Mr Mallard

Yesterday's drawing for #AlicesAprilAviary is the mallard.

More precisely it is Mr Mallard who was on the River Dee in Chester yesterday, posing while I has a picnic lunch.

It would have been rude not to draw him.

Helper

Day 19 | #MarchMeetTheMaker is #Helper

As it's such early stages for me I don't yet have the need for an official helper.

However many of my friends and family have been helping by providing encouragement in my illustration adventure...

...and patience as I stop to look at yet another tree !

You can see the dip pen in action on the Facebook page ...just click here!

Time to relax

Day 16 | #MarchMeetTheMaker is #TimeToRelax

I find drawing relaxing but this month has had a lot of shots of that so here is something different.

I've started seeing my alarm an hour earlier than I used to. I now wake at 6 and have created a secret early hour that I didn't have before. I make a big cup of tea and enjoy it thinking about the day ahead and what I want to get done. Sometimes I manage drawing then or address an envelope for an order if letter to a friend (gives the ink enough time to dry before I venture out to the post box). This week though I've been mainly sitting on the bed with the curtains open enjoying the fact it's light outside!

Alice in Action!

Here are links to two short clips of me drawing some Blackthorn this afternoon (both on Instagram)...

Blackthorn Part 1

and...

Blackthorn Part 2 

And this is the end result...

Goals

Day 9 of #MarchMeetTheMaker looks at 'Goals'.

I've given myself a year 'to try'... to see if the dream of earning enough through illustration and hand lettering to supplement my part time job can become a reality. Otherwise the reality is finding another part time job...

Raw Materials

Day 6 already of #MarchMeetTheMaker and we are looking at Raw Materials.

Here is a picture of the table the other day when I was working on drawing buds. I had been collecting them from different species as I saw them and keeping them in water at home to draw. 

The initial drawings are done straight into the drawing a day book, as a study, drawn in pen and coloured with watercolour. I can then scan them and use them all together is designs using the computer. I'm also working on a couple of bigger pieces and am collecting seasonal studies to work into the final composition of these. 

Can't live without...

Day 5 of #MarchMeetTheMaker...

Can't live without - I think I'd be really lost without my Drawing A Day book now. I first did my Drawing A Day challenge in 2008. I filled two books during that year. I then had a 5 year break and in 2013 I started it again and have continued since. Last year I used 4 books - it was fun to experiment with different size and shape of book every few months. 

I try and take my sketchbook with me when I venture anywhere, with the aim of sketching whenever and wherever. If I don't manage to sketch when I'm out I like to try and collect something from wherever I am to draw with a cup of tea when I return. The challenge of drawing something there and then is one I'm trying to embrace and do more of.

Tools

Day 4 of #MarchMeetTheMaker... today it's tools...

These are my current favourites (although this changes!). I love the colours in this mix. 

A closer look...

1 - 0.38 Pen from Muji (lovely thin, even line)

2 - Water brush - this comes everywhere with me in my pencil case

3 - Paintbrushes, a lovely thin one and a slightly thicker one

4 - Small watercolours - these fit in a handbag easily. I've topped these up with tubes of watercolour. there is a pink where a paintbrush should sit, and black and purple share a square too.

5 - Black India Ink. Waterproof. (Dr Ph. Martin's)

6 - Water pot - this was in a seconds box in a pottery I visited on holiday once. Sadly the label has washed off it and I can't quite remember where I got it. I often take this with me if I'm going away. 

7 - My Grandmother's watercolours. These mainly stay at home, partly because they are quite big, but mainly because they are special to me. I'm not a fan of cleaning this, I like to think there may be a colour that she mixed still on the palette somewhere.

8 - Two dip pens - the wooden one and the green nib holder. 

9 - A mechanical bic pencil - nice and soft to draw with but nice and dark when I want it to be 

Workspace

Day 3 of #MarchMeetTheMaker and the topic today is Workspace.

I have 2 workspaces that I have been using recently... 

          - A little desk in the sitting room. Which is where I'm typing this. It's one I've had since I was small. Just deep enough for the laptop to sit on, and with 4 draws to keep the essentials by my side. The desk is against the wall which gives me a handy place to prop things up and see how they look, or for cards to dry when I'm working on another. I often work here in the evening, under a lovely bright light so I can see what I'm drawing.

