Another character/creature completed. Pretty happy with the results and I think it will be a lot more fun in color. It will be a long while before I paint them. Originally the intent was for just the one, but things develop an identity separate from vision once the lines start forming.
In the mean time, I’m designing the intricate triskellion disk that the Satyr and this Feline Fae are sitting upon. I’ve been doing a lot of celtic knotwork lately and will share more soon!
I‘m ramping things up to finish my mini art book, for the 2012 Sketchbook Project. I was all ready to lay out the map insert when I realized that I over measured by an inch on the main page. Given the cats had slept on the template a few nights already and left a love crease in it, I was already prepared to lay it out again. Can’t wait to share that soon!
Today, however, I am developing one of the two characters for a different feature section of the book that are guarding the spheres. One is depicted atlas style, under the weight of the sphere, the second will be perched above a globe on the adjacent page.
I chose a satyr like female creature. The horns are styled after Welsh black ram horns, but inverted. Hopefully I will have time to go back and tweak the contraposta some more. Combining skeletal structures in mythical creatures is challenging in and of itself. Somehow, I always seem to do it with contorted positions that require subtle foreshortening. A little tension in the pose creates interest and suggests a larger story in motion, so I hope.
For some fun and for some play, I decided to participate in next years The Sketchbook Project. From the several themes available I decided to go with Trading Forever. I’ve already started some of the writing, and will illustrate as I go. My interpretation is largely a play on many ideas and where they converge.
Luckily, given the restrictions of the size, I am allowed to rebind the book and at any thickness I desire. So I have two tasks for this month. One, to experiment with adhering leather to masonite and then to experiment with inks and medieval egg tempera on the parchment scraps I’ve ordered. Historically one artist would not do the binding, calligraphy, and the artwork, but for this project it is best.
I would like to go wild with the creativity and use some old disappearing reappearing inks, as well as glow in the dark inks. So much to play with, but yikes to learn it all for one project by the deadline. I should just consider ordering the book on ink recipes and see what we have time for from there.
I am very nervous at the idea of working on real parchment given the cost of it; but am glad to have the scraps to practice on. Then to hold the theme and still keep some of the costs down I will do some of the work on a faux but well made parchment styled card stock. It is acid free and holds a variety of mediums well.
In the meantime I am still working on my two main projects. I have been very nervous about publishing online after knowing how a few people have had their work pirated. There is always a risk, but I am trying to weigh the pros and cons for a while longer.
