A frosty start to the Morning!

Introducing: The Mouse Family!

Previously i posted about Creating Characters and shared two of the Illustrations i have created so far - The Boasting Bull & The Abominable Bat.
Today i am here to share my most recent Illustrations/Characters which i am currently working on for a story my Mother In-Law Wrote and I must say I am enjoying this quite a bit!

I am hand drawing everything (as usual) and have then scanned them into Corel and we will see where I go from there... this is still very much a Work in Progress!
(Keep an eye out for further developments!)

A day out and about...

Sometimes my partner and I may only see each other two or three times during a week due to work.
I work 8.30am til 3.30pm-ish and when he does night shift he starts at 4pm. Some Weeks we will see each other Tuesday evening then not again until the weekend.
Last week was one of those weeks.
So come the weekend we decided to have had a 'Date Day'! We both had Saturday off which is RARE so we planned to spend the day together out and about. That morning we found out The Hot Rod show was on so we went for a look...

We took the camera and Phil got some great shots! (above)
I was impressed with the amount of cars on show to be honest, Blenheim is quite small and usually so are the events! It was a AWESOME display!
Afterwards we headed into town and wandered about then decided to head over to the Saturday Market and have a browse. There was heaps to look at but no 'treasures' to be found that day.
We ended our 'Date Day' with hot chips and milkshakes... a Delicious end to a great day out!

Introducing: The Abominable Bat!

Perviously i posted about Creating Characters so thought i would post my Abominable Bat Illustration!
I originally created a version of this little guy as part of a project for one of our Nephews.

I have since done some work on him, upgraded him slightly and re-creating him in Corel (still learning about digital illustrations etc) and i think he is one of the best Characters I have created so far!
I have an idea for a story featuring this fluffy fellow and if i get time i may work on it so keep an eye out for future updates!

Treasure Hunting!

This morning was a very wet, rainy Saturday morning... perfect weather for garage sales and op shopping! (Perfect weather generally in my opinion!)
We spent the morning out with Friends exploring the second hand stores and rummaging through the local garage sales. It really is a little like Treasure hunting (minus the gold) but we hunt for other trinkets and knick knacks which are treasures to us in there own way. There is HEAPS to find, from the weird to collectable to just plan creepy...

Recently the Mr came across two old nurses chairs (CREEPY things they are) which he brought and added to his "movie prop" collection!
This time around though, alas, we didn't find any treasures but we had a great morning out non the less and who knows what we might find next time!

Creating Characters

Recently i posted about creating a book with my Mother-Inlaw.
I will soon be working on illustrations for her next story so I was having a look though the previous one and pondering how i was going to go about Illustrating the next one. I feel I am still 'finding my style' when it comes to creating illustrations like these.

The first book i ever made, which I created/illustrated and wrote myself - for my own personal joy - was hand painted. I sketched out and painted each illustration onto canvas.
This took ALONG time but it was a personal goal so I had no time restraints and i am extremely proud of how it turned out, and the fact i actually completed it!
My Mother-Inlaws book is the second real story I've illustrated, which i created by sketching out all the characters then re-doing them all and colouring them in corel (image above shows 'character work') which was a fun change and a new challenge!
So here i am wondering how I will create the next lot of Characters and if the next style will finally be the style i stick with?!

Fairytales and Whimsy!

I thought I'd spend the weekend gathering inspiration for my 2 new Fairy-tale artworks i am hoping to start painting in the next few days.
I'm not really one to go looking for inspiration, i usually wait til it finds me but i thought I'd take the Camera and go see what i could find. While on my walk I found myself near Mums house so stopped in for a coffee. Her house is full of rustic creations and creative ideas and that's where i snapped this shot!...

We decided to take a walk over to Pollard Park, which is only a few hundred meters from her house.
Being Autumn here the entire park is covered in golds and reds, it was beautiful!
On our way home we saw a patch of garden with several different kinds of Mushrooms growing... Another whimsical Snap! A great day full of inspirations!