Showing posts with label colour. Show all posts
Showing posts with label colour. Show all posts

Friday, 3 March 2023

On the 9th Day of New Years...

... I would like to present to you...
… nine printed errors...
... eight adapted palettes…
… seven Schitt shoes…
… six movie dresses…
… five gold wings…
… four paper pests…
… three growing bathers… 
... two storytellers...
... and a lazy day in space.


Print errors are normally a pain in the ass. Something that can ruin your final product enough that you have to resign it to the bin, but with risograph, the errors are part of the charm, they're part of why they're loved.

Originally developed in Japan by Noboru Hayama in 1946, the risograph printer was based on stencil duplicators known as a mimeograph. This machine created a stencil through which ink was forced to create a duplicate, the risograph (RISO, the name if Hayama's company translating to "ideal") was developed as a hybrid, somewhere between a traditional photocopier print and a screen print/mimeograph. It was designed to produce single colour copies at high speed and low cost.

Essentially a digital screen printer in a convenient office sized machine. But rather than using toner, a risograph printer uses soy based ink to print each colour individually, layered one over the next, building up your design in a similar fashion to a screen print. This means that when they're being designed, you must consider not only what colour goes on what layer (and how high or low the opacity to give tonal variation), but how the overlaying colours will interact to create new one.

Each colour being printed one by one means when using a risograph printer, each colour is on a separate ink drum. So, for every colour you want to print you need to switch out one ink drum for the next, along with a new file with that parts of your design in said colour (though they're created using values of black and white). With that information, on each drum, a disposable screen known as a master is created, this is of your uploaded image for that particular colour, and is pricked out in microscopic hole, through which the ink will be forced through to create your image.



This layering also allows the artist to be clever, with knowledge of colour theory they can minimize how many colours they need to use, thus fewer passes from the printer and a cheaper print while still retaining a great variety of colours within their artwork. Though they need to be careful when layering, because miss registration from one layer to another can lead to print errors, colours shifting outside of the desired lines or smudging, and while this is not particularly wanted, it makes each print unique and has become a feature many artists embrace.

It's not a high tech method of printing, but can lead to some incredibly vibrant colours, and beautiful results...



Psychedelic Frog - A4 Risograph Print by Jasmine Floyd (Jasminesillustration) via Etsy

This Psychedelic Frog risograph by Jasmine Floyd, is made using three colours in its print: fluorescent yellow, fluorescent pink and aqua, but through colour theory and the process of layering each of the colours, it expands the palette and results in greens, oranges, teals and purples, as well as deep blues and browns. It's a great example of colour theory and how impressive a limited palette can be when using a risograph printer.


Link || Jasmine  Floyd (Jasmine Illustration) || Website || Instagram || Twitter || TikTok  Behance || Etsy



Dragon Rider - A4 Risograph Print by Ali Pye (Alipyeillo) via Etsy

Raccoon Party - A3 Risograph Print by Ali Pye (Alipyello) via Etsy


Even two colours, using different values, can create beautiful and very different effects. These two risographs by Ali Pye, Dragon Rider and Raccoon Party, use fluorescent and medium blue to create these happy sunset coloured prints, the colours going from pale peach to deep blue blacks. But while both use the same colours and work within Pye's aesthetic, they still look very different.

Riso Cat - A4 2 Colour Risograph Print by Chris Gilleard (ChrisGilleard) via Etsy 

Likewise this roughly rendered, expressive blue and orange cat by Chris Gilleard, most likely uses the same - or very similar - colours of riso ink to Pye, but with a very different effect. The layering process enhancing the drawn texture and tone with only two simple colours.


Link || Ali Pye (Alipyeillo) || Website || Instagram || Twitter || Facebook || Pinterest || Etsy || Good Reads



Overgrown Nokia - A3 2 Colour Riso Print by Monika Viktoria Diak (Monikaviktoria) via Etsy

Somewhere in a box stashed somewhere in my home is my old Nokia 3310, along with colourful replaceable cases and stored inside, lost forgo, the ringtones I programmed in by hand so I could have Nirvana or Green Day instead of the pre-set tones. Genuinely, I had a folder when I was a teenager full of printed out guitar tab, song lyrics and coding for ringtones... God I do not miss those days and love the instant access to the internet that my phone and tablet allow for, if only because I'm not decimating the rainforest with printouts. Do however miss music as my ringtone.

