Not an actual red eye, just the one I drew above; but I was snowed in. The Maryland/D.C. area was swathed in snow this weekend. I don’t know how much fell but it seemed close to a foot. Granted there are other places further north that has gotten more but for me a foot of snow is enough for me to consider myself snowed in. I hate winter!
After shoveling the driveway thrice between Saturday and Sunday, I sat down to some much needed art therapy. I spent my Sunday afternoon and evening watching art videos on YouTube and drawing the mandala above after watching Tiffany Lovering’s tutorial on drawing a “hypnotic eye” (see video below). It helped soothe my sore muscles for the time though when I got up from my chair my back, side, elbows, and arms began hurting simultaneously. Snow is so heavy!
I tried to follow Lovering’s video as closely as possible but, as you can see, I made a few mistakes in my sphere/hypnotic eye, but I was proud of what resulted from my effort. Since she referred to it as a hypnotic eye, I decided to color it to resemble an eye. And because I was watching Avatar: The Last Airbender while coloring, I decided to make it red and orange—thinking of the fire nation. My original plan was to add several additional circles around this central one, similar to Lovering’s video, but I changed my mind and thought it best to simply add the two triangles of lines to hint at the small space around the eyeball. I guess the finished product is an abstract eye.
Christmas, my favorite holiday, has rolled around again. I am late with my well wishes but I do hope that everyone had a wonderful and magical Christmas day filled with lots of joy, laughter, and love.
This year I’m highlighting the holiday with this awesome piece by Alexander Jansson, a Swedish illustrator. I’m in love with his work, which is often whimsical and surrealistic. The one above is a mixed-media illustration called “Doctor Blumenauer and His Magical Flying Table.”
I selected this one not for its relation to the holiday but for the story it seems to tell. All the characters are in awe as they watch Doctor Blumenauer’s table fly into air. They all believe it’s a real magic table but there’s a guy in the shadows behind Doctor Blumenauer’s caravan with a control, programming the table. The illustration makes me wonder at Doctor Blumenauer’s back story. He’s obviously a charlatan here but how did he get started and was he chased out of the last town he visited? What are his Christmas plans? Will he spend it alone? And is that his assistant in the shadows?
My mind is already jumping to conclusions, forming a story about Doctor Blumenauer. I hope the illustration tickles your imagination too.
It’s Inktober!!! I wasn’t aware of this event until I read a post on Somnivision Art’s blog detailing what it is. I was immediately enthused to partake.
Wanting to know more, I did a bit of digging (which means I typed “Inktober” into Google) and found Jake Parker’s website on which he talks about how he came up with Inktober, the rules for the event (I’ll paste them below), and the possible tools one can use for it. He also has Inktober badges and other items for the event on his site. The badge above is from there.
I’ve seen a few of the artists I follow on Youtube participating in the events as well and that made me even more interested in it. I won’t have the time to do a drawing each day but I’ll try my best to do as much as as I can. I’ll be using Pigma Micron pens and I’ll mostly do some geometric-looking design thingies as seen in the picture above (sorry about it being so blurry). It’s my first drawing for Inktober and it’s unfinished. I got upset with it because it wasn’t going the way I wanted it to but I’ll continue with it and hope for the best. It might look great when done.
Well, for those of you interested in joining the fun of Inktober, here are the rules (as posted on Jake Parker’s website):
1) Make a drawing in ink (you can do a pencil under-drawing if you want).
2) Post it on your blog (or tumblr, instagram, twitter, facebook, flickr, Pinterest or just pin it on your wall.)
3) Hashtag it with #inktober
4) Repeat
Note: you can do it daily, or go the half-marathon route and post every other day, or just do the 5K and post once a week. What ever you decide, just be consistent with it. INKtober is about growing and improving and forming positive habits, so the more you’re consistent the better.
While laying in bed this morning contemplating what to write, the idea popped into my head to do a post on my favorite Harry Potter book covers. Yes, this is just an excuse to indulge in my Harry Potter fanaticism. I guess I will be rereading the seventh book soon as well. It’s about time too. The Harry Potter bug usually bites me once a year and infects me with a need to reread a Harry Potter novel, usually the first book. But for now I’ll focus on the covers.
Back in July, Bloomsbury announced that it will publish new covers for the UK edition of the Harry Potter books this September. Last year, Scholastic released new covers for the US edition of the books for its fifteenth anniversary. Here, I will compare the covers (the original vs. the most recent US and UK covers). I will highlight my favorites and will list the covers I like that were published in other countries.
When placed together, it’s easy to see the different elements the illustrators chose to emphasize. Kazu Kibuishi, who illustrated Scholastic’s 2013 covers (The illustration of Hogsmeade above is by Kibuishi.), always tries to place the focus on Harry, which makes sense because the story is about him. So Harry is always placed in the foreground sometimes as larger than the other characters or with a spotlight (glowing glasses). Jonny Duddle, the UK illustrator of Bloomsbury’s September 2014 books, emphasizes the obstacles Harry faces. Harry is usually drawn as a smaller figure in comparison to the other images in the scene to portray the enormity of the events he faces.
Mary Granpré, who designed the original US covers, maintains a cheerful/innocent tone that was probably perceived as more appealing to younger kids. Even as the book became more serious the covers still maintained a sense of innocence. The same goes for the original UK covers, which were designed by Thomas Taylor, Cliff Wright, Giles Greenfield, and Jason Cockcroft. Children’s literature has evolved much since the Harry Potter novels were first published and the evolution of the covers certainly show that. These days, it’s not surprising to see more serious, scary images on children’s book covers. So, without further ado…
I feel guilty for liking Kibuishi’s cover more than Mary Grandpré’s original. I get a bit sentimental over books and hate seeing the covers change sometimes but I do find this cover more appealing than the first. I like that it features Diagon Alley because it’s the presence of Diagon Alley that convinces us that a secret, magical world is waiting to be explored. I also like that the illustration consists mostly of blue, which gives it a mystical feel, and that Harry is placed in a spotlight, which is formed by Hagrid’s size. Hagrid is so big that, along with the crowd of people, even the buildings seem to shuffle around to give him space. Plus, the color around Harry and Hagrid is lighter, like a halo. Hedwig, perched on Harry’s shoulder, also helps.
The original UK cover by Thomas Taylor.The original US cover by Mary Grandpré.
Harry’s face seems to have the same expression on both the original US and UK covers. This cover will always be a favorite simply because it is the first.
Bloomsbury’s September 2014 cover by Jonny Duddle.
For those, like me, who are lovers of both literature and art, here is a post that you’ll enjoy. Flavorwire fused both into a list of graffiti inspired by literature. Some are artistically great and others are hilarious. These two are my favorites:
Zezee with Books 