Colouring Books ♥

hello! It's been about 3 weeks since my last blog, which is a vast improvement for me and my blogging track record of late. It'll just be a quick post today, not rambling essay like last time.

So why am I making the time now to post a little blog? Well, i'm actually super excited to share my first ever colouring book with you all!

I've wanted to bring out a colouring book for years now, and i'm really pleased with how they've turned out, not bad for a first attempt. I was a bit nervous, even though I triple checked every page, I always panic that something might go wrong and i'll end up with something that I have to bin. But these arrived and they turned out perfectly.

I own a few colouring books myself but I rarely take time to fill any of them in (I get headaches from some of the more detailed ones!) so I thought it might be fun to have a go at creating my own instead. pretty much 'colour-in' for a living and when I post any of my lineart designs online, one or two people usually say 'oh you should make colouring pages', so that's what i've done.

as expected, the books are super girly and feminine, with girl gang themed pages and lots of candy and other sweet treats. Inside there's a selection of Candy Dolls ad a pair of Sugar Skulls along with some brand new designs created JUST for the books.

all of the images have a nice bold outline and while some of the candy doll images are on the detailed side, a lot of the 'montage' pages are nice and spaced, plenty to colour in without giving yourself a headache or hand cramp.

I think my favourite set of pages are either the 80's/90's ones (above) or the Space Babe ones (below). I had a lot of fun putting the pages together and coming up with cute things for each 'pair'. I think there's something for everyone inside, or at least for every girl. Someone asked me why I didn't put anything for boys in there... but why should I?! they get enough already.

So this is 100% girly, just like the rest of my work really.It has cakes and sweets, unicorns and trolls, a princess and a witch and heaps of GIRL POWER!

The colouring books are A5 sized (148 x 210mm / 5.8 x 8.5") saddle stitched with 32 pages and 28 pages to colour. The cover is 300gsm silk coated stock (nice and sturdy to keep everything safe) while the inner pages are 170gsm uncoated stock, perfect for pens, pencils, paints or even sharpies!

The books really are SUPER cute (even if i do say so myself), they're perfect for young, aspiring girl gang members, or grown-up girl bosses!

Here's a sneak at some of the other pages inside. As for the rest... you'll just have to order one of the books and see for yourself! 

speaking of which, I also have a brand new online shop. Although I still have items for sale on Etsy, I think my time with them might be coming to an end. So i've opened a brand new shop on Shopify.

and if you want to get your hands on one of my brand new colouring books, you can find them right HERE

if you do decide to get one, please, please, PLEASE send me a photo! I've already had a few snaps from customers, but so far I've yet to see anyone actually colour in any of the pages and i'm dying to see what cool colour schemes people come up with!

is that it, do you think i've plugged it enough? well, I hope so.

i'm just really proud of my colouring books, okay?

and on that note, i'll say goodbye, and hopefully it won't be too long until i'm back for another blog post!

so until then, thanks for visiting...

 

Merry Coolmas ♥

Hello my lovelies, Happy Xmas Eve to you wherever you may be + whatever you might be up to this evening.

If you celebrate Christmas then i'm sure you'll be spending Christmas Eve doing something festive or just relaxing with family and/or friends.

As has become tradition in recent years, I decided to have a go at a festive themed illustration. I only just finished it today, hence the Xmas Eve blog post. It's not as overtly Christmassy as some of my past designs, but here it is anyway...

She's a bit of a cool chick, hence the blog title. I drew the hair aaaaages ago, but I couldn't think of anything to go with it so I figured a christmas jumper + kilt style skirt might work. + the pattern in the background was 100% made just for this piece. I tried plain snowflakes but it didn't look right so I made more work for myself and came up with this simple little pattern instead.

There's a surprising amount of detail in this one, the Jumper has a woven fabric texture and the stripes on the skirt took quite a while to do. The hair always takes forever to edit as well, believe it or not but it's the most time consuming part of any Candy Doll illustration.

