Penelope Dullaghan

"Lip Balm Addiction" by Penelope Dullaghan

Communication Arts Magazine recently published an article on Penelope Dullaghan, creator of illustrationfriday.com. Her illustrations have the this wonderful textural and loose quality, and seem more like extensions of process than finalized work. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about her illustration collection as a whole, but she does have a number of really strong pieces (such as the image shown above). Click the image and sift through her Flickr account; it's definitely worth your time.

Self Portrait

I really haven't completed or worked on a lot of illustrations this month, yet I felt the need to update my blog. This is a piece I finished for my digital drawing class about a year ago.

Amy: The Second Round

Sometimes it's good to go back and fix problems in "finished" pieces, and in my case there were some personal issues I had to address in Amy's piece. In the original I avoided drawing things that are part of Amy's character, such as lace and rococo patterns, simply because I'm not very good at creating them. Patterns specifically have been a constant struggle and quite honestly a fear. However, I decided that in order to reflect Amy accurately I needed to suck it up and overcome that obstacle. And I did! It took a lot of redrawing and failed attempts but I got it where it needed to be. I know she'll definitely be excited to see the second round of the drawing.

Before and After

So I've really been working on redoing a lot of old drawings that were especially difficult for me considering my skill level then (and now). The first one I'm working on is my "Girl On A Bike" piece. Here's the original:

...Yikes. Talk about ugly. Now here's a quick color study of the new one I'm working on:

Ah, much better. I'm glad to know that I've come this far. She'll actually be riding a penny-farthing (the really old school bike with the big, big front wheel). It should be fun!

Baba Yaga

This was the last piece I did for Sterling's class. It's not great but my painting has definitely been improving. I'll continue to work over the break and post some more pieces up.

Stuart's a Slore

This is a drawing that my friend Stuart and I did together. We had a poetry class freshman year and instead of actually paying attention we just drew ourselves.

Portfolios

These are my portfolios created for Sterling's class. The box has really grown on me, but I need to scrap the bags. I'll make a pop top for the box and post it when I'm finished.

Comic Book

Well I finally finished my comic book. It wasn't a great success, but it was a good first try. I might do another one in a little while that's not as lengthy. But here it is, let me know what you think!

Amy

The Girl And The Octopus

These are two pieces I just finished for my story titled "The Girl And The Octopus." I'm thinking about putting in some text for the spread. I actually had a good time creating these and I'm very satisfied with the outcome!