My creative space

Long time since I haven't shown you what's going on in here, he ? Let's see what I have...

What's this ? you might ask... This was, in its past incarnation, a 1892 woollen evening cloak, which I wore to a ball many years ago. But I don't like the shape, it's too wide on me to be wearable in everyday life, so into the recycling bin it went, and it is going to be remade into a man's rococo justeaucorps. Quite a change ! Unpicking all those decorative stitches was time-consuming to put it mildly.

This is more familiar... Black ink and colored pencils, we'll see what it morphs into...

Prints vs. Printmaking and a Question

... also titled : "I'm EXCITED !"

One of the good things about getting a kid is that I can get a small allowance to stay home with him for six months after my maternal leave. Which I AM going to do. That will take me to about the end of the schoolyear. A whole schoolyear without work... That means I was finally able to take some classes at the art school. I had my eyes set on a nude drawing class for years (my Grandma was kinda kicking my butt on this one but it always clashed with my work schedule *sobs*), and when I started scheming this art classes plan after I got pregnant, I saw the art school also offered a *printmaking class*. AWESOME ! I wasn't able to attend the first two courses but yesterday I was able to leave the kid with his father, leave the house and just worry about learning printmaking stuff and doing art for four hours.

I was just experimenting with drypoint on plexiglass, without a real plan, but I'm already really, really happy with what I got. Now I have to buy some materials for the class... this is also my entry for this week' EST challenge, "Mythology". My only problem being that I'm not sure I want to put the first print I'm really happy with up for sale. :s

This is from the "prints" category, although it won't be technically a print, but a reproduction of a digital creation. I hope to finish it sometime this week. All the work with ink and paper is done, all that's left is the computerized magic.

And since we're talking digital, I'm begging for and advice from the crowd. My digicam is dying, and I want to upgrade to a DSLR. I want a Canon, because I want to be able to talk, get advice, compare and try lenses with Argyronete and our friend B, who both have a 450D (if I recall correctly). I'd need a standard lens, and maybe a macro one to take good macro pictures for the shop (and because macro is FUN :D ). Most of all, I'm hesitating between the 500D (which seems like a step up from the 450D, and isn't tha tmuch more expensive anymor) and the 1000D (which is a bit lower-class compared to the 500, but also a lot cheaper, so that I could splurge more on lenses). What do you people use ? What would you suggest ? I'm taking non-figurative pictures and some landscpae pictures when I'm doing the one-picture-a-day-thing (I've stopped trying to call it a 365 project until I actually manage to do one year in a row), close-ups of the items I'm putting up for sale, and well... baby portraits. Soon to be kid pictures.

My current pet peeves with my old Ixus, beside the fact that I have to hit it every time I turn it on to get the screen to work, are :
- no personalised adjusting of the white balance,
- horribly grainy pictures without natural light.

Fishy dilemna

I drew this for last week's EST challenge but wrangling four kilos of screaming monster prevented me from finishing it in time to submit. And now that I can take a step back to look at it, I'm not sure anymore what I should turn it into. My original plan was to make the blue very light and use the pattern for a writing set. But I'm starting to think it would work great as a print as well. What do YOU think ?

My creative space...

... is a day late, I know, I know... I actually took the pictures yesterday, but after a busy afternoon I didn't feel very well in the evening, and just vegged out with my knitting and pencils (okay, so that's not technically vegging out... but still).

Two big changes ! First, the antique craddle. Isn't it pretty ? We're still waiting for the mattress, we had it custom-made and it should be here next Thursday. The craddle was in a really sorry state when we bought it, but my Dad is an awesome woodworker and redid the damaged pieces, you can't even spot them now !
Second, you might notice it's the first time I post a picture of my computer desk from that angle. The reason being I can now open the window right next to said desk and step out on the balcony ! We replaced the old window and door with two big sliding doors. now I can show you the big mess that is my work area... I just need to have all that inspiration around me, the pictures, the materials and the projects in progress. I know some artists can't work amidst chaos, but I can't create without it.
As usual, see more creative spaces (from yesterday) on Kootoyoo's blog.

