Now Fight ♥

hello chums, today it's going to be an Illustration post because I FINALLY finished my new 'Babydoll' fanart piece...

for those of you unfamiliar with her, Babydoll is a character from the 2011 movie Sucker Punch.

Now you probably know by now that I'm kind of a big Fangirl and that I often Geek out over all sorts of things (books/TV shows/movies/games/people etc) and that from time to time I like to draw characters from Popular Culture to show my appreciation for the source material. Well that's why I drew Babydoll! Also I really like Emily Browning, the Australian actress who plays Babydoll in the film.

The movie Sucker Punch often gets a really bad rep, it's looked down upon as nothing more than a video-game style fantasy movie for teenage boys. It was pretty much universally panned by critics which is ironic because I would bet money that had the film been gender-swapped, with an all male leading cast instead, it would have done much better at the box office! Just think, they keep churning out films like the Expendables series (who cares?! I DON'T) but heaven forbid someone release a female action movie.

 Anyway i'm getting into RANT territory here. Because if you watch it, and I mean really pay attention, look past the skimpy costumes (which DO make sense within the storyline I promise) and flashy gamer style graphics and what you have is a FEMALE led film about a group of young women working together to fight corruption and oppression.

It's one of those 'guilty pleasure' films for me but in truth it shouldn't be a 'guilty' one at all. I mean it has dragons in it for crying out loud! And pretty girls fighting and generally kicking ass all while looking GORGEOUS. It's completely unbelievable of course but who cares; the leading lady is a tiny girl wearing a sailor outfit. She has tiny cute plastic charms hanging off her gun while she shoots the living crap out of various baddies. How can you not love this film?!

Right anyway, enough about the film. If you've seen it and you liked it... GREAT! If you watched it and hated it, then 'oh well, never mind'. And if you've yet to see it, try not to take it too seriously and just enjoy the visuals! It also has a pretty killer soundtrack, with some brilliant mash-ups and remixes.

Back to the drawing now. I meant to have her finished in time for Halloween but I was so busy with other projects that I only managed to finalize the design a few nights ago. As always she's my take on the character, so she looks like a Candy Doll and she has tattoos.

I was going to add some ombre colour to her hair but I settled for keeping it simple in the end. By that point i'd added so much detail to the outfit and weapons that I figured it didn't really matter what colour her hair was! In the movie her gun and sword both have intricately engraved designs on them, featuring cute characters and flowers. I recreated the design for the gun but the sword was even more complicated so I skipped it. I'm SORRY!

The tattoos are simple but reflective of the film's storyline. The quote 'If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything.' is one of my favourite lines from the film. The swallow represents her inability to escape from the confines of the asylum, the knuckle duster is there because she's such a badass, and the bunny because it's a symbol in the movie, painted onto one of the girls' weapons.

You can see the texture in the clothing better here. I don't always add loads of texture or detail, sometimes I just keep simple gradients or flat colours but I added in some texture for the skirt and top for this one along with some contrasting stitching which took FOREVER to do.

Am I boring you yet? Anyway, the design is all finished now. I uploaded it to the usual spots online including my Society6 and RedBubble stores.

Personally I quite like the design on the tank tops, they look like the sort of thing a Girl Gang might wear to go out and cause havoc. 

So yep, a new illustration, hop y'all liked it and if you didn't, I don't particularly care! ^_^

* * *

in other news, there are only FOUR days left to enter my mega Instagram Giveaway...



I'm giving away a literal HEAP of cute stuff + extra goodies have been added to the bundle. To enter you must be following me on Instagram + follow the rules HERE

and on that note i'll say au revoir for now, hope to see you here again soon.

bye

Creative Café #29 ★

hello there dearhearts, you might be wondering where on earth i've been for the past... 2 weeks! has it really been 2 weeks?! it's probably been more...

crikey. anyway, i haven't actually been away anywhere or anything, i've been right at home stuck in a little world of my own alternating between doing work for college, clients, college, commissions, college and so on and so forth.

anyway, there is literally NOTHING going on in my life right now worth blogging about so instead, it's time for another lovely, colourful Creative Café post

follow 'the drill' and grab yourself a snack + a drink and settle down for some pretty illustration because today it's all about the very groovy Jen Oaks

Jen is an American illustrator who produces very VERY awesome designs and illustrations featuring all manner of funky characters and creations

although it must be said that i am particularly fond of her curvy pin-up girl illustrations, they are rather fabulous after all, in fact they are absolutely ruddy marvellous!

 i just adore the way she captures their expressions, you can tell that all of her curvy pin-ups are very sassy and cheeky + they're all so gorgeously feminine, it's really refreshing to see some sexy plus size pinup illustrations! brilliant...

more of those lovely ladies later. so what else does Jen do?! well, as well as being a generally glorious illustrator she also designs groovy characters and scenes for various editorial clients + takes part in super duper art shows around the USA

in her spare time when she's not being an awesome arty superhero, she also gets her work featured on sparkly blogs and sites such as a post featuring her fabby prints on Apartment Therapy or the lovely interview and feature about her Curvy Pin-ups on SF Today

she's also extra awesome and that's because she doesn't just design groovy things for magazines and the like, she also sells very jazzy cards, prints, stickers, badges and calendars!

