Truly Outrageous ♥

hey dolls! I'm back AGAIN! what's going on?! two blog posts in one week!!! EXCITING!

anyway I have some new stuff to share with you all. I've been working on commissions and other projects recently so it has been a while since I drew a new member of the Candy Doll Club. But I got a day off last week so I started doodling and the next thing I knew it was 2am and I'd finally cleaned up the linework enough to start adding colour.

 this was the result...

now if you grew up in the eighties or early nineties you might remember the animated show Jem and the Holograms. Personally I LOVED it! Mainly because of the wacky outfits and candy coloured hairstyles, but also the cheesy songs and general air of Girl Power that the show was all about.



well a few months ago someone left a comment on my Instagram asking if i'd ever do a Jem fanart. My first thought was ABSOLUTELY YES, but then I sort of forgot about it and drew other stuff instead. So this week I started drawing a girl in denim shorts and a leather jacket, gave her some retro styled hair and it wasn't until I began adding colour that she magically transformed into Jem aka Jerrica Benton before my eyes!

So as you can probably tell, my take on Jem is a little different to the original cartoon. For a start mine's a bit curvier and gone is the 80's hair, with some retro candy pink curls and a ribbon bow instead. The make-up is pretty much the same + she's still wearing her hologram projector earrings.

This doll doesn't have any visible tattoos, mainly because her arms are covered. Oh and if you're wondering what's going on with her super bright outfit,  the wacky pastel leather jacket is actually based on a real one that I always see online and secretly LOVE! I'd never be able to wear it myself but I like the sweet sugary colours so it definitely inspired this Candy Doll's retro style!

the original jacket via DOLLS KILL

my version of the jacket

 Naturally she's showing off her band with a 'Jem' crop top! I like to draw women of all shapes and sizes but I do sometimes come under flack online from people accusing me of only drawing 'skinny girls'. First of all, I draw skinny girls AND curvy girls, I don't always have a specific plan in mind when I sit down to draw so sometimes they might turn out skinny sometimes not, it all depends on how the image develops in my mind. When I drew the lineart for this I didn't know it was going to end up a Jem fanart piece. It was fun to draw a girl with more curves but it wasn't until I added colour that I realised it reminded me so much of 'Jem and the Holograms' that it couldn't be anyone else!

now 'my' Jem is inspired by the cartoon I watched as a child, but if you're a fan of it as well then you'll probably know that there's also a Live Action 'Jem and the Holograms' movie coming out later this month. Now I haven't seen it yet, obviously, but I didn't really want to base my drawing off the trailers for it...

so instead it's a sort of mix of the original cartoon AND the amazing comic series brought out earlier this year! The artwork is BRILLIANT and so are the stories, it's a new take on the classic series but also a whole new take on the characters. Definitely worth a read if you're into comics, especially ones about kick-ass female characters. Read more about the comics HERE.

so yeah, there you have it. Another new Candy Doll and fanart piece. I'm not sure what i'll draw next, I kind of want to try a few more fanarts based on some of my fave female characters so we'll see!

and on that note i'll sign off. I just got home from another lovely Christening (the cake was AMAZING) but I didn't eat much (other than cake) and i'm pecking so i'm going to rustle up some dinner.

until next time, thanks for reading, come and visit again soon!

Fangirl Geekery

Hello chums, Happy New Year to you all! I know ten days in to 2015 isn't exactly an early new year post but better later than never right?!

As I never really leave my house apart from trips to the cinema and quests to the post office I have nothing to tell you about really.

I do however have two brand new illustrations to show you! (yay)

as you might have guessed by the title of the post, my latest illustrations are of the geeky persuasion, since I am after all, a humongous geek and avid fangirl.

although I have lots of ideas for new illustrations and paintings, lately I can't seem to stop doodling existing characters, and in the run up to the New Year I spent a lot of my time cooped up working on these two new designs.

if you follow me on Instagram (and hey you really should!) then you'll have probably already seen my post about the illustrations, but if not, keep scrolling and you'll get to see them!  

first up is one for the video game fans, if you've ever played Super Mario then you'll no doubt be familiar with this pastel pretty! May I present the one and only Princess Peach

like most 90's kids, I grew up playing the Mario games and although Luigi was always my favourite character, I had a soft spot for the pretty in pink style of Peach! I like Princess Daisy as well but I think Peach wins hands down in the style stakes!

 

i've never drawn a video game character before but I can't think of a better one to start with than Peach (except for Zelda maybe, but I might draw her at some point as well!) since she is after all such a total Candy Doll! 