This is a very simple two colour risograph by Monika Viktoria Diak, and I love that it looks like a photocopied hand drawing, and that you can see the miss registered fluorescent pink layer below the blue of the line drawn fungi and lichen that are smothering this old technology. As part of the artwork for their "Overgrown" zine, which featured old and newer tech and toys abandoned and taken back by nature, the misalignment was something that Diak chose to embrace rather than fight against, especially since the risograph is old tech itself. 


Link || Monika Viktoria Diak || Blogspot || Instagram || Instagram (Fine Art) || Facebook || Pinterest || Tumblr || YouTube || Tumblr II || YouTube || Etsy 



 Marrow and Moonlight Riso Print (Detail) by Kelly Bastow (Moosekleenex) via Etsy

A lot of examples of risograph prints are simplistic, block colours, simple line work and using the sheer overlaying colours to their advantage to create bright designs, but it can effectively applied to more detailed work. In the case of Marrow and Moonlight, a print by Kelly Bastow, they've treated it more like a lino print or an etching, and created this beautifully intricate risograph in mint green and blue, of a forest of ghosts and skeletons which surround a princess, left starkly white, and free of ink for contrast.

I think this is really beautiful and shows the delicacy this printing method can produce.
  

Link || Kelly Bastow (Moosekleenex) || Instagram || Twitter || TikTok || Facebook || Pinterest || DeviantArt || Tumblr || YouTube || Etsy || Patreon || Society6 || Spoonflower



Thorns - A4 Risograph by Floss Burns (FlossBurnsArt) via Etsy

Emotional - A4 Risograph by Floss Burns (FlossBurnsArt) via Etsy

Limited colour palettes are some of my favourites in risographs, they're really bold and easily show the beautiful way that the colours overlap and combine. The aqua combined with red and fluorescent pink in Floss Burns prints being two combinations which are particularly in your face but capable of great subtlety too. 

Link || Floss Burns (FlossBurnsArt) || Instagram || TikTok || Pinterest || Etsy || Redbubble



Creative Juice - A5 Risograph by Jacqueline Colley (JacquelineColley) via Etsy

Jacqueline Colley was probably one of the first illustrators that I discovered making riso prints. Unwittingly I must add, I was just enamoured of her Creative Juice print when stumbling across it, and initially it was for the joke and her illustration style, but also the combination of colours. She uses three, orange, green and fluorescent pink.





The Madalorian - A3 Risograph by Alexandra Francis (AlexFrancisPrints) via Etsy

I am not a Star Wars fan, but I love The Mandalorian, and this riso print in fluorescent pink (yes I'm apparently a sucker for fluro pink), black and blue is so beautiful and simple to me. If you've watched the series you know that these colours are nowhere to be seen and yet the combination is perfect, and paired with this particular blue rather than the aqua in many of the other prints I've mentioned, it feels bright, but ever so slightly muted and completely different to the others.

Created by Alexandra Francis, I'm just kind of obsessed with this, it's beautiful and that simplified little Grogu face... I love it. Can't wait to watch the third season.


Link || Alexandra Francis (AlexFrancisPrints) || Website || Instagram || Twitter || TikTok || Pinterest || Vimeo || Behance || Etsy || Dribbble
Link || The Mandalorian (2019 - present) || Website || IMDb || Wikipedia || Rotten Tomatoes || Instagram || Twitter || Starwars || Lucus Films || Disney+


, 

Mamuanna - Risograph by Natalie Andrewson (NatalieAndrewson) via Etsy

Mamuanna - Risograph (Detail) by Natalie Andrewson (NatalieAndrewson) via Etsy


Blue, yellow and scarlet. Colour theory is freaking amazing, and the ability of artists such as Natalie Andrewson to create these intricate and tonally diverse pieces of artwork with three colours, laid over one another by just altering the opacity of a black and white image to create tone is kind of staggering.  

