Illustration Friday-Rescue

Drawing submission for Illustration Friday's theme Rescue. I find this a peculiar image that I drew, I'm not sure if I'm crazy about it. Sometimes with some images I hate them at first, then when I look back at them a month later they grow on me. I think some of the actual shapes of the deer aren't drawn properly, that's part of what bothers me about it.

See other Illustration Friday Drawings here: http://illustrationfriday.com

Illustration Friday-Expire

Another Illustration Friday Drawing, this one with the theme Expire. When I started this drawing I kept thinking of Edward Gorey's story the Epiplectic Bicycle, and just had this picture in my mind of an aligator creature breathing his last with a faint utter of "I die." Naturally I couldn't copy Edward Gorey, but would say that there was some influence on on this piece (and honestly he is my favourite ink artist, so I can't help but be influenced by him!). Here is a youtube link to the picture story, which is quite enjoyable: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFqYtz7exBs

Heart Flipping Map

I made these two images separately, several weeks apart, but decided they work together.
The flipping heart original is available on etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/JewelsandGhouls

Francesco Galle-Illustrator and Fine Artist

Reading an issue of Maison Neuve(A Canadian publication of arts, opinion and ideas) the illustration of artist Francesco Galle promted me to look up his work online. Some of his work is really nice. Naturally ink artists tend to lure me in(but not just any ink artists). At his online portfolio http://www.francescogalle.com there are two sections: one for Illustration work, and one for fine art. Several pieces that have a certain allure are his series done in ink and painted with expresso coffee-the idea of it is appealing enough, and is actually carried out in a way that has attractive lines, shapes and subtle brown blobs. Also his portrait series in his illustrations were drawings that I enjoyed looking at because of the ink lines that made up a unique portrait.
Screen shots above were taken from his website.

Webternet

I am currently in a big blog phase where I am checking out several new blogs a day, and finding many other illustration/creative websites that have caught my fancy. Many of them found in some form through illustration Friday illustrators, links or just the one-blog-led-to-another-blog kind of internet searching.

Here are some blogs this week that I didn't really have time to read in full, but some scans of what was posted made me want to investigate further:

http://sweetsweetlife.typepad.com/

http://giam.typepad.com/100_years_of_illustration/

http://www.illustrationmundo.com/wp/

http://undergroundartschool.typepad.com/underground-art-school/

http://goflyingtrtl.blogspot.com/
http://elsita.typepad.com/elsita/blank_book_experience/

And there are others, I may add to this list if I am able to remember the ones I forgot to bookmark. They're worth taking a gander at anyways.

Illustration Friday-Subterranean

Drawing done for Illustration Friday's topic Subterranean.

Paper dolls

My sudden paper interest this week is in paper dolls. I was doing a search for art projects for elementary students, and came across this link:
http://www.art-e-zine.co.uk/dolls.html
I find these samples of movable paper dolls somewhat charming and they have inspired me to do a similar project with my students this week. I created my own paper doll, and it looks a little creepy, I must admit but I still love it. Several months ago I made my first paper doll for a friend instead of a card, and since have wanted to make more of them. In my search I came across some other delightful examples of paper dolls and find that I am particularly drawn to any with a Victorian theme or style. Check out these samples as well: http://www.itsmysite.com/cgi-bin/itsmy/go.exe?page=44&domain=1&webdir=catherinemoore
I feel a blog post about this wouldn't be complete without a mention to artist Lisa Perrin. I came accross Lisa Perrin's work first on Etsy, then explored her blog which led to further fascination with the creation of paper dolls. Check out her blog here.

Illustration Friday-Brave

This turned into a reflection on having children. I do feel that having a child takes some courage, particularly for the mother. I am far away from that point in my life, so perhaps the influence on this piece was a good friend of mine who recently gave birth to a lovely little girl, and stepped full-fledged into motherhood.