I created the Mario symbol pattern for the background myself from scratch (I seem to be getting a bit obsessed with creating repeating patterns lately!) and put together the rest using my original pencil sketch + some stuff I drew directly on the computer once I started adding colour.

 for my version of Peach the fun part was figuring out how to make the hair work + trying to come up with tattoo ideas for her arms!I hope I did her justice anyway. Prints and merch available HERE

alright that's probably enough about Princess Peach, my next new illustration features another Japanese designed character, this time it's San from the amazing Studio Ghibli anime Princess Mononoke

if you're not familiar with the work of Studio Ghibli then you should definitely check out their films asap! Ghibli is the powerhouse of animation magic behind the most incredibly animated films like Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle and Ponyo (to name but a few, but there are many more and you should go watch them!)

Princess Mononoke was made in 1997 but I only saw it about three years ago (at the behest of my friend Danny who knows more about Studio Ghibli films and Japanese anime than anyone else I know!). Personally my favourite Ghibli film is probably My Neighbour Totoro or maybe Howl's Moving Castle but Princess Mononoke is definitely very brilliant, hence why I wanted to have a go at drawing San.

as you can probably figure out from her attire, San is a warrior girl, she was raised by wolves she helps defend and protect the forest from humans and monstrous spirits.

I considered drawing San in full Candy Doll mode with coloured streaks in her hair and tattoos etc, but it was nice to do a more 'normal' fanart piece for once, sticking to stuff from the animation and not going too crazy on colours.

one of my favourite things from the film is the group of little tree spirits called Kodama with rattling heads and whimsical expressions. So I had to add a bunch to the drawing + the banner has the title of the film in Japanese. Prints and merch available HERE

so yeah, you should totally watch the film if you haven't already seen it!

and I can't really think of anything else to say so I should probably just draw this post to a close and stop typing rubbish.

I hope you like the new illustrations, i'm currently working a few more so you can expect posts about those in the not too distant future. Probably.

alrighty then, until next time, farewell my friends!

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

What Time Is It...

Hello chums, apologies for the total absence of posts over the past couple of weeks, it's been a tough month so far, i've been feeling unwell recently and it's getting me a bit down. But no matter for here I am THIS week with some new illustrations to show you all!

If you're one of the lovely people who follow me on my various interweb profiles like facebook, twitter, tumblr or instagram then you'll probably have seen me post about the wonder that is Adventure Time at some point.

well Adventure Time is one of my favourite animated shows, I love it for so many reasons, one of which being the fantastic characters that inhabit the Land of Ooo (the world where the show is set) so I decided to draw two of my fave characters from the cast.

So here's my take on Princess Bubblegum and Marceline the Vampire Queen...

Yeah so these two definitely fit into the Candy Doll Club category but with a bit of a twist since technically neither of them are human. But more about that in a moment.

Bit of a backstory for those of you unfamiliar with all things Adventure Time, the show mainly focuses on the adventures and shenanigans of Finn the human and Jake the (magical) dog as well as the many other various inhabitants of the Land of Ooo.

It's a brilliant show for kids of all ages (that includes 23-year-old kids such as myself) with catchy songs, witty storylines and cleverly explained morals and life lessons.

Some of you might remember one of my previous Adventure Time fanart attempts, namely my Ghostbusting Time design featuring Ghostbuster Finn and Slimer ghost Jake (+ ghost princess, cherry blossom ghost and ghost-trap Beemo)

well this time i wanted to have a go at recreating some of the characters in my own style.

 There are so many incredible characters in the show, my brain is already buzzing with ideas for some of the other female characters, all potential future members of the Candy Doll Club for sure!



But for the time being I picked the two I love the most, Princess Bubblegum and Marceline.

So first up we have Bonnibel Bubblegum aka Princess Bubblegum, or PB, is the ruler of the Candy Kingdom

 PB spends most of her time benevolently ruling over the candy people but if she's not helping her loyal subjects you'll find her in the lab cooking up some new chemical concoctions or whipping up a snazzy new invention. She's a total Science whizz, all round genius and she's made entirely of (you guessed it) bubblegum!

Since she's made of gum I tried to go for a slightly different look, so instead of drawing normal hair, I gave her sugar sweet flowing locks of sort of gloopy candy hair (they look a bit like dreads as well I think) + a flask containing one of her latest chemical experiments because SCIENCE!

PB looks about 19 but she's actually over 800 years old! Her best friend is Lady Rainicorn (she's a rainbow striped unicorn in case you were wondering). By the way, PB doesn't have any tattoos because her candy biomass is incompatible with ink. And also needles!

but listen up cause now it's this gal's turn...

Marceline Abadeer aka Marceline the Vampire Queen, a radical dame who likes to play games, musical lyricist, songstress and bass player, 50% demon, 50% vampire, 100% awesome.