Andrewson was interviewed by Bobby Chiu on the 18th of January (handy for me) and approximately twenty one minutes into the interview they discuss the science of riso and colour opacity, which with a limited number of ink drums (eight) she can create endless combinations of colours.

I've included the whole interview because it's interesting hearing her talk about her career, but if you'd like to skip to this part of the conversation, click here...



Andrewson's approach to working with colour values, having test sheets she can refer too to find the perfect colour, really speaks to the part of me that loves paint chips, ceramic and enamel testers, and the ridiculously expensive Pantone colour charts, and I would be anal enough to create this kind of references as much for the aesthetic beauty of it as the practicality. I love these kind of references, especially when they are created in a manner unique to the artist or designer.


Link || Natalie Andrewson || Website || Instagram || Twitter || TikTok ||| Facebook || Pinterest || Tumblr || Behance || Etsy || Patreon || In-Print || Big Cartel || Good Reads



Colourful Pastel Nudibranch Sea Slugs - A3 Risograph by Kitty Turner (KTurnerIllustration) via Etsy

Though the colours aren't listed, I'd take a wild guess that the three inks used for this Colourful Pastel Nudibranch Sea Slugs print are fluro pink, yellow and aqua. They stand out in this colourful print as the three colours which could potentially combine to create this range of colours.

I'm including this because I love nudibranchs, they're bizarre, colourful, highly patterned sea creatures that after I saw this little Moomin faced sea bunny...


... I was obsessed. They don't look real, and this riso print fully embraces the ridiculousness of them using three colours. 

It's funny that none of these prints have more than three colours. It's really only a coincidence, but it's also a testament to how well these slightly transparent inks layer one over another in a limited colour palette.


Link || Kitty Turner (KTunrnerIllustration) || Website || Instagram || Twitter || Vimeo || Etsy


Frequently used for large quantity print runs, posters, prints and zines, these perfectly imperfect machines provide an easy and inexpensive means of reproducing work, full of bright colours and potentially a remarkable amount of detail.

I got kind of obsessed by riso prints at some point in 2022, I watched some videos on how to create faux riso style designs in Procreate and then started to look at how the real thing worked, followed by filling my Etsy favourites with lots of them and there's just something wonderfully simple about it all. About the way the print works, that weird satisfaction from getting to use the photocopier, though that may just be me, and how the end products look with their imperfect perfection. 

Now, I've made a Risograph Pinterest Board in case anyone is interested in more examples, and I'll continue to add to it because that's what you do on Pinterest, right? Get momentarily obsessed with collecting any and all examples of something. It's kind of like artistic Pokémon, gotta catch them all. 

But that's Day 9, art done made on what is essentially a fancy photocopier. I think that's cool.


Anyway, another day, another month! Welcome to March! Part ten... *internal groaning* soon... ish?


Link || Wikipedia || Risograph || Mimeograph || Screen Printing || Riso Kagaku Corporation 
Link || Procreate || Website || Wikipedia || Instagram || Twitter || TikTok || Facebook || Pinterest || YouTube || Apple Store
Link || Riso Ink Colors via Stencil
Link || What's a Risograph? via Riso Pop
Link || Digital Illustration for Risograph by Cris Tamay via Skillshare (If you're lucky to be signed up!)
Link || Risograph via Dizzy Ink
Link || The Story of Noboru Hayama via Exploriso: Low-tech Fine Art

..................................................................................
Listening: Over and Over - Hot Chip
Posted by Emily Boyd at 01:28 0 comments
Labels: , , , , ,

Wednesday, 9 February 2022

On the 11th Day of Christmas...

... this blogger gave to thee...
... eleven excellent illustrators...
... ten chaotic beings...
... nine tufted treats...
... eight potential palettes...
... seven custom Cons...
... six fancy dresses...
... five gold things!..
... four FX plushies...
... three midnight magnets...
... two tricks and treats...
....a tale of lovely lore.


It's becoming a tradition at some point during the 12 Days of Christmas (which I may rename the 12 Days somewhere in the vicinity of Christmas next year) to write a post about some of the amazingly talented illustrators I'm subscribed to on Instagram...



