The Eighty Fifth HALLOWEEN Doodle!

 Happy Halloween y'all!

Hope you all have a spooky and fun filled day, and do enjoy my 5 macabre sugar skull fairy tale princesses ;)

Goldilocks

 

Rapunzel

 

Red Riding Hood

 

Sleeping Beauty

 

Snow White

The Seventy Seventh Doodle

 

Well blow me down, I do love a good ol' big bad wolf!

The fantabulous Alternative Press Spring Fair is coming up this Saturday in London, an event bringing together all sorts of artists, designers & zine creators selling their wonderful wares. I created the wolfish design above as a flyer for the fair, along with several other very groovy illustrators. You can see my poster on the AP website here.

An' heres my design along with another, 2 flyers the ladies at the LCC Library took in to display-

Check out the main AP site here with all the details of the fair!

RAWWWWWWWWWWR!

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!

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 Thirteenth Doodle

'Watching Red' has definitely come from my obsessive love of fairy tales. I did a Little Red Riding Hood style painting last year and really enjoyed it, so wanted to try the same subject again in my developed style.

Got to admit I really enjoyed doing it. I wasn't quite sure what the end result would be like, but I was pretty blimmin' happy. It did take a while, but that was mostly me being fussy, and I liked experimenting with all the various pen thicknesses (oh my god I am such a geek).

If you look very closely at his eyes you can see a flicker of a reflection of a red cloak - she is clearly going to get eaten very soon.

The Eighth Doodle

Derren Brown. He boggles my mind. I saw a live show of his once, and ever since I have mourned that I am not a man who happens to be his type. Just my luck.

I had loads of fun with this picture, drew him a few times to figure out what worked. The wolf was sort of organic, I was writing out words associated with him such as 'he's not human!' and 'devil' (good things too of course, such as 'amazing' and 'love it') but it got me thinking about witchcraft and magic and views throughout history of those who seemed to have such powers. You were considered 'other-worldly', somehow connected with nature. Wolves are facinating, mysterious and dangerous creatures which I felt embodied these superstitious feelings quite nicely. I wanted him almost invisible, there yet not. (How deep, yeh)

The blue was a little by accident, but I liked it. Red and black is a little cliched, the cold blue seems to fit somehow. Hurrah!