Unlike most other vampires, Marcy doesn't feed on blood to survive, instead she can gain sustenance from sinking her fangs into things and drinking shades of red, in particular the red of strawberries.

Unlike her Candy counterpart PB, Marcy has no aversion to needles and her carefully inked sleeves are dedicated to the most important things in her world.

Despite her youthful appearance, Marceline is over 1000 years old and has spent her long life travelling all over the land of Ooo. Marceline's father Hunson Abadeer is ruler of the Nightosphere but Marcy isn't really interested in ruling over the demons, preferring to be Vampire Queen instead.

Marcy and PB don't always see eye to eye on everything but they can work together when necessary, despite bickering and teasing they're still kind of close, even if PB doesn't always agree with Marcy's taste in music.

so that's that. New illustrations always wreck my head for a day or two, probably because i stayed awake until 3am trying to finish them. But oh well.

no plans for this week, but then as you all know I rarely do anything any more that requires me to actually leave my house for more than an hour or two.

so until next time, thanks for stopping by to see the pictures and stuff

cheerio folks!

Merry Little Moomins ❤

Hello chums, back again. I was going to run a brand new post t'other day but I got shaken up by some not-so-good news (I lost my job, if you must know...) and it knocked me off kilter a smidge. But i'm here now so lets get on with it shall we!

Today i'll be wittering on about the eternally brilliant and (in my opinion) hilariously adorable creatures that are... Moomins!

Those of you that have followed the blog for a while might recall me having mentioned Moomins before (namely HERE) but today I need cheering up so I just felt like posting nice pictures of something I like.

And since i'm pretty sure you'll all stop following me if I just post a stream of photos of Benedict Cumberbatch or Tom Hiddleston (although I think we can all agree that they truly are quite lovely) I figured Moomins were less likely to drive you all away from here, also making me less likely to turn this blog into a Fangirl one (like I accidentally did to my Tumblr. You were warned, click at your peril).

Don't worry i'm not about to embark on a gargantuan explanation or a detailed history of Moomins, maybe some other time, today i'll just be posting nice pictures and rambling on a bit. That's all.

 
As i've also mentioned before, I have a terrible habit of ordering piles of junk (or treasure) on the interweb, well a recent purchase (was it a week ago, or two... or three! I forget) included some brilliant little goodies that came winging all the way to me from the HOME of the Moomins aka Finland...

That's right... I bought myself some little Moomins! Here they are all lined up on my desk ready to say hello to you.

And I also got some v pretty postcards and super cute badges to go with them. Because if there's one thing better than a Moomin... it's a Moomin reading a book! Yay MOOMINS!

The teeny tiny little Moomin figurines that I got from Finland are far too adorable! They all have movable arms and come with little accessories, just like the characters in the books and animations.

So now Moomintroll, Moominpappa, Moominmamma and Snorkmaiden all live on my desk. Oh I do hope they'll all be happy there, I don't know maybe they can go hang out with Loki or the Ghostbusters sometimes if they get bored!

I'm not too sure precisely what it is about Moomins but i've always liked them since I first saw them on the telly box. I remember avidly watching the (admittedly rather creepy and at times a bit spooky) cartoon when I was little, and Ialways enjoyed it even when the slightly scarier characters made an appearance on screen (i'm looking at you Groke, you creepy bugger).

Maybe it's because their Moominhouse is so sweet, or because Moominvalley looks like such a nice place to live and they always have such fun adventures with their friends! Whatever it is about them, they're kind of twee and I like them. 

There's something so charming about their simple design and cute little faces. They never seem to let the world get them down, even at times when things are going a bit wrong.

I think it helps that the books by Tove Jansson are so brilliant as well, there are a full set at the Library where I work (or where I used to work) and I have spent many a happy lunch hour flicking through them reading the stories and comic strips chuckling at stories about Sniff and Snufkin, Little My and the Moomins and of course the peculiar little Hattifatteners.

 

I think perhaps the appeal lies in the fact that Moomins live a simple but fulfilling life, finding enjoyment in even the most mundane tasks and pastimes.

 

But then I mean it must be impossible to be unhappy when you look like this, right?! 

 

Okay that's enough wittering for today. I seem to be all about the sudden stops lately, it's almost as if the tap in my mind just switches off and the flow of sentences and words immediately ceases.

I have a thrilling flotilla of post ideas meandering around inside my mind so hopefully i'll be able to type some of them out over the weekend or next week.

so until next time, that's all folks and thanks for visiting! 

don't forget to leave a comment if you feel like it, I always reply, it's not like I have anything else to do!

bye for now