Crow Witch

This drawing doesn't have anything to do with anything I'm currently working on. I really just had a  hankering to revisit,  my old avatar who keeps a watchful eye on me and my online networking activities.
I hope everyone is having a pleasant Sunday.

More soon.

Getting Warmed Up - 3

A couple of recent character studies -  from reference.

Getting Warmed Up - Part 2 - Hands

Hands are hard to draw. Much continued practice is required. That's all there is to it. I'm always looking for good hand reference. I can find it in magazines or my wife's crafting and gardening books and of course there are the ones I'm using to type this post. There is no shortage of hands around here, only a shortage of the drawing of hands. In fact, I should probably do some more tomorrow !

Getting Warmed Up - Part 1 - Figures

The Human Figure In Motion by Edward Muybridge is one of my very favourite reference books for the human figure. One of the things I like best about this book is that the pictures are small so if you are going to draw from them you are pretty well forced to deal with the basics like proportion and gesture. There is no room for fancy pencil work here. The pages above were done with a simple gel pen directly on to the paper with no fiddling around or worry about pretty picture making. The idea here is to loosen up and think about the basics of drawing. I like to try and see how long I can leave the pen on the paper before I have to pick it up to start a new line - it's a part of the exercise  :)

Etsy

Hi Folks.

Just a small announcement to let you know that I now have an Etsy gallery where I have a few originals for sale, like this Magic Card above.

http://www.etsy.com/people/LarryMacDougallArt

Please feel free to drop by and take a peek.

Thanks again for all your patience  :)

More soon.

Lavender Sketchbook - A few More Faeries

A bit more drawing for the Lavender Blue book cover. My usual practice when working out a design for a cover is to draw many of the elements separately on loose paper and then trace them into place on a piece of translucent layout paper or with a light box. I do this because it allows me to draw freely and assemble without tightening up in order to make everything fit properly. Also, assembling in this way brings a slightly random aspect into your composition as items drawn separately are combined and made to work together. I first started doing this many years ago in animation school where all your drawing is done on a light table. It was such a great way to compose a layout that I never really found a better way to put a picture together. This process will not work for everyone but I find it quite helpful.

Lavender Sketchbook 2

Here we have a few more faeries and the rough for the cover of the Lavender book. In the cover rough we see Lavender alone in the woods with a whirlwind of faeries swirling up around her and down below on the right hand side a couple of goblins are lurking.

Lavender Sketchbook - Faeries

Some recent pencil work concerning the Faerie Tale I've been working on entitled Lavender Blue and the Faeries of Galtee Wood.  We originally considered using one of the interior illustrations to serve also as the cover, but we have since rethought that idea and have changed our minds. I'm glad we did because this gives me a chance to make a picture that will work exclusively as a cover and be a much stronger image and will be much more successful at conveying the mood and spirit of the book. At the moment I'm simply drawing characters and searching for the figures I want to be in the picture. There will of course be Lavender and there will also be faeries and quite naturally, goblins.

Lavender 3

This is the third completed illustration for the Irish Faerie Tale book I'm currently working on entitled Lavender Blue and the Faeries of Galtee Wood. This is actually image number 10 and appears about mid way through the story. Like a film director I tend to create my scenes out of order. However, in my case I don't have a good reason for working this other than I feel like it. Here we have poor Lavender now entering the sticky part of the story and you could say that she is having an "adventure". Although I would imagine that it feels to her much more like a nightmare. The nasty creature that is confronting her at the moment is a shape shifting Pookah. He is not very smart and was not gifted with a great deal of imagination but what little intelligence he does have is now bent completely toward Lavender and her destruction. Thank goodness Lavender was born with superior faculties and the ability to use them. That is all I'm authorized to reveal at the present time. The story continues on from here. Please stay tuned.

More soon.

Winter Moth

A simple warm-up drawing -  just for fun.
More soon.

peace 

Lavender 2

This is the second finished illustration for the Irish Faerie Tale project I'm currently working on entitled Lavender Blue and the Faeries of Galtee Wood. This will be the third image in the book and shows a Faerie approaching Lavender's home in the middle of the night to secretly deliver a magical object that will propel Lavender on her journey. This will of course not be known to her when she wakes up in the morning but that is the way it is with Faerie adventures. By the time you begin to realize that something is amiss you are well down the rabbit hole and hip deep into your journey, or cataclysm, take your pick.

Codger

Just horsing around - pencil on paper - more soon. 

Lavender - First Illustration

A few months ago I started to post some of the illustration roughs I had been doing for an Irish Faerie Tale project I'm working on called Lavender Blue and the Faeries of Galtee Wood (we're thinking about shortening the title). Since then conflicting deadlines and other circumstances have been competing to keep me away from finishing the final illustrations for Lavender, until now.

This image is the first picture in the book. Here we have Lavender in the garden clipping flowers, blissfully unaware of the catastrophic events awaiting her in the Faerie Realm just a few short pages away.

This picture is all watercolour with some colour pencil work over top.

Winter Music

Winter has come back to this part of the world. The ponds and creeks are frozen over and the snow is starting to come down. Here's a song for a winter afternoon.

Another Faerie Doodle

Another quick faerie doodle to begin the year. I hope you don't mind.  Soon we'll be on to more serious work :)