Proof that it works : two new listings in the shop. The Autumn print has been waiting for me to photograph it for some time, now it is finally online. Then comes another World Wonder, the Pharos lighthouse. I really have to thank Baahar for this wonderful challenge theme, it keeps me inspired ! I'm working on a third print on that subject and it has brought me so much... I'll have to make a separate post about it.

I do have to thank all the wonderful euro and UK peeps who included us in treasuries lately. It's been amazing to meet so many adorable and wonderfully talented people through Etsy. Thank you so much !

A girl's day on her own

So what's a girl to do when her husband has deserted her to go to a wild party in the South ? (don't worry, he'll be back tomorrow, I'm just jealous because I'm not allowed to travel that much with my bump and will as a result enjoy neither the party nor the faboo chinese food there. Jeaaaalous !!!) Let's see.
Work on some picture editing and listing new stuff in the shop.
Draw a little while the computer busy computing stuff too heavy for its little brain. (My computer is a bit slow. He understands things quickly once you've explained them at great length)
Do some more scanning and picture editing.

Think about taking care of the laundry.
Draw a little more while the computer thinks big long thoughts by himself.

Decide to have a cleaning frenzy rather than have lunch.
Have lunch eventually. After the whole downstairs area has been cleaned, that is.
Spend some time rereading a teenage favorite. Think I should work on some illustrations from that text.
Get phone calls by Mom and Stepmom. None of those are ever short. Answer copious amount of questions about the little alien inside the bump.
Realize at some point in the afternoon that project warm bath has been forgotten. Apply oneself to said project.
Hop to home decor store to pick up a new picture artefact, as shown below. Well, I couldn't decide on which one, so I got two.

Forget about the laundry. Actually I think that happened a few steps earlier.
Come back home ravenous.
Discover that the nearest pizza place is still closed. I think they are taking Ramadan month off. Wish I was a muslim for a short while and knew the dates of Ramadan this year so that I could order pizza again - I think it ends today ? Am I right ?
Settle on a big plate of pasta with tuna and parmegianno.

Eat in front of Sex and the City. A girl has to take every opportunity to make an evening truly girly when she's home alone.

So this is my entry for this week's EST challenge, "Seven world wonders". I am *dying* to be allowed to do metal engraving again but acids are just a big no-no until the baby's born. So the design of this piece is very much inspired by my Grandma's and my own style of metal engravings, only I did it in black ink and digitally added the color. I quite like the result. I felt pretty inspired by the theme, I chose the hanging gardens of Babylon because luxurious foliage and exotic birds are a theme that regularly popped up in my Grandma's work, so it almost natural to have my own take on it. But now I want to push this further, hence the other drawing, the Pharos lighthouse, where I am trying to infuse nautical and egyptian elements into this style. It's also very interesting because it makes me work on coposition in a way I'm not used to. Now I just need to find ideas for the five remaining wonders of the ancient world ! *laughs* I have a weird addiction for working in series, even though I don't always get to actually finish the series.

Silly me !

While sketching and coloring, I'm also working on putting a third trial run tarot deck together. I worked on it some yesterday - well today - let's just say : last time I was awake before now. Then I let it dry overnight and went to bed like a good girl. Or so was the plan.
I made the mistake to go have a look at it during the night, to discover that it had gone awry. The wallpaper was getting wavy and all. After that, I unsuccessfully tried to get back to sleep, but my mind was just running in circles, I kept thinking about how to best fix this mess and other options to make that deck. So I got up again.
I *think* I am going to keep working with the current method. Half of deck #3 is now drying between stacks of books. Here's hoping it still looks okay in the morning.
Silly me although thought I had to go buy fixative. Turns out I already did last time I went supplies shopping !
Now I'm trying to get back to sleep, I need it, but I'll leave you with a little previwe of my "Enchanted Forest" sketch.

