Illustration pen pal: fossil

-
My illustration pen pal loaned me another Griffin and Sabine book, and I returned it wrapped in multiple layers of tissue paper so that opening each layer was like digging through the layers of the earth.

photo of outer wrapper, brown paper with construction paper shovel; handle reads "let's see what we can dig up"
Outer wrapper (shovel, address, and postage)

photo of second layer, green tissue paper for the organic layer, doodles of grass
Organic layer (grass)

photo of third layer, light brown tissue paper for topsoil; doodles of bugs and worms and roots
Topsoil

photo of fourth layer, darker brown tissue paper for subsoil; doodles of small rocks
Subsoil

photo of fifth layer, blue for parent layer or groundwater; smooth lines drawn on to represent water

Photo of sixth layer representing bedrock; dark brown tissue paper covered with rock facets in marker

photo of dinosaur skeleton reference image, sketch, and final drawing
Reference -> sketch -> final

photo of seventh layer of wrapping around the book; black tissue paper with dinosaur fossil drawing taped on

photo of unwrapped book
The book was cleverly hidden under the fossil layer of tissue paper


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MYSTERY GIFT: Cats

-
Image
I shaved my head for charity last year. For a small number of donors I offered thanks in the form of a mystery gift, built around a theme of their choosing. This isn't the first one I've started, but it's the first one I've actually finished. I was inspired by  Hari and Deepti 's light boxes and I'm just thrilled with how mine turned out. This theme was "cats" and I know this particular person likes fables and fairy tales, so I started with the illustration of the Jabberwock from Through the Looking Glass. Step by Step (including some trial and error) Hello pen tool, my old friend. Add some happy (stock vector) trees. Figure out some basics for layers. Add some detail. Start to think about how the environment might look. Also realize those layers are completely impractical and consolidate all of the Jabberwock into a single layer. Test cut several practice Jabberwocks (not by hand! I have a  Cricut .) and struggle w...
Read more

Starbucks Siren Costume

-
Image
Don't want to read? Here's a 2-minute video instead! The concept for my 2023 Halloween costume was the Starbucks siren, as seen in their logo (although taking some artistic license to wear clothing from the waist up and not doing gymnastics, so we're not going for 100% accuracy). Image from  https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/starbucks-logo-evolution-tale-design-history-kaizen-tech-global My starting point was the leggings from my Amabie costume and a green bodice I got a million years ago (intending to make a Poison Ivy, although that has yet to happen). Phase 1: Bodice The first step was to add scales to the bodice to match the leggings as much as possible. I used my scan of the leggings from Amabie to make shapes to send to the Cricut to cut out of fabric. I wasn't convinced that sticky vinyl would stay put on the satin, so I ended up backing some polyster with fusable interfacing for durability and hand sewed it on. This was a beast of a project, but it was the best wa...
Read more

Fairy Queen costume

-
Image
The original plan was to go as a dragonfly, but the thing about dragonfly wings is that they stick out perpendicular to the body. This is not practical for moving around a small apartment or a crowded city, so they needed to be able to move.  And then the wings took so much time that I just couldn't pull together anything else for a dragonfly (I also couldn't decide how to handle the eyes). So I pulled a white dress out of my closet (from my  Bast  costume), made a quick zip tie crown, and called it a fairy queen. The moving wings required a TON of trial and error. This was the first concept test. Gears may have been a more solid construction if they had worked, but it didn't end up being practical. It went from gears to pulleys, then there were changes in the placement and pulling mechanisms, then figuring out how to keep the wings from hitting each other, then testing which direction to pull (around the waist or over the shoulder), then how to divide the wings so each h...
Read more