A few recent sketches from the Shottisham Campsite in Suffolk. It’s a lovely place to stay. You can see alpacas for a start, but also chickens and a vintage caravan or two – amongst much else. The campsite owners run a smallholding and here you can read the very excellent blog about their exploits managing a smallholding and campsite. You’llContinue reading “Sketchbook: Alpacas and a Caravan”
Tag Archives: Experiments and Investigations
Monsters and Dogs
My local illustrator’s group meets about once a month and we set each other briefs. Due to being on the MA I’ve been spectacularly bad at completing any of these mini-projects but I am determined to try now that the MA is finished (I got a distinction by the way, I’m pretty chuffed). Anyway ourContinue reading “Monsters and Dogs”
Sketchbook: Café Drawing Again
So today I took some time out (I had to go to the bank) to draw in a cafe again. I tried out a new medium I came across in an art shop in Bologna – a lovely pastel stuff that comes in a flat palette and can be applied very smoothly if you wish. IContinue reading “Sketchbook: Café Drawing Again”
Babies: Spot the difference
Basically this is the same drawing rendered very slightly differently each time. This is the finicky kind of detail that illustrators spend hours obsessing about. I feel line drawing, in the context of book illustration anyway, is a bit unfashionable at the moment. Unfortunately it’s my strength. Well, not unfortunately; I love line and I am not preparedContinue reading “Babies: Spot the difference”
Sketchbook: Little Chimney Houses
From our apartment in Bologna I could see rooftops. Well, mainly one rooftop. I noticed, not immediately, this delightful way of making the chimneys. Perhaps it is a peculiarly Bolognese thing, I don’t know. Presumably it was done to prevent birds nesting on top of the chimney – except they look rather like inviting little housesContinue reading “Sketchbook: Little Chimney Houses”
Making Big Doll
This work refers back to the wordless graphic novel style story that I worked on for my second semester of my first year on the MA. The project brief was ‘The Sequential Image’ and I chose to work on a story that developed from two separate incidents; spending time drawing in an old folk’s careContinue reading “Making Big Doll”
Cold Tea with a Crane Fly
So my first year is complete. I passed my second semester with flying colours, to my great joy, of course – (all swotty types like to get that ‘A’ grade), even doing well on the essay. But now a dearth of Cambridge MA happens – a four month stretch until I get back to the soul-foodContinue reading “Cold Tea with a Crane Fly”
Recent Progress: Semester 2
I haven’t blogged for AGES because I’ve been both working on the MA and trying to establish a business for myself drawing at weddings & events. This is a really exciting thing, and I feel very positive about it but it requires a separate post, with links to my new business sites etc – definitely coming very shortly. AndContinue reading “Recent Progress: Semester 2”
Colouring-in
Experiments with using Photoshop to colour some older drawings. I really like this technique and I’m super-happy I’ve discovered it. I use a computer-pen directly on a monitor to colour, and I use the colour rather like an ink wash – but a lot less messy and easier to do it again if you don’tContinue reading “Colouring-in”
Some of the Best Bits from the Last Few Weeks of Semester 1
What a dull title. I could have called it ‘That Elusive Thing’… or ‘We Almost Never Eat on The Coffee Table in The Lounge in Front of the TV, Honest’ I drew this with a dip pen, in situ and used acrylic to paint and draw almost at the same time. Of course the coffeeContinue reading “Some of the Best Bits from the Last Few Weeks of Semester 1”
Natalie Eldred 