Felicia Chiao
  






Starting off with the illustrations by Felicia Chiao because - and I will say this way too frequently in this post - I love them. 

It started simply, when another person I subscribed to on YouTube mentioned foul mouthed pigeon drawings and I searched Chiao out, then when I found her on Instagram, I was confronted with this feed of warm beige images and was instantly fascinated. 

The illustrations were strangely calming, full of florals and Morph like characters in soft pastel surroundings, idly inhabiting the isometric interior spaces in mundane ways, and rather than creating boring drawings, it creates really relatable ones, especially since lockdown. Made using gel pens and Copic markers, I just think that these are beautiful and the amount of emotion Chiao conveys with a relatively simple line drawing and soft colours is really impressive. 

Relatable loneliness is not necessarily something you search for in artwork, but she makes them strangely whimsical at the same time and this is an Instagam feed that I find curious and strange and when these posts show up, they resonate with me.

Just really curious pieces of art. Love.


Link || Felicia Chiao || Instagram || Twitter || Tumblr || Behance || Society6 || Denik || Nucleus Portland || Patreon 



Becky Kemp - Sketch Inc

 


I don't often get to say with authority that a piece of art from one of the artists I'm featuring is of a really high quality, but with the illustrations of Becky Kemp (Sketch Inc.) I can, and I can because one of her giclée print is sitting just next to me on my shelf.

From one of her original watercolour illustrations the print of Lydia Deetz from the cult movie Beetlejuice (1988), as played by Winona Ryder, was a print I'd seen over a year ago and really wanted, the film being one of my favourites, it was a really to me a really quirky interpretation of the character with the stereotypical tear drop ghosts and sandworm wrapped around her arm. Bought for me at Christmas as a present, I can whole heartedly say that not only is the print impeccable, and you can see the texture of the watercolour really beautifully but that I'm really glad it's part of my little collection of prints.

It's not the only one of Kemp's fan art favourites that I can say is good in person, the little sister has her print of Sarah and the Worm from Labyrinth (1986), and between the print method and the textured paper they're printed on, they're really lovely and I may also be coveting it. The worm is freaking adorable!

While Kemp's primary focus on her Instagram feed appears to be painted pop culture Kokeshi - simple wooden peg dolls from Japan - her website and Etsy store has prints, pin, cards and stickers, and I really enjoy her illustration style. Lydia will probably not be the only print I'll own (I may also have my eye on some of her enamel pins) and I hope she has the opportunity to create more because they're fun and who doesn't love fan art of their favourites?


Link || Becky Kemp "SketchInc." || Website || Instagram || Twitter || Facebook || Pinterest || YouTube || Etsy || Lydia Print || Alice Print || Sarah Print
Link || Beetlejuice (1988) || IMDb || Wikipedia || Rotten Tomatoes
Link || Labyrinth (1986) || IMDb || Wikipedia || Rotten Tomatoes



Pascal Campion Art







When it comes to the type of illustration I'm drawn too, there's no sure or defined reason to my choices, some are more cartoonish, some very painterly and grown up, and sometimes these very different styles collide. 

Cartoonish at times but simultaneously with a beautiful painterly and sketchy quality Pascal Campion's illustrations are about life, family, creativity, the environments in which we live and questioning what it all means. And I love how he turns often mundane scenes into these beautifully balanced pieces of art with movement, life and with wonderful ability to use light to enhance his artwork.

I particularly love his series of deep and meaningful conversations with his cat. Partly because talking to the cat is just part of day to day life for me, but also because often these are some of the most relatable of his illustrations as they're conversations about life, emotions and the questioning of what it is to be creative, how to maintain it and whether or not you're good enough. 