En parallèle avec mon travail de dessin, je fais des essais pour la troisième version d'essai du jeu de tarot. J'y ai bossé un peu hier - enfin aujourdhui - disons : la dernière fois que j'ai été réveillée avant maintenant. Puis je l'ai laissé à sécher pour la nuit et suis gentiment aller me coucher. Enfin c'était le plan. J'ai commis l'erreur d'y jeter un oeil quand je me suis relevée cette nuit, pour constater que ça n'allait pas du tout. La tapisserie se mettait à faire des vagues, ack ! J'ai bien tenté de me rendormir après ça, mais impossible, mon cerveau surchauffait à se demander comment réparer ça et s'il n'y avait pas de meilleures solutions pour fabriquer le deck. Donc retour au bureau.
Je *pense* que je vais rester sur ma méthode actuelle. La moitié du deck numéro 3 est en train de sécher sous des piles de livres, en espérant qu'elle sera toujours présentable demain matin.
Ma petite tête de linotte était aussi persuadée de ne pas avoir de fixatif. Sauf qu'en fait j'en avais acheté lors de mon dernier passage chez Arteis !
Ce coup-ci, je vais essayer de retourner dormir, j'en ai besoin. Mais je vous laisse avec un petit aperçu du croquis pour "Forêt enchantée".

Automne

A little sneak peek of what I'm working on this rainy Thursday - yay rain ! Autumn is finally coming and I *love* autumn. It inspires me, autumn colors somehow always work out right on my drawings. Not to mention the heat was a bit hard on me, and being able to open windows and go out again is a bliss.

Un petit aperçu de ce sur quoi je travaille par ce mercredi pluvieux - youpi, il pleut ! L'automne arrive enfin, et *j'aime* l'automne. Il m'inspire, les couleurs automnales sont celles que je dompte le plus facilement sur ma palette. Sans parler du fait que la chaleur était un peu dure à supporter et que c'est une bénédiction d epouvoir de nouveau ouvrir les fenêtres et s'aventurer dehors.

Etsy wow !

I meant to make a post about something... but then something else happened. I have finally started setting up our Etsy shop last week. On Sunday I listed our two first items, two reproductions of drawing by myself, Green Martha, on recycled paper. I didn't even start promoting, I was still learning how to set up things, I'm slowly making more stuff for the shop.
And then...
... on Monday I got an email : one of the two prints has sold ! We made our first Etsy sale only one day after listing our first items ! Even now, my brain still turns to pudding when I think of it. The print was mailed this morning, I guess I'll only calm down once I know it's arrived and the buyer loves it in person too.

J'avais prévu de faire un post... et puis ile st arrivé quelque chose. Je me suis enfin attelée à notre boutique Etsy la semaine dernière. Dimanche j'ai mis en ligne nos deux premiers articles, deux reproductions de dessins de Green Martha (moi !), sur papier recyclé. Je n'ai même pas vraiment commencé à faire de la pub, encore en train de comprendre comment ça marche. Je suis toujours en train de faire de nouvelles choses pour le boutique, petit à petit.
Et puis...
... lundi j'ai reçu un mail : une des deux illustrations a été vendue ! Nous avons fait notre première vente un jour après avoir listé nos premier sproduits ! J'en suis encore toute tournechamboulifiée rien que d'y penser. L'illustration a été postée ce matin. Je pense que je ne me détendrai vraiment que quand elle sera arrivée et que j'aurai confirmation qu'elle plaît bien à l'acheteur une fois qu'il l'a en main.

PS : Did you spot the new layout ? Graphic part by the three Serpentaires Girls, techie stuff by the Home Geek and friends, thank you boys, you saved my non-CSS-savvy neck !
PS : Avez-vous remarqué le nouveau layout ? Graphismes par les trois artistes Serpentaires, technique par le Geek Domestique & friends. Merci les gars, vous avez sauvé ma vie de non-pratiquante-CSS !