She's got a little bit of attitude to go with her ironic festive jumper + green ombre tipped ends, she's too 'cool' for Christmas. I don't know maybe she's just not that into the holiday season or something. You'd have to ask her yourself.

If she's not really feeling it this year, then she's not the only one.

This year I've been really struggling to get into the Christmas spirit. I'm not sure why as i'm usually the kind of person who starts playing Christmas music and wearing festive jumpers non-stop from December 1^st onwards. But this year it just never happened, I kept waiting for the Christmas buzz to hit, but it never did. This isn't the first time this has happened, a few years ago I was going through a rough patch and I barely celebrated at all. I refused to put up any decorations or wrap any gifts. It wasn't a great time but I thought I was past all that now. 

Apparently not. This year there's been no excitement for Christmas; for Star Wars, yes, i've been excited like you would not believe, but for Christmas... no such luck. 

decorations in the Strand shopping centre in town

 Before you start having a go at me about being ungrateful etc, i'll just stop you there because no, that's not at all what I mean.

I just think there's a lot of pressure at Christmas time to be terribly cheery and happy and FESTIVE! It's a time when you're supposed to be merry and bright, spending days with those closest to you and doing all the typical christmassy things. In the UK that usually involves copious amounts of alcohol, chocolate and cheesy television. But my family isn't really like that, i'm not sure if it's because both myself and my dad have Aspergers but we've just never been the sort of family that sits around watching TV together for hours on end. In fact we don't spend much time together at all, but that's fine, that's just how we are.

my Christmas themed vintage troll brooch

Take today for example. I've spent the entire day in my room drawing and editing + reading and listening to the 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' score on repeat. The only times i've left my room were to get a cup of tea and walk up to check the post. My dad spent the morning in the garden before spending the afternoon watching TV by himself. And my mum... well i'm not really sure but it probably involved coffee and facebook. But like I said, that's just us, regardless of the time of year. 

I don't usually feel any pressure to get my family in one room and spend time together, I love my parents more than anything but at Christmas time I feel like there's something wrong with me for not wanting to do what 'normal' families do during the holidays. 

the christmas tree in town

Usually I don't give any of this a second thought as it's so normal, but at Christmas it seems to become all the more apparent and I know it shouldn't bother me in the slightest, but it DOES, so I get all conflicted, should I make more of an effort or not? Most years it's the former, I go all out, christmas music blaring from my room, decorations everywhere, trips out to fairs, family shopping excursions and the like. This year it's the latter I think. 

decorations in Coventry City Centre

I'm just not feeling it for some reason. It may as well be any other day of the year. Don't get me wrong, I might not be running around singing carols and throwing glitter, but I still LOVE getting presents for people, choosing gifts and wrapping them up. But this year i've been struggling finacially and it's gotten me kind of down because I can't afford to buy my friends and family the sorts of gifts I want to. It's silly I know, and gifts aren't the be all and end all of the festive season but still.

It's a daft thing to get low about but my mum arranged all of our xmas gifts earlier and it upset me to see the tiny pile of gifts they each have from me. All I can think is that next year I have to get a job so that I can give them a better Christmas. 

she'll read this and come and tell me to stop being a daft sod, but I can't help but feel guilty. My family all do so much for me, it upsets me that I can't treat them to heaps of lovely things.

my 'christmas' outfit

and on that note I have NO idea what my original point was. I went off on a tangent there somewhere, so it's probably best if I call it a day. 

thanks for reading, I'll try and get another post in before 2016 starts, it will probably be Star Wars themed, so i'm just warning you now...

Merry Christmas to YOU

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

deck the halls?!

Hello chums, thanks for stopping by, don't be put off by the title of today's post but I have to warn you, if you're a bit of a Grinch or total Ebenezer Scrooge then you're probably not going to enjoy the rest of the blog...

