so far

Best laid plans went up in smoke early. Although what I learned was that it’s less exhausting if you go with the current than against it. Might not end up where you thought you’d be but better able to deal with what ever’s there because you’re happy and ready to go. 

January and most of February was swallowed by covid. Then a short holiday to Eden and home the long way through Canberra. Stayed with my sister-in-law and her husband , their construction is underway and making progress, I saw my niece and her beautiful family, fossicked in second hand stores and gift shops and played around in nature. Back in time to start the year in March.

With that, I’ve been quoting on some freelance work and about to start a book which the manuscript is on it’s way, but the best thing has been finally getting involved in a challenge on Twitter I’ve been stalking since, forever. #colour_collective  Has been going for a long while and run by an illustrator out of the UK, thus the spelling and one of the reasons I started following it. They post two colours (it used to be one, but now it’s two) and you have a week to create a picture with those colours. Some use it sparingly, others intensively, all look fab! These are some of mine:

Divas

Leaf season

Lily pond

Frog chorus

Fishies

Last blooms

I see such amazing diversity of work using #colour_collective and I try to like all of them (sorry if i missed anyones (eek!)). I often covet different illustration styles, marvelling at how these geniuses work, just amazing!

You can follow me @_essayer on Twitter and see all the other #colour_collective drawings they’re great!

Cheers!

characters developing

I’ve been doing more skills development. This time to show the same characters in different situations. It’s not the first of these and will not be the last.

I’m loving the way I’ve developed my own shorthand for doing eyes and noses. In general, I love learning new ways to express all of the things, shapes and tones. It’s wonderful to draw an illustration that can tell a whole story and I think I nail that.Each one of these on their own could stand alone with a story. Together, they could build a narrative…

The colour palette is, again, my own. I like how the muted tones give a softness while remaining gender neutral.

I think these are a huge leap in developing the expression I want to be able to convey… getting there anyway, more drawing (yay!) , because it’s called a practice for a reason, and I’d do it for fun regardless.

Cheers,

more drawing!

I really like how the drawings I do, tell a story, showing emotion and a sense place. I’ve really enjoyed developing consistency and simplifying my finish while not losing any of the information. Or at least, that’s what I’m aiming for.

In working towards getting better and building on what I talked about in an earlier post, Portfolio Development, what I’ve found out about myself is that I really, really, REALLY, like drawing old people. Their faces can have such sense of fun and although they have bigger ears, their face structure is quite similar to a child.

To play with this idea I’ve started drawing these oldies in the same situations as the kids and I think they've worked out amazingly well.

Love swings (2021)

Still love swings (2021)

I have a couple more and I’ll put them in my portfolio so you can go to my Work page and see them in amongst all my other pictures. I’ll also be putting them on Instagram.

Continuing to get better and challenging myself is ongoing so keep an eye out for more!

Cheers,

Pandemic shutdown continues... :(

It’s been an interesting time here in Melbourne. Shutdown 2: electric boogaloo might just be done with next week (fingers crossed) but we are not counting any chickens and I don’t think it’ll be opening up without restrictions.

Still, I’ve been practicing more with Procreate and am about to update to the latest version so a new learning curve begins - nothing but excitement about the changes… Before I do that though, I have been working on a book and until I know they’re happy with what has been delivered so far I don’t want mess around with the software. This is in case there is any loss of data. Over cautious, probably, and I have backed up all the drawings, I just might let the it settle for a bit.

So aside from the book I’ve been giving flowers to anyone. Well, via Instagram, and they’re drawings…

I’ve also had a bit of success with the animation features. They are easy tools and great to make simple gifs. I can see a lot more of this happening.

I’ve also been up to my old tricks with statues, which you can see on instagram, and you can it check out here: https://www.instagram.com/_essayer/

Cheers!

Learning

It’s all new here on the essayer platform! New hardware, new software, new new-ness!

After waiting eons, I’ve gotten my hands on an iPad Pro WITH A PENCIL!

I’m slowly moving everything over to using it as my base. The interesting thing is that it works so seamlessly that I often forget it is a mobile device, but then when I’m using my desktop I try to touch the screen to make that work, and that is a big no.

The pencil is AMAZING, it’s as responsive as you’d expect and some. To use it as effectively as possible I’ve bought a new drawing package, Procreate. It’s made in Hobart and is absolutely loved world wide. It has all sorts of functionality including offering simple animation tools. Below are some Father’s Day Drawings done on all Procreate, including text - if you know a card manufacturer who’d like to license them *wink*

Having used Photoshop and Illustrator from Adobe for years, it’s been interesting teaching myself this new program.

I’ve also found another drawing suite that can do all the other things the Adobe Suite, could do called Affinity. It’s much more cost effective so I’m learning that as well. It really is a brain exercise to learn all the shortcuts, gesture controls, brushes, textures and fonts. The options are mind blowing.

It has been very lonely in the studio so the portability of the iPad has made it easier during this second lockdown. I can put it all in my back and away I go, connected and able to draw almost anywhere. Usually at home, but in theory anywhere.