Busy Bee !

I've spent the past few days rrrrrrunning... Whizzz... whizzz... So this was ready a few days back but I didn't get to post it until now.

Illustration Friday - Craving

J'ai couru de partout ces derniers jours... du coup impossible de poster cette illus avant aujourd'hui, alors qu'elle est finie depuis le début de la semaine...

And with color...

I told you the color version was coming ! The black outlines are worked with a Pentel calligraphy inkbrush, and the color is watercolor. I used up the last sheet of Cotman water colour paper I had for this one, it is a truly remarkable paper to work with a water-based medium. The only problem being it's heavily textured, so it's hard to get good reproductions in print.

Je vous avais bien dit que la version couleur arrivait sous peu ! L'encrage est fait au feutre-pinceau à calligraphie Pentel, la couleur à l'aquarelle. J'ai utilisé ma dernière feuille de papier aquarelle Cotman pour ce dessin, c'est vraiment un support exceptionnel pour travailler avec de l'eau. Malheureusement c'est ausis un papier avec un très gros grain, ce qui rend la reproduction sur papier du dessin un peu compliquée.

Illustration Friday - Adapt

I went back and forth a little and in the end decided to go for this version. The tea-cup lady will get finished as well, don't worry, just not for this week. I'm going to color this one as well - not feeling the greatest this week and subsequently slowed down in my work.
I've been very fond of Goldilocks' story as a kid, and loved the idea of going back to it to illustrate it. What if the little girl had just tried to pretend to be a bear as well ?

Après mûre réflexion, je me suis décidée pour cette version de l'illustration. La demoiselle à la tasse de thé sera finie également, pas d'inquiétude, mais un peu plus tard. Et cette illus aura droit à de la couleur aussi - je ne suis pas très en forme cette semaine et considérablement ralentie dans mon travail de ce fait.
J'adorais l'histoire de Boucle d'Or quand j'étais petite, et j'ai trouvé intéressant d'y revenir pour en tirer une illustration. Et si la petite fille avait tenté de se faire passer pour un ours ?

Illustration Friday - Cracked

I know, I missed the deadline. But anyway, here's my take on last week's "Cracked". I have a porcelain doll that fell on her head once. It's not so nicely cracked, more shattered, but the face is still intact and provided the inspiration. This one is going to end as a print in the shop !

Je sais, j'ai loupé la deadline. Mais voici quand même mon dessin pour IF de la semaine dernière, "Cracked". L'inspiration m'est venue d'une poupé een porcelaine qui a fait une chute malencontreuse. La tête n'est pas joliment fissurée comme sur le dessin, mais bien en miettes, mais le visage est intact. Ce dessin sera disponible dans la boutique !

And before I get late again, here's the sketch to this week's IF, "Adapt". I'll admit it, it's a little bit personal... I actually have another take on the subject brewing in my sketchbook, but that one will take longer to get done.

Et avant que je me retrouve en retard à nouveau, le croquis pour IF de cette semaine, "Adapt". Avec de vrais petits bouts de moi dedans... J'ai une autre interprétation du thème dans mon carnet de croquis, mais il va me fallori un peu plus de temps pour la terminer.

Steampunk copy and original

Pour changer j'ai envie de vous montrer un peu la travail en chantier. Ca commence par un simple croquis au crayon, sans encrage, sans couleur, sans rien, avec des lignes même pas encore abouties.
Ce qu'il y a de rigolo, c'est que mes crayons otn leur volonté propres et ne dessinentpas toujours ce que je suis partie pour dessiner. Voilà ce que j'étais partie pour mettre sur papier.
For a change I decided to give you a little insight of my work in progress. Bare sketches in pencil, no inking, no color, no nothing, not even very finished lines.
The funny thing ? My pencils have their own will and I cannot always bend them to mine. This is what I meant to draw when I took the pencil.

