Magnetic Sea Monkeys!

Final painting done in acrylic at 14"x11"

Colour and body shape test done in photoshop before moving on to final.

Ignore the type on the painting, I was trying something out that didn't work haha. This is an older picture that I did last year around november I believe (2012). It was my favourite project, where we had to illustrate a Bermuda triangle theory. I came up with my own: Magnetic Sea Monkeys! Their spines are made of magnets and to keep them charged they have to eat metal. They are about a foot long when they reach adulthood, and swim in packs that can sometimes consist of hundreds of sea monkeys. They subconsciously use their spines to create a magnetic field that traps large metal vessels and lure them out to sea. Compasses get confused when near the sea monkeys, and the plane or boat will wander until it either runs out of fuel or crashes. The sea monkeys eat the metal and leave the passengers for other sea creatures.

Spot stats

Odds that a brit has bought a book solely to look intelligent : 1 in 3

Percentage of 7 year olds with imaginary friends: 73%

Odds an American thinks the government has tapped into their phones: 1 in 5

Odds a brit youth reports having been bullied via text message: 1 in 7

Now don't quote me on the statistics, they were given as the subject for this assignment and I've no idea how current or valid they are! It was a fun project, four illustrations at 4"x4", done in watercolour and ink.

Roseate Spoonbill Skull

This is my information page for my class on the Roseate Spoonbill, one of the silliest and most interesting birds you can meet. I love it, the live birds are bright pink like flamingos, even the babies! Their bills are super sensitive, they weave them in the water to track prey, and if something even twitches the spoonbill will snatch it up!

This is what they look like in real life (not my photo, taken from a blog called Ecobirder)

(http://ecobirder.blogspot.ca/2011/11/roseate-spoonbill.html)

Three billy goats gruff

In one of my classes I had to illustrate a classic fairy tale. I chose the three billy goats gruff, the story of three goats tricking a troll to cross his bridge. The challenge was to flatten the image, in other words do not create a three dimensional space. It was an enjoyable challenge that took some thinking but I'm pleased with the results.

The three robbers

One of my assignments this past year at sheridan was to illustrate a story. The story I chose was The Three Robbers and I absolutely loved it. I chose to use my favourite medium wood burning. It was challenging given that I didn't consider how the grain of the wood might work with the burner, but I was quite pleased with how it turned out in the end.

The three robbers would hide along the highway and attack carriages as they came by, stealing all that was valuable.

One day they halted a carriage that was empty except for an orphaned girl who was going to live with her evil relatives. They decided to take care of her and brought her back to their hidden cave.

The little girl was amazed by all the gold and treasures she saw around the cave and asked the three robbers "What will you do with it all?"

The three robbers were confused. They had never considered what they might do with the wealth they had accumulated.

They looked at the little orphaned girl who had brought joy into their lives and finally made a decision. They bought a castle and filled it with toys. They invited all the orphans they could find to live in their castle and play as children should. As the orphans grew up they built a village surrounding the castle. When the three robbers grew old and died, the new village built three tall towers to honour and thank their adopted fathers for giving them a happy life.

It took about two weeks of on and off burning to complete all four illustration, and I used a little bit of water colour to add to the clothes here and there.
The pictures aren't as clear as I would like, but given that my profs STILL haven't given them back, that's how it's going to be for a while haha.

Owlbit

Well hello there, fancy seeing you here!
I promised myself I'd actually start a blog this summer, so let's get started shall we?

This lovely critter is an owlbit, a cross between an owl and a rabbit. I think he's adorable! I mostly just wanted to practice painting in photoshop, it's something I'm still not very familiar with. This was looooooads of fun though.

The best part of inventing a critter is you can invent the colours too. There isn't as much stress over whether or not it's "right." 
More critters to come as I colour them :)