Snow Queen

Recently I decided to enrich my portfolio with an illustration for a classic tale. After short considerations my choice fell on "Snow Queen". 
I had a very clear idea in mind, both regarding composition and details. It doesn't happen very often, but this time I didn't need to make a single concept sketch (tripple HURRAY! as I don't like to waste much time on personal projects). Therefore the first step was...

1. A full-size pencil sketch:

2. Detailed ink drawing. At this stage I begun to regret the idea with a town from aerial view...

3. First layer of watercolors. Before adding paint, I splashed masking fluid with a toothbrush to make "snow".

4. Details. They were mainly added with brown ink (outlines) and white ink (more snow!). 

To make the frost on the rose I used salt, which absorbed water from wet paint and created such a fancy texture.

THE END

Far Eastern Style

“Why is it that when one man builds a wall, the next man immediately needs to know what's on the other side?” 

George R. R. Martin "A Game of Thrones"

 

This time, for a change, my blog post will be concise <<Hurray!>>.

Once more I had an opportunity to try my hand in designing architecture... fantasy architecture of course. I made concept sketches for an upcoming video game Tenesha Must Die (sounds nice, isn't it?).

My job was to design various types of buildings in the Far Eastern style with a dash of hi-tech and fantasy.

Below you can see some sketches of these buildings. The task was actually a little bit more complex than just that. It contained cross sections, floor plans, interior fittings, various construction and decorative details.

Blacksmith's house:

Fort:

Inn/Bar:

+ a lumberjack's house and some ordinary houses. In short, lots of fun for several winter weeks:

"Handmade Guitars"

"In our course through life we shall meet the people who are coming to meet us, from many strange places and by many strange roads"

"Little Dorrit" - Charles Dickens 

 


Here are 4 of 7models of handmade guitars which I drew for Elly Guitar Co.  Until quite recently I wouldn't expect that there can be so many different body shapes of acoustic guitars (strictly speaking there is one bass and one classic guitar among them). The general idea was to reference with my illustrations to a traditional, "old school" method of building guitars and to emphasize the fact, that each handmade custom guitar is one of a kind.

Oto 4 spośród 7 modeli ręcznie robionych gitar, które rysowałam dla Elly Guitar Co. Jeszcze do niedawna nie przypuszczałabym, że może być aż tyle różnych kształtów gitar akustycznych (tak właściwie to jest wśród nich jeden bas i gitara klasyczna). Generalnym zamierzeniem było nawiązanie do tradycyjnej, "oldschoolowej" metody budowania gitar oraz podkreślenie faktu, że każda z ręcznie robionych gitar jest jedyna w swoim rodzaju.

In the beginning there was chaos...

Na początku był chaos...

... from which an  orderly conception began to emerge...

...z którego powoli zaczęła się wyłaniać uporządkowana koncepcja...

Vintage atmosphere - namely sepia tones and "stains" obtained with watercolors, salt and lots of water. So called "chaos under control".

Klimat vintage, czyli odcień sepii i "przybrudzenia" przy użyciu akwareli, soli i dużej ilości wody. Tzw. "chaos kontrolowany".

A little bit of color added to guitars. The last stage is called "Laborious Handwriting", though this made on a graphic tablet. It allows to make changes more freely.

Nadanie gitarom odrobiny koloru. Ostatni etap nazywa się "Mozolne Odręczne Napisy", choć były zrobione na tablecie graficznym. Pozwala to na bardziej swobodne wprowadzanie zmian.

Any similarities to reneissance sketches are intended :)

Ewentualne podobieństwo do renesansowych szkiców zamierzone :)

All the illustrations can be viewed on my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Grim-Dream/217781731619496 and soon also on Elly Guitar's company website http://ellyguitars.com/

Wszystkie ilustracje można znaleźć na facebooku https://www.facebook.com/pages/Grim-Dream/217781731619496  , a wkrótce również na stronie firmowej Elly Guitar http://ellyguitars.com/