Doodles on Caturday

I have taken out my sketchbook and I have started doing a few cat doodles in preparation for a very exciting project. For now, it's casting time and trying to find the right cat...

BOOK REVIEW: Apparition Lake by Dan D. Lamoreux and Doug Lamoreux

*WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD!*

A few months ago, I was sent the novel Apparition Lake by authors Daniel D Lamoreux and Doug Lamoreux. The book was published by Creativia.

When I saw the title, I didn't really know what to expect but I was hoping for a tale of mystery and supernatural. I was not disappointed at all! Both mystery and supernatural were present in this story.

I devoured the book! I seriously could not put it down. I loved Glenn Merril and Two Ravens. Even though both men come from very different backgrounds they form the kind of friendship and bond one aims to find with another person. I also liked J.D. who reminded me a bit of Dana Scully from the X-Files: a strong female scientist but I didn't warm up as much as I did with the other two men.

As much as I loved the main characters, I have to say that I positively hated Stubby and was glad to see what became of him. I think I hated him even more than the poachers! One thing that surprised me was that their characters were not as fleshed out as the 'good guys' but it didn't spoil anything at all.

When I reached the end of the book, I thought long and hard about the main message of the book: mistreating the environment can have very serious consequences, and not just supernatural onces.

The descriptions really made me want to add Yellowstone to the bucket list of places I want to visit and it also made me want to leave my office more often to go and explore the nature around me.

Rating: 5*/5

Broadening My Horizons

When I created this blog, I had in mind to just share pictures of the drawings and paintings I did, just so that it would be easier for me to show people who might be interested to see what I can do and have everything gathered in one place. It started as a very bird centric blog and then I expanded it to people once I completed the 29 Faces Challenge.

At this point, I decided that a change of name and image was in order. I'm not incredibly gifted when it comes to web designing (although back in the 90's I was able to make a really kitschy website with lots of flashing icons in my sleep). These times have changed and I now rely heavily on whatever tools Blogger has at hand to make this electronically suitable for this day and age.

The changes were made and then I started adding links to my favourite pages and shops. I have 'met' all of these people and I have formed some good relationships with them. Make sure to check them out on the left hand column.

The first person I added was Ray Hendrix from R.M. Noble Designs who does professional logos for companies, clubs, t-shirts. He even designed the logo for my translation company and I am forever grateful for that. He managed to capture what I was about while still maintaining a strong professional appearance.

The second link is for Morgan LeFae's Trinkets. Monique is the maker of stunning traveller’s notebooks. The trend started with the company Midori that was making some minimalistic leather covers that could house several notebooks at once. Monique took the style further and now creates true works of art. Check out her shop and web page on the left hand side to have an idea of what her creations look like and how versatile they are.

The last link (for now) is of a publishing company called Creativia. They have released some really great novels in many genres on Amazon, many of which have gone on to become best sellers. It's definitely worth the detour to discover some new favourite authors (my favourite novel so far is Apparition Lake by Doug and Daniel D. Lamoreux).

I have therefore decided to not only publish my latest artworks but to also share book reviews and talk about my ever-lasting love of traveller's notebooks. So expect to see a lot of variation in the next few posts!

Harley Quinn

I have been a long time fan of Batman comics and I was introduced to them by my husband who is a avid fan of the masked hero. I really loved the contrast between the different Robins and Batman himself as they are such opposites. While I liked all the good guys, I didn't really have a favourite bad guy (although I did like Bane because he was so impossibly muscular). As much as I appreciated Batman's arch enemy, the Joker, it was really when I got to watch the movies and the animated series that I really got to appreciate him and Harley Quinn.

I absolutely loved how Bruce Timm drew her and I loved the energy that she had in the animated series. Now that the Suicide Squad movie is almost upon us, I have watched the trailers and I loved Margot Robbie's interpretation of Harley. She gives her a different feel to Harley from the ones I had already seen and felt when reading the books and watched the animated series. Even the way she looks is really different and reflects these differences.

A friend of mine posted the following meme, which pushed me over the edge and made me draw myself as Harley Quinn (there is nothing more empowering than this!)

Zootopia

Today we went to the cinema to watch Zootopia. It was a great movie and I loved the fox in it. I just had to draw him. The ears are bigger because I wanted to give it a fenec fox feel. It's also a quick drawing so I just used some felt tip pens for quick results.

#29faces Challenge: The Last Leg of the Journey!

Even though I haven't posted for the last few days and updated on my progress with the challenge, I have continued to draw and paint my daily faces and I am very pleased to say that I have completed the challenge. It has been a challenge particularly for me since faces are not my forte. I have seen myself grow in confidence and be inspired as time progressed and I am very proud of what I have achieved.

Along the way, I have met extremely talented artists and I have seen mind blowing works of art. I am truly humbled to have been a part of this vibrant community and will definitely miss it.

Without further ado, here are the last faces of the challenge:

Day 23:

I went back to the Evil Queen. This is one of my favourite characters from the Disney movies. It was really interesting drawing an older lady as the features are so much more complex than those of a younger lady.

