Life Drawing - June

Finally been life drawing again after what must have been months. Man! Did I feel rusty when I turned up. Spent most of the lesson staring vacantly at my blank paper and back at the life model, then back again to the paper. Luckily I did snap out of my "artist's block" to produce some drawings for your viewing delight. And here they are:

Make Good Art!

While surfing the net, randomly you will come across gems when you need them the most. Via Drawn I came across a video of Neil Gaiman addressing some graduates on an "Artist's Life" I believe every creative just starting out should watch it. Neil Gaiman gives an intelligent, witty and funny speech but he knows his stuff!
Really wished we had him to speak at our graduation!


I just hope I am making "Good Art"... Here's a sneak peek of a sketch for a painting.

The Squirrel and the Sunflower - Sketchbook Project 2012

The final installment and last story provided by my wonderful friend L. This is a true tale and I thoroughly enjoyed working on the images for this one. I used mainly inks and watercolours as well as throwing in the odd papercut.

Enjoy!

Wild thing... I think I love you!

Sadly last week we lost a great Children's book illustrator Maurice Sendak. His most famous piece of work was "Where the Wild Things are" published in 1963. It's a story about a young boy called Max who causes mischief in his wolf costume. For being naughty Max is punished by his mother and sent to bed without any dinner. It is then that Max begins his adventure to the land where the wild things and eventually become king of them all.

 Did you know that he loved opera and collaborated a few times to produce some lovely studies as well as his lifetime admiration and fascination with the illustrator/poet William Blake?

I have always love the detail and compositions of his images and ultimately this story. When the news broke about his passing my friend L said "I hope he has gone to live where the wild things are." Which I am sure that is where he has gone. 

So Mr Sendak I hope you will like this little tribute art wherever you are.

Boff's Tale - Sketchbook Project 2012

This tale comes courtesy of my friend Beth. Just simple ink or papercut illustrations and very much inspired by silhouettes.

Close up of final image

Teddy Rabbits goes to Convent School - Sketchbook Project

This story is from my lovely friend Pilar. Another story but just wished I could have given it more time than I had. Would have liked to have worked on the images more and done them in colour.

Forest/Pond Mural

Recently I have been drawing up designs for a job that unfortunately fell through. However I thought I would share the designs with you. I may select one to turn into prints for my shop... What do you guys think? Which would you like to see as a print?

Two Little Boys on the Bus - Sketchbook Project

Second installment of Sketchbook project...

Hear ye! Hear ye! New stock!!!

My fingers have been busy being nimble and quick to bust out some new crochet stock for my Yellow Panda Draws Etsy shop.  Been making leaf brooches with wool and embellishing them with pretty buttons. Come and have a look and see if there's anything you fancy here. 


Here's a sneaky peek:

Hoping to make some matching hairbands this coming week and will post pictures of those soon. However if you would like to commission a specific piece than drop me an email on yellowpandadraws@yahoo.co.uk 

Lola and the Dancing Poodle

1st illustrated Story - sketchbook project 2012

Sketchbook project - Fill me with Stories

Yoo Hoo! I was excited to receive my Sketchbook from the Sketchbook project back in November to take part in 2012 version. I much preferred this year's theme compared to last year's "Boys and Girls". You can see some of the pages from the previous year, here, via the Art house co-op.

With "Fill me with stories" I wanted to use stories that were personal and from family and friends. So a little shout out of help circulated around to loved ones and they came to my aid. The next few posts will be of the stories that I'd illustrated for this project. But for now here is the front cover, cover page and back cover.

Hello 2012!

Dear me! It has been a while since I've visited these waters. Reflecting on the last year or so I realised that so much as happened that I've never updated or blogged about. Don't worry I haven't given up on my creative endeavours and seek to follow them with even more zeal and devotion than before. I will over the next week or so post up some old projects that are worthy of a shout out.

This was a private commission where the client wanted a piece that fitted within a 8" x 10" sized frame, had the name "Oliver" included and an image of a squirrel. I chose to draw an adult squirrel and a baby one to reflect the relationship of the client and receiver. The final image was a mixture of papercut, collage and ink/watercolour drawing.

In my absent mindedness I completely forgot to mention my Etsy store which I had listed some lovely items back in November (all Christmas related.) It was quite exciting to sell pieces to people all over the world. To be honest I wasn't expecting to sell anything as fast as it did. Below is a picture of my first order.

At the moment I need to clear old stock and put up some new items. I'm hoping to do so this coming week, so hold tight folks. However you can check out the ma petite boutique here.