Maybe It's Mabel

hello chums, i'm away at the moment in Coventry visiting my family but i've been working on a new illustration in my hotel room in the evenings (before I lose myself to the stack of books I brought with me!).

now I should explain beforehand, this is another fanart piece, so most of you probably won't have a clue what it means or who it's supposed to be!

I'll do my best to help you out in that department but in the meantime, I present to you... Mabel Pines

Mabel is a character from the cartoon show Gravity Falls

now for those of you that don't spend inordinate amounts of time watching cartoons and animations, Gravity Falls is a very brilliant show created by Alex Hirsch full of all sort of mysterious yet hilarious goings on. It's sort of like a cross between Twin Peaks and Adventure Time with lots of other good stuff thrown in...

Mabel is one of the main characters in the show along with her twin brother Dipper Pines + various other brilliant characters. The show mainly focuses on the adventures (or misadventures) of Mabel and Dipper as they explore their home in the town of Gravity Falls, where they've been sent for the Summer to stay with their Great Uncle Stan.

I absolutely LOVE this show! I've mentioned my eternal love of other amazing animated shows before (like Adventure Time, American Dad, Bob's Burgers, Family Guy, Archer, Monkey Dust, Rick and Morty, Bravest Warriors and Bee and Puppycat to name but a few!) and Gravity Falls is another one that is definitely on the list.BECAUSE IT'S SO VERY BRILLIANT!

Mainly because it's impossible not to like Mabel, she's utterly brilliant in every way and she might just be one of my absolute all time favourite animated characters... ever! Her total enthusiasm for life is unwavering and she looks upon everything as an adventure

in the show Mabel is a precocious and super creative twelve-year-old with braces + colourfully outrageous taste in jumpers/sweaters. She never lets anything faze her and she's always proud to be herself no matter what. She's a bit of a fangirl herself and she loves to sing and draw and paint and make things, actually we have a bit in common... that's probably why I like her so much!

as you know i'm a MASSIVE FANGIRL (it's true) and from time to time I like to have a go at drawing existing characters I like in my own style. So naturally my Mabel is a bit older than twelve, she hasn't managed to put candy colours in her hair yet (I know... I did an illustration WITHOUT rainbow hair?!) but she still loves wacky jumpers, and it's nearly time for those braces to come off!

in case you're wondering what she's holding, that is a lolly stick covered in 'Smile Dip'

in one very memorable episode Mabel comes across a stack of old unsold 'Smile Dip' candy which she immediately devours... unfortunately the out-of-date sweets set off a strange candy induced reaction causing her to hallucinate bizarre (yet highly amusing) sugar fueled visions (it sounds bad but I promise it's all for fun, it's a kids show after all!)

although Mabel swears off 'Smile Dip' at the end of the episode I couldn't resist giving her a packet, you might also notice her funky bead bracelets (handmade) and cryptic tattoos...

 the bracelets feature names of some of the other characters, Mabel's closest friends in the show. There's the infamous Smile Dip + a little tattoo of Bill Cipher (you'll have to watch the show to find out who he is)

Mabel's other little tattoo pays homage to her beloved pet pig Waddles

Waddles, a pig Mabel wins at the local Mystery Fair, is her near constant companion and sidekick

Initially I attempted a version of her with some hot pink in her hair (in fact I accidentally gave her my own hair!!!) but I wasn't sure if I liked it with the pink, so she stayed a Brunette for this one which was strange, I'm so used to giving my drawings pastel hair, it felt weird leaving it all a normal hair colour!

anyway it was HEAPS of fun to draw another existing character and I can't think of one more deserving to be drawn than Mabel Pines!

in case you want to know more about the eternally wonderful Mabel, click below to watch the first episode of Season 1 of Gravity Falls



Thank you Mabel, you are my spirit animal

Sweet Saturday ♥

so today i decided to actually leave the house and head into town for some retail therapy

at least that was the plan, would you believe it... i came home without buying ANYTHING!!!!

insane...

anyway, i went in to meet Charlotte (shameless plug link to her blog here - Loretta Jane's Vintage Boutique) and my friend Alex who goes to University in Australia and is on the island at the minute visiting her grandparents.

