The name - final

Final two panels for the baby name commission. "I" depicts Christchurch, a paradise she-duck and the good ol' Buzzy Bee, "A" depicts a classic kiwi hut, kowhai, pohutukawa, a weta and a kiwi.

Together they make a --- Sep-tych? Sounds a little unpleasant...

More of the Name

The next two images in my "baby name" commission:

And now, in colour

More Colourful Alphabet Animals

G is for Giraffe

H is for Hippo

Colouful Alphabet Animals

Oh but it is good to be back to working in colour! My primas, how I have missed thee ^^ With NaNoWriMo finished, my novel written and 19/25 of the illustrations completed, I decided it was time to get some other art commitments out of the way.

Namely the next quartet of 4x4s for Livia's "Illuminated Alphabet" swap.

For this set I've decided to go with an African vibe.

E is for Elephant

F is for Flamingo

Stay tuned for G and H!

And now I can write my name in baby animals:

Roleplaying Geekdom

As you may have noticed, I've been quiet for a few days. Why, you may ask?

I've been away. For a weekend of gaming debauchery (well, does role-playing count?) followed by plenty of exercise walking Wellington and then becoming a feeding platform for Red Pandas.

Those of you interested in my role-playing endeavours - I played a swashbuckling fop in the innapropriately named "Swashbucklers of the Seven Skies" where I neither got in a sword fight nor took to the skies but instead chased clues around a grungy town in which my companions attacked and killed someone before they even knew he was guilty. In another session, I got to play the sensible (disappointingly) human best friend to a girl who fell in love with a faerie in a Twilight-and-all-other-things-popular parody (which was exceedingly fun) and concluded day one with a rather disappointing RPing-game-cum-board-game that I ended up walking out of early so as to play a half-crazy Treespeaker in a live-action RPing game (in which I discovered my long lost brother and didn't get my brain dissected). Day two held rather more promising games in which I played - a cute little girl with her bunny, Berry, who was evacuated with her family and friends during the war and ended up trapped in an ex-soldier's subconscious; a warty white rat and finally a totally kick-as martial artist who wound up with 3 P-kills. That game was awesome!

Anyhow, as you can guess, I have not had a vast amount of time for art.

However, I did finish up my next baby name plate:

I suppose if they really want I can put the other three letters in front. Just realised this cross-posts to my Facebook and the parents of this particular bairn might see it. Oh well... I'm sure they're too busy looking after the wee fellow to look at every single post.

For Lily

Dropped this off today. I don't think she had in strong opinion on it either way - she was asleep the whole time. But she isn't even a week old yet, so she's excused. I'm sure she'll appreciate it when she's a little older and saying "Lobster doesn't start with Y". It's a Yabby, dear. They're Australian. Yaks (pretty much the only other option that doesn't start with "Yellow" or isn't an obscure water opossum) are too overdone. I suppose I will draw a Yak calf as well, just in case I ever get a child with two "Y"s in their name.

Goodness, I hope there are no names with two "X"s!!

And I'm glad I made some enquiries as to another friend's baby's abbrievated name. Or I would have got it wrong! I suppose I could use his full name, but I don't think 9 letters will fit across the foamboard. The next two I'm doing are six letters long, so it will require some maths to work out what size to print them off at (5 fitted perfectly at 3.5 inches wide).

I might start putting these up on trademe soon as individual letters, coloured according to request (to match gender/room colours). If you are interested in buying one, let me know. Size of individual cards will vary between 2.5 x 3.5 inches (for long names), to 6x4 (for 3-4 letter names). I will charge per letter.

Another Name

My mother and I are going to visit my cousin and her 6 (or so) month old son on Monday. So I made him this. The animals are:

L = Lemur
E = Eagle
W = Whale
I = Ibis
S = Sloth

These pieces measure 3.5 x 5 inches (the size of a so-called "maxi ATC") an are made with tombow markers on oilpaint paper, giving them a painted, canvas look. I am not happy with the W. Might have to make it again.

Fail - Sloth

This was designed for my cousin's son, Lewis. It's a sloth. But as you see, I've screwed up the colour in the background. Alas, attempts to salvage it failed and I do not consider it suitable for a chidlren's room (too dreary colour-wise). But I wanted to show it off because I know there are some sloth lovers out there and wanted to prove that sometimes I DO make colour mis-judgements.

It's 3.5 x 5 inches - so twice the size of a regular atc.

Sneak Peek at my Current Project

It's a gift so I don't want to show the whole thing here yet.

The Writing is on the Wall

One of my friends, who lives in Bahrain, recently returned home to New Zealand to have her baby. A gorgeous wee girl called Zoe. Thus this piece fills two purposes - one it gives a bright and colourful wall-hanging for a lovely wee lass and two, it helps me get my art into another country of the Middle East. The materials used was tombow markers and fineliner pens on oilpaint paper. With its thick weave, this paper does not hold colour very well and often I end up with murky results, however I bought it and I need to use it, so I have tried to find the best way to work with it. Pencils do not work well on the weave, but brush markers fill in the lowered spaces quite neatly.

Zebra ... Octopus ... Emu

My fiance commented that I should work on more large pieces, and he's probably right. When I have completed my current list of ATC trades, I shall devote more time to larger pieces such as this.

I might even make similar Animal Letter charts to request - provided the child's name is 5 letters or less!

An Avian Alphabet in the Making

Some time ago now I drew this card and I figured it was high time I started work on the rest of the alphabet. I've a letter "O" coming along neatly, but just thought I would explore some concepts here. Feel free to offer suggestions.

A
B
C
D
Elegant Egret Entertains Elaborate Engagements
F - see above
Garrulous Gulls Gather Gory Gossip
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O - to come today
Pretentious Pigeon(?) Plays Perfect Piano
Q
R
S
T
U
Vile Vultures Violate Vulnerable Voles
Xenophilic Xenops eXpects X-files eXamination
Y
Zany Zosterops Zappily Zig-Zaps

In other news, I am currently designing a portfolio with a selection of my art for the last 4 years. It will be available on Blurb, like my Mammalian Alphabet (of which I have sold a whole 3 copies!!!)