Kittys Drawings

Hi All!
A quick drawing and a quick post today.

This one took me a few hours (maybe 4?)….Using reference as usual. I loved the light and the fairly simple tones in this.

Typical nose frustrations. That’s what I’ll be working on next. Noses. More noses. More!

Other news…busy busy as per usual. Trying to push through some motivation issues.

It should be a sewing post next? I’m pottering along with a few things. My frenzy has died down to a mild simmer.

Okay – well this is short/long enough. Til next time!!
(sorry for not being wordy today!)

Hi All!

Drawing time!

Amongst all the crazy sewing I *have* been drawing would you believe it. This is something I did just quickly to keep me in the drawing mood while floundering on my other (more detailed) piece….which is also a lot larger. I’ve got such a bad habit of making these much too small.

I used a reference for this of course – and I can’t for the life of me find where I got it from. So I can’t link sorry.

I’ve still got issues with noses. Ergh.
WIPs
She looked rather alien until I gave her eyelashes and fixed her forehead!

After my current project is finished I’ve got some ideas for something new. Not Your Father’s Pin-Up are running a project where we draw an animal related pin-up which will go into a book to raise funds for the WWF. Info at the link – and yes, I’ve been a member for a little while there. Only posted one thing. Shame on me. This is a good cause so I should participate…and it will give me a chance to do something a bit more creative than these last few pieces. I like the WWF – one of the few charities I regularly donate to.

Sewing projects coming up – that 40′s dress will get finished eventually…its nearly done but I’m a bit meh about it. Also, the charcoal pencil – which was a bit of a drama initially but it’s become the thing I’m most proud of. Currently cut out is some yellow gingham which will become a short sleeve shirt.

Giveaway ALMOST there – come on – one more follower!

Okay time to go!
Seeya!

Hi Again

Woo some new art!
And a guy this time. Wooowee. Haha. I found the ref for this via Flickr … HERE …thought the colours were awesome and Nathan takes really cool photos. I did this one fairly quickly……maybe four hours or so? Trying to imply detail instead of spending hours on fiddly stuff. In the hope that if I do a little bit more each time, I’ll somehow end up with more polished pieces further down the track. And learn how to get the essentials down without tweaking them and possibly ruining them. Like NOSES! Oh gee – this one was hard too – why is it so hard?

Also adding texture to skin is tricky. I’m sure there’s fancy Photoshop brushes I can use, but then I don’t like working in Photoshop for the actual painting part. Maybe I’ll experiment next time.
Overall though I’m quite pleased with this. The colours turned out good – and I love the light in the photo I referenced.

I think I need to start working bigger. This is only a fraction smaller than full size and it would print out at only 7cm across.

These are the WIPs. Not much difference between the last two  – just some smoothing of skin.

I need to start finding more good inspiration for my LittleSnapper folder….I’m running low on pretty pictures to reference.

Sewing news: Yes I will get photos of the latest dress soon. I know everyone wants to see!
All my patterns that I’ve been waiting on bar one have arrived as well as some awesome purple floral fabric. So I’m all set to start some new projects. I will exercise patience and make sure I do everything neatly.

• My sewing machine runs smooth enough to control so I can’t blame it for going too fast now
• I also have some neat new scissors which will help me cut out fabric tidily and not all ragged like the dodgy ones I have been using until now.
• I have a large quantity of soft flexible film to do all my tracing.
• My buttonholer has arrived and while it was missing a part, a replacement is already on it’s way to me.
• There is some sew-in interfacing on order which I’ll need for my half finished red dress project

SO – next step…trace the blouse pattern that came with the skirt I made last and make the blouse. Then, when my buttonholer (hehe such a funny word) part has arrived I can finish the red dress. After that I can start on a full skirt dress pattern. I’ll be making it out of the stripey cotton from my Insta-stash.

Another thing that needs doing is clearing out my closet. Eep! Ever since I’ve figured out exactly how I want to dress, I’ve got a whole heap of clothes from my “pre-vintage” life that need to go. So someday I’ll have to sit down and dig it all out and determine what goes on Ebay and what goes to the Salvos. I think I need a dress form before then to display my sales on Ebay nicely. Hmm

Well – enough rambling. Sorry if it’s all MUCH too boring, it’s as much for my own clarity as for everyone else heh.

