Saturday 31 October 2015

#inktober -Day 31

Very last day of the #inktober challenge! I can't believe it's already over!... that was my first year doing it and it was fun. I will definitely take part next year!

#inktober - Day 30

Sunday 25 October 2015

Thursday 22 October 2015

#inktober - Days 20 & 21

Nerdmaids

A few months ago, I was feeling very low and I was missing the Ocean. Until I left the nest, I had been spending my life by the Ocean. Then, because I had to find a job and I wanted to travel, I left the Ocean to go to an island (England). I spent a few years there and then ended up on the continent.

This spring, I was beginning to feel low and as time went by, I was getting more and more depressed because I was missing the Ocean. I went to my favourite shop in town which also happens to be a crystal shop and I had a heart to heart with the lady who was working there. It turns out that we both had this in common: missing our Oceans. She had already remedied this and made a trip back home to recharge her batteries. 

Since I was a few weeks away from going back home myself, I decided to express my love for the Ocean by doing the one thing I could: draw. Of course, I had to combine my love of the Ocean with my love of all things Geek (namely Marvel's Avengers and namely Captain America). 

I had been admiring the works of an excellent illustrator called Melissa Ballesteros Parada. If you haven't checked her artwork, feel free to head on over to her FB page. She draws beautiful pin up girls that look both cute and gorgeous.  I am not usually a fan of pin up girls who look very intimidating and unapproachable but Melissa's ladies are quite the opposite.

Channeling Melissa's style, I drew my very first pin up mermaid or Nerdmaid as one of my friends calls her, and it looked something like this:


My mermaid or 'Nerdmaid'

Once I was done, although I was very pleased with the result, I decided that it wasn't enough and I had to do something more. 

One thing I love as much as drawing is stationery. My favourite type is something called a Midori Traveler's Notebook (TN). It's a type of leather cover with a system of elastic bands where you can attach 2 or more notebooks, so you can have one notebook per subject and once a notebook is finished, you just have to replace it with a new one.

The leather covers offered by Midori are hugely popular among many stationery addicts but the covers are either brown or black. So that doesn't leave a lot of choice for colour (or size, since the original Midori covers come in 2 of their own format: regular and passport).

A couple of years back, just when I was getting into leather covers, I came across an Etsy type shop (DaWanda) and one seller in particular was making her own covers and it was even possible to get a specific size custom made. I had one made so that it could fit large Moleskine notebooks. It was stunning. The quality of the leather was excellent and you could see that it had been made with love and dedication.

So when I created my mermaid, I immediately thought of this artist who had made my original cover. This artist is Morgan Le Faes Trinkets. I immediately contacted Monique (the artist who makes all the beautiful covers) and I asked her whether it was possible to reproduce my Nerdmaid onto a leather cover. I was aware that my painting was very detailed and that it might not be possible to get everything in. One thing I changed from my original drawing was to ditch the shell the mermaid is sitting on and to add a shell at the back of the leather cover.

During the process, Monique advised me that she had made a mistake with the background colour and she had forgotten the banner. She immediately redid the cover and I was extremely lucky to be sent both covers. I was so excited when I got the package that I took many pictures and here they are:

It's here!!!

Each TN was individually wrapped

Nerdmaid Dark

Inside cover of Nerdmaid Dark

Leaflet with some info about the TN

Leaflet with some info about the TN

Nerdmaid Dark with the elastic off!...

The Nerdmaid I had in mind!

Nerdmaid with elastic off!...

Inside cover of Nerdmaid

Both Nerdmaid side by side, looking gorgeous

Note by Monique with some extra goodies and replacement elastic bands and metallic bits

Both Nerdmaids and my original TN by Monique

Back covers

Sea shell at the back

Sea shell at the back

To say that I was pleased with the result would be the understatement of the century... Both covers look absolutely stunning and they both came with their hand made notebook.

I honestly cannot recommend Monique's work strongly enough. Not only does she use top quality leather and does amazing preparation and artwork, but the most important thing is that it is so easy to communicate with Monique and to share ideas with her. I am not aware of many shops that have the flexibility to accommodate as much as Monique does.

If this review tempted you to get your own cover or if you want even more info, check out the following links:

Friday 9 October 2015

#inktober - Day 8




My kitten loves to skateboard so I thought it would be fitting to illustrate this! 

Tuesday 6 October 2015

#inktober - Day 6


Nothing for #inktober day 4 and 5 because I have been busy taking care of my new kitten but everything should now be back on track from now on!