The Thirty Sixth Doodle

So, I'm not entirely sure this could be called a doodle. It took a jeffing long time.

But the start was a doodle. Here is how she began life -

A very quick pen sketch in my ineffable style ('messy' I think, is the word). And I sat back and looked at her and thought, 'I quite like you, love'. I have always been fascinated by sugar skull designs as they think they are hauntingly beautiful. I had done one a while back, a very gypsy influenced one with polished lines and colours, stylized roses and specific curls of hair. I loved her.

BUT, I wanted to do a sugar skull lady again, one with a little more....me. So here we have it.

Obviously not me as in she looks like me. I bloody wish. She has got some great volume in that hair of hers. No; me in a sense of that erratic, verging on deranged, rather untidy style. So the lines are not perfect, the paint is thrown around and definitely does NOT stay in the lines. Just like me. Hohooo, I am funny.

Though I underestimated the power of her eyes. They genuinely scare me a bit. I love that.

The Thirty Fifth Doodle

I think it's really good to revisit old ideas, sit and look at them, and think about how you would do them now.

I reckon it's a great way to see a) if you've improved at all, b) see how your style has developed and changed and c) see how or IF you'd do anything differently. Basically, it's sort of like time travel, only less scientific. And you can't go back to Medieval times and watch a joust, as awesome as that would be.

The Thirty Fourth Doodle

Quite often I will do a design for one of the Creative Allies competitions, mainly as it's good practise, and it's just another way of getting your work out there like.

So this one came from my doodle of the lady with tattoos (see the Thirtieth Doodle) and I worked on it for this longboard design for the band My Darkest Days. Blue and purple seem to be rocking my world lately, so I'm going with it. I sat staring at this for ages once I had the line drawing in place, wondering what to do. Full colour fill? Just a background? If so, what? Space is limited, and I hate fussy and cramped. So I started experimenting, and almost fell into this design. The overlapping colours with obvious brush strokes and watercolour effects (because they ARE watercolours) seemed to compliment the hard drawing of the girl and her tattoo, and you're never quite sure if the colour is over or under her. I like that slight confusion. I LIKE TO BAFFLE YOU.

This piece was also featured in the Editors' Picks Gallery (cool), see it here - http://creativeallies.com/galleries/1w6-Editors-Picks-My-Darkest-Days-Sick-Twisted-Affair

The Thirty Third Doodle

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh how apt.

It's July and the weather is shite AGGGRYRBHJDBSHFGBHDEFWHMMMMMFFF.

I miss Australia.

A Friday 13th Doodle Wolf Competition

Ok, so how do you fancy winning a print of this here Wolfy picture?


So as you may know (or may not, who knows..) I love old folk stories and fairy tales; hense this picture. I would be eternally happy if the person who won this print really did LOVE it, so I want YOU to tell ME what it means to you. Do you see something in it that means something to you? Do you see a bit of yourself in the wolf? Do you just plain god damn blimmin' love wolves and think you were probably born into the wrong earthly body and would happily run away with a wolf boy/girl and have little hairy wolf babies?


Don't be afraid to let your crazy out.

So here's how to enter-

Like My Art Page on Facebook (if you don't already) and write on my wall or comment directly on the Wolf picture directly. Once you have done this just leave a comment in the box below to inform me, or just email me your username to ruth@ruthjoyce.co.uk. This is so I can let you know you've won!

So, the boring bit - THE RULES
1) You must be in the UK or Ireland to take part. SORRY, just postage elsewhere will cost me a lot. 
2) Winners will be contacted via the email addresses or Twitter IDs left when making comments in the box below or in an email to me - I cannot contact you through Facebook so make sure I have some way to message you that you won!
3) This competition will run till 5.30pm on Tuesday 17th July. All entrants will be considered, and the most imaginative/compelling/downright wonderful one will be plucked out by yours truly. The winner will be informed on Wednesday 18th July. As long as you make sure I can contact you! If not, another winner would have to be chosen.

The Thirty First and Thirty Second Doodles

So I recently did these two illustrations for Amelia's Magazine for Graduate Fashion Week, the top one is Matthew Williamson, the designer who did some bits for H&M, and below is Daisy Lowe at the Fashion Show in London.

I enjoyed doing Daisy (bahahaha it's funny 'cause it sounds rude!) but I was really happy with my Matthew Williamson picture. I wanted the composition to be quite classic, with him flanked by his own creations. When I was researching him, I came across some of his work that was heavily dominated by these deep blues and pink/purples, so I chose these as the signature colours for the picture. Matthew himself was almost an accident as I never intended him to be so dark, but when I sat back and looked at it I felt the contrast worked so well between the almost dream like models and this strong, quite harsh figure dominating the centre. The colour on the girls was also rather experimental as I pretty much just chucked it around, and actually really liked the result! I like the way it makes these girls seem even more fantastical, a figment of the designers imagination.

Boom.

God I ramble on don't I.


Read the full article by Matt Branford here - http://www.ameliasmagazine.com/fashion/graduate-fashion-week-2012-gala-awards-ceremony-part-one/2012/06/20/#.T-Lz6LVYun8

The Thirtieth Doodle

 

God, I do love the nakeds. And the tattoos. So basically, this sketch is my combination of two of my greatest loves.

The Twenty Ninth Doodle

So, I went surfing in Australia. Oh my word, I swear my stomach was killing me the next day, all that fighting through the surf. Though I unfortunately did manage to fall off in the shallows and totally buggar my shoulder - typical.

So accepting that I am not meant for the extreme sports lifestyle, I am more than happy to do the art work. I can't hurt my arm this way (well, that isn't technically true, but that's another story).

So here's a sassy surfer girl, in watercolour and pen. Ahhh don't you just love the sea ey.