Squirrels~Squibbles - Yikes

[RedSquirrel]

So usual story, long time CA lurker etc. 21 years of age, I stopped drawing for a while and as a result became somewhat rusty x_x so i'm treating this year as some sort of fresh start.

I mainly use traditional media, watercolour has always felt right to paint with for me (acrylic was too thick and dried too quickly, and oil...well I didn't want to have to wait for it to dry, lazy me) - but I used to shy away from the painting process, avoiding it whenever possible, probably from fear of it not turning out how I imagine! (and iv'e not been brave enough to step into the wide world of digital yet! (also my rat chewed my wacom pen to buggery))
But no more!

Been incredibly inspired looking over everyones sketchbooks, especially that of Mindcandyman's as many others have been - just shows there is a light at the end of that long tunnel - if you work hard for it.

Enough blabbing I suppose.
Onwards!

[RedSquirrel]

Ok, some studies first
(also photos, sorry no scanner)

I know my faces suck a bit ;(

[RedSquirrel]

Doodles from ze imagination..

[RedSquirrel]

The few recent paintings I actually have, including some not so good enviroments..

[RedSquirrel]

Oh, and a quick fantasy staff for my bf to model/texture:

[RedSquirrel]

A hare birthday card I painted for my mums birthday(she likes that sort of thing) and a wip, sort of an imitation of John Bauers style. Looking at it will remind me to never try and imitate anyones style again ;p

[RedSquirrel]

Some work for today, Bridgman studies -

[Gelvin]

Good work here. I especially love your watercolors. I instantly thought of John Bauer there :p

keep it up

[Abrodos]

Awesome sketchbook!
Even though, the strongest pencilwork is by far that "scary woman". If you could transmit that strength to the fairies, birdfolk and so, by darkening the shadows, it would be awesome. Try to "force yourself" to reach the darkest values of the paper.
Really good work in here, keep it coming!

[RedSquirrel]

Hooray my first replies

Gelvin ~ Thanks, yeah, Bauer is one of my fave golden age illustrators.

Abrodos ~ I know what your saying, sometimes I get so into doodling with my HB that I forget all about the 5Bs and 8Bs ;p

More stuff, thought i'd tackle some hands, one of my other great enemies which I generally leave out of sketches due to habit.

Some Bridgman to warm me up, then various hand poses, thanks to Flickr. Flickr is your friend -

[kidult]

Well done with all the sketches, you got some great designs and I really like your watercolour works. Keep at it!
Maybe try some still life stuff in pencil to help learn how to render the from and materials of differant things

[RedSquirrel]

Cheers kidult, definately do need to do lots of still life studies.
20 min watercolour study of a tasty onion from my fridge(thank goodness for hairdriers)

[RedSquirrel]

Tut tut, not done much work in the past few days

I decided to design a random monster.
As usual, I set off painting not knowing what colours i'm going to use -_-
It sort of worked out in the end, apart from the clouds looking more like some sort of fleshy substance(so said mum).
Mixed media, About 4 hours total.

[Kalim]

hey dude! really nice style of your watecolours, especially the last one. keep with them.

[RedSquirrel]

Here's another guy for today. Dont know what or who he is!

[RedSquirrel]

Another quick enviro study. By quick I mean about an hour. The whole idea was to get me to loosen up instead of painstakingly adding tiny bits of detail - which used to ruin everything anyway.

Bah must do more work x(

[Hayabusa]

nice stuff!

[RedSquirrel]

Last little guy for tonight.
Goodnight!

[hmental]

Your works are awesome, amazing watecolours o,o

[jacobsteel]

wow! I _really_ like your watercolors! More! More!

[Oranje Joe]

WATER COLORS ARE ROCKIN

i also adore that hand study, that kinda looks like they are made out of bark...or scales

what evs its awesome

[RedSquirrel]

Kalim ~ Ta, Glad you like em!
Hayabusa ~ Cheers!
hmental ~ Thanks, I don't know about amazing but ;p
jacobsteel~ Ta very much, and your wish is my command.
Oranje Joe ~ Thanks, and bark, really? Hmmmm..

A couple of things. A castle that ~ DOES NOT LOOK EVIL LIKE IT WAS SUPPOSED TO ~ Also never really painted castles or views like that so I didn't really know what I was doing or how to finish it off -_-;
Oh and a quick enviro painting.

Think ill just start updating once a week or so. Might have more to show then ;p

[Isobel]

Hey!
I love your sense of colour on the paintings, absolutely lovely.
They would most certainly make lovely books for children, you know the ones with many beautifull drawings and very little text. and the castle, don't worry it doesn't look evil it looks idilyc (is that hows it's written?) to me.
anyways good stuff i'd love to see mucha's more!

kisses Liz

[retardedmonkey]

Hey RedSquirrel, Really like your watercolors, they're really solid. Are you doing the landscapes from life or just from pictures?

You should do more of those watercolor creatures, they're great! Looking forward to seeing more stuff!

[alffla]

hey i love your sketches and watercolours! as someone said above its very children's story book illustration ish!

love it keep it up

[RedSquirrel]

Thanks for your comments guys;
The landscapes are just from pictures, being outside painting at this time of the year in Scotland is not a good idea ;p

Some stuff, I can't seem to paint cliffs or iceburgs well Face studies and some mushroom guy I overworked >;d grrr

[alffla]

you overworked the mushroom guy? i think it looks damn great both in the rough sketch version and the 'overworked' version..

muchas love for your art!

[Ratish]

hey,,cooool...i love your watercolors...keep posting..

[RedSquirrel]

Long time since an update i suppose, only seem to have some stuff to show, so some studies, and some sort of step by step process that people seem to love Iwunderifidunnitrite..

[Sadetar]

Heavens! Your last post was perhaps one of the most helpful post in this whole forum to me. Now I know. Oh please, more that kind of progress posts!

What size that last painting is?

Your style is definitely one of those styles I so much adore. I love Mucha and Bauer. I'm now one step closer to my aim (which is to be able to actually draw and paint ideas from my head in style that is mix of my favs and myself. Even though I do this just for my own amusement). I'm in love.

I try to do myself a sb this week so people would perhaps see my style timeline even though I haven't done that much lately.