Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Time to Test Print


Ok, time to test print and then recarve of course.  I have a tendency to carve details too lightly, and of course the block will swell a bit once I ink it.  So there are bound to be a few details to carve again, especially in the early bird.

But first things first.  8-]

Here's a faux print (bw, mirror image) to see what it'll look like:


Saturday, April 27, 2013

Fiddly Bits


Working on those fiddly bits around the flowers now.


Time to stretch.

~*~

Back to work on the flowery fiddly bits.



Time for another break.



More fiddly blossom bits.



~*~

Carve, carve, carve.



Getting there, one petal at a time.


Friday, April 26, 2013

Details


Sketched in some detail on the flowers.  More carving.



Mirrored and bw:


Lookin good.  ;- ]

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

More Carving


More carving.



Still need detail in the agapanthus.

Here's the full block so far.



~*~

Another day, another session.

Hmmm.  Can't seem to upload a pic at the moment.  Later.



~*~

Now I'm working on the fleur.



It'll be easier to sketch and carve in black.

~*~

More carving.



Saturday, April 20, 2013

Starting to Carve




And drawing a bit more detail.  I think I've fixed the feet.  A little more detail to the bee and flower too.



It's always a surprise to see what I'll carve first.  Looks like it's the bee.  ;- ]

~*~

More carvey-carve.



Need to take a break now, before my neck and shoulders turn on me.


Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Early Bird Cartoon



Early Bird cartoon transferred to the block.  Ready, set, go!

~*~

Hmm.  Giving some thought to a background block now (the reverse side, as I'm down to my last (gasp!) block).  

I'm thinking a green ground and a blue sky, with a large fluffy cloud taking up most of it.  I like carving texture into the background and I don't want to just carve it all away and leave it white.  I'll doodle some color sketches.

~*~

Colored up a cartoon.  Something along this line (didn't have enough colors to play with, but it's the general idea).



Grass of course greener, sky bluer, bird orangeyer, with maybe a bit of brown for accent.  Bee will probably be black, agapanthus a bit purpley-blue.

The trick is in the texture.  Sky in striations, cloud in billows, grass in rows of hash marks.  And of course some texture to the dino-bird, perhaps as shading.

~*~

Ok, did a better job of coloring.




My plan is to carve the foreground first, and if there's time, carve the background.  I will eventually, but I'll have to see if I get it done for this exchange.


Not liking the coloration of the bird.  Work on the plumage.

Cartoon for carving the background block:


Carve away motifs, most of cloud mass (except for the swirls).  Carve hatch marks in the grass area, some striations under the cloud.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Early-Bird Sketch


Getting closer to finalizing the cartoon.  


Bee's a bit large, but that's as small as I want to carve him!  The flower is an agapanthus, a suitably alien-looking flower if I ever saw one.  ;- j

I'm still messing with the arms/wings, but I'm nearly satisfied.  I wanted to get the velociraptor-like feet in the pic, but I may move them around a bit more.

About ready to transfer the cartoon and start carving.


Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Early Birds


Worked up a loose cartoon, stained the board.  I'll transfer a skeleton image when the board is dry.  I want to work out the details on the board.


Might not use that bee, or that lavender, or even that dino-bird, but it's a rough idea of the image.  I'll certainly add colorful plumage and make him more bird-like.  I like it's posture of curiosity.

The hoatzin comes to mind as a model.  Heck, it's half way back to a dinosaur all by itself.  ;- j