So, it’s 2012 and I’ve been feeling like something has been missing from my art life. Things are going well in illustration, but perhaps there has been too much in the way of work and not enough left for me.

Sitting at the computer working, day after day, is bad not only for the body but for the soul. While I do still draw in sketchbooks for myself, it is sometimes soradic – sometimes I will do several sketches a night, other times I may not pick up a pencil for a week or longer.

I feel like I have to at least try to get back to doing something with traditional materials, on a semi-regular basis. So I’m thinking of trying to do something called Traditional Thursday. I will try to put up a new piece on Thursdays that is not done digitally.

So here’s my first (ok, I’m cheating a bit, I have a head start since I have maybe 3 others done too).  Enjoy.

Late night sketching, couple of pieces from the Gucci S/S collection. Not a real fan of it, but couldn’t find the Fendi collection I actually wanted to draw. I guess high waisted pants are back in for Spring.

Been a very busy couple of weeks. Here are some sketches I managed to do at night before bed.

Went life drawing at Keyhole Sessions yesterday. Keyhole Sessions is a life drawing session in Toronto that is more risque than the usual classical life drawing. They typically have 1 to 3 models in a variety of outfits (or lack thereof) doing poses. Last night’s theme was ‘shag’ so it was a bit more shagedelic than normal. The girl wearing the handlebar moustache standing in for the ‘man’ wierded me out a bit (not the girl, but she was a nice slim girl and the moustache provided too much juxtaposition!)

Clicky click the image above to see the sketches in more detail.

Now that Summer is here once again, I figured that I may as well make the most of it by trying to hang outdoors more. One day while eating pizza, my husband and I realized that the little sitting area outside of Bloor-Spadina is actually pretty darn good for people watching. So I brought down my materials (and more pizza) and spent a couple of hours drawing various people who stopped by.

Since I got my tablet, it’s become a lot more pleasant to sit in bed and surf around. One of the apps I use is Pulse, which is a neat news aggregator/reader. I’ve configured it to pull the feeds from some fashion blogs, and I’ve been just drawing people who show up on these blogs. It’s pretty neat since these are, for the most bit, normal people who have been deemed fashionable by whoever runs the websites.

Limited edition print - The White Stag of Scythia

Buy Sword & Swocery for iPad / iPhone - Click here

Now that it’s been announced – here’s the print I did for the 2nd run of the Sword & Swocery vinyl EP. The print features the ‘white stage of Scythia’ and this piece is probably the most ethereal project I have worked on to date.

If you haven’t already heard, Sword & Swocery is a beautiful and amazing game for the iPad and iPhone. Created by Superbrothers and published by Capybara, the gem of a game has been making waves for its unique qualities and sheer awesomeness. The game also features a kickass soundtrack by Jim Guthrie. Well, soundtrack is a bit of a loose term, the music (so I am told) was created not so much for the game as WITH the game.

I was pretty much given a blank canvas, so I ended up listening to the soundtrack and watching the game on a borrowed iPad. By chance, I happened to read up about the legend of the White Stag and I thought that it was a great idea for the print, considering the game A) has deer and B) has a Scythian as the protagonist. Or THE Scythian.I wanted to do something with Rorschach patterns because I liked the idea of working something subliminal into the image, and I ended up just pouring paint and squishing it as the soundtrack played in the background.

Anyway, if you would like to get your paws on a copy, you’ll have to buy the lovely vinyl from Jim. Or if you prefer your music digital, you can get the music off iTunes as well (sadly, that doesn’t come with the print).

Buy the soundtrack from Bancamp - click here

Keyhole sessions - see more images below

Went drawing last night with some friends to the Keyhole Sessions at the Great Hall. The Keyhole Sessions is a cool, edgy life drawing, uh, class, although no one teaches you anything there. They have models who are dressed in more risque outfits, though last night’s selection was actually more towards the ethereal side. The Great Hall is a rather large hall that is hidden away in what looks like another bunch of unassuming townhouses down on Queen Street. It is rather nice,with a large upper balcony that unfortunately we could not go up to.

More images below, click to view.

Was invited for an almost impromptu zoo sketching session yesterday by Mike DelMundo and Vince Chui. We tromped around the Toronto Zoo for most of the day, putting up with temperatures reaching a high of 37 C / 99 F, and then had to put up with an amazing about-face with buckets of rain and hail on the way home! But we did have a great time sketching the animals, and talking about illustration and stuff. Watch the guys’ blogs to see their sketches when they post them!

Bride

I could have sworn I put this up previously. Apologies if that was the case. This was another test to develop the style. I guess I should say that the point is to develop something suitable for use in the beauty industry, not fashion itself. Ink and scanned textures in Photoshop.