Day 24:

Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes. After drawing the complex Evil Queen, I needed to draw someone cute for a change!

Day 25:

 After watching Brave with my daughter, I just HAD to draw Merida. She is definitely one of my favourite Disney Princess. I just love how unconventional she is and how free she is. However, I felt too chicken to tackle that glorious hair of hers and I was too afraid not to do it justice so I picked a picture of her with her hair imprisoned in her headdress.

Day 26:

I had just finished to do this sketch and was not really planning on colouring it but after posting it on the group page, I decided that I hadn't done it justice so I went back and coloured it. I have to say that I'm particularly proud of the skin colour I used, especially for the cheeks. Mixing colours in watercolour is something I'm just starting to do. Because I'm too lazy to go to town and get some flesh coloured pans, I tried to use what I had in hand, and make some flesh colour of my own... This is one of the rare cases where laziness paid!

Day 27:

Back to a quick and easy sketch of Leela from Futurama. Nice and easy with bold colours (and my very own brand of purple that I mixed all on my own!)

Day 28:

This is one character I have been meaning to draw for a long time. It's Arale from the manga Dr Slump.

Day 29:

This is a completely new and original creation. I wanted to do something big for the last day and I hesitated between winging it or picking some very elaborate sketch and in the end, I winged it. One of my favourite artists is Tim Burton. I love how eternally startled his characters always are. The lines are often simple but always effective. I more or less inspired myself from someone I knew a long time ago and I put a spin on him. I am desperate to practice nebulae and this was the perfect occasion for it. It was a bit tricky staying within my lines but I did it. And I had to add a raven because I'm all about ravens. Somehow, I feel that the background should not be white and I might change it at some point. This is by far the biggest portrait I did (A3!).

So this is it for this challenge!

Catching up on the #29faces challenge!

I am way behind on updating the blog and I am missing days 20 to 22, so here they are:

Day 20:

Day 21:

Day 22:

Days 18 and 19: #29faces challenge

Here are my offerings for days 18 and 19 of the #29faces challenge:

Spontaneous fountain pen drawing

Gimp and Inkscape collaboration

The Deadpool Traveler's Notebook Project - Part 2

LMC TN - Almost finished!

Little leather charm I made for the LMC TN

A6 TN that will be called Lil Wade (front)

A6 TN that will be called Lil Wade (back)

One on top of the other

From top to bottom: Lil Wade, natural leather A6 TN, Big Wade, Original Morgan LeFae's Trinkets LMC

All filled with notebooks

This was quite a journey and I learned a lot on leather and how to use it. I doubt I have learned everything there is to learn about it but it's still a very good start:

- Already treated leather is REALLY hard to work on and modify, ever after filing it...
- Markers seem to suddenly die when they are used on treated leather...
- I can use kitchen scissors to cut leather circles!
- A 50 Cent coin is the right size to make a charm.
- China ink is a good replacement for markers although many layers are needed.

I wanted to wait for a while before I completed the red LMC TN (Big Wade) because I originally wanted to do a lot of sketching inside the cover but because it was so time consuming and more or less pointless to do this on a treated surface, I have given up on the idea. One thing that I wouldn't mind trying is spray paint. I would create a stencil and then spray some paint all over. Ideally, if I'm skilled enough and if the spray paint sticks to the leather, I would love to do something like this across the front and back cover of Big Wade:

That would look pretty amazing!

However, if I do that, I will have to wait for the summer to do that so that I can do this outdoors. So watch this space as there may be more to come at a later date!

The Deadpool Traveler's Notebook Project - Part 1

Before going to see the Deadpool movie and since discovering that you can actually use markers on leather, I had been thinking about making myself a traveller's notebook (TN for short) in red with some Deadpool illustrations. I wanted to do one in large Moleskine size (LMC) and so I started to take some measurements. I already have one TN in LMC size from Morgan LeFae'sTrinkets and I really love how the size is so portable and still big enough to doodle, paint and write. When I measured my TN it was slightly bigger than A4 size by half a centimetre. The difference was too big to just wing it with an A4 piece of leather and I definitely needed something bigger. So I looked for the next size, which is A3 and once I did some calculations, I figured out I could definitely pull off an LMC TN as well as an A6 one!

I went to all the textile and furniture shops that I could find in my town and the general answer I got was that it was difficult to find the thickness of leather I needed for my project.

So I turned to eBay and found what I was looking for.

I ordered my leather and when it arrived, I noticed that the 'inside' of the leather was not suede, like I usually see on other pieces of leather and discovered later that the top side was also treated and polished.

My project isn't finished yet but I wanted to post a few pictures of what it's looking like so far.

Back side of the piece of leather. Completely waxed!

Right side, looking really bright!

The 2 A6's

After the drawing

Both the A6 (top) and the LMC (bottom)

I guess I should have known that the top side was waxed but the penny didn't drop until I started drawing on it and that the marker started to go all funny and stopped working all together. I finished the drawing with some China ink and this morning it's looking slightly sticky. I would love to do a little Deadpool logo in the back of the leather and maybe also write Deadpool above the main drawing but first, I'm going to have to test on the leftover bits of leather.