“Sometimes I draw because I have an idea I want to put down on paper (or digital 
canvas),sometimes I draw because I’m trying to work something out in my life, or 
in my drawing, sometimes I draw because I’m bored… or nervous, mostly I draw 
because I’m happy and happy to draw, sometimes it’s because I’m tired and am
dreaming of going away. Sometimes I draw what I am afraid of, and sometimes it’s 
what I want that comes out, I’ll make up some things and take straight out of my 
life others. Sometimes I know what I am doing, most of the time I don’t, sometimes 
I’m happy with what I drew and sometimes… not so much… at times, I really don’t 
like it at all. Sometimes I wish I wasn’t an artist and most of the time I’m so happy
I am one, sometimes I wish I could turn it on and off when I want. Sometimes I 
wish I was better and sometimes I think I’ve 'got it'. Sometimes I draw what some 
people ask me to draw, sometimes I draw what my children want me to draw, 
sometimes I do it for friends, my wife, family, but most of the time, I do it for me… 
sometimes I do it for you." (Pascal Campion, via Ego-AlterEgo)


Campion's Instagram feed always makes me feel like my fears about creativity aren't so weird, which I appreciate greatly. Also that having multiple styles is something to be feared or discouraged, his two styles don't look incongruous or out of place with one another, they're just two halves of a creative mindset at work.


Link || Pascal Campion Art || Website || Instagram || Twitter || Facebook || DeviantArt || Tumblr || Pinterest || Blogspot || YouTube 
Link || Pascal Campion, Drawings via Ego-AlterEgo



Lorena Alvarez Gómez "artichoke_kid"







Colour is such an important factor in illustration, in art in general, and in the reasoning behind some of the choices on this list. Colour can subtly show tone and emotion, bring energy and depth to the narrative, or give a nonverbal indication of a characters character without saying anything. The wrong colour combination can throw off a drawing entirely, while the right one can make it special.

Lorena Alvarez Gómez's colours sing. They're very slightly desaturated and yet still bright, which give her illustration energy and depth, even a little bit of magic. This can be in dark teal with foreboding eyes peering at the characters from The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, aqua and mauves of potions and experiments bubbling into the atmosphere in Marsha is Magnetic by Beth Ferry, or an illustration of herself, in a state of dismay, as she looks at a dissected frog as a child where the slightest blush on the chin and knitting together of the eyebrows beings all the emotional characterisation you need into the illustration. The illustrative version of her younger self you can see the emotion on her face, she's upset and traumatised, in her Instagram post the artist states that "in my memory the frog is still breathing...", and in that face you can see it, you can feel that distress.

Not only are Alvarez Gómez's drawings full of colour language, they're full of texture and humour and emotion. I think being able to convey that is wonderful.


Link || Lorena Alvarez Gómez "artichoke_kid" || Website || Instagram || Twitter || Flickr || Behance || DeviantArt ||  Bright Agency || Gallery Nucleus
Link || Artist of the Week: Loren Alvarez Gomez via Character Design References



Sarah Hughes Illustration






Depicting emotion in illustration is important, the artist can't always rely on a viewer reading their explanation and the viewer can't always rely on the artist providing one. The meaning needs to be blatantly obvious or left open to interpretation. 

In this artists case, monsters, dragons, ghosts and cryptid's, they could all be draw to induce fear, to be spooky or grotesque, but in Sarah Hughes illustrations, they're soft and friendly. Even the dark giant monster looming over a town doesn't look scary, he looks like he's there out of curiosity, or to illuminate the houses and keep watch. And how can you be afraid of a ghost in a yellow raincoat? Or a dragon that looks like a cross between Idris from Ivor the Engine (1976-77) and Falkor from The NeverEnding Story (1984) who's sated with some plum jam?

Hughes illustrations are incredibly attractive, and personally I really like how soft her drawing style is, especially when it's paired with spookier content. It's a juxtaposition which just seems right to me.


Link || Sarah Hughes Illustrations || Instagram || Twitter || DeviantArt || Tumblr || Society6 || Blogspot || Cargo Collective|
Link || Ivor the Engine (1976-77) || IMDb || Wikipedia || BritBox
Link || The NeverEnding Story (1984) || IMDb || Wikipedia || Rotten Tomatoes



Kayla Marie "kayla.bee.marie"







Over half way through and time for a confession. I've never been a Star Wars fan. Not a big one at least, my allegiance was always more with the Star Trek world because it played on the silliness, and acknowledged that it wasn't highbrow. That said, when Disney+ released The Mandalorian (2019-), and I got sucked into loving Grogu (baby Yoda) because of the fan art some of my favourite illustrators were creating, I decided to watch it. Needless to say while I will most likely avoid other Star Wars fodder, I am a big fan of The Mandalorian. Though interestingly the Star Wars fans in my family, are not.

