I have not done a lot of art this week. I did a lot of cleaning over the weekend, worked, errands, and just kind of recovered from the rush of the skulls. Sometimes doing a series in a rush, like I did, just drain the artist and a recovery period is needed. I do not do much cleaning when I am in a rush like I was, so that was a huge thing to get done.
My cell phone died on Valentines day. I woke up and the alarm had not gone off, the screen would not turn on and the notification light was blinking away. I spend most of the day running around doing errands. I had to take stuff back to the print shop because the prints were not cut right and some of the cards had weird lines on the insides... Can not sell stuff that is messed up!
Today I did a loose illustration style ink wash painting of one of my cats, Nunzio (he is named after a body guard in the Myth Adventures book series. Totally worth reading if you like punny stories.) I was going for something that reminded me of a storybook that I might have read as a child, something that is still used in books or in magazines.
This style was hard to do! I like to have details and vibrant colors and a lot more definition in my work. Not with this style. This is pale, low color saturation, and just loose, and soft. It was so hard to stop adding things.
I also did this on watercolor paper, usually I use Bristol, which is very smooth and a brilliant white. Watercolor paper let the inks bleed and feather more easily, so things are just naturally softer. I did not have to work as hard to make them seem soft.
I will be doing several more in this style on the watercolor paper. I have been practicing drawing people so I can freehand them on this paper. I have to practice and not use my light table like I would normally. I got a watercolor paper block. Which is a bunch of sheets of paper glued together on the sides. This helps prevent warping for those of use who are to lazy to stretch or iron our paper (I did not even know that was a thing until last year.)
I am trying to get my Instagram account follower numbers up to 300. When I get there I am going to do a drawing for a mouse pad with the Grunge Skull on it. If you are interested in a super cool mouse pad follow me on Instagram @bycarissac.