not missed any I have been aware of.
Become professional. - Made illustration for 2 books and a stationery collection, I think you can call me a better professional than in 2009 ;)
Learn something new and innovative (about what I don't know right now and what will suddenly appear) - I've learnt basics of 3D (but it's not actually my hobby horse). Started making cell phone cases - never thought of it before and now it's something I really enjoy :)
Get driving licence. - Failure
Find a proper job (so I can illustrate without any financial-connected stress). - I have not been trying to find it actually..
Visit some place I have never been before - Visited Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot for the first time.

Accomplished 7 out of 12. It's not an amazing result but I feel very pleased with this past year :) It was a good year.

Resolutions for year 2011:

Stop lying and making excuses - just get down to work.
Visit one foreign place and one place in Poland I have never been before.
Self-publish a book - by which I mean write it, illustrate and create a final product that will be a neat e-book.
Learn Finnish.
Learn to cook tasty things for my Love :)
Keep my shape - go to yoga and make exercises at least 4 times a week.

And once again points from the previous year, they should be accomplished after all...

Finish school goddamnit!
Get driving licence.
Find a job. Etsy is not enough!
Really, really, really try writing something for children (everyone say I'm good at it so why I'm still holding this opportunity back)

10 points to do this year. Will see what will come out of it :)

However, this year I feel more organized and I can see that some of my goals are much more clear. Last 3 months I've been trying new ways of keeping tracks of things to do and properly managing my time. Right now I'm sticking to Google Calendar and monthly goals that are to be achieved. There's still a lazy ass inside of me but somehow it usually stays hidden :)

Come on 2011, I'm ready for you! :)

A.

Painting earrings with my cat

2011-01-03T10:29:00.000+01:00

From time to time I buy some wooden bases for earrings or bracelets or many other things that can be painted and worn/used. However, for some time I have been buying them but not actually making anything more. Now I have a big bag full of this stuff and a promise to myself to paint them all :) It's even one of my goals for February - paint them all to move forward.

When I paint jewellery I don't usually have detailed sketches. It's just the overall idea that looks like the one on the photo. I like to leave a free space for my creativity just in case I'd like to add or remove something during the process of making.

Sometimes my cat is a pain in the ass ;] She likes to accompany me when I do anything and everything at my desk. Usually it's not a problem but she already had her paws in paint few times! Even in oil paints! :/

She likes to stare into the water jar. Wonder what she sees in there :)

Here you can see the sketches of my ideas and the final paintings on the earrings.

Varnish drying. I used a new kind of varnish this time and I'm in the process of wondering which is better :)

Final photos made for my Etsy shop - Secret Drawer.

Capo di tutti capi

2010-12-31T12:43:00.000+01:00

Some time ago someone asked if I could make a Christmas gift for a girl showing her cat. The cat, named Behemot, is a real bad ass and he bites and scratches everyone, even his two-legged family. The goal was to show his attitude in the painting. I think I've managed really well :)

How do you like it?

A.

Window stars

2010-12-18T15:31:00.001+01:00

Lately I've made Christmas decorations (it's my first time!) with my Love. We have created paper stars and hang them on golden and silver threads on a window. The look really really pretty :)

Traditional printing classroom

2010-12-14T09:08:00.000+01:00

I don't know if I have ever showed how my favourite place on the University looks. It's a place where I work (or rather 'worked') on my fab Faceless Faerie series of illustration. What I like the most about this place is that you can take over the whole room and then workflow is just incredible :) You just have to find the moment when you'll be alone there.

This is the work place the way I see it when sitting at the great table. You can see a press in the middle, a table on the left where you apply the ink and make all those dirty preparations, a sink just behind the press to wash your dirty hands (it's better to wear gloves than try to wash off paint with water ;) ), on the right inside this kind of aquarium is a place where you wash off paint from your offset stencil. And on the table you can see my 'Bus' print :)

Faeries always sit somewhere near me :)

But during working on traditional prints they usually sleep in my pencil case or on my notebooks :)