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Currently reading: Modern Dog

I'm currently reading Modern Dog: 20 Years of Poster Art. 20 years is a long time to be creating art, and there's some awesome posters in this book, but I also love reading the often funny stories behind how the artwork was created.

Happy Halloween

xoxo

Botticelli’s muse

Botticelli has always been my favourite artist, the elegant women he paints seem to possess a mysterious, ethereal beauty. When I visited the Uffizi gallery, I could not take my eyes away from his paintings, and seeing all the amazing details up close. Until now, I had no idea the women he painted was based on his muse, Simonetta Vespucci, the most beautiful woman of Florence. Read more here.

Adding Personality and Expression to a Character

I love posting work-in-progress pics on my blog to show the process of how I work and how an illustration takes shape. Today I would like to post a mini-tutorial about drawing the face and how small tweaks to the illustration can add personality and expression to a character.

The example I'm using is my most recent illustration Manic Cure. When starting to draw a new illustration I always begin with the eyes and the face, because it's one of the first things that the viewer will look at as the eyes are naturally drawn to look at another pair of eyes.

The first attempt at drawing the face, I wasn't quite happy with the facial expression. It looked very serene and angelic and I had envisioned the character as a sort of femme fatale, mysterious being with multiple arms.

Without starting over from the beginning, I made a few tiny adjustments to the face which changed her expression from being sweet to someone a bit more cocky and mysterious. I raised one eyebrow, narrowed the eyes and turned one side of the mouth into a smirk. Very small changes which added some spark into her character.

My Billie Joe illustration is another example of how to add expression into a character. Just by looking at the angle of the eyebrows, the shadows and wrinkles around the eyes you can inject some life into an illustration and make a more compelling image.

Draw a bunch of different mouths and see how dramatically they can change the look of an illustration. They don't need to be over-the-top to show emotion, the human face is capable of showing hundreds of emotions with the most subtle changes in expression.

So in summary, to add some personality and expression to a character think about:

• Eyebrows: are they raised (surprised), furrowed (angry), or is one eyebrow raised (cocky)?
• Eyes: are they big and sweet, do they sparkle or are they narrow and mysterious?
• Lips: are they smiling secretly like the Mona Lisa, smirking or showing some teeth?
• Wrinkles: the signs of life on a person's face and a great way to show character.

The great thing about working with vector illustrations is that you can go back and make tiny adjustments. How do you like to show personality in an illustration?

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Manic Cure

Manic Cure, my latest illo is done! It's inspired by the traditional Chinese '1000 hand dance' and the nail salon. I've always wanted to draw something with many arms, and watching the Coldplay & Rihanna videoclip for Princess of China gave me the initial idea to research the dance/multiple arms concept further. Who says watching Youtube videos is a time waster?!

It must be said that I got A LOT of practice drawing hands on this illustration, as well as crazy long nails! Click here to view my earlier blog post with the WIP process pics of this illo.

And check out my Facebook page if you haven't already (I update it more regularly than my blog these days).

WIP pics and link

Some WIP screenshots of my latest illustration I'm working on. Starting off with the eyes as usual then adding grey tones. Colour will be the next step. This illo has the longest fake nails I've ever drawn.

PS- if you have a spare minute, definitely read these wise words about observing, questioning and dissecting by Brian Ewing.

Advice on freelancing

Here's a link for some must-read freelancing advice by artist Brian Ewing http://brianewing.tumblr.com/post/49291899166/some-advice-on-freelancing

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! Hope you are all enjoying this special weekend.

x Anne

Fluevog finalist!

Will this illustration make my shoe collection $1,000 richer?

Last week I posted a sneak peek of my latest illustration. Well, I just received the most exciting news - my 'Back to School' entry into the FluevogCreative competition has been announced a finalist!

The winner is based on the public vote, and gets a $1,000 voucher to spend on Fluevog shoes!

So PLEASE click the link and vote for me - it will literally take only 30 seconds of your time (plus you don't have to sign up to any mailing lists or anything)  http://www.fluevog.com/code/fc_finalists.php 

Thank you!

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At my Society6 store http://society6.com/annecobai

Offer excludes Framed Art Prints, Stretched Canvases and Throw Pillows with inserts.

Work in progress screenie

A screenshot of my WIP in FreeHand. The first illustration I can remember doing that shows the shoes!!

Decluttering

It's been a while since I've posted any new stuff, but I've been busy decluttering! That means throwing out all my old work-in-progress sketches & prints. Looking back on the colour options I did for my Frankettes illo. Ah the memories!

Summer Festivals

One of my favourite things about summer are the music festivals! I had a go with some watercolour paint for my 'Unofficial History of Music Festivals'

Finished shoes!

My customized shoes are complete! Quite pleased with how they turned out, I used metallic gold Sharpie for the outer and black on the sole. Luckily I didn't make any mistakes as the markers are permanent!

Photographing the shoes was probably the hardest part, as the surface is so shiny. Arrggh, trying to photograph stuff properly drives me crazy sometimes!

So what do you think? Would you wear these shoes?

Sharpie work-in-progress

Just starting to draw on my heels with a gold Sharpie for the 'Anything But Paper' challenge. Been listening to Bruno Mars' new album, which makes a perfect soundtrack to this. I'm usually a digital gal, so I've got my b&w 'Transition' illustration nearby for inspiration, as I drew that with permanent markers.

So far so good! Hope I don't slip and mess up, as there is no 'undo' button in real life!