The Fiftieth Doodle

I am going into hospital today to have an operation, that's a bit scary. Do please keep your fingers crossed for me, I'm sure all will go well and then hopefully I'll be back to my old self within a few weeks. 

Ruth X

The Forty Ninth Doodle

A Paralympics 2012 Celebration Illustration

So here we go, I did my Olympics one now here is my Paralympics one! We did so amazingly well in both games, and the sports men and women who have risen into the starlight deserve all the fantastic attention they get. Team GB just blew us away at the home games, I think we all hoped we'd do well but in reality I think no one expected this! I guess the pressure of  taking part in the Olympics or Paralympics on home soil can be too much for some athletes, and some may buckle under the strain. And yes, we may have had some athletes who left disappointed, but we had so many amazing successes and mindblowing achievements; it's made so many of us bristle with pride :-D

Oh dear, I am lame aren't I, I get excited about everything. MEH. I think the whole experience was just bloody fantastic!

Plus, creating these illustrations has been so much fun - there is so much joy and passion, aggression and life. Work like this takes a while but it is so very rewarding, and don't worry -I did get my own little reward. A big cup o' tea :-D

The Forty Eighth Doodle

This is a fox. Obviously.

I actually drew this chap a while ago, and only recently remembered him. He was one of the first drawings I did when I was in the process of moving my style and work forward, and I remember drawing him and going 'oh, this is a bit different, I like it'. That chaotic way I draw is obviously just the natural way I do things; messy and a little surreal. That's me all over.

Here's the pain now though - I designed myself a wee fox tattoo, as foxes have been a favourite animal of mine for ages. Then what happens??! I fall head over heels for a boy whose surname is Fox. God damn and blast it. I can't get it now can I, I'll look like a crazy woman! The boy in question obviously finds this all hilarious. 

Perhaps I will just have to keep on doodling them on paper rather than on my skin then. Blimmin' men ey.

The Forty Seventh Doodle

David Weir ey, what a ledge!

I did this illustration of 'The Weir-Wolf' recently for an article in Amelia's Magazine on the Paralympics, and you can read the full article here. 

When I first sat down to think about how I'd draw out this bloody amazing athlete, I knew I wanted to give it a really edgy feel with loads of movement and passion. I began sketching him out in a racing pose (cheesy medal shots don't seem quite fitting somehow) and liked this pose; basically shows him at his peak, doing what he does best. But I wanted a bit more, and the nickname 'The Weir-Wolf' was just so brilliant I wanted to built it in somehow. I literally can't think of a better nickname for an athlete like David Weir, a seemingly normal man most of the time who transforms into this powerhouse of energy and focus as soon as he's on the track (obviously he doesn't go around howling at the full moon, or maybe he does, who knows...). ANYWAY, I'm babbling. 

I knew I didn't simply want a wolf sat over the top of the figure, I wanted them interlinked, as one. So after a few experiments the result above began to emerge, and I loved the way you can see just part of the wolfs face and that one fearsome eye. I admit, the red splash in the wolfs eye was more of an accidental find but I loved the slightly blood-thirsty feel it added to the overall image, and I think it really offsets the red in David's team strip. COOL.

I was dead chuffed with the final piece, and was happy to see it up on Amelia's Magazine. And then, naturally, I posted it on my Facebook page and my Twitter. I 'tweeted' it to David himself (I'm not terribly good at this whole Twit malarkey so I hope that's the right terminology) and also to Amelia's Mag, and then I promptly forgot about it. By the evening I suddenly realised I had some great reactions to the illustration from people on Twitter, which was very unexpected and bloody awesome. 

Very often you're pushing so hard but you feel no one is looking at your stuff and that they don't give a hoot, this art/illustration nonsense can be really very demoralizing and lonely at times. So getting people saying, 'Hey, actually, I think that's good and I am going to take the time to tell you so' is just such a great feeling. So thanks to you guys, it's a fab boost!

One reaction I got from a chap on Twitter said 'That is a fantastic piece of art work! Beautiful, dynamic & aggressive all in one.' I could kiss this chap, as that is pretty much exactly want I want to create - work that is visually interesting and attractive, yet full of energy and power and ferociousness. 

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

The Forty Sixth Doodle

Oh dear, the London 2012 Olympics are finished, and I am really very sad!