I'm planning on cleaning the leather with some acetone and then using a file to make it a bit rough. I wonder how it's going to look once I finish to use the file... I hope the paint is not going to leave the drawing. But if it gives it an edgy style, I might try it on the LMC...

Watch this space for more updates!

Days 16 and 17 of the #29faces challenge

Here are my two sketches for days 16 and 17.

Day 15 - #29faces challenge

This is actor Sung Kang from the Fast and the Furious movies, eating chips as usual ;)

Arts and Crafts Afternoon

Last night I was looking into leather and how it could be worked on. So far, the only way to decorate leather was to use acrylic paint. I looked further into it and realised that you needed a special type acrylic paint that was suited for leather, which I don't currently have. Then suddenly, inspiration struck me and I started to wonder whether it would be possible to use markers instead of paint and after further research, I saw that it was possible!

Over Christmas I had made a small Traveler's Notebook (TN) with plain non-dyed leather and I still had some bits that had not been used so I took them and proceeded to use some of the markers to test my theory. And it seems to work! I made a small bookmark with one of the pieces and it turned out really great!

Because I only have 2 (well 3 if you count grey) coloured markers in red and black, there was really only one subject who was acceptable for this mini project...

Here are some pictures:

Day 14 - #29faces Challenge

Happy Valentine's Day for all those who celebrate!

Here is day 14:

This is Maleficent from the Sleeping Beauty fairytale. As a child I had never been to big a fan of Disney Princesses because I had the feeling they were never strong enough on their own. I always admired all the evil queens of the stories because, despite being full of spite, they were still very ingenious on their own. Plus how awesome would it be to walk around in a majestic (if slightly crazy) headdress with a raven as your pet?

Days 12 and 13 - #29faces Challenge

This is for day 12 and this is my daughter made with markers and watercolours. It's probably one of the first times that I managed to get the skin tons so well. I have done it by mixing some beige, yellow and a touch of pink. I have increased the amount of pink around the cheeks to give her a rosy look. I also tried to not draw or paint the pupils and it doesn't look too bad, so this is something that I might have to keep in mind for the future.

Day 13 looks like this:

This is Hiro Hamada from the movie Big Hero 6. I took this picture from the manga and I really like how his hair is so messy and spiky. I'm not quite happy with how the mouth turned out but it will have to do for now. One thing I really liked is that I could easily use my basic colour scheme of 3 colours with black, red and grey and it looks great.

Days 10 and 11 - #29faces challenge

I'm a little bit late to post so here is day 10:

I doodled this one evening and I didn't use a safety net any pencil first, which is highly unusual for me.

And on to day 11:

Back to my old stomping grounds with this sketch of Sailor Moon. I discovered the series when I was already going to the university and at the time, it was not so cool to reveal that you were still watching cartoons at the ripe old age of 20. So I watched it in secret but now that it has become cool, I can proudly come out of the anime closet and say, I watch Sailor Moon and I like it!

Day 9 - #29faces challenge

This is a face I picked from a Panini sticker album about an anime series I used to love back when I was 11 about football (soccer). It's called Captain Tsubasa. Every now and again, I see either manga books or DVD box sets popping up again so the series still seems to be relevant even today.

This was not one of the major characters but one that had a distinctive face so I picked him for today. I may go back and pick one (or two!) of the main characters, for old time's sake. To be honest, I don't know which name he got either in the original Japanese or in the English version. In the French version he was called Bruce.

Happy Year of the Monkey!

Happy Chinese New Year to all those who celebrate!

I am following a really cool account on Instagram called Ouchii World (@ouchiiworld) and they have made the cutest sketch of a monkey. I decided to doodle it in my Hobonichi Cousin on today's page and here is what it looks like:

I really love the bold lines and simple colours that they used. Unfortunately, I didn't have any beige marker so I used yellow instead.

You can check out the original monkey here.

Hobonichi Challenge - Catching Up

I believe I haven't posted the last few sketches I did for the Hobonichi Challenge, so here they are:

My last drink

Cherry tomato (faceless fruit scares me!)

Button

Days 7 and 8 - #29faces challenge

Here is my offering for Day 7:

This is a portrait of John Constantine from the Hellblazer series. It was bound to happen as I like this character a lot. This was not the picture I had originally intended to draw but my muse decided otherwise and this was the picture I ended up with. If I remember correctly, it's the latest incarnation of Constantine that is being shown in the new comic series of Constantine. I wasn't too fond of his hair so I just skipped it!... I really like how rough his face still looks like.

Day 8:

This was something I doodled while watching TV with no clear idea of where I was going. I had started with Harry Potter and the others came along.

When I was spending my semester abroad at the University of Wolverhampton, England, I met plenty of people and since I'm not that good with remembering faces, I decided to draw a cheat sheet for myself that I carried along. In it, I would draw each person I met with their name and nationality (there were many nationalities and I also needed to differentiate the Germans from the Austrians) and their characteristic that made them unique. It really helped me a lot and it looked a lot like the Harry Potter drawing I did above.