Et voilà ce qu'a donné ma première tentative.
And this is what came out on the first round.

A part la position de la tête et l'ambiance un peu steampunk, pas grand chose à voir, non ? Ca m'arrive régulièrement, ça représente peut-être un tiers de ma production. Parce qu'une chose que j'ai fini par apprendre, c'est que quand je n'arrive pas à rendre sur papier ce que j'ai en tête, mieux vaut commencer par laisser faire le papier et le crayon.
Apart from the inclination of the head and the hint of steampunk, not much in common, right ? Happens all the time, it probalby accounts for a third of my drawing. Because there's one thing I learnt over time : when I can't put my thougths on paper, I'd better let the paper and pencil do their own thing first.

Illustration Friday - Contagious

Fashion is a form of contagion - the same item spreading, getting worn by more and more people, regardless of their personalities or body types. India ink and GIMP. (Click for the full picture)
La mode est une forme de contagion - le même vêtement qu'on retrouve sur de plus en plus de personne, quelles que soient leur personnalité et leur morphologie. Encre de Chine et GIMP. (Cliquez pour l'image complète)

Copy and original

Voici ce qui traîne actuellement sur ma table de travail : la dernière arcane majeure d'un jeu de tarot réalisé en collaboration par Argyronete et moi-même, avec les conseils éclairés de Lady Fi. A gauche, la version d'origine d'Argyronete, comme elle avait été faite dans un certain rush, le résultat est à retravailler - l'épaisseur des traits n'est pas uniforme entre le fond (réalisé séparément) et le premier plan (qui lui a été assemblé digitalement). Vu l'ampleur du travail, le plus simple est de reprendre et de re-encrer le tout.
A droite, le crayonné de ma version. J'ai conservé le design d'Argyronete (qui est très proche d'un Marseille classique), et allégé le fond. J'ai également ajouté une bordure - comme il y en aura sur chacune des arcanes majeures.
Après ça, c'est presque fini ! Il me reste à finir le crayonné de l'Impératrice (également sur une base d'Argyronete), puis à encrer tout ça. Et ce sera fini pour le noir et blanc !

Here's what's on my drawing desk right now : the last major arcana of the tarot deck that was drawn by Argyronete and myself, with many helpful commentaries from Lady Fi.
On the left is Argyronete's original version - it was done in a rush and has some issues - mainly with the width of the inking not being consistent between the background (that was made separately and digitally added into the picture) and the foreground. Given how much work it'd have been to digitally edit that, I decided to restart from scratch.
On the right is my sketch. I stayed close to Argyronete's design (which itself is really close to a classic Marseille arcana) and made the background lighter. I also added a border, like on all majors.
Once that is done I only have some sketching work to do on the Imperatrix, then it's onto inking what's left, and the B&W set of major arcanas will be done !

My creative space

What's brewing today. This one gave me a hard time, partly because it's hard to take pictorial license with something you know as well as rococo underpinnings. And it isn't gettign any better as I have NO IDEA what to do with all the blank space around her. None of the few tries I did looked convincing.
In the top right corner are two wooden cubes that are in the works for our friends' kid, little E.

Sur le métier aujourd'hui... J'ai sué sur cette illus, notamment parce que j'ai du mal à mettre de côté l'exactitude historique sur les sous-vêtements rococo. Et ça ne s'améliore pas, je sèche sur le fond de l'image, mes quelques essais n'ont rien donné de concluant.
En haut à droite, deux cubes en cours de réalisation pour le fils de nos amis, E.

And the good news ? We've found a new car ! It's big, it's red, and it should be our in ten days. Yay !

Et la bonne nouvelle c'est que nous avons trouvé notre nouvelle voiture ! Elle est grande, elle est rouge, et elle devrait être à nous d'ici dix jours. Youpi !