i know i'm not the most social girl in the world (more of a social moth than a butterfly!) but i really enjoyed today, it was nice just to spend time with some friends and have a nice catch up (in 'the Alpine' cafe... of course)

+ i hadn't seen Alex since last September time so it was extra nice to see her again

big thanks to them both for keeping me company

* * *

ok enough about my Saturday

i also have 2 brand NEW little illustrations to share with you

those of you that follow me on Twitter or are friends with me on Facebook will probably have already seen them but... oh well!

i was sitting in my room yesterday morning listening to some music (Disney songs... again) and i started sketching little doodles of things i'd quite like to make embroidery pieces of

and what do you know... i ended up drawing these

the first one is rather yummy looking and clearly wants to be eaten...

and the next one is very super duper 'Sweet'

i'm still determined to at least have a go at embroidering them both

i have some new smaller embroidery hoops to work with so we shall see whether or not i can manage to sew a couple of cupcakes

* * *

in other news, i appear to have re-discovered my sweet-tooth!

i don't know if it's a result of the cupcake drawings or something else, all i know is i have eaten far too many sweet things today!

all i can say is so much for the New Year diet...

i'm currently surrounded by a packet of Reese's Peanut Butter cups

because i fully looooooooooove LOVE American sweets (candy? sweets... same thing) and i could literally sit and eat things like Reese's, Hershey's, Flipz, Twizzlers, Butterfingers, Nerds, Red Vines... etc etc ALL DAY LONG!!!!!

sadly the only one on the list i can find locally is the Resse's goodness

if i want anything else i need to visit sites like this - USA Candy

but just to show that i am still ever so slightly British (not that it matters anymore since the company isn't even owned by the British any more...)

to my right i also have a bag of Cadbury Mini Eggs

add to this the Caramac ice cream bar...

and an iced donut...

+ a can of Sprite...

well i don't need to tell you this isn't the healthiest bunch of snacks in the world!

suffice to say, i am clearly going straight to dieters HELL!!!

* * *

oh before i go, i noticed earlier that i've recently had my first every page hit from Jersey!!!

this is awesome news to me since i luuuuuurve Jersey very very much!

i've been lucky enough to have visited it twice in recent years and i love it there

i guess coming from an island myself i find it all very familiar visiting a place like Jersey, but that doesn't bother me, just makes me appreciate the place more!

thank you, whoever you are x

* * *

that's it for today i think, it's a Sunday tomorrow but at the moment i can't think of who to dedicate a Super SUnday post to so i might have to skip it this week! 

i tend to post one every other week anyway so maybe i should just make it a fortnightly thing?!

ah well we'll see!

that's all folks...

 ◕‿◕ ★ xX

muchas gracias y adios

(that's thank you and goodbye in Spanish on behalf of Venezuela, gracias to you all x)

Super Sunday #6 ♥

i know, i know... i've failed on the whole 'Super Sunday' thing over the past few weeks!

it's tricky though... i can always think of LOADS of people that deserve dedications but deciding who warrants an extra special 'Super Sunday' post is another matter entirely!

inspired by my shopping binge at the start of the week, i've decided to do a post on an artist, illustrator and writer whose work i adore!

so this weeks dedication goes out to a woman who i've been a MASSIVE fan of for the better part of the past six or seven years...

this week's Super Sunday post is all about the work of the fabulous, the super duper, the truly genius... Lauren Child

It is my personal belief that Lauren Child's books are some of the best, cleverest and most witty children's picture books I think i've ever read!

now for those of you unfamiliar with her work, in short... basically she is the creative genius behind the Charlie and Lola books

and if you haven't heard of Charlie and Lola, well basically... there's a little boy called Charlie and he has a little sister called Lola. 

they get into lots of adventures together and along with their best friends, Marv, Lotta, Sizzles the dog and Soren Lorenson (Lola's imaginary friend) 

they always manage to have heaps of fun together despite their age differences + the fact that Soren Lorenson is in fact... invisible and can only be seen by Lola!