Oh and HI to all my new followers!! I’m almost at 40 now which is awesome. If I get to 50 I should do a giveaway of some sort don’t you think? What would you be most interested in? A piece of my work or more sewing related goodies? Both? Ideas please!

Okay then seeyas!

Hi All!
Here is another portrait I did just this week. I thought I’d give the black and white thing a go. Interesting for sure but I think I still love colour more.

Fairly pleased with the result but once again I left it too long.  So the details are lacking in the flowers and stuff. I’m not sure if it’s important or not – should I fiddle with details when I’m really over the piece? Or should I still keep trying to knock things out fairly fast and the detail will come with practice? SO MANY QUESTIONS! Hah!

It’s Nancy Sinatra by the way. Inspiration found via someone else’s inspiration. Thanks go to Strawberry Koi (her blog is most gorgeous and she draws very well!).

I took some more WIPs of the very early stages. The first two are done within a few minutes. Then the rest takes increasingly longer as you tweak each bit. The nose was difficult again.

I think I’m getting the hang of hair a little better. Block in the major shapes like where it breaks from light to dark. Then go over it with lots of brush-strokes using a tiny brush.

Anyways….
The sewing is going swimmingly (heh I love that word!).  I’ve got a red button front pencil dress with a big collar on the go. I just need to buy some interfacing and wait for my buttonholer to arrive from Etsy (pics when I get it cos its KILLER) for all those squillion buttons. Well. 10 buttons. Still a lot. I can’t be bothered doing that many bound buttonholes.

Also – I’ve nearly finished a fantastic pencil skirt. Found a navy linen from the Salvos which was just the right size.  I shan’t babble too much about it yet as I’m only a zipper and a waistband away from finishing so I’ll do a post on it then. Can’t wait to wear it though!

I hope you all don’t mind my sewing rambles. It really is a new found passion which to be honest is really taking over from the drawing at the moment. But I seem to be managing both at a pace that is markedly better than where I was at with my “hobby time” last year.  So expect this to become a half and half blog now – half drawing half sewing!

The sewing thing really couldn’t have come at a better time. I’ve become increasingly disillusioned not only with modern fashion, but even vintage is becoming a more difficult search. I kind of blame Mad Men for bringing the 50′s and 60′s into the limelight again (even though I love the show to death!), thus making it trickier to find quality pieces from that era (without crazy costs).  It’s not like I can’t afford spending $150 on a dress but for that kind of money I could make more than three dresses and have the added satisfaction of creating something instead of just consuming. Not to mention I have full control of the quality of the finished product. Something that can’t be guaranteed when buying ready-to-wear – no matter how much you pay for it.
I am not sold on “luxury” brands.

Okay I’ll leave it for now. More fashion musings when I get that skirt finished.

Til then – seeya!

Hi

So like, Happy New Year and stuff. Hope you all had a good one! I spent it down at the Yarra River for the most of the evening chilling with friends and some cool new peeps. Then came back home before 11pm cos the Mr was knocking off work. We watched the fireworks from just around the corner while eating icecream. Then home to movies and beer. Heh. Not much of a big do but I never place high expectations on NYE – that way, its always guaranteed to be good. This plan has worked nicely for some years now

I had high hopes of wearing my new dress – that I made all by myself but alas, it was not to be – due to dodgy cheap zipper and me being a bit too generous sewing my French seams, thus reducing the waistline of my dress by a good inch…which made things a bit tight…so the zipper broke when I tried it on…
I went through the whole rigmarole of picking apart the bodice and letting out the seams. THEN fixing the stupid busted zipper. But of course, it was beyond repair…tried it on a couple more times and then it went up and then it didn’t and the teeth kept popping out of alignment. GRR.
So now – I just need to get a new zip and then it’s all ready to go.
I couldn’t babble on about this without actually showing you my handiwork…so here it is – not looking that good on a hanger…I blame the print. There’s those nice glass buttons I got from my Vogue KK on there too. And it does fit great now I let the seams out a fraction.
All for $20 worth of fabric and thread. They had a sale on at Lincraft….not the best quality but hey this is still a “test” dress – So I don’t fuck up my pretty Tanya Whelan cotton that’s still making it’s way from the States (hoping my postie isn’t being dodgy AGAIN and not leaving a parcel collection slip in my letterbox).