I still love and adore my studio - can’t imagine being without it. It’s my happy place. Here’s to this second lockdown working.

Cheers and wear a mask!

Colouring in!

The walks taken as exercise while at home isolating with my family produced a sketchbook (previous post). All fantastical landscapes, some including waterfalls.

After a suggestion from my resident art director to turn them into colouring pages and subsequent gentle nudges from them, I’ve been beavering away doing just that.

There has been nobody in the studio to distract me. The whole building has been very quiet. It’s even been hard to get a coffee – in Melbourne!. As a result I’ve been very focused and diligent. I promise.

It’s been a challenge to translate the small A5 rough sketch, with the pencil lead smeared and blurry lines. It was a long process to clean them up, fix any composition errors and generally make them able to be used for colouring.

I began with a scan, make them into PDF format then print them as A3, trace them off (again and again), correct errors (again and again) and set my visual language so they’re consistent.

Et voilà

You can head over to the new freebies page for a high resolution download to print them out on your printer and have at them! I’d love to see the results of your colouring so if you post them on Instagram or Twitter make sure you tag me, @_essayer so I get a notification.

I’ll be working on a few more in the coming months, sign up to the mailing list, follow me on twitter or instagram and I’ll let you know when they’re available.

Cheers,

Pandemic wanderings

Like almost everybody I stayed at home from 23rd March at home until after the Easter break. I’d brought some supplies back home with the view to improving some skills, getting back to basics and exploring some mediums I hadn’t had a chance to get into in a meaningful way for a very long time.

Needless to say, it didn’t quite work out that way.

Not only was I at home, so was everyone else. Where we live is quite a spacious apartment, in theory. Four adults certainly make it feel a bit constrained and I’ve always found it hard to do much with an audience. The thing I’ve learnt about myself is that I’m a loner. Consequently not much experimenting and learning went on.

So instead I took the opportunity to explore the parks nearby. On my own or with a companion from our house I wandered around The Alexandra & The Queen Victoria Gardens and The Kings Domain.

There are sculptures, fountains, a fernery and The Pioneer Women‘s Garden, ducks and bush turkeys. And some the best landscaped public toilets.

Taking my time to see the same gardens repeatedly gave me the opportunity to see things I’d missed, to be amazed and fascinated by the way things grew together and apart, to see the repetition of the planting, how it all coalesced into such a glorious and enjoyable space.

The lush leafy foliage, got ticking over in my brain and so I sat and doodled in a sketchbook with no expectations or rules. It was lovely to play with perspective, interpret what I’d seen, stylise the lush leafiness and image landscapes.

The results were a fantasy, but drew on the experience of the walks and waterfalls seen and explored.

These simple doodled sketchbook drawings have given life to a new project. Now back in the studio I’m creating something new, from something I created from walks I did, enjoying the creativity of the gardeners.

Keep safe and cheers to you all,

Make a robot!

Perspective

In trying to improve and get better at all aspects of drawing I’ve been looking at creating whole story like images that push perspective.

The first was Rocket Kid. This was fun and came together relatively quickly and wouldn’t have been was it is without the help of my studio buddy, Rebecca Stewart - check out her amazing portfolio. Her experience in animation and life drawing really pushed me to put together a great dynamic composition.

The second was under the sea. This started out as fun colour but it was confused and lacked clarity so paring it back, pushing the perspective and using light to it’s fullest extent made it work. The text is there for balance as it was envisaged as part of a middle grade fiction book.

The third was a garden scene, and this was so very difficult. From doing this one, there are no shortcuts, if it’s not right, it’s not right so make it right, trying to find work arounds will take longer than doing it correctly in the first place.

There will be more to come, I have a lot to learn about colour, perspective, bodies and how they move and above all else telling stories with pictures.

Cheers!

Doodley doodles

It’s been so very hot and as the studio is not air conditioned and the house is - that’s where I ended up. So as the temperature is hitting  40°C I’m working on my kitchen table, trying to figure out animals.

Never having had pets, I understand why you’d want one, the actuality of having to care for one is an overwhelming thought for me. So how to draw them and their features is a challenge. It is quite a gap in my knowledge about the world.

I made a list of the animals I’d like to learn about and so I’ve begun. I’m posting these on Instagram as well.

Having begun with some of the most obvious Australian animals, I’ll be mixing it up over time and hopefully getting better and then better able to incorporate versions into illustrations when needed.

Toodle-pip!

Exhibitioning

As mentioned in my latest email, I’ve been accepted to exhibit in Alternative Current Art Space in 2020. Scheduled for June, it will be a show of my large format pencil drawings, and preparations are underway! VERY EXCITED!

I've been doing some studies for a very long drawing, just to get my hand in and get all the creative neurons firing in all the right places.

Study 3, pencil on paper 2019

Above is one of the recent drawings, small at only 57cm wide and 19cm tall, done so they remind my muscles that this is the way that we get it done.

It is amazing though, every time I look at a finished piece I get a little thrill of ‘I did that’. I’m looking forward to having some significant work on the wall in June. I hope you can be there, more details to follow!