I was lucky enough to have had some tickets for athletics and football, and the atmosphere was truly like nothing I've ever felt before. Everyone was so happy and enthusiastic, chatting with each other no matter where they were from or who they were backing. It was bloody fantastic.

I really hope London can spring from this and get more kids into sports, that would be the ultimate goal.

But for now, here is my wee homage to the Olympics and Team GB. And yep, the Paralympics version is coming in the next few days too :)

Well done to all of Team GB, we are so very proud!

The Forty Fifth Doodle

People love having a crafty fag don't they. I'm not a big fan, but I like drawing smokers. Mainly cause they don't move too much when they're smoking, so I can have a look at them and do a quick drawing. Like a weird art perv.

As a non smoker, smokers irritate me. And not just because I don't like smoking. It's the social aspect that annoys me. 'Oh Ruth can you stay in here alone and look after all our bags, cheers', 10 minutes later everyone returns and they've book a holiday to Bermuda together. You often find yourself totally excluded.

Thankfully now, my non-smoking peers seem to outweigh the smoking ones. Out of my best mates only one or two does it, and thankfully my man doesn't smoke. Nice to have non-smokey smooches.

It's an odd one ain't it. 

The Forty Forth Doodle

Life drawing. So very, very important for artists and illustrators. Having someone say 'Right, you've got 5 minutes to draw this naked chick and if you can't do it then TOUGH.' Ok, well they don't say it like that, but that's the general gist. It's exciting!

I went along to an Art Macabre life drawing class at Cass Art in Islington which was great, though I do find it odd sometimes. I go because I want to practise and keep my mind open to new ideas, and because I enjoy it. However, I often feel like I'm sheepishly trying to hide what I'm doing- not because it's bad, but because I feel a bit self conscious. I was sat doodling away at this event, and heard some people next to me muttering about what I was doing, and start to say how rubbish their work was. One then scrunched up her paper and threw it on the floor. Nice tantrum love.

I don't know, it's odd isn't it. I'd have thought no one cares too much, but apparently we're all still kids when it comes to drawing pictures. 'Yours is better than mine so I'm pissed off now'. Ok mate, well, have you been drawing pretty much non stop since you were 5 or 6? No? Well shut up then. It's taken an awful lot of work to develop my drawing skills, and I'm sure there are still thousands of people out there better than me, but I'm not fussed. 

I do get miffed when people make me feel bad for the fact that I can draw. If you feel the need to compare yourself to others and put either yourself or other people down, probably a life drawing class is not the place for you. Stay home and watch crappy tv. 

The Forty Third Doodle

Well, this is pretty different to what I usually do, wouldn't you say? Well my dear people, you'd be right. 

I recently took on a tit-for-tat project with an animator called Jason Fox (www.jasonfoxcreative.weebly.com), wherein I drew out a tattoo design for him, and he made an animated portfolio for me. It was fab. Watch it here.

We then began talking about doing more together, and he mentioned that he'd be keen to actually animate some of my drawings. We threw around a few ideas and came to the conclusion we wanted to try to do an animated story based on one of Aesop's Fables, the Fox and the Goat. We had very similar ideas about how we wanted it to look - a dark, almost macabre style to it, with old fashioned, human-esque characters, the dominant colours being browns, bronzes, dark greens and blacks. 

So, I began doodling some ideas. Above you can see my first sketches I made to get a feel for how these characters may look, and I must admit, I've had some great feedback to them which I was dead chuffed with! I looked at old illustrations for stories by Dickens and Poe to get this old sort of design and feel, and I think it works well. I'm really excited about this project, I think it's going to be a good 'un!

The Forty Second Doodle

Around commissions and building websites, I managed to do my King and Queen of Hearts card design. Only two to go now!

As a 'red' suit, obviously I wanted the red to be stronger than in the original Clubs design. I wanted to capture that same gritty, edgy look and texture that the original picture had (thumbnail above), only with the red as the dominant feature. I was dead pleased with how it came out, I like how intense and almost blood-like the red looks in the final piece. I was especially happy with the queen here, I wanted to have her looking quite young and pretty, but with a darkness in her eyes that suggests there is more going on here. Ok, maybe no one else notices that stuff, but I do!

Now I just need to do Diamonds and Spades!