August Art for Arthritis Project: UPDATE: Giselle's Family Portrait Finished

I have finally finished Giselle's family portrait. This illustration was done on A3 paper, in order to fit in a detailed portrait and background of the family holiday home in Cornwall in. I first sketched a rough out in pencil in order to arrange the individuals and background (as the reference photos of their faces were all from separate images). I then used water colour to add colour to the image. I then used black fine liner to draw in the details/faces etc. I wasn't happy with this as the final image though so I decided to add some depth by adding some acrylic paint to specific parts such as highlights and a border to fade into the image. Once this had been done I decided to neaten it up a bit by adding more details with some black fine liner, while I was doing this it allowed me to have another go at getting a better resemblance to the faces.

http://awaspinawig.tumblr.com/post/131222593830/151015

Find this on my Tumblr Blog under August Art for Arthritis Research; even though it has been finished in October, the proceeds are still going to this charity so I am keeping it under the same tag/page for now. I will be packaging and posting this image to the family in Ireland this week.

August Art for Arthritis Research UK: Danielle;Present for her mum

A friend of a friend asked for a portrait of her and her mum for a birthday present. She gave me a reference photo and asked for it to be done in a similar media to the others; watercolour and pen.

http://awaspinawig.tumblr.com/post/129353582235/180915-one-of-the-last-illustrations-for-my

August Art for Arthritis Project: Wedding Portrait

For this brief the client wanted me to create a portrait of her two friends for a wedding present. She asked for it in pencil but was flexible with other media and said about a A4 or smaller so she could frame it. I started off drawing it pencil and then wanted to add some depth so I added a fine black pen line where the shadows were, I then decided the piece needed a bit more life but I still wanted to go for a neutral colour as I wasn't sure on the couples preferences and to be suitable as a wedding gift, so I chose to do the border/background in light blue acrylic paint. I used short brush strokes as I wanted to add some depth/interest in the paintwork.

http://awaspinawig.tumblr.com/post/127724006915

August Art for Arthritis Project: Crazy Cat Woman.

For this brief the client wanted me to create a portrait of her and her mother as well as her favourite pictures of her cats (I was sent more than enough reference images :))

http://awaspinawig.tumblr.com/post/127601502710/260815-close-up-for-a-cat-themes-commission-for

I started off by drawing and plotting the layout in pencil.
Then I began painting onto it using water colours, I then added black pen lines and then added highlights in white pen lines. I also added some silver pen to catch the light and add a bit of tacky glamour as I knew the client was going for a comedy effect.

http://awaspinawig.tumblr.com/post/129918295580/260915-another-one-of-my-august-art-for

August Art for Arthritis Project: Sophie's SATC/VS ...Continued

I was really happy with the final outcome for this brief as I had loads of fun with it and had a good amount of freedom to experiment whilst still keeping to a simple basic colour scheme of the complementary colours green and pink and keeping within the clients requests considering media, size and characters.

http://awaspinawig.tumblr.com/post/129919023800/260915-some-details-from-sophiewheal-august

http://awaspinawig.tumblr.com/post/127431940780/some-details-from-one-of-my-illustrations-for-my

http://awaspinawig.tumblr.com/post/127432229730/here-is-one-of-my-illustrations-for-my-august-art

August Art for Arthritis Project: Sophie's SATC/VS

For this brief the client wanted an illustration of her group of best friends in a fashion illustration style, using water colours and black pen. She wanted it to be like a Sex and the City vibe however was not totally set on this idea as she wanted more than just four people in the image. So I had a think and thought perhaps she would be interested in having a theme like the recent Victoria Secrets catwalk show which starred Taylor Swift singing live for the sound track. I thought I could do the client as Taylor Swift surrounded by her VS models. The client really wanted an over the top glamorous feel with really long legs and loved this idea so I used this as a big influence however I did adapt some of the costumes a bit to make the underwear into more dress-like garments although they were still pretty crazy!

I really enjoyed doing this brief as it was really fun to create these alter-egos for the girls. I used reference images of their faces that I thought fit best into the poses as I had previously arranged the poses before hand on the A3 paper as there were six people to fit on! I drew a simple sketch to layout the different components and proportions first. Once this was done I then used water colour to paint on the colour, and added movement to the garments with brush strokes. 

http://awaspinawig.tumblr.com/post/127126029970/painting-on-white-carpet-eek-progress-shot-from

I then added more details and line work with a black fine liner. I also used a silver pen to add a sparkle to the jewelry and to some detailing in the borders and backgrounds of the image. 

http://awaspinawig.tumblr.com/post/127346965335/progress-shot-from-one-of-my-illustrations-for-my

http://awaspinawig.tumblr.com/post/127410978500/here-is-a-zoomed-in-section-from-one-of-my

