'Wings' - Illustration Friday

My poor blog has been so neglected recently, however this has been due to me getting a lot more freelance work which is brilliant! Lots of exciting things have been happening and my work style is evolving rapidly! I've also just become an auntie for the first time and started a-new with a gym membership! Been a very busy bee :D

So here's to the first post of 2013 for me, and my first Illustration Friday entry in a LONG time (too long!) a quick moleskine sketch of this heron that took around 15 minutes. I've kept it quite raw and messy as, well, that makes a true sketch right?

If you're eager to see a bit of what I've been up to recently, go to http://crembrulaa.carbonmade.com/ and you'll find my fairly updated portfolio!

Glad to be back though!

'Crooked' - Illustration Friday

This piece I originally did for the Illustration Friday topic 'Swamp', and as I've been super busy and haven't taken part in months I thought I'd pop it up for this weeks topic 'Crooked'! So here's my higgledy-piggledy swamp house once more :)

'Space' - Illustration Friday

For this week's topic 'Space' I wanted to do something based on constellations, and I thought I'd create my own!

I started with the sketch of the wolf, then made a constellation from it. Quite a fun little process really!

'Secret' - Illustration Friday

First of all, I'd like to say a biiiig thank you to the lovely folks at Illustration Friday for picking my entry for 'Shiny' as pick of the week! I've been beaming all week!

Now onto this week's entry for the topic 'Secret' and... more magpies! This old nursery rhyme about said birds popped into my head:

"One for sorrow,

Two for joy,

Three for a girl,

Four for a boy,

Five for silver,

Six for gold,

Seven for a secret,

Never to be told,

Eight for a wish,

Nine for a kiss

Ten for a bird

You must not miss."

Seven for a secret never to be told... :)

'Shiny' - Illustration Friday

This is a piece I did a while back (actually, nearly a YEAR ago, crikey!) of Mr.Magpie with his hoard of shiny things! Therefore I felt it appropriate for this week's Illustration Friday contest :)
It was drawn freehand, then scanned and made beautiful in Photoshop. 

'Sight' - Illustration Friday

This is a loose style drawing done from a photo I took in Malta.

In Valletta and Mdina they have horse-drawn carriages that take you around the cities as they're no car zones, and the horses have all this get up on them. They're very well looked after and kept to the highest standards, but I can't help but think 'how on earth do they see with all that stuff around their faces?!'

I really tried to free up my drawing with this one, which worked well. Sometimes it's good to just let go with your lines and be confident!

'Jump' - Illustration Friday

Origami is a love of mine, and whenever I'm bored I find myself folding paper into all kinds of shapes. For this weeks topic 'Jump' I thought of these origami frogs that jump if you press on their backs, so made a couple and played with them trying to get them into a bowl. It was pretty damn hard! Their cool shapes made me compelled to draw them, and this is where this illo came from. A strange process to get to an image, but I like its simplicity :) It also harks back to a piece I did a million years ago (at least it seems like it!) which you can see here: http://louisetaylordrawings.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/cranes-dilemma.html 

'Heights' - Illustration Friday

I had such fun doing this one!

I don't have much of a head for heights, but I do love going up in skyscrapers (being inside it isn't as scary really is it?) So this week I created my own skyscraper, modelled slightly after the Chrysler building with the art-deco features.

I'd love to go to New York and head up to the top of the Chrysler building, but money-wise that sort of trip is a long way off yet! One day :)

'Puzzled' - Illustration Friday

I was, appropriately the topic for this weeks Illustration Friday, a little puzzled on what to do. I thought maybe a maze or a puzzle etc, but still didn't get inspired.

Then I remembered I always loved dot-to-dot's when I was growing up. When I went to the newsagents and bought a magazine it was the first thing I would do when I got home. So this week I decided to make my own!

It was more complicated than I had anticipated, but once I'd done my first one I'd got the hang of it. I took a few of my sketches (that are from older blog posts) and played around with them using tracing paper to see which would work well. I decided on these two and I'm super happy with the results. The poodle in particular turned out really well, although not for a dot-to-dot beginner as it's a bit complicated.

I also made sure they were correct by completing them myself (which was probably the best part of the whole process!)

I'm going to work on some more and put them up here as PDF's for people to download for free, everybody should be entitled to free dot-to-dotting!

'Vocal' - Illustration Friday

Finished this in the nick of time!

This week I was inspired by a video my boyfriend showed me (who, like me, has a soft spot for all things cute) of a cockatiel singing 'If You're Happy And You Know It...'

You can watch the video here: http://youtu.be/U9NZnpleU0s?t=30s

Too cute! So here is an equally vocal cockatiel, singing something a bit more challenging.

'Intention' - Illustration Friday

I recently on a weekend away to Brighton with the sole intention of getting more than a bit drunk and enjoying the nightlife there. However, I found I wanted to explore the seaside more, and do the proper British things like chips on the pier, and going on funfair rides whilst eating candyfloss. Which we did and I had the most fun ever!

This is the helter skelter at the end of Brighton Pier, looks like it's fresh out of the 1950's doesn't it?

The drawing I did with pen on paper, which I scanned and coloured digitally. It was quite a challenge and rather fiddly though!