          - The coffee table / sofa combo. This is guaranteed to be terrible for my back. But it's often in the sunshine, is mobile - so if I have my huge sketchbook out I can push the table out into the room so the book doesn't lean against anything else. It's a lovely wooden table that's also good for photography. Incidentally it is also in line with the television if I happen to put a well loved film on - usually more to listen to than watch as I'm normally looking at the page. 

However, depending on what I'm doing I could also have everything out on the floor, or on the kitchen table... and I'm really looking forward to it being warm and dry enough to sit out for long enough to draw (a quick sketch is possible at any time of the year!). 

March Meet The Maker

Today I stumbled across a hashtag on Instagram that sounded like it might be just right for me to get involved with. Let me explain - over on her blog, illustrator Joanne Hawker (http://www.joannehawker.co.uk/) decided to create #MarchMeetTheMaker 

She writes; After getting a little frustrated that I couldn't find an Instagram Challenge that I wanted to take part in, I decided to make my own instead! This is how #MarchMeetTheMaker was born. 

This challenge is to help small businesses such as myself to tell the story behind the brand. It also aims to give an insight into the face, process and hard work that goes into creating all of the beautiful products we have to offer.

(see it all here)

So, for the month of March, she has suggested the following:

http://www.joannehawker.co.uk/2016/02/marchmeetthemaker-instagram-challenge.html

Being a brand new small business I thought it might be a really useful exercise for me to participate in. I'm not sure how far I'll get but here it goes! 

1. Brand Image

I have chosen to use my hand lettering, using my dip pen to write 'Alice Draws The Line' and my illustrations of cones to be my brand image. This works best as my website header (above) and e-mail footer when I use it in full like this...

It is a little Larch cone, a Black Pine cone and a Douglas Fir Cone (working left to right from the left!). These I drew at Christmas for one of my Christmas Card designs (which you can see here!) and I like the fact that it combines my love of both the woods and illustration.

However, the long thin brand image doesn't suit all formats so, on my shop image there is a reduced-cone version! I'm working on a version for my Instagram and Twitter accounts. 

Spring is Springing

I love this time of year as everything slowly turns green and comes into leaf. 

For my Drawing A Day this week I've been looking at different tree species - drawing their buds as a sketchbook study. I'm a bit of a tree geek and love how you can play detective and work out which trees are which. At this time of year the buds are one of the ways to identify the species (as well as the bark, remaining seeds and silhouette). I'm hoping to draw a few more this week and build up my collection. 

I also really like being able to tell what time of year it is in my Drawing a Day book when I flick through - maybe one year I'll manage to do a whole year as a nature journal...

Here is the process...

These studies are the starting point for another project I'm working on... but that's for another day!

On your marks, get set... MAKE!

I had a wonderful long weekend with one of my best friends and chief motivator- Louise of  Louise Mary Designs ... a talented Jeweller and Silversmith based in South Derbyshire.

We spent a lovely long time in her fab studio (that she runs Jewellery making workshops in, which is the best fun!). We were both busy making, she in beautiful silver and gold and I with pen and ink. Often we were both silent and engrossed, but so nice to have each other's company. 

Louise has taken some fantastic product photos for me that you can see in my shop!

It seemed only right that I should do one of my Drawing A Day sketches of her hard at work at her desk, from sitting at mine! 

Louise Mary Designs working on her beautiful Love Grows collection

A Shop!

Very exciting times here! I have opened an Etsy shop, and designed a new range of hand drawn greetings cards. 

Each card is hand drawn using my dip pen and watercolours. This design can be personalised to include a name of your choice, in a colour of your choosing too.

There is also Thank You, Hip Hip Hooray! and Happy Birthday! or... all three in a collection!  

Happy New Year!

The drawing a day will continue! I missed two days in 2015 and filled 4 sketchbooks which I'm looking forward to looking through again as a reminder of what I did last year, where I went and who I saw.

Here is a little bit of New Year fun (link below) from one of my Christmas card designs from this year. Next year there will be cards for sale so do watch this space!

Happy New Year!