Some More Pictures (Watercolour Pencilcrayons and Me)

[radiantfracture]

I mentioned liking #drawthisinyourstyle challenges on Instagram -- this happens when someone posts an original illustration with an open invitation to reinterpret the image in your own, you know, idiom.

This dialogue of images really pleases me, and it seems to my eye to bring out strengths in the responding artist that aren't always otherwise visible.

sovay asked to see some of my versions & I thought: to the brave, that sounds like a post, so. Lucky you.

Posting pictures instead of a written update seems, honestly, more fitting. Drawing has consumed by far the largest percentage of my time this season -- I draw almost every day, sometimes three or four hours a day, or more.

It's been hard to write for the last few months. Words haven't come very easily to me. I can write -- I can set to work -- but there's a feeling almost like a physical weakness when I sit down to it. I would think it were a physical weakness, except it only seems to apply to picking up a pen. The paintbrush is weightless.

These images probably work better paired with the (generally much more skillfully rendered) originals, but for that you need to go to Instagram. They are all watercolour pencil except the last, which is gouache. They are all between four and five inches square in the originals, which is about all the space I can command before I start to panic.

(After a drawing by @bambiwatsonart)

(After a drawing by @jb0xtchi)

(After a drawing by @isunija, though hers was much more straightforwardly a Beauty and the Beast image, with a furry beast rather than a giant heron)

(After a drawing by @clemence_gouy -- I liked the nonbinary possibilities of the image a lot)


Thank you for your indulgence.

{rf}

Comments

[sovay]

sovay asked to see some of my versions & I thought: to the brave, that sounds like a post, so. Lucky you.

Thank you. These are really neat. I especially like the last two.

[radiantfracture]

Ah cheers. I'm learning a lot.

[strange_complex]

These are all really good. I think I like the uncertain-looking mer-king in the first one best. I don't think you need to feel bad about not writing if this is what you have been doing instead. But I gather from your previous post that you have deliberately trapped yourself into writing a poem, which is a clever move. I hope it proves easier than you anticipate.

[sabotabby]

Gorgeous. I love them all, but especially the cats and the last one.

[ursula]

The crane is particularly cool!

[notasupervillain]

I love all of them. What a stunning way to express yourself.

[isis]

These are all great, and I think it's a nifty exercise, like the Remix challenges for writers. The cat one seems so playful!

[bibliofile]

Aw, cool. And they look like finished drawings, too. I like the way the crane is kinda creepy (and not just from being so much bigger), and the human looks like a regular person.

Also, nonbinary possibilities, yay.

They are all between four and five inches square in the originals, which is about all the space I can command before I start to panic.

I thought that the best part of Zentangles is that they give you an even smaller space to work in. Genius! Not overwhelming! It had never occurred to me; my sketchbook pages are bigger than that.

Yay!

[ysabetwordsmith]

Nicely done. I share your love of riffing from a source.

[watervole]

That's interesting. I looked at the first few and thought to myself "There's a kind of Tarot feel to these" and then came to the last one, which was clearly "The Star."

[radiantfracture]

the last one, which was clearly "The Star."

That is a great observation -- I hadn't consciously thought of Tarot, but the Star is obviously behind that image.

I've always liked the idea of doing a Tarot deck, though it's too big a project to contemplate now.

[watervole]

I think your style would suit tarot very well. It's a project that one could dip in and out of over time.

I've always fancied the concept of an 'environment' tarot, to give readings that key into climate change and pollution issues and give people advice on the changes they need to make in their lives.

Pentacles are earth, cups are water, swords are air, wands fire (power generation)

eg/ The knights, generally represent travel and movement. Knight of air is therefore shown with an airplane