I'm still here! Really!

Life has been busy as of late for the Bearded One and I...lots of changes happening at work which is kinda tiring and drains me quite a bit so I haven't done as much arty stuff at home...and lots of friend time too!...i have made a few pressies since Christmas time though and am gonna share them quickly here :)

I have really been stretching myself with my felt plushie making skills and have not only made a Clare-Smaug (a friend dressed in a red dragon suit) but I also created a Pokemon trainer version of the Bearded One for Valentines day (to go along side the new Facebook cover photo I created for him). Really enjoying sewing felt and I have found that patterns don't really work for me...I tend to just form the end result in my head, cut the felt shapes one at a time and start sewing...hoping they come together as I expect...which so far is working pretty well :)

Left to right: The Bearded One Pokemon Trainer, acrylic shark game, Clare-Smaug, 

puppet show with Peppa Pig finger puppets and custom batman themed netbook cover.

Got the pen tablet and created a few digital pieces too, some Facebook cover drawings (from the boggling mind of the awesome Bearded One) and a League of Legends themed birthday card image. These and more can be found here on my Deviant Art page.

Ooooh so yes...I have been more productive than I thought...and right now I have quite a few projects on the go, from a number of handmade leather journals to family portrait drawings in my cute cartoony style and many birthday gifts being planned and materials gathered together :) my mind is never quiet when it comes to arty things...I'm always thinking of the next awesome pressie or drawing :) 

Oh I forgot to mention I have decided with encouragement of the Bearded One to try and pursue selling some of my arty skills and also trying my hand at more realistic drawing since I would like to one day draw an epic book cover design for a novel the Bearded One has been authoring for some time now. So look out for new interesting art from me :D

I shall leave you with a wee sketch of the Bearded One and I....this is our average League of Legends game time XD

Wait Christmas is already over!?

When did that happen!!? ...Christmas seemed to just fly by!

I created so much in those days leading up to Christmas...and actually did a wee bit of creating on Christmas day too while all the delicious Christmas food was cooking for dinner...om nom nom!

To begin with the Bearded One and I planned out our Christmas card and I set about drawing/colouring it digitally in CS5 with my tablet....ahhh how I love my tablet it makes sketching so easy sometimes...though I do find myself trying to Ctrl + z when using normal pencil and paper which some might say is a sign of madness or at least that I use my laptop a bit too much....but oh well...

I'm a very visual person so sometimes concepts or descriptions don't benefit me as much as say a doodle or drawing...after discussing the card with the Bearded One and setting about sketching I began to feel a bit frustrated...I couldn't picture in my head what I needed to draw...although I knew what we wanted I couldn't yet see it...and for me a lot of my drawing goes on first in my mind....the idea grows and forms an image in my head that I then draw on paper/screen but it just wasn't happening this time...so the wonderful Bearded One made me a doodle...yes! He quickly made a sketch of the position and basic colour of things and we talked a bit more about it...

The Bearded One's doodle of of our Christmas card.

This helped enormously as the concept was originally the Bearded One's and so my head had not really been able to grasp the concept until it had something visual to work from...and so furious drawing and colouring began...and now I shall share with you my sketching process! Behold the pink stage (yes I do all my initial sketches in pink because I like pink)...

As you can see its very messy and rough but has all i need to start inking!

Look at that epic beard! and that elf like mischief maker! and the food! hahaha now all is in place I can begin inking which I must say is my favourite part of the whole process...I use a new layer and the Pen Tool and instead of using the tablet I switch to the mouse and double up my paths and fill them instead of using the stroke and simulate pressure...I just find this gives me way more control over the thickness and weight of each line...I will also use different layers depending on whether it is background, middle ground or foreground to make it easier later when colouring :)

The inking is finished and you can see that I added lots more detail and even moved/resized parts slightly to fit better.

Now the inking phase is done I can start colouring...weeeeee...eee...I'm trying to sound excited but colouring is my least favourite part so I trudge forward mouse with Polygonal Lasso Tool in hand and on a brand new layer start the slow process of selecting the areas I want to colour and fill them...I will occasionally use the Magic Wand Tool and with the Refine Edge option adjust the edge to grab more of the outline otherwise I can find myself left with little white gaps along the edges when not quite everything was selected...I prefer clean and neat so little white gaps as small and unseen as they may be to others will bother me greatly...

Base colour added and a sign at the back as I felt the wall was a little too bare.

The colouring is almost done! Now i cheat just a little and duplicate my base colour layer and down the brightness and just cut away sections to leave the shaded areas...I used to make a new layer and add shading and highlights by hand until I discovered this faster method...

Finished Christmas card for 2012...Merry Christmas all!

The Bearded One face palming at me yet again bringing some pinkness to our Christmas holidays (this is a running joke with our annual Christmas cards)....

It is complete! It took a few evenings working non stop at this and many many cups of tea made by the awesome Bearded One to keep me motivated but I finished it and for the 9th of December too! That's pretty early for me compared to past years! The cards were then printed and posted off to their new homes on the 10th December which was such a relief as I could then focus on all the gifts we still had to make :D

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and hugs to all!

Santa is getting ready and so am I!

So...its only 41 days until CHRISTMAS!!! How exciting! I have sooo many plans...things to design and make, cards to illustrate and colour, pressies to make unique to each person being gifted, and I actually have some commissions in the works too!

The first commission is a handmade leather bound sketch/note book...probably going to be around A4 size perhaps slightly bigger...I have made a few of these in the past few months as gifts to people and now I'm being requested to make this one for a price which is kinda exciting knowing my work is so appreciated and liked that someone is willing to pay for my time!

Above is an example one of my handmade leather bound 

books created to be gifted as a memory journal.

Next I have been asked to design and illustrate a 60th birthday card in my typical cute cartoon style which I'm quite looking forward to...I love trying to place a persons personality into my artwork...it makes it unique and I know that there will never be another made like it...

An example of one of my illustrated cards gifted to a student 

teacher finishing her placement, the piece in the background 

is a group project she designed and made with her students.

Finally I am designing an illustrating a number of unique Christmas cards for a friend to pass out to work colleagues...each one will be a cartoon representation of that person that also relates to this friend such as an inside joke or things they have in common...

The Bearded One and I will be working furiously between gaming with friends and eating Christmas foods and watching lots of our favourite shows...which at the moment includes A Town Called Eureka...to get all our Christmas gifts and cards made...he has such a great mind for coming up with unique things for us to create together for our close friends...cannot wait to share how they all turn out and the reactions of the those for who they are for *grins*

Hopefully I will take many photos and share lots...or at least a few times before the BIG day approaches and all my gifts and cards get handed over to their new homes! 

Hugs!

Indeedy imweebird!

So hi! imweebird is my name and I love creating things...drawings, paintings, handmade journals, story books, unique boardgames, handmade customized inked and coloured greeting cards, the list goes on...I just enjoy designing and creating original artwork/crafts that mean something wonderful to the person they are intended for...

I'm very blessed to have an amazing job as an art technician which basically means i need to know or learn a bit of everything about every art process to allow students to fulfill their potentials...im even more blessed to have an awesome creative husband whom will be referred to as the bearded one during my blogging adventures...he is often involved in alot of my artiness through helping me come up with and define ideas, keeps me motivated with yummy milky tea (my fav drink) and i guess you could say...he is my muse *grin*

So here is a doodle of me on a normal day...

 
This blog will hopefully be a place to keep a record of my love of creating and perhaps at some point to also share my thoughts, ideas, processes and finished creations with others...

Hugs!