Tales from Wonderlandia: artwork

Showing posts with label artwork. Show all posts

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Whats wrong with Kendra?

On my travels through Wonderlandia I find it so brimming with fantastical creatures, places and stories that i often forget about all the amazing "ordinary" people I meet there. Infact, should you ever read through my travel journals - you could be forgiven for thinking that there were no ordinary people residing in Wonderlandia at all!

However, on my last visit one such ordinary Wonderlandian surprised me by becoming one of the most fascinating creatures I have ever met...

This was, of course, the uber-sweet Kendra, the 12 year old daughter of a friend of mine with whom I often visit when my travels take me through the picturesque villiage of Lapis, on Wonderlandia's Velvet coast.

On my last visit, I arrived to find my friend rather worried, for Kendra seemed to have changed suddenly and in place of the happy little daughter she once had, was now what could only be described as an empty shell of a girl. Almost as if Kendra's spirit now resided somewhere else entirely.

She would often wander now, and would be found in the strangest of places, sometimes at the end of the little wharf down the street silently staring out to sea, or sitting out in the rain, completely saturated, watching the puddles gather water.

This behaviour had been going on for months, gradually getting worse as Kendra became more and more withdrawn. After carting her from doctor to specialist to councillor and back again, still there was no difinitive diagnosis and no solution at all. Only a constant question asked by everyone she came across "What's wrong with Kendra?". When I think back to this worrying time it's so hard to believe something truly incredible was about to happen...

I hope you enjoy my portrait of Kendra above, I will have a second portait of Kendra coming shortly, in the meantime I won't say anymore though, because I don't want to give her secret away - think you can guess what is wrong with Kendra?

Manda xxx

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Secrets revealed...

On meeting Gwen I have to admit I was taken aback - I mean she's strange even by Wonderlandian standards, my mind was flooded with questions; is she a girl? a bird? where did she come from? Are there others? Why haven't I seen any of her kind on any of my travels through Wonderlandia before?

But if I was intruiged by the mere sight of Gwen, that's nothing compared to how I felt when I heard her story...

When she was just a young girl of nine Gwendolen was playing hide and seek in Brandysnap forest when she realised she had been separated from her friends and become lost. Gwen scrambled through the darkening forest, stumbling over tree roots and fallen branches - callling out to her friends, unknowingly running deeper into the forest instead of out of it.

Not looking where she was going Gwen slipped down a muddy bank and fell into a small puddle of water. However, this puddle was far deeper than it looked and Gwen found herself submerged right up to her neck. The water was bitterly cold and Gwen launched herself out immediately - however there was no relief to be had, for once out of the water she was suddenly overcome by the strangest senstation she'd ever felt...

Injecting life into Veronica...

So happy - I got my new Wacom drawing tablet on Monday afternoon and it's amazing! The feel of the pen and the drawing surface is sooo much more pleasurable and realistic than my previous model (graphire4). The increased accuracy and additional sensitivity are definitely noticeable and I am really looking forward to working more with this tool!

In my excitement I decided to play around with my drawing of Veronica and I found that I could actually make her look much closer to the Veronica in my memory by using my tablet and alot of dodging, burning, cloning etc... in photoshop.

I am so pleased with Veronica that I've decided to add digital work as a permanent part of my creative process from now on! There is only one negative - all my artwork will now take twice as long, but I really think it's worth it - I have put both versions of Veronica below so you can see the difference - let me know what you think :)

Pencil and Photoshop

Pencil only

Also, in a previous post I mentioned that I would be adding Veronica to my Etsy store on the 1st of March to celebrate the arrival of Autumn - but I actually ended up deciding to hold off until I had the new version instead, so I'll be adding her tomorrow - sorry about that - hope she's worth the wait!

Manda :)

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Fresh from the sketchbook

On my most recent trip to Wonderlandia I was fortunate enough to meet up again with the faeries of brandysnap forest, they really are the most generous and hospitable of all the faeries but despite this, I still found myself shocked when they chose to make me privy to one of thier most important secrets...

