The Eighty Ninth Doodle - Free delivery woop!

 

Well, this one is fairly self explanatory really- if you order any of my illustration prints from http://ruthjoyce.bigcartel.com/  before the 14th December and enter discount code XMASART you will get free shipping within the UK! That's right, you can buy one print, you can buy ten (and I would love you forever), you'll get free delivery.

 

Do think of buying a print from me as a gift for anyone who is a fan of my art work, or anyone who just likes stuff that's a bit unique, quirky and different. Help support the little guy (aka me) against the commercial machine!

 

Cheers all!

The Eighty Sixth Doodle

You may have guessed by now people: I LOVE DRAWING BODIES.

 

I mean like, live bodies, as in, well...people being all humanesque and stuff. And clothes. I love drawing clothing. And hair. And muscle tone.

 

Well, you get the blimmin' drift.

 

So I created some pretty sick (even if I do say so myself) illustrations for a new London clothing company Drop 'n' Roll, and above is the main header image encompassing drawings of their range of t-shirts for men and women.

 

If you're a small clothing company get in touch about creating some unique one off illustrations for your site. Photos are great to show off individual pieces but if you want something truly different, then hit me up.

 

(Can't believe I just said hit me up. I cannot pull that off.)

The Eighty Fourth Doodle - a trip to Paris

Well goodness, I'm terribly sorry I've been absent for a while. I am just incredibly, incredibly popular and have no time to type.

LOLZ total lie, I have like 3 friends.

ANYWAY so I went to Paris last week woop! I have heard that some tourists get the dreaded 'Paris syndrome', where they are so distraught that the reality of the city does not live up to their ridiculous dream-like and nonsensical envisions that they become almost depressed, but thankfully I did not suffer from such a stupid syndrome. Because it's stupid.

Paris was ineed very beautiful and had a lovely vibe to it, and we had a marvelous time rambling around. I created this wee illustration just before we went in anticipation -

 I definitely did eat too many pastries, drank a lot of red wine, went up the Eiffel Tower and walked so much my feet hurt like buggary.
Good times :)

 

The Seventy Fifth Doodle

I recently took on a groovy commission to create an illustrated banner for a new tourism site promoting Sherwood, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire. As I'm from Melton (not far from Nottingham) I jumped at the chance, I know the area really very well. 

Mr Pearson, my commissionee (?!) wanted aspects of Sherwood, such as the Great Oak and a reference to the infamous Robin Hood, but also cosmopolitan references to the city incorporating hotels, shopping and leisure. 

I began building up the different aspects of this collage type image. Mr Pearson really liked my urban illustrations (such as the one for the actress Charlotte Salt- see it on my Facebook page here) so I kept the same layout plan and focused on highlight colours, as opposed to full colour.

I began with the Great Oak as a strong central feature, and built the other images around it. The statue of Robin Hood (of course!) and Nottingham Castle were easy icons, and after a bit of research the other componants, like the tram, the church and the fairground ride, began to appear. 

I really enjoy creating these collage type illustrations, you can build in all these different images and piece them together like a jigsaw. Is it odd I find that fun?! How tragic!

The Seventy First Doodle

I do love colourdy pens. Very often I find myself drawing something in pencil, sitting back and looking at it for a mo, then redrawing it with coloured pens or markers.

 Take this lady here. As a pencil sketch it was nice, but she didn't really pop till I redrew her with coloured pens. You can also use the colour to imply certain areas rather than stick to solid outlines, overlapping and mingling. Basically, you can go a bit nuts!

 

The Sixty First Doodle

I would LOVE to go to New York. If anyone feels like sending me some money so I can do this, please feel free to do so. To turn that down would be downright UNGRATEFUL. And my mama brought me up right.

I did an illustration this year on London, and had an urge to do another city. For New York, I wanted something a little more gritty, something messy but stylish. Basically, how I saw it as a place. 

It's a jumble of famous landmarks and urban, graffiti style mess. And I like that. I used a combination of materials, from coloured markers to pencils, watercolours to chalk. I like the contrast between all the various textures and shades, and I layered the subjects to interlink them as well as create a busy sense of confusion. Are you confused? You better be. But in a good way, I hope. 

I have a plan to travel in Eastern Europe next summer, and I am so jeffin' excited to go and bring my sketch pad with me. I will love to draw my way around the cities Europe!