Illustration Friday: Nature

This week's Illustration Friday prompt was 'Nature'.

I struggled to come up with something for this one. Nature features in most of my work and its one of my main inspirations, but I didn't want to just draw another forest or bunch of flowers.

I also had to find a way of relating it to a fairytale or story which made it even harder not to do anything too obvious. I went through several ideas involving trees, apples, animals etc but they were all something I had done before. In the end I decided to illustrate something with nature where it wouldn't normally be: In Rapunzel's hair.

The idea is that she has been sat in the tower for so long that her hair has become connected with her surroundings, and she is now a part of the nature. I also added in her holding an apple, and a framed picture of a flower on the wall so those symbols were still included.

I realised after I'd finished this that I've ended up using the same colour palette as last week, oops! I'll aim to make next week's one quite different.

I've been enjoying taking part in Illustration Friday so far, and I love opening that e-mail on a Friday to see what the next prompt will be! Hopefully I'll be keeping this up for a while longer.

Over & over: Mountains

This week I suddenly had lots of ideas for new patterns (look out for two more over the next week).

I wanted to create something involving some kind of landscape, something that works as an image on its own as well as a pattern. I chose to use forests and mountain scenes in the design and stuck to a neutral colour palette to suit the theme.

I'm really pleased with how this one turned out, I think it might work well on some fabric.

For now its available over on Art Rookie on lots of products including bags, cushions and canvas prints.

There'll be another pattern similar to this next week, as well as one for anyone with a bit of a sweet tooth!

Wise Words: You can

I was browsing throught Pinterest a few days ago and kept coming across lots of lovley Disney quotes. I realised it had been a while since I created a Wise Words illustration so decided to pick a quote and start drawing!

I went with this one from Tangled:

"Don't trust anyone that says you can't do it. Show them you can"

Illustration Friday: Treasure

This week's prompt on Illustration Friday was 'Treasure'.

I went though a few ideas for this one. Originally I was planning on drawing a "treasure chest of fairytales", with various fairytale objects (glass slippers, pumpkins, flowers etc) spilling out of a treasure chest. But then I had the idea to do a treasure map. I illustrated a map as part of my Final Major Project at University last year, and at the time I was really pleased with and it was something I wanted to do more of. But up until now that has been the only map I've illustrated, so I took the opportunity to do it for this week's Illustration Friday.

I've designed it as a fairytale treasure map, so all the locations are places from various fairytales, such as the woods from Little Red Riding Hood, and the tower where Rapunzel is kept.

Here's a few close-ups of the different locations:

(This design is available as a print in my Society6 shop!)

In my sketchbook: 22/07/15

Its been a while since I've shared a look inside my sketchbooks, and with lots of different projects on the go lately I've got plenty to share!

The recent pages of my sketchbooks have been filled with fairytale palaces, forests, miniature gardens, succulents, ice cream and spinning wheels!

Snap snap: 17/7/15

 The last few weeks in photos.

- Sketches for my Turkish Rug inspired pattern.

- I finally updated my website!

- My Etsy shop reached 100 sales :)

- Pineapple doodles.

- Sweet peas from a lovely friend.

- Me and Jamie spent a fantastic day at Wembley Stadium watching Ed Sheeran (with special guest Elton John)

- Ice cream party sketches.

- The unicorn cards are still proving to be my most popular design!

- Drawing happily ever afters.

- Visits from Beabea (and lots of cuddles)

- More lovely flowers.

- I've added some new gift packs to my Etsy shop.

Illustration Friday: Garden

I'm actually on time with my Illustration Friday submission this week!

The prompt was 'Garden' so I've based it on the nursery rhyme 'Round and round the garden' and illustrated it as a miniature garden.

"Round and round the garden,

like a teddy bear,

one step, two step,

tickle you under there!"

Over & over: Ice Cream Party

I've got another new pattern to share with you today, this time involving ice cream and confetti!

I wanted to create another fun, colourful, summery pattern this week, seeing as we're still enjoying some nice weather (although it has got a little bit cloudy again this week). As soon as the sun starts shining, I always immediately start wanting ice cream (and giving in to temptation a little too often!).

So this week's pattern is:

Ice cream party!

Whats your favourite ice cream treat?

I'm a fan of toffee or mint flavoured ice cream in a waffle cone.

Illustration Friday: Sharp

I've decided to give Illustration Friday a go again. I did it for a few weeks last year but didn't stick to it for too long.

Each week (when I can) I'll be creating an illustration inspired by the prompts provided on Illustration Friday and themed around a fairytale or other story.

This week, the theme was "Sharp" and I chose to use Briar-Rose as inspiration.

(unfortunately I was a little late getting this finished and didn't get around to actually submitting it to the Illustration Friday website! Next week I'll try and be more punctual with it!)

The initial idea for this came from the "sharp" needle on the spinning wheel on which Briar-Rose pricks her finger. However as I began the illustration I remembered that after she falls asleep, a thorny bush grows around the castle to prevent the Princes or anyone else from rescuing her. I included this thorny bush (in the form of a Briar-Rose bush) coming through the windows, adding another element to the illustration to represent the Illustration Friday prompt, 'Sharp'.

I should be back next week with another Illustration Friday image for you!

New Illustrations: Succulents

Over the last couple of weeks I've been drawing a selection of succulents in my sketchbooks. I didn't  have much of a plan for what to use them for, but I received a lovely suggestion on Instagram to create an illustration of little succulents along a windowsill.

I've also created a little poster of the succulents, including the scientific names.

Both of these are available to buy as prints from Society6 or Art Rookie, and I'll add them as postcards to the shop soon!

(PS. You can get 10% off any purchase from Art Rookie with the code SUN10AR)

Wise Words: Darling

This Friday, Jamie and I are heading to Wembley Stadium to see Ed Sheeran! I bought tickets for Jamie's Christmas present back in November and 8 months later the date has finally arrived! We both love his music and neither of us have actually been to a concert before (we've chosen a pretty big event for our first one, with 90,000 people attending!) so we're definitely very excited!

Anyway it seemed appropriate to do a little Wise Words illustration of some of his lyrics, so here's a great line form one of my favourites:

Over & over: Turkish Rugs

For my latest Over & over post, I wanted to create an all-over pattern, as thats something I hadn't done for a while. I struggled to come up with a them for this one, until I came across a photo I took on holiday. On one of the excursions we went on we visited a traditional Turkish house in a small village up in the hills. All throughout the house was really colourful, with traditional Turkish rugs covering many of the walls and most of the floors:

I used the colours and patterns from this to inspire my latest pattern. The theme was great for an all-over pattern, and it also gave me the chance to experiment with some new patterns which I may use in future illustrations.

New Illustrations: The Moon

After I did the Wise Words illustration of the Stars quote from Lady & the Tramp, I wanted to do something else involving moons. I decided to do a little illustration showing the different phases of the moon. I went with a limited colour palette for this one, to suit the simple shapes and grid layout:

A few work in progress snaps and close-ups of the finished piece:

I'm hoping to add this as a postcard to my shop soon.

But for now its available as a print, canvas, cushion or greeting card on Art Rookie.