No, Gwendolen isn't the secret, but unfortunately she is burdened with keeping it; which means she hasn't been able to leave the forest in more than 10 years, thankfully she has the faeries to tend to her needs and provide company but it's just not the same as the loving arms of the family and friends she had to leave behind all those years ago.

Meeting Gwendolen was a unique experience, and not just for the obvious reasons - this softly spoken creature has the thoughtful composure an ancient philosopher, but despite all her manners and refinement, nothing can hide the overwhelming melancholy and longing that seems to lie just beneath her surface.

I'll fill you guys in on Gwen's full story when I post the completed pic, hope you like my sketch so far!

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Look who the wind blew in...

Does anyone still remember this post?

http://tales-from-wonderlandia.blogspot.com/2009/08/still-waiting.html

Yes I know it's a little overdue but I am pleased to finally present Veronica – in all her Polychromo splendour!

Now she certainly did take a long time to come to life but I think she was well worth the wait. I am so pleased to have captured almost every detail as it is in my memory – except of course it was very hard to show all the dust and debris that had been whipped up into the air, making me wonder if I shouldn’t be wearing some sort of mask to avoid ingesting foreign objects...

Veronica will be available at Wonderlandia’s Etsy store from 1^st March to celebrate the arrival of Autumn, or at least commiserate the departure of Summer... (for me it’s the latter).

Let me know what you think!

Manda :)

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Lookout Third dimension here I come!!!

Whilst working on Veronica (pics coming soon) I have accidently fallen in love with art that can be touched and admired from all angles and have consquently begun work on a prototype for a new line of Wonderlandian Dolls!!!

So how did this new fascination occur?

Well it's simple really, my mother (who is an amazingly talented woman, most often found sewing, knitting, crocheting, watercolour painting or lost in a book) came to visit a few weeks back.

On her visit we went on a shopping trip to collect beautiful fabrics for a patchwork quilt she was working on, when by chance I came accross some amazing doll making supplies! Now of course I visit craft stores all the time but this time for some reason the doll stuff really fascinated me and I think it's because I watched this lovely handmade portait of Sarah Faber on Etsy a few days before:

http://www.etsy.com/storque/handmade-life/handmade-portraits-black-eyed-suzie-3452/

Which led me to watch this;
http://www.etsy.com/storque/handmade-life/handmade-portraits-stacey-rebecca-3639/

Then this;
http://www.etsy.com/storque/handmade-life/handmade-portraits-mimi-kirchner-4405/

So, stocked up with fabric, ribbons, paint and some fake hair from a novelty store we set out to create Cindy from "A Lovely Surprise" (if you haven't seen it check out my etsy store).

This is what we made:

I wish I had a better pic to include where her clothes aren't all rumpled and you can see her sweet little shoes but my camera is out of battery and I have no idea where my charger got too!!

Mum (who did all the sewing) thinks I should paint the dress too so it really has the look of a 3D painting - I like the idea so I am going to give it a go and I also think I might try needle sculpting the face to get a bit more life into it...

I'll post the results as soon as I am done!

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Burning the candle

My apologies for seeming a little MIA (missing in action) of late! In addition to my regular job I have actually been working on a special project for Allie Duval of Allie's Attic. I'll post some pics and info on that a little later today.

So back to the real reason for this post - I am delighted to show you the finished Elvira! I really hope you find her as magnificent as I did when I first saw her.

Although, I must say my real fascination came about only after meeting her - Elvira explained so many amazing things about her race to me, for instance; Did you know that butterfaeries don't need to eat? Apparently they drink moonlight through thier wings and turn it to food (in a similar way to plants). However, the compound they utilize can only be found in the light of the Wonderlandian moon so they can never leave! (Not that they seem to want too anyway).

Having a moonlight diet affects so much of the butterfaeries way of life; in fact each full moon they have great festivities with dancing and games; as this is when the moon provides them with the greatest feast of it's cycle and they find themselves very powerful and energetic. However, when the moon wanes the butterfaeries generally won't wake or leave their beds during the day, as they prefer to conserve their limited energy until the moon grows again.