When you read one of her stories you can practically hear Lola adamantly telling her brother Charlie that she is 'too absolutely small to go to school'. The way Lauren Child writes is the way a child of Lola's age would really speak, with tangled words and the most incredible imagination constantly working, trying to make sense of the world around her. 

her beautiful and clever style of illustration is also faultless, the characters are drawn in a way that instantly appeals to young children.

 i was introduced to these wonderful characters by my little god-daughter Bonnie

when Bonnie was tiny she used to love watching the Charlie and Lola animated series and as she got older she loved being read the stories as well. 

now Bonnie is old enough to read them herself and i just find it fascinating how a collection of picture books can capture a child's imagination so much that she still loves the characters even if her teachers seem to think she's a little too old for Charlie and Lola now!

Bonnie may be too old now but i've seen her, if it comes on the TV or if she's helping her little sister Hanna put stickers in the Charlie and Lola annual... she's right back to loving it all over again!

and i can't blame her! i'm nineteen and i LOVE the books! all of them, not just the Charlie and Lola stories, all of Lauren Child's books are amazing!

Lauren Child's characters, stories and illustrations are so perfect for the here and now and yet there's this undeniably timeless quality about them

the way she writes specifically for children and manages to make the illustrations fit so perfectly with the text, it may sound straightforward but it's a difficult thing to accomplish and a real rarity to get the balance so perfect in the world of children's picture books

most of the time a book has spot on illustrations but it's story is a little too hard to understand, or it's a book that can only be read to the child, the child couldn't necessarily do the reading by themselves. 

then the story might be fun for the child but the adult reading it might not understand properly, 

it's a fine balance yet Lauren's books manage to cater for everyone.

the child adores the pictures, the adult finds the story as amusing as the child... and everyone's happy!

as an illustrator myself i love the way the characters never quite look the same in every scene, their heads and eyes are often wonky, with simplified features since she colours the characters using wax crayons and coloured pencils mixed in with collage. 

this often gives the images a scratchy, messy child like quality... yet this is exactly what makes them so charming to look at.

the wonderful thing about Lauren's books is that whether the child can read it or not, they will sit totally entranced by one of her stories. yes they're looking at the pictures but they look at the words as well, even if they can't read them! 

the text flies and loops across the page imitating the movements of the characters or the sounds of the words, it spirals and curls around the illustrations and kids just love it!

the only problem is for the grown-up reading the story, sometimes you have to turn the book upside down to read the text but children tend to find this hilarious!

her books haven't only caught the hearts and imaginations of a generation of British kids, they've also been translated into several different languages.

although Charlie and Lola are, to me, a typically English pair of siblings, i can see how their stories and adventures could easily be played out by children of other cultures and nationalities across the globe.

but Charlie and Lola aren't the only characters Lauren Child has brought to life with her clever illustrations and stories

there's also...

Clarice Bean

then there's...

that Pesky Rat

and...

Hubert Horatio Bartle Bobton-Trent

not forgetting her truly gorgeous take on 'the Princess and the Pea'

and so sooooo many others...

* * *

and do you know what... i think that's it!

suffice to say... Lauren Child IS one of my idols

yes i know i told you that i don't have many (it's true) and i have LOTS of favourite illustrators but she is definitely an idol!

i aspire to achieve pretty much everything she has accomplished with her stories and illustrations!

i mean, there's a reason i gave a talk about her books at college + had a go at drawing in her style for my FMP research...

I think when a child looks through a Charlie and Lola book they are struck by just how much the pictures look like their own scribbled drawings.  

and yet if you really sit down and try to imitate her style, it's incredibly difficult!

so big BIG thanks to her for creating such super duper stuff!

for more info on Lauren Child, there's a wonderful interview article here - a life in books

and to see the official Lauren Child website, follow this link - Milk Monitor

oh and for the record... yes i may be nearly twenty-years-old but i happen to own precisely 13 picture books by Lauren Child and i imagine that collection will grow as she continues to bring out new books

after all... you're never really too old for a good picture book!!!

* * *

in other news... there isn't really any!

i've spent the past few days watching FAR too many Disney movies and singing along to FAR too many Disney songs...

i really will NEVER grow up!!!

so until next time, 

that's all folks...

 ◕‿◕ ★ xX

ありがとうさようなら

(that's thank you and goodbye in Japanese on behalf of Japan, i would absolutely love, love, LOVE to visit Japan and hopefully one day i'll get a chance to, thank you all ♥)