Of the artists who have illustrated the two main characters, I love Kayla Marie's interpretation of the adorable father and son duo because of the normal, even mundane situations she places them in, and how much love she shows between the two. They just both look so happy and content. I particularly love the illustration of Din Djarin and Grogu playing with the fish in the river, as the washing dries... that image kills me because it's just a dad watching his kid experience something for the first time, and you can see the excitement and love on their faces. 

They're also illustrations where colour is really important in conveying the relationship, most of the prints drawn in that vaguely pink golden hour light which mutes the colour, while keeping them bright, and creating that soft, caring atmosphere. I know I over use the word beautiful, but it's the right word for these.


Link || Kayla Marie "kayla.bee.marie" || Instagram || DeviantArt || Tumblr || Etsy
Link || The Mandalorian (2019-) || IMDb || Wikipedia || Rotten Tomatoes || Disney+ || Website || Star Wars || Twitter || 



Wenqing Yan "yuumieart"



When lockdown started back in March 2020, we were all convinced it would only be for a few weeks, then a few months, then gradually the realisation that inside and a stockpile of toilet roll was going to be life for a lot longer. This of course became fodder for artists to both create from but also a means for them to work through their own experiences of lockdown life.

For artist and illustrator Wenging Yan, her way of expressing the new lifestyle was by celebrating the things we can still do while in lockdown, she did this by drawing life inside of terrariums, with piles of books, plants and the much coveted toilet paper and Nintendo Switch, which no one could get their hands on at the start of it all. Full of humour and little nods to the things we gained from being locked up inside, they're telling of the slower parts of life, where we were given time to binge watch two seasons of The Mandalorian while learning to punch needle..

The second set of images is Yan's response to the poor air quality caused by the California wild fires which burned for months at the latter end of 2020. Masks and breathing equipment full of oxygen giving plants, these drawings highlighted the worsening reality of climate change, and how these fires are now becoming part of daily life. Though we've all become slightly accustomed to masks even without smoke.

However, what instantly came to mind for me when I saw these images, was in fact a fictional disease:

"Hanahaki Disease (花吐き病 (Japanese); 하나하키병 (Korean); 花吐病 (Chinese))
is a fictional disease where the victim of unrequited or one-sided love begins to vomit 
or cough up the petals and flowers of a flowering plant growing in their lungs, which 
will eventually grow large enough to render breathing impossible if left untreated." 
(List of Fictional Diseases, Wikipedia)

While not strictly what these illustrations are referencing, the simultaneous beauty of flowers and underlying danger of the unseen, in this case poor air quality from the fires, though it could also easily be applied to our airborne friend Covid, which is really fascinating. Beautiful images with deep dark underlying themes. 

Makes you want to climb back inside the safety of your own terrarium.
 

Link || Wenqing Yan "yuumeiart" || Website || Instagram || Twitter || Facebook || DeviantArt || Tumblr || YouTube || Art Station || Discord || Patreon 
Link || List of Fictional Diseases via Wikipedia



Ellie vs Bear





Something a little lighter with number eight, with playful ghosts, cute monsters and mythical creatures. Ellie, of Ellie vs. Bear, creates cute whimsical worlds for them to live in using watercolours (along with digital art), and a rounded kawaii style which give them their soft and friendly appearance. 

They're soft and sweet, cute and weird, and they make me smile when I look at them. They're nothing harsh or malevolent, no underlying message about death or disease, they're just colourful, attractive, whimsical and sweet, and I love them for their softness.


Link || Ellie vs Bear || Website || Instagram || Twitter || YouTube || Etsy || Giphy || Ko-fi || Patreon 



Lara Hacker "kieferngruen"







With more soft whimsy is Lara Hacker, owner and artist behind Kieferngrün Illustration with her watercolour and coloured pencil bees, bats, frogs and cats with wide set staring eyes. 