Unless you've been living under a rock (or staunchly ignoring any and all traces of the festive cheer quietly brewing in virtually every shop) then you might have noticed that Christmas is on the way again at last! Now it's no secret on this blog that I am a HUGE fan of all things festive and Christmassy, I've blogged about my love of Xmas in the past many times (see here if you're interested).

Love it or loathe it, I don't think you can really ignore it! It might still be a bit early for me to get away with putting up my Christmas tree or breaking out the light up earrings but I figured it was as good a time as any for a festive themed blog post!

Now I know most people don't like seeing Christmas stuff this time of year (only 45 days to go...) but I get so excited when places start filling up with festive goods and playing Christmas songs! And well... I DON'T THINK IT'S TOO EARLY!!! Why?! because I LOVE Christmas of course!

Do you know who else loves Christmas? Well i'll give you a clue, their names begin with 'A' and 'I' and they love to dress up!

That's right, little Aalish and Illiam also can't wait for Christmas!

 So today they tried on all of their new festive costumes while I warbled along to Santa Baby and cleared away all the scraps of card from the Christmas clothes sheet.

Although technically it's actually a Nollick Ghennal sheet! In case you couldn't guess, 'Nollick Ghennal' means Merry Christmas in Manx Gaelic, so once again this sheet will be sold exclusively in Sweet Ginger Emporium in Ramsey here on the Isle of Man. 

the A3 sheet has a set of nice Christmas outfits for both Aalish and Illiam to try on, including a jolly snowman + a festively decorated tree

there's even a Rudolph the Reindeer mask to go with any of the costumes

 + the sheet also has a bunch of fun accessories to go with the outfits

and just like the Hop-Tu-Naa/Halloween sheet all of the clothes are interchangeable to fit both paper dolls meaning each of them can have a go at being Santa or one of his Elf helpers

are you feeling Christmassy yet? If you are then that's BRILLIANT! There's no shame in getting into the spirit of things because Christmas is such a fun time of year isn't it!

It is without a doubt my favourite time of the year, and not for the reason you might be thinking (namely PRESENTS!) but because I just LOVE all of the cheer everywhere, the decorations, the lights, all the glitter, the music, the carols, beautifully wrapped gifts, advent calendars and all of that special Christmas magic and joy that fills the air.

that's my mum Joy holding a lovely festive pillow with her name on it! You see I'm not from a very religious family so for me Christmas is more a time that heralds the arrival of my favourite season and an opportunity to buy or make lovely things to give to my friends and family. I just adore giving presents!
 
Although this year will probably be my most frugal Christmas since reaching adulthood (arguable really considering what a big kid I am!) but what with my no longer having a job + being unable to work at the moment this lack of income means I won't be able to spoil my loved ones quite as much this year.

Despite this, I've still been excitedly gathering gifts for them all (albeit on a much tighter budget than previous years). For a while I worried that this might put a damper on things for me this year, there have been times in the past when i've been in such a low mood come December that I haven't even bothered to put up any decorations (meaning my parents never bothered decorating the house either) but this year i'm determined to make the most of the situation and conjure up as much festive cheer as I can. If that means oodles of lopsided homemade gifts then so be it!

I visited the Christmas Shop at Tynwald earlier this week with my mum and my nephew Josh (over for a few days visiting from Coventry) and I think seeing all of the decorations and gifts and lovely tress really started to get me into the spirit of things! 

 don't worry, I'm not about to tinsel bomb the house or pull on my Christmas jumper (not just yet anyway) but i'm beginning to feel the warm fuzzy glow of the approaching holidays, hence why I wanted to share Aalish and Illiam's new clothes with you all today. 

So I'm going to make Christmas 2014 a fun one, even if I don't have the funds for all the fabulous frivolities I usually get at this time of year. Homemade cupcakes and gingerbread for EVERYONE!

and on that note, i'll sign off for this evening. I'm popping out the Cinema to see 'Interstellar' because i'm a big sci-fi geek and I love movies!

so until next time, a very merry toodle-ooh to you and you and you...