The Seventy Eighth Doodle

Well well, I obviously haven't been drawing much after coming out of tut hospital *sigh*. Being in pain, dull as it is, is terribly time-consuming and irksome. And exhausting. Bother.

Yet here's a longboarder doodle I've been able to do, standing in the kitchen or lying on the sofa (how rock 'n' roll) -

Normally an illustration like this would be done within a couple of hours (including tea breaks) but this took a week. LOL. Oh dear. But it's a start! Plus I bloody love a rad, badass longboarding lass, especially with pink and purple hair! 

A Doodle Interlude

A Doodle Interlude, or 'The mad fashion ramblings of a girl who had an(other) operation on her back last week'.

Ok, so I am appealing to all you other lads and lasses out there who may have on-going illnesses or injuries that mean you are in and out of hospitals/doctors/pharmacies more often than MRSA. Seriously, it's a drag isn't it. And I don't even think I have anything too bad, just irritatingly non-getting better-er (phrase? MEH).

So today, a week since my back operation (of which this is the fifth) I went out for a little walk with me ma. It took an hour to go on a 15minute walk, and I slept for 2 hours afterwards. HARDCORE. But before I left I looked in the mirror and totally LOLED at myself; here's me, still LOLING-

 

Really, I look like a demented retro 70's throwback. BUT, ummm, I still am clearly awesome so it's fine. Plus, as you other regular hospital attendees may agree, it's all about mixing comfort with feeling good. Yep, I could throw on some skinny jeans and a crop top but I would:

a) cry with agony as my injury is at the base of my back

and 

b) look and feel disgusting

 HA.

So here's my post-operation outfit breakdown peeps, 'cause I am super trendy.

1) Hilarious granny print 'pants' (you cannot call those trousers) from Peacocks - I implore you to get these, they are not only the most comfortable things in the world, they also make you roar with laughter everytime you see your reflection. What's not to love? FYI, I tried some similar Dorothy Perkins ones on - horrid. Sometimes cheaper is better.

2) 'Mehzen Own the Night vest - support the little guys guys, 'cause then you aren't wearing what every other sod on the planet has. This loose fit vest is also good for post-op, as apparenty being trapped lying in bed for weeks means you put weight on- CHEERS! Just what we need right?!! Humpf.

3) Yellow low rise Converse. No explaination needed, they're just amazeballs.

4) Super pretty TWO Face London flat peak hat - umm, yeah so the sun has come out?! Ahh! Well, as lovely as that is, when you're on the ridiculous cocktail of drugs I am on currently, you have a hallucinatingly permanent headache. Need to protect that wee head from the rays and look fab at the same time- totally nailed it.

5) Yellow Camden sunnies - because I love yellow, and see number 4 re: the sun.

6) Jewels from the boyf - like, not actual jewels, but me cute necklace (Chelsea Girl) and watch (ASOS) that have become my sort of 'lucky charms'. Plus they remind me of him - BARF, I know, soz. They aint doing so well with the whole keeping me out of hospital yet but lets see if they up their game ey.

7) General awesomeness and blue tipped ginger hair - self explanatory yeah? 

So, I shant lie, when you come out of hospital and you need help getting out of bed and you nearly faint trying to have a shower, you feel pretty low. Your self esteem (what self esteem?) has disappeared (cheeky bastard, talk about bad timing), you often put on weight as you can't move much (as mentioned, but I bring it up again to remind you how IRRITATING it is) and the drugs you're on make me feel sick/be sick/fuck up your head/stomach/general life. You're stuck at home exposed to the annoyance of Facebook, where you watch how everyone else is having normal amazing fun without you going out and getting plastered (seriously, are they having more fun on purpose just to razz you off?) while you watch the tenth episode of Poirot with your mum and a cup of tea. And fall alseep, because you fall asleep about every half hour.

So, to put it mildly, you don't feel your best.

But then this is the time you have to remind yourself that you are in fact awesome and cool, and proper hardcore 'cause you've been through stuff man, you've seen some thiiiings (said in a cowboy drawl). And you deserve to be spoilt rotten by your family and friends, and to get better too. Hopefully.

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 Seventy Sixth Doodle

We all know I love doing sports illustration, but I also love fashion illustration too. Sketching out the clothes and studying the form of the figure is something I really enjoy!

I recently created this fashion image above for a feature on Fashion Truffles- a great site run by a smashing lady called Viviana in New York. It's full of tips, trends and style - non of which I really have but oh well haha.

I created this image with pen and watercolours, using mainly greys and blacks with a strong blue as the highlight colour. I wanted the illustration to ooze style and sophistication, but to be fun and cute too - basically to reflect Viv herself!

Check out the blog post with my illustration on Viv's site here!

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 Fourth Doodle

God I LOVE extreme sports. I love illustrating sports and athletes, their movement and shape and form is just enthralling to me. Oooooooff. 

I had been in contact with the wonderful Spencer O'Brien and ended up creating this illustration of her. As always, it began as a doodle (above). I wanted to combine an image of her at her best, destroying some poor mountain on her board, but also an image of her just, well, being her. I also wanted to focus on capturing that crazy passion in the movement of snowboarders- the importance of the arms and legs, the strength of the body. Yum. Love it.

So I built upon the pen and pencil layers with watercolours, creating dramatic shading on the figure of Spencer boarding while keeping the sketch of her face quite soft in contrast. I added dynamtic pen lines and splashes of paint to emphasise that all important movement, and a touch of blue to highlight the feeling of snow and cold.

I confess, I was really chuffed with the final image. I do so love creating sports illustrations, and I believe there will be more where this came from!

Come see what people think of it on my FB page :) www.facebook.com/ruthjoyceart

The Seventy Third Doodle

It is true. I confess. I am a horribly, uselessly, completely hopeless romantic. Sort of.

 I think my idea of romance is somewhat twisted. For instance, I am not keen on traditional shows of romantic love such as gifts of roses, chocolates, fluffy teddy bears. I think they are hollow, tacky and meaningless. 

But saying that, I do love going out for nice dinners, going for strolls with my beloved. It's just that we like eating dinners in non-expensive, non-pretentious places, and we like strolling through Camden. Not your usual choice.

On Valentines Day, we went to a bar and then went to see Die Hard 5. Because we think it's funny, it's a thing we have. And that to me is real romance. I couldn't give a toss about expensive stuff or posh places or what anyone else thinks. And that is really, really nice :)

By the way, in my pen sketch above, 'Amantes Sunt Amentes' is Latin for 'lovers are lunatics'. Seems about right....