Cheers,

me me me me me

I’ve been working hard getting portfolios ready for various submissions. Some to do with illustration and others for art, along with the normal day-to-day etc. It’s been both and interesting and worthwhile process, distilling what I want to do as opposed what I can do and allowed me the time to really find my strengths and hopefully the work I get from this will better reflect this.

About me
hand draw, digitally finished, 2019

In not only showing how I draw and what I want to draw I’ve also managed to distill my own self into a kind of self portrait. The cardigans, are very important. As is the coffee.

Cheers!

PS: If you’d like an infographic portrait of yourself or maybe as a gift for a friend, let me know!

Breathe

Breathe, digital with hand drawn elements, 2019

Don’t go breaking my heart

People regularly ask for me to work for the pleasure of working them, which in itself is lovely. They like my work and want the work I do for their project, but I really have to draw (literally) the line somewhere and paying the rent is important.

This seems to be a universal problem for illustrators and I’ve noticed this happens for all people with any skill that any other individual lacks. We all want our friend who’s studied law to look over a contract, our mate whose a plumber to fix the hot water service and the kid who’s really good at the computer to show us how make a website.

It’s different though for a friend, it’s different for a project that everyone is into on an equal footing. Being asked work for nothing while other parties make profit or at least their costs back, is a bit of a smack in the face.

Anyway, IA have got on board The AOI’s #notahobby campaign, because we all need to make a living from the skills we have worked hard to learn and get good at. Doesn’t mean I wouldn’t help out a charity and it doesn’t mean I wouldn’t help out a friend, but put as succinctly as I can…

Your passion project, digital image with hand drawn elements, 2019

You read a bit more about this on a previous post about self-publishing.

Kisses,

Gorn git!

Happy George

Recently I developed and illustrated a new character, for a disability service. Introducing: Happy George! 

This little guy ties in with some other promotional material and is soon to be launched on their website.

Happy George is a friendly frog who like to say hello to everyone!

Happy George is technologically savvy!

Happy George is being used on colouring in sheets and word searches which I also developed. These will be available for people to download from their website .

It was great to translate the linear to the rendered colour and build up a stock of imagery around it all to describe the world in which George lives.

He will also be in explanatory material on printed documents and certificates.

It was a great project. I had lots of fun testing out techniques I've not used for a while. And it was fantastic to see it so well received by the client. 

Hopefully the participants of the service like him too, because I'd love to do more of this! 

Cheers and chin-chin,

Vote YES!

It's been amazing over the last couple of years to see the parade of unfairness and unkindness on all sides of politics in Australia. Less stealth like, which has been used in the past and more upfront meanness is really the hallmark of the last, I would say, four parliaments. 

The downright misogyny directed at Julia Gillard. Her parliaments lack of action on same-sex marriage. Kevin Rudd and his off-shore detention hell holes. Tony Abbott dismantling of the carbon tax and eating onions, raw, with the skin on. And then we come to Malcolm Turnbull, beholden to the right wing conservative to keep his bum on the big chair. These are just a few of the craptacular highlights of the last seven years (yes, seven years - four Prime Ministers in seven - count 'em - seven years. You can see my eyes rolling from space.)

Malcolm has bowed to the pressure of his party room and they've dreamed up a non-binding, non-mandatory, non-plebicite postal survey about same sex marriage. Rather than do their jobs. It is going to cost over $120 million dollars. 

As I write this the High Court of Australia are hearing a case against running the postal survey. So it may on may not even happen. But in the event that it does I'm nailing my colours to the mast.

YES : Love is love, let people marry.

So my birds for the weeks leading up to the non-binding, non-mandatory, non-plebicite postal survey (if it even happens) are all showing their support for changing the marriage act to be inclusive of all the people.

...and imagine, what the kindergartens of Australia would do with $120 million dollars instead.

Sketchbook scrawls

Lately my sketchbook is all about people. Specifically the back of the head. Train travel and cafés provide lots of subjects, but staring at people can be a bit confronting, for both the stare-er and the stare-ee.

I've seen the panicked look on people's faces, the uncomfortable shift in their seat, hunch of the shoulders and the blush as it creeps across their skin when they realise they are being drawn. 

The back of their head, though is way more non-confrontational and it gives me practice at size, shape, form, hair, fabric, bags, phones, ears and sometimes, even hands. Phones often give you cover, people don't notice anything when they're on their phones, so occasionally I get a face. 

These are untouched photos straight from my sketchbook, no fiddling with lighting or brightness etc. I usually post this sort of thing on my @hilary_cresp instagram if you're interested.

Cheers and chin-chin!

Birdies everywhere!

I've been a bit slack with the blogging, but busy is as busy does and because not everyone has Instagram here's what I've been doing...

As you can see Birdies have exploded from my pencil and have taken a life of their own. Up to all sorts of adventures. Hopefully a wonderful and generous publisher can see the potential and gives me a call. I have so many ideas for what these little darlings can achieve, you just never know what they'll do next!

Cheers and chin-chin!