In the name of the Moon...

Hello dearhearts, here I am, back again. And guess what, today's post is going to be about a drawing that I did! That's right, I ACTUALLY drew something!

But not just anything, oh no... I drew something so candy coloured and eye achingly sweet that it deserved its very own blog post.

I drew...

SAILOR MOON!

But obviously I drew her as if she were one of my Candy Doll girls, so she's totally fierce, looking fresh to death in her kick-ass uniform and is utterly slathered in tattoos!

Sailor Moon is the ultimate Magical Girl so i'm pretty sure that it was only a matter of time until i felt compelled to draw her. I guess it was sooner rather than later though.
 

 I'm not going to pretend that I didn't have absolute HEAPS of fun working on this piece. I spent so long working on it in fact that I started to neglect other things, so had to give it a break for a day or two.

Initially I was just going to draw her without any tattoos or anything but then I thought... nah! That's not as much fun. To me anyway. So I suppose she's a kind of 'Girl Gang' version of Sailor Moon, hence the shredded gloves to show off the inked arms!

I sat down one day about a fortnight ago and thought 'hhm, I want to draw Sailor Moon'. So this was the result. It's hard to tell without zooming way in on the illustration but every single one of the tattoos is linked to 'Sailor Moon' in some way. You'd have to be a fan of the show and the characters to spot them all, but they're there.

For those of you not familiar with the magic that is Sailor Moon, it's a Japanese creation, originally a Manga first produced in 1992. However my first experience of the world of Sailor Moon came from the Animated series from the mid 90's.

Sailor Moon was probably the first anime I ever saw as a kid, in fact I first saw the cartoons in Spanish during my annual visits to Andorra. I didn't have a clue what the characters were saying (at that point I was years away from even starting Spanish language lessons) but I would sit enraptured, glued to the grainy TV watching the adventures of Usagi and co + their senshi counterparts unfold on the screen before me.

I remember later visiting a toy shop in Andorra and spotting a bunch of 'Sailor Moon' dolls. Back then I was obsessed with any dolls that had brown hair and green eyes (the closest to my own hair and eye colour) so it goes without saying that my favourite Sailor Soldier back then was Sailor Jupiter (in fact, I might have to draw her as well at some point).

She even had green in her uniform and back then, aged nine-and-a-half, green was my absolute favourite colour ever, so show me a doll with brown hair (and a fringe/bangs not too disimilar to my own) green eyes AND a green skirt and well... lets just say my parents had difficulty dragging me away from the shop that day.

I look at them now and wonder what I was thinking, but at the time I was desperate for one (or several). I'm sad to say that I never got the doll. Or in fact ANY 'Sailor Moon' doll. I feel that my late 90's childhood self definitely missed out on swathing her bedroom with Sailor Moon merch. But alas, until I build my time machine, that'll never change.

So instead, my twenty-three-year-old self got this.

Yes. I bought another toy to add to the collection crammed onto my desk. BUT HOW COULD I NOT?! Don't answer that. I don't need you to judge me, I can do that all by myself.

Ignore the blu-tack shoes, but look she also comes with swappable faces (not creepy) and hands and wands and stuff! She is actually brilliant.

Sailor Moon herself + a little Luna as well (Luna is the cat, in case you didn't know. And honestly if you didn't know, you should just go and educate yourself and watch Sailor Moon already. Go on then!)

I had to get her. I mean, I just had to, you know. Look at how badass she is! She'll beat you up if you mess with her!  

Fighting Evil by Moonlight, winning Love by Daylight, never running from a real fight! (that's the theme song by the way i've not just gone barmy, not completely anyway). 

For now she's perched on the desk (on top of my Washi tape collection) along with all the other funky stuff that seems to be gathering around me day by day, you might be able to spot her if you look carefully...

Back to the illustration for a moment though, in case you were wondering 'why now?' it was massively inspired by the Moon Crisis show, which is this totally brilliant tribute art show about to launch in Anaheim, CA (on Saturday). I've been keeping up to date with all of the new pieces via their instagram profile and if you want to see some truly BRILLIANT Sailor Moon inspired art then i definitely encourage you to go have a look (here).

Sadly I found out about it way too late to submit a piece but i'm excited to see the full collection once it's open to the public, not that i'll make it out to Anaheim myself of course, but i'm hoping lots of photos will be posted on their facebook page. + if they decide to do another show next year i'll definitely try my best to get a piece entered for consideration.

Also, my timing isn't a coincidence, very exciting things are afoot because on July 5th a BRAND NEW anime series of Sailor Moon is due to begin! (cue extreme fangirling), this is a HUGE deal, like a really massive deal. Okay i'll shut up and pop the trailer below.



and on that magical note, i'll say my goodbyes.

so until next time, cheerio folks!


ps - what's also exciting is that fact that EatSleepDraw one of my favourite Tumblr art blogs featured my Sailor Moon candy doll this morning on their site! So this really seemed like the perfect day to run this blog post!

pps - totally forgot to mention it above but you can also get prints and bags and phone cases and stuff with my Sailor Moon fan art on, check the stuff out here and here.

Random Stuff + Giveaway Entries

hello chums, just a little post featuring a few random bits and bobs from the past few weeks!

i started back at College today, this year is my final year at college, hopefully by June next year i'll have passed my BA degree in Fine Art!

anyway, most recently of all, i've been working on a 100% frivolous and fun project, an Adventure Time/Ghostbusters Fan Art piece. i'm a huge HUGE fan of the brilliant CN animation Adventure Time and of course, i adore all things Ghostbusters, so it seemed like a good idea to combine the two!

this was the fandom colliding result...

if you don't really understand who's who or what's going on, i strongly recommend you rush forthwith without delay and watch some Adventure Time and Ghostbusters!

anyway, this design is currently up for votes on OtherTees + it's also available on prints, tees, cards and iPhone cases etc via my Society6 Shop

so what else? well, while i was away in Cork, i accidentally got chatting to one of my current literary idols on Twitter. over the summer, i've devoured some amazing books by Ben Aaronovitch and after a random tweet to him, he asked if i'd be willing to have a go at a fanart or two of some of his characters, for his website!

after i'd calmed down and stopped squealing like a fangirl, i managed to have a go at a 'Molly' fanart

scary stuff! this won't make much sense either so here's a brief description of 'Molly' from Ben's brilliant book 'Rivers Of London' (available to buy here)

"I looked over and saw a woman gliding towards us across the polished marble. She was slender and dressed like an Edwardian maid, complete with a starched white bib apron over a full black skirt and white cotton blouse. Her face didn’t fit her outfit, being too long and sharp-boned with black, almond-shaped eyes. Despite her mob cap she wore her hair loose, a black curtain that fell to her waist. She instantly gave me the creeps, and not just because I’ve seen too many Japanese horror films.
‘This is Molly,’ said Nightingale. ‘She does for us.’
‘Does what?’
‘Whatever needs doing,’ said Nightingale.
Molly lowered her eyes and did an awkward little dip that might have been a curtsey or a bow. When Toby growled again Molly snarled back, showing disturbingly sharp teeth."

makes more sense now i hope! even if i did use a bit of artistic licence and make a few adjustments!

moving on, while i was away in Limerick, i also did a little illo for Amelia's Magazine blog based on the very gorgeous 'Kiss Me' dress by Coco Fennell