Doodles

I have just finished a new companion for this little fellow under here. This is a start of a series of small black & white prints - I'm currently narrowing down sources for pretty AND green paper. I have more trouble finding enveloppes to ship the prints in.
Working in black and white really is one of my favorite things in illustration. I find it quick and easy and you can do some interesting stuff with textures and composition. This series so far has been inked with 0.7 and 0.5 pilot pens - another favorite tool of mine.Je viens de finir un nouveau camarade pour ce petit bonhomme. c'est le début d'un série de petits illustrations en noir et blanc - j'ai quelques sources en tête pour du papier *recyclé* de qualité mais j'ia plus de mal à localiser des enveloppes pour l'expédition.
Le travail en noir et blanc est un de mes modes de fonctionnement préférés. Il est facile d'accès et me permet d'avoir des résultats rapidement tout en jouant sur les textures et la composition. Cette série a été encrée jusqu'ici au Pilot 0.5 et 0.7 - un de mes outils favoris.

Nouveau bureau !

J'ai un nouveau coin pour travailler avec mes pinceaux !
I have a new drawing desk !

C'était un pupitre que ma grand-mère s'était fait fabriquer pour pouvoir dessiner debout... De toute évidence, je suis plus grande que ma grand-mère :D Et dessus, la preuve que je travaille sur notre tarot.
It's a scavenged piece from my Grandma's attic, she had it made to be able to draw whilst standing. I'm obviously taller than her ! And on the desk, pictorial evidence that I'm working on our tarot deck.

Progress !!

Après un certain nombre d'heures à parcourir les illustrations du Codex Manesse, j'ai enfin une idée assez précise de comment je vais pouvoir finir notre nouveau jeu de tarot.
Scanner toutes les cartes.
Les imprimer toutes au même format (je vais m'arranger avec le format des tiennes, Argyronète).
Crayonner un cadre et compléter le dessin si nécessaire.
Encrer le tout.
J'ai trouvé plusieurs modèles d'encadrement qui me plaisent et s'adapteront à différentes cartes, je pense que je ferai chaque cadre individuellement pour rappeler l'aspect légèrement imparfait du manuscrit. Et comme ça je pourrai jouer sur de légers débordements de l'image sur le cadre, comme sur les enluminures d'époque. *se frotte les mains*
I spent quite some time browsing the Codex Manesse, and I finally have a clear idea of how I want to finish our new tarot deck.
Scan all cards.
Print them all on the same format (I'll find a way to deal with yours, Argyronète).
Draw and ink a frame around it, complete illustration if necessary.
I found several frame themes that I like and that will work well with the different cards. I think I'll draw each frame individually so as to keep the orginal hand-drawn look and to be able to reproduce some overlapping found in the manuscript illustrations. *rubs hands*

Et pour vous dire qu'on continue à bosser sur les autres projets, mes encres de couleur sont arrivées, et j'ai une source potentielle pour des cubes en bois pleins, de récup', non traités. ..\o/Que je ne pourrai absolument pas utiliser pour la boutique... /o\
We're still plugging ahead ont he projects that were previously mentionned : the coloured inks have been delivered, and I've found a potential source for upcycled, untreated plain wooden cubes... \o/ Which I probably won't be able to use for the shop... /o\

Fatum

Ce soir je voulais ressortir un projet du fond de mes cartons, en attendant de retrouver l'inspiration sur ma vendeuse de ballons. Seulement au fond de mes cartons, je n'ai pas trouvé ce que je cherchais... Du coup, bien obligée, j'ai fini par exhumer ma plume Atom et par encrer la vendeuse en question. Et il se pourrait même que j'ai une idée de comment possiblement la continuer...

Tonight I meant to work on some old project until I found some inspiration for the balloon seller. Except I couldn't find the old project I wanted. So there I went, dug out the Atom quill and inked said balloon lady. I might even go as far as having an idea about what to do with her next !