I love bees - wasps can get lost - particularly bumblebees, and Hacker's bees going around living their busy bee lives, drinking tea, reading books, baking and sleeping in bunk beds, appeals to me no end.  The way she illustrates these chubby little bugs I especially like, they feel old fashioned in the best way, partly because of the colour palette the illustrator uses, and the way she draws the eyes makes them simultaneously cute and derpy.

Bees are precious, we need to protect them, and these illustrations definitely show that. 


Link || Lara Hacker "kieferngruen" || Website || Instagram || Etsy || Patreon 
 


Laurie A. Conley







I admit I'm drawn to sweet characters, those with soft faces and bright colours, but as I've gotten older, especially in the last couple of years, I am more and more frequently drawn to art which is not only sweet, but has a lot of ghost iconography. Maybe it's my increased viewing in true crime or paranormal YouTube content, or just that fluke, but sheet ghosts keep appearing in the artwork I like.

These amazing pen and ink drawings of friendly little ghosts and a playful bat winged grim reaper are the work of Laurie A. Conley, and they are the perfect example of what happens when the right medium, technique and subject matter collide. 

Conley never set out to be a spooky artist, but the positive reception she received from creating some Halloween art in 2014 spurred her to continue creating little scenes of haunted houses and ghosts larking around. They're entirely made of lines, cross hatching and scribbles but Conley's drawing skill shows how many different tones one pen and a pot of black ink alone can create. This is to the point where there are some of the drawings, such as the ghosts in the trees, where they positively glow with light.

I think these are amazing, the depth and tone Conely achieves is incredibly, the look more like old fashioned etchings than pen and ink, and I'm only completely jealous that my little sister owns one of her prints. I'd steal it, but she'd notice it was missing way too quickly. There's no chance I'd get away with it.


Link || Laurie A. Conley || Website || Instagram || Twitter || Facebook || Tumblr || Pinterest || Etsy || Society6 || Ko-fi



Jeremy Miranda






Finally is the stunning work of Jeremy Miranda, specifically his greenhouses and sheds. 

In these paintings it's his really stunning use of light that I am most attracted too. The structures glow from the inside and remind me of those really dark dull days at the end of the year when I was in primary school, where the classroom would seem so bright and warm compared to the darkness outside. Those days always felt really comforting, despite it being school, and that's how these painting feel to me.

Maybe not strictly illustrations, Miranda's style for me walks the line between the two. They're painterly, but also their linear, blocky style at times reminds me a lot of Pascal Campion's more painterly illustrations. But what I can never get over with these is the light, out of darkening blue snowy backgrounds, shine these vivid warm colours, illuminating interiors of sheds, studios and greenhouses, and bring so much life into them. 

Over Christmas he even did a series of painting depicting Christmas light emblazoned scenes, with them wrapped around trees, in neighbouring houses windows or appearing on the other side of a darkened wood and they glow. They glow, and it's happy and comforting and that memory of primary school comes back every time I look at them, and that's why I love this artists work so much. 

Also probably why I obsessively buy fair lights.


Link || Jeremy Miranda || Website || Instagram || Etsy || Sebastian Foster || Fieldwork || Dianne Witte || Nahcotta
Link || Jeremy Miranda via Brian Paquette Interiors


Illustration is one of those things in life that makes me really happy, and when you like something you can do one of two things, keep it to yourself, or you can share it because everyone should know about these wonderful things that you've found. That's how I feel about this post, in the end if you've skimmed the pictures but ended up jumping through to look at one of the artists Instagram pages, I'm happy. I don't make anything from this blog, I torture myself writing the 12 Days because I like doing it, and in the end it's free advertising and support for these talented creators, and maybe one day someone will return the favour.

Share and enjoy after all.


And now... Oh my God we're nearly there! Part twelve coming as quickly as my little fingers can finish with the coding, which Blogger has irritatingly made harder to include and involves going directly into HTML mode... it's like going back to my fifteen year old self coding on h2g2... 

..................................................................................
Listening: I Adore U - Adore Delano
Posted by Emily Boyd at 01:46 0 comments
Labels: , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)
Related Posts with Thumbnails