Also…before the Xmas holidays I managed to score a pack of 10 macarons by Duncan (via Syrup & Tang). I can’t remember all the flavours – I know the purple was a violet one. And there was an extreme passionfruit with poprocks in it. Killer
They were all awesome

Oh and I did some drawing. Heh.
Same chick, different pose. Better execution. Shitty dodgy flowers though *ahem*. Probably about 8 hours total. No WIPS because I did most of it in the first session of about 5 hours. I really should save more progress shots of the initial stages so you can see how I start. No lines. Seriously!

Well – I best be off. Only tomorrow left before I have to go back to work. Blah. Seeyas!

Sup!

I finally have a drawing for you. Which could be more polished but once again I left it too long and by the time I got round to working more on it, I was thoroughly over it. So patchy finish up in the end. It’s not too bad though. I used a photo reference for this instead of a painting reference like the last couple, making all the exaggerations on the figure mine

The purpose of doing all these pinups was to establish a solid working process and build up my confidence with Painter. Which means I need to do them quickly! I want to be able to do something like this in a few hours and be pleased with the result. Then work up to more complex pieces. I’m not sure if my methods will work. I fear having more than one drawing project on the go because I know one, if not more, will be abandoned and then I will never finish anything.
Any artists reading my blog – what do you do? Are you able to work on more than one thing at once and eventually finish everything?
It’s so hard to get over the “I hate it” stage for me. I always make roadblocks for myself – things to stop me from creating something “better”. I wonder if I’ll ever stop feeling like a fraud when it comes to my art. Hmm…It’s like I’m constantly waging war with myself and playing tricks on my own brain via a complicated system of activities which are deemed ‘worthy’ of spending time on and those that are not. And whether I should have any leisure time at all when instead of reading blogs I could(should) be drawing – and then, if what I am drawing is moving along satisfactorily or should I be putting more effort in. Waaa! Can get tiring sometimes – and then what happens, I bludge to put off the inevitable decision ….vicious cycle I tell you.
And that probably made little sense.

Anyways…On to the drawings.

(click to make larger)

WIPS and details:

Next time…I’ll be working on faces. I realise that I’m just not that great at them yet. My refs have been too low-res to really zoom in on the features and make out the specific tones needed. I mean, look at noses – there’s not much to them ‘cept a couple of well placed highlights and shadows. Get them wrong and it’s all off. Plus these eyes are lackluster – and the eyes will make a painting. Eerrrrm so much to learn!
SO – I’ve got tons of portrait refs to choose from in my LittleSnapper. I’ll use one of those.

AND….I’ve finished my first sewing project. If I can con the bf into taking some nice photos, then I’ll do a post. It’s a mint green cotton wrap skirt with big, dark green buttons. I finished it in a weekend – maybe 6 hours total. Even managed to make some nice bound buttonholes – I tell you what they are easier to do than regular buttonholes (using a zigzag stitch). They look really nice too. Yay!
I’ve got some fantastic fabric, buttons and a wonderful pattern all coming in the mail soon – That will be my next project.

Til soon!

Team CHOW is back in full swing. REALLY pushing it for time. A bit over ten days to pull two finished pieces out of my butt??? WORK HARD ESZ!!!

Not to mention my work for others which I am pottering away on.
Sooo here’s the run down of the last couple of days. I have been sketching quite a bit but today was the only day where I really got anywhere. First….what I started on the train. Wish they wouldn’t sway around so much – hard to keep the pencil straight when drawing tiny lines.

Sketch from a few days ago for one of my clients….For a blog header. Kinda happy with this. Just a matter of getting around to doing the digital.

And finally some tests for Team CHOW. The Star. Poses referenced from a book lent off my workmate (Hi – see I AM drawing!! ;-P) I like most of this ‘cept the head. Ugh. Kind of needs clothes too.

Take 2. Much better (though I did draw this first hehe). The arm is a bit short and the head too big I know shuddup. I kind of like big heads though hehehehe. Anyways….I’m thinkin Hippy Boho Chick for The Star cos it’s meant to represent Aquarius and we’re supposed to be pretty free spirited yada yada. I just like flowing stuff – hair, clothes, jewelry etc. Could definitely use this for the final.
Dreading trying to draw this digitally. If only I could find $3K lying around somewhere…..

That’s all for now. Better get back to finishing off my other commission.