the detail in her work is what i love the most though. the way she packs so much into a figure or a scene, the illustrations are never overcrowded they're always spot on and manage to convey the appropriate emotion or feeling through these often delicate and intricate little details

do you know what time it is now?! it's time for me to hush up and let you have a nice scroll through some more of Jen's cute work in your own sweet time. enjoy...

you see, i told you it was all gorgeous! sometimes it's not easy always being right...

time for some links now!

to see even more of Jen's quirky, colourful work you can head on over to her offcial website here - Jen Oaks Illustration

she also has a fab Etsy shop chock full of lovely printed goodies and merch featuring her designs - Jen's shop

you can also 'Like' her work on Facebook - Jen Oaks

and follow her on Twitter - @jenoaks

she's also on Tumblr - jenoaks

and has a great Flickr full of sketches and other lovely things - Jen Oaks

and there you go. all that's left for me to do now is say a big ol' THANK YOU to the very lovely Jen for saying yes and letting me run this little feature, so thanks again Jen :) x


All images featured in this post belong to Jen Oaks © do not claim, use, distribute, reproduce or trace AND of her work without her express written consent. All Rights Reserved.

* * *

so like i said, nothing to report on in my world at the moment. i am truly swamped with work. i spend almost every day painting in my room and i spend the rest of the week either at college or at home editing files for commissions. busy, busy, busy.

so until next time, whenever that may be, that's all folks... xX

Creative Café #17 ★

so it's time for another Creative Café post! as promised...

you know the drill, go and get a cup of tea or something, grab a cake/biscuit/chocolate bar etc

settled and comfy? good stuff, let's get on with it then!

today it's all about a smashing Manx artist, someone whose work i've admired for many years, this person is very talented and produces some really incredible artwork! this feature is also coincidentally the first one to feature a guy so without any further ado, today it's all about... Adam Berry!!!

like i said, Adam is a Manx artist/designer/animator who is super duper talented!!! he's not the first guy to be featured on the blog but he is the first guy artist to get a creative café feature! i know this is traditionally a verrry girly blog but you'll see from his work... his unique style of design appeals to both guys and girls.

i've followed Adam's work for a few years now, he was the artist in residence for a year at the local Sayle Art gallery in 2008 and i remember visiting the gallery one day while he was painting this amazing piece featuring a girl in sort of pop art colours. it was during my first year at college and was the first time i think i'd ever seen his work! (i was kind of closeted from the Manx Art world when i was studying for the IB at my old school!) 

sadly i never got to see his residency final exhibition but i remember going back to the gallery at some point in 2009 and seeing postcards of his work, so naturally i had to get some!!! (they're on my desk board at college) then seeing canvases of his work on sale in Zooma in Castletown. i could never afford a canvas but the style of his work has stuck with me since the first time i saw one of his paintings so i guess you could say that his work has inspired me over the years what with the bold outlines and bright colours of his style!

his work is so beautifully detailled and kind of timeless in a way, mainly because his pieces often contain varying styles of illustration. often his work conjures up images of the 60's with rounded melting text and multitudes of colour. but then some remind me of Victorian style art nouveau illustrations, full of flowing lines and tendrils of text, then others make me think of 1950's Pop Art with their collaged layers and spray painted features! then some pieces are just purely modern in style and medium. it's this flux-like style of creation that i really admire!

there's also a great sort of psychedelic vibe to Adam's work and obviously i love the way he  incorporates lots of sassy pinup type girls into his pieces. all of his artwork is beautifully executed in a bold but brilliant style, bursting with so much intricate detail that my brain boggles just looking at it!

anyway i've rambled on for long enough, have a little skeet at some more of Adam's work. (ps - this time we have multi-picture collages due to the size of the originals + it means you won't get hand cramp scrolling for half an hour like usual...)

so there you have it! really stunning stuff for sure! each piece is absolutely sublime!

links time now...

to see more of Adam's art and design work be sure to check out his official website here - Adam Berry

you can also buy prints (and originals!!!) of his work from his online shop here - Print Shop

be sure to 'Like' his work via facebook too - Adam Berry Artwork

you can even follow him on twitter to keep up to date with all his arty goings on - @adamcrapola

oh and don't forget, Adam also takes commissions for designs and stuff so you can also email him about all that here - adzberry@gmail.com

all that's left for me to do now is say a big ol' THANK YOU to Adam for saying yes about the feature! he was also kind enough to place a little link to my site on HIS newly re-launched site so thanks again for that as well!!!

All images featured in this post belong to Adam Berry © do not claim, use, distribute, reproduce or trace ANY of his work without his express written consent. All Rights Reserved.

* * *

so that's that! not much else to tell really, i've been working my arrrrrse off on some new commissions which i'm trying to get done asap so i can finally get on with some college work!!!

i won't be back in college until Wednesday but i'll try to find something to post about before then!

so until next time, that's all folks... ◕‿◕ ★ xX