Owl you need is love illustration.

I've been working away on some more illustrations for Pocket Wren. This whimsical owl pair are my latest offerings. They are available in several colours have a look here. The heart at the bottom can also be personalised with the initials of your choice.

I wanted to try and create a woodblock printed feel to this illustration which I hope I have achieved, at least to some extent. 

I am now working on producing an accompanying bag using this image which will hopefully be available at Pocket Wren soon.

Spring rabbit illustration for Easter.

I am still working along an Easter/spring time theme at the moment. This jumping rabbit illustration is my latest creation and is available to purchase at Pocket Wren.

Illustration Friday 'Wheel'

Here is my entry for Illustration Friday's word of the week which is 'Wheel'.

It's a new image created with the theme wheel in mind. I went for a Ferris wheel as you can see. The line art was drawn by hand using Pigma pens and the colour was added later using watercolour washes and a bit of digital tweaking.

Do let me know what you think!

New project: Handmade Badges and Brooches.

Here's a sneak preview of my latest project for Pocket Wren. I am experimenting with shrink plastic to create handmade badges to eventually sell in my Etsy store. 

The badges are created by either drawing or tracing an image from my sketchbook onto the plastic using a Sharpie permanent marker. The original images are considerably larger than the finished product as they shrink down during the heating process. They are then coloured using a combination of markers and coloured pencils. After cutting round them, I heat them in the oven and flatten them whilst they are still warm and pliable.

I intend to seal them with a varnish coating and fix either a brooch pin or magnet to the back.

I've still got some playing around to do with them to get them perfect for my shop but hopefully they should be on sale soon. I'll keep you posted!

Free printable Valentines love bunting!

Here, as promised, is my free Valentine's Day gift to you. I have created some love themed bunting for you to print and make. 

Use the links below to download these templates then follow my simple instructions to create your own bunting.

Bunting 1

Bunting 2

Now you have your templates simply print off as many as you require.

To make your bunting:

♥  score along the middle of each flag and fold them in half

♥ cut around the dotted lines

♥ open up your flag and cover with glue

♥ place your string or ribbon inside the flag along the fold 

♥ press the flag closed

♥ repeat this process until your bunting is the required length 

Happy making!

Free printable Christmas tags!

These are possibly too late for the more organised amongst you but if you are anything like me and still have a mountain of presents left to wrap these free tags may come in handy! 

Follow the link below to download the PDF and print away to your hearts content.

Free Printable Christmas Tags

Merry Christmas!

Lollipop!

Here's an image from my sketchbook. 

I much prefer drawing animals to people so I thought I'd make myself draw a new human character for a change. I really enjoyed creating all the patterns for her jumper!

 It's drawn using Pigma Micron pens. I haven't got round to scanning it yet but I will do some time and post the results when it's done.

Stretch

My entry for the Illustration Friday topic of the week, 'Stretch'.

This rather portly bird and her friends were created digitally using Adobe Illustrator.This is a brand new image created specifically with the topic 'Stretch' in mind.

Pocket Wren

Thought I'd better update my blog, I have not posted for a while as I've been so busy. I seem to have a lot going on at the moment! 

One of the things that is keeping me occupied is getting things ready so I can launch my online shop. I feel like I'm finally getting somewhere. I now have a name, 'Pocket Wren' and I've created my logo design, of which there is a sneaky peek below. So I feel a step closer at least. I've still got a little way to go organising things though but I will be sure to let you know when things are up and running!

Birds at dusk.

I've been pretty busy this week and have neglected my blog a bit so I thought I'd better take a break and post a new image. So here it is!

I really like drawing birds and I had a lot of fun filling in the patterns and details on these guys. It started life in my favourite sketch book as a black line drawing. I then did a watercolour wash for the background and combined the two in Photoshop. Then followed many hours of tweaking and tidying up. It took a few attempts over several different days to settle on the colours and get it just how I wanted it.

Coloured street.

This is the colour version of the line art that I posted last week. 

The original was done on a heavy weight paper using Pigma Micron pens. It has been scanned in to my computer and coloured using Photoshop. I've also added a couple of watercolour textures and softened the line a little. I have tried to keep it fairly simple and clean with a limited colour palette. I hope you like it.

I hope to go on and do some more architectural images when I have time. Possibly some famous landmarks. I was thinking maybe Big Ben or the Taj Mahal. Let me know if you have any ideas for me!

Water

My entry for this weeks illustration Friday topic of 'water'. Drawn in pen then coloured digitally.

Street

A mixed up architecture inspired ink sketch created from my imagination. Will scan it soon and have a play with it and see how it turns out. Will post the results when I'm done!

Wise Owl

Newest illustration, hot off the press!

Finished Giraffes.

This is the finished image of the line art Giraffes I posted a while ago.

Finished Zebra!

Here's my completed zebra image. I've added a watercolour wash and a few digital elements to finish him off. 

Zebra

I love drawing animals as you may have noticed. This zebra is drawn using Pigma pens. I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to do with it yet. But I'll scan it in and see what happens. I seem to have a lot of unfinished images at the moment and lots of ideas. My hands can't seem to keep up with my brain!

Birdcages

A new illustration just completed! No sketches this time, this was done straight onto the computer using Illustrator.

Giraffes

A new illustration ready for scanning. I'll play around with it digitally and post the results later.