August Art for Arthritis Project: Princess Leia

For this brief the client wanted a portrait of herself as Princess Leia. She also wanted a few different aspects of star wars incorporated into the scene such as the ewoks, robots (D2r2?!) and it to be based in Endor. With some carefully selected reference images I went about sketching out the layout for the illustration in order to fit in all of these elements. I decided to go for a simple layout with the clients portrait as the foreground, painted with weapon in hand, and a serious but cheeky face. I wanted her to look at the portrait and feel both empowered and be entertained by the comedy element! So I put the ewoks looking ready for battle behind her in the mid-ground and then used the different layers of woods and houses of Endor behind to create the background. I put the robots on one of the houses in the woods... I am not sure if this would be realistic in Starwars or not but it was the perfect position for them haha.

http://awaspinawig.tumblr.com/post/126769895540/progress-shot-of-meg-as-princess-leia-in-pencil

I wanted to create depth but I wasnt too bothered about keeping the background especially neat and tidy so I used simple pen lines for these and did the background woodlands quickly unlike the specific characters that required more attention and detail. I used a technique which I have used loads before of combining water colour and pen lines, this always means I can both capture the abstract shapes and atmosphere/movement/light of the image with colours whilst then adding depth, movement and detail with a fine/thick pen.

http://awaspinawig.tumblr.com/post/127339198750/here-is-one-of-my-illustrations-for-my-august-art

August Art for Arthritis Project: Surfer Dude

For this brief the client wanted a picture of himself and his surf board. He gave me a reference picture and said he was open to any media or size etc. Because he gave a very generation to my JustGiving page I thought it would be good to do him a painting. I struggled thinking about the best size but I went for an A4 as I thought this would give me enough space to be able to work details in but still small enough for him to put places in his house, he runs his own business so he wanted something he could put up in his office.

I started by sketching basic layout in pencil and then worked into it using acrylic paint, adding more and more detail. I decided not to add pen as I had on previous commissions as I thought this would take away from the relaxed vibe of the painting which fitted well with the content. I was pleased with this painting and I got a really good response from it, I think this was definitely due to spending a lot of time and attention on catching the right atmosphere and likeness of the image using carefully selected colours and brush strokes.

http://awaspinawig.tumblr.com/post/126687110190/here-is-one-of-my-illustrations-for-my-august-art

August Art for Arthritis Project: Boats at the Seaside

For this brief the client wanted two seperate but similar A3 illustrations of a seaside scene based on a reference image. She originally wanted it with inks but I didn't have the combination of colours she wanted so I tried to create a similar effect with watered down acrylic on thick paper but I wasn't very happy with the final effect and I think it would have looked a lot better with either water colours or inks and pen lines. We live and we learn.

Here's a close up of one of the illustrations focusing in on the mid point of the image; the boats:

http://awaspinawig.tumblr.com/post/126686879800/here-is-one-of-my-illustrations-for-my-august-art

I suggested personalising the image by adding nicknames of her and her friends to the boats where they usually have a name, she really liked this idea so I added these to the image:

August Art for Arthritis Project: Couples Holiday Illustration

For this brief the client wanted an illustration of her and her boyfriend to give to him as a present. She wanted it based on their recent holiday and gave me a reference image to work from of them both together. She wanted it on a canvas but had no preferred media, so I chose to use acrylics as I thought this would be the most time efficient and effective on canvas. I started off by drawing the outline in pencil onto the canvas and then went on to paint in the basic colours and then details. I also added a few black and white pen details to refine the image and make the portraits more recognisable.

http://awaspinawig.tumblr.com/post/126090768050/here-is-one-of-my-illustrations-for-my-august-art

My Summer August Art for Arthritis Project

During August I decided to take commissions for illustrations... instead of paying me, I decided that the clients could contribute whatever amount they felt appropriate for the artwork to my JustGiving page (Arthritis Research UK)! 

Arthritis Research UK is a really important charity as it helps the huge amount of people affected; working to take the pain away and to help people remain active, doing the things they love. In August I had surgery for a rare bone disease I was recently diagnosed with, so I thought while I'm recovering would be the perfect opportunity to get creative and help out a worthy cause (while watching all 6 seasons of Gossip Girl). 

The clients just had to let me know what they wanted illustrating, send me any reference pictures if specifically requested and then just describe size and media. They could contact me using Facebook Messenger or by writing a message on my illustration A Wasp in a Wig Facebook page wall. 

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

http://awaspinawig.tumblr.com/post/125450404690/if-youd-like-me-to-do-an-illustration-for-you-as

For all blog posts follow this link: http://awaspinawig.tumblr.com/tagged/augustartforarthritis
For my JustGiving page follow this link: https://www.justgiving.com/awaspinawig/
Arthritis Research UK: http://www.arthritisresearchuk.org/

I also used my various social medias for my illustrations under A Wasp in a Wig to spread the word and get donations and commissions for this project!
Instagram: https://instagram.com/a_wasp_in_a_wig
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Awaspinawig