Oh I could talk about Elvira all day, but this post would end up a novel, so I'll leave the rest to your imagination... for now :)

I'll be adding Elvira to my Etsy store as a limited edition A4 print later today so be sure to go on and check her out!

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

All pencils are not created equal...

My beautiful new Polychromo pencils arrived at 10:20am last Friday (which was even earlier than I predicted), I met the postman at the edge of my driveway and in my excitement almost took off without signing for them! They were so good looking, all perfectly sharp & the same length... I almost didn't want to use them!

The first to be coloured by my glorious new friends was Benji in his little fishing boat - I did him first so I could compare the results against my old pencils and I am so pleased to say, I am delighted! The new pencils are so much easier to blend and have a smoother and more consistent flow (even on the much more heavily textured paper I chose this time). Also the oil based leads leave no waxy residue on the surface of the paper so the artwork ends up with a much more rich and vibrant finish because it isn't clouded or too shiny.

I learnt alot through completing Benji about working with these pencils and I am really looking forward to completing Elvira now there are a few things I am going to do differently.

In the mean time I am going to add the new Benji to my Etsy store as a limited edition print - there will only be 15 available and it should be up tomorrow.

I hope you love him as much as I do - I'd love to hear what you think!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Still waiting...

Sadly, I am still awaiting the arrival of my new pencils. I do have a good feeling about tomorrow though, I'm predicting they'll show up around 2pm - I'll let you know how that works out for me...lol.

In the meantime, I've been working on a portrait of another little winged Wonderlandian I met in my travels, named Veronica.

To explain Veronica is a simple charge - she's the most energetic and open hearted faerie I've ever met, I'd even go so far as to say she's the personification of fun. Why, the first time I ever laid eyes on her was when I first arrived at Brandysnap Forest; it was a fiercely blustery day in Autumn and I was a struggling to carry my all my travel bags & keep my footing on the uneven forest floor. I had to squint against the wind while I looked around for someone that could point me in the direction of my lodgings, but of course no one was about; they were all safely indoors wishing summer would come back! And that's when I spotted her.... having a fantastic time riding falling leaves from the big black oaks as if they were magic carpets!

That's Veronica really in a nutshell... she just doesn't know how to be miserable.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Fresh from the sketchbook...

So as usual my sketchbook is just bursting with pictures I have drawn on my travels through Wonderandia... my favourite at the moment would have to be the pretty little butterfaerie Elvira - she darts around so quickly it was almost impossible to see her, but I was lucky enough to meet her - and I must say she is a very interesting character indeed! But more on that later, for now I am going to concentrate on getting the colours just right so you can all see what a lovely creature she is!

Better pencils required...

So "Gone fishing" is finally complete and I do love it, but I think it lacks a little punch and so I've decided not to put it on Etsy - I am going to do it again.

I am thinking that I need some better pencils, I am embarrased to say that all I have are Derwent Studios and I can't seem to get the punchy vibrant colours that I am dreaming of out of them.

So I've done a little research and decided against upgrading to Derwent Artist pencils due to thier poor lightfastness and instead I've decided on Faber Castell Polychromos which sound amazing! I am so excited about them and I found them for a good price at the Smart Art Club & I am going to get the 120 set - I can't wait!!!

http://www.smartartclub.com.au/shop/scdproducts.asp?CatID=2520

Once I get my new pencils I am going to re-do "Gone Fishing" and post it up here - fingers crossed it will be stunning because these pencils are quite a bit more than my old Derwent Studio's were and I am going to have to really strain my tiny little art supplies budget to fit them in!!!

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Gone fishing... (work in progress)

To express my love for coloured pencils and thick textured papers, I have decided to create some coloured pencil artworks for my Wonderlandia collection...

For my first new addition I am currently working on a delightful piece featuring little Benji.

A very relaxed Benji is soaking up some sunshine in his red dingy, while throwing a line out into the divinely choppy turquoise coloured waters of Wonderlandia's famous Shell Bay.

I am finding that the more I work on this picture the more jealous I am becoming of Benji! Can't wait till it's finished.

I have posted two progress shots above... I'll post the completed one as soon as I am done.