Merry Christmas everybody!

I'm feeling festive, wrapping gifts and watching Home alone! 

So here's a Christmas illustration treat for you all!

Merry Christmas!

xXx

M

DOLLS NIGHT OUT: KURT GEIGER

I'm super excited for tomorrow! 

Not only is it my birthday but I also will be at Kurt Geiger, Newcastle

 from 6.30 till 9.30pm as their in house fashion illustrator! 

Where I will be drawing the lovely ladies that come down for the "Dolls night out!" 

Check out the poster and come along and see me if you can!

xXx

Zombie Nation

Halloween is nearly here! One of my favourite times of year! 

I always like to do themed illustrations, and anything dark is a real treat for me 

as I normally create quite girly illustrations.

Above is my interpretation of a zombie/frankenstein monster.

 I call her Frankie! 

I'd say she still looks pretty glamorous even as the living dead.

 It's not surprising as I based it on a photo of Zooey Deschanel 

(who always looks gorgeous)

I've included a sketch, before it was coloured.

I coloured and layered it digitally which really let me play about with the whole composition.

I also added some vintage movie poster text!

What do you think?

xXx

M

Aurora

Here is my latest illustration Aurora

I created it using pencil, watercolour and digital media.

This will shortly be available as a print, 

once I get round to sorting out my Etsy store!

I have already produced a print of this and have added silver stars

to the sky in the background.

It's rather subtle but works nicely with the delicacy of the piece.

xXx

M

Etsy store: Céleste print

A new illustration entitled "Céleste" 

is now available as a print over on my Etsy store 

as a mixed media/print piece.

It is essentially a print wjich I have then 

drawn on top of with pencil, 

and also painted onto using silver paint.

The result is that no two pieces will ever be exactly alike.

I like to work this way as i like to have the basic lines form which to draw 

from, but also be able to add more definition and subtlety

 which I feel are things that can often be lost when a 

drawing is transferred to digital media.

My printer, although good, never gives me the full range of tones I want.

I want to be able to experiment and play around with a drawing 

and not be too precious with it. 

Scanning it and reproducing it gives me this freedom to play.

xXx

M

Top Santé illustrations #1

Here are some illustrations I recently did for the 

September issue of Top Santé.

I drew a range of illustrations demonstrating different exercises.

It is quite a change to my usual style, but I do like to 

change it up form time to time.

xXx

M 

Progress 006

I'm currently working on a mixed media piece 

for my Etsy store. 

It's partially a print with pencil drawn over the top 

(mainly shading and accentuation in the hair)

and also silver paint.

This one is A4, 

I had started working on an A3 but I spilled silver paint all over it 

so will have to start again.

While working I'm listening to Imogen Heap: Speak for yourself.

A brilliant album, which, for some reason is making long for 

cold rainy nights spent cosy indoors and also snow.

xXx

M

//ROSES//

The fruit of this evening's labour...

It was created using pencil, and digital methods.

xXx

M

//Happy Sunday//

Hi everybody! I've been terrible at posting anything lately,

but as it's now september, I'm in the "back to school" mindset!

it's time to knuckle down and do some serious blogging, 

which for me means it's time to do some serious illustration work!

I've got a head full of ideas and also a healthy backlog of 

previous commissions I've recently completed.

Also to maintain I have me newly improved website!

You can take a look HERE

It includes an archive of some of my previous commissions,

personal work and sketch book work. 

All of which I'm still in the process of adding to.

Above are some lovely inspirational imagery,

 which perfectly reflects my mood this morning!

Enjoy!

xXx

M

Art Nouveau flowers

Well it certainly feels like a long time since I posted, 

I've been so busy with illustration work lately 

which is, of course, the dream,  so I can hardly say it's a bad thing.

It also means that I will have lots of work to share with you all in due course!

Here is the the first,

a recent commission I created for a Lovely lady and her flower shop:

The Floral Quarter

I was really pleased with the way these turned out.

They are pencil drawings of three types of flower 

with a golden ink art nouveau border around each one

I was so precious with them while painting them as I knew that 

one slip of the hand and hours of work could be ruined!

I've also included some snaps of me painting one of them 

in what is my make-shift studio aka my dining room table!

Inspiration: Iris Van Herpen

Yesterday I came across this absolutely mind bogglingly

 amazing dress by Iris Van Herpen, called "the cathedral dress".

Reminiscent of an old gothic cathedral, the dress is made out of wood.

I find anything with such incredible detail and symmetrical pattern 

so fascinating from an illustrators point of view.

If I had the patience (and time) I would love to draw this accurately. 

But for now, I have drawn a rougher version. 

I decided to draw it on brown paper to give the feel of the wood 

while highlighting the skin with white chalk.

Watch out for more similar drawings of the Van Herpen couture,

 because I am seriously obsessed with this stuff!

xXx

M 

Bluebell...Aida in the dark.

This illustration, that I call "Bluebell", was created as part of a 

recent commission that I did recently for the lovely Victoria Sugden, for her 

Publishing degree at Stirling University.

It was a really great project to work on as I was to illustrate a 

fashion fairy tale!

This illustration was my favourite of all the ones I came up with 

and I was really happy with the way it turned out.

It was based on how a character perceived other people 

in the story and how their true colours show through!

More on the way soon

xXx

M

Mademoiselle Chat

A brand new illustration is available in my Etsy store.

It is an A3 print/ mixed media piece.

The original was a pencil and watercolour illustration, 

I digitally enhanced it, printed it out and then worked over the top of it 

with marker pen and pencil

xXx

M

Progress: 005

A new piece I'm currently working on 

soon to be a new A2 print which will be available in my Etsy store.

Keep a look out as there'll be some new things arriving in it soon

xXx

M

Progress:004

Progress 004: Watercolour inspired by Bluemarine.

Soon to be available as a print, 

and also original for sale.

So keep a lookout over at my Etsy store

xXx

M

Amethyst Moon

A new print is available over in my Etsy store.

I've applied pencil and silver paint over the top, 

making it truly unique.

Just clicke HERE to view it!

xXx

M

Leopard skin hat

After looking through a load of files on my computer, 

I came across this drawing which I drew ages ago. 

Normally I hate anything that Ive created in the past 

 but I still quite liked this one. 

I like how rough it looks.

xXx

M

Flower Maiden

I'm very excited to show everyone this one!

and now "Flower Maiden" is available to buy from my Etsy store.

This is a mixed media piece, The main drawing is a print which I have 

then worked over with pencil and gold ink. 

The original is a pencil drawing.

I've been inspired very heavily by the Art Nouveau movement.

In particular by some of my two favourite artists, Mucha and Klimt.

This was my "prototype" version to see how it would look 

before committing to getting it printed out larger.

There will be larger versions of this available to buy 

within the coming week hopefully, 

so keep your eyes peeled!

xXx

M

Perfume

Some new perfume bottle illustrations here,

I created them using pencil ink and water colours.

They are all now available as prints form my Etsy store!

I sometimes wish I had my own powder room 

and I would have stuff like this all over the walls!

xXx

M