Drawing: Seahorse Bookmark

[elliejane]

So, I have recently been doing some more drawing and a friend of mine said 'seahorses are popular', and thus I should draw one, lol! And so, as a bit of a challenge, I did. I then had the idea to try and make it into a bookmark type affair. This is the result.

The original drawing was scanned in to the pc, then printed out onto heavyweight paper, and laminated with 250micron matt laminate. Then, I hand cut the laminate around the image, and threaded some ribbon and beads through a punched hole at the top. The result is a bookmark which is approx. 12 or 13 cms in length. The laminate means you don't have to worry about getting sticky fingers on it (I read and eat chocolate at the same time, which can get sliiiiightly messy) as it's wipe-cleanable

I'm not sure the drawing comes across here terribly well (keep clicking through till you get to a slightly bigger version), but you can see the basic look of it, I think. It's done with Faber Castell pencils, and I *think* the actual drawing looks prettyish in real life.

I want to try making a couple of other designs, as well. At the moment, I'm thinking cupcakes, lol. And of course, now I'm hungry.

Comments

[troyswann.livejournal.com]

Oooh! How beautiful! The texture is really cool. It looks 3D. I want to reach out and touch all the different ridges and hollows. The blues are beautiful, too, and the beads match perfectly. I'm so jealous of your facility with pencil. I could never make pencils work, so I'm always fascinated by drawings that use colour so well. I like the idea of usable art, art that you can take with you and handle. Most excellent!

[elliejane.livejournal.com]

Ooh, thank you kindly! Very glad that you liked it :) I must admit I am having a blast with pencils at the moment. I've always dabbled in art (pencils, watercolour, ink, pastel etc) and after finally coming back to pencils that are softer and more blendable, feel like I have *found* my medium. The only drawback is they are not quick, oh no.

Usable art to take away and handle is a lovely concept. And one reason that I cut around the image in the way I did, was so that using it was a more tactile experience. (Is this going too deep for a bookmark, lol?).

Additionally, let it be known, I am similarly jealous of your watercolours ;) I always feel watercolours are saying to me, "Go on, you try it, just you try moving the brush like that and we will WRECK THE WHOLE THING".

[theplaidsheep.livejournal.com]

Now that is Awesome!! And so beautiful, I love the colours and the texturing, and the ribbon and beads are a perfect finishing touch. A gorgeous piece of work. Have you considered perhaps making them to sell, cos I reckon that would go very easily?

[elliejane.livejournal.com]

Hee, thank you! At the start, I wasn't even sure if I would be able to do it, but everything more or less came together like I wanted it to, amazingly enough! Initially, I had thought to do some kind of braiding; I saw the ribbon and figured I could try it, and although I couldn't make it braid properly, yay, just threading it though seemed to work. And I gotta say, I spent *hours* in hobby craft looking at the beads they have there!

I'm actually kind of chuffed that you mentioned maybe doing them to sell, because I must admit, that was in the back of my mind! I've started to try and do portrait drawing and other illustrations and I have been persuaded by a friend to have a stall at a village fete this summer. The bookmark idea came around because I want to try and have some little, cute things on the stall, as well as the main stuff. I have NO IDEA how the whole thing is going to go, but I'm trying to think of things I've found appealing on stalls in my years of convention going!

(I am also trying to make myself an arty website, and so the seahorse may end up on there as well!).

[kernezelda]

It's lovely! Like the above commenter said, it's attractive in both a visual and tactile sense. I would use a bookmark like that, but it would inevitably fall apart and get lost within a few months.

[elliejane.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

I guess overall I was trying to make something that *I* would be attracted to, and want to pick up and handle. It's funny, because I like bookmarks, but never manage to actually USE them as bookmarks! In the past I'd use them, then proceed to lose them under the bed (or in a wormhole somewhere) as soon as they were out of the book for the next reading!

[jazzymegster.livejournal.com]

That is beautiful, Ellie! I am always in awe of your use of coloured pencils, because I can't make them do anything.

I think cupcakes would be awesome! (Although awesome seahorse is awesome, too).

[elliejane.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Heh, I'm always a little astonished that I can make them do stuff! Sometimes, I just have no idea how it happens, lol, and have a crisis of confidence.

In fact, I was drawing a zebra the other day, and after two goes couldn't get its legs right and was getting all flail-y and was all, "I can't draaaawwww." I had to calm down and just try and let it sort of floooow and pray it would work. And it worked, one zebra, all zebra-y looking! So, yes, I've gone so far as to put it down to heavenly assistance (aside to Supernatural viewers: maybe Castiel is helping me draw!).

Yes, I'm halfway through the second cupcake, now. They are improbably stacked on top of one another, in a way which I hope will come across as quirky! I'll post a pic when it's done (if it works ;).

(I sort of want a t shirt that says "Awesome seahorse is awesome", hee.)

[jazzymegster.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! And that happens to all artists, I promise. Also you should be dead proud of yourself, because horses and horse-shaped animals are difficult to draw (primarily because of the legs, I reckon).

I think it helps to not think about what you're doing too much, because you can get really bogged down and it doesn't help - I find I do my best stuff when I'm kind of zoned out and not really thinking about what I'm doing, if that makes sense?

I can't wait to see them!

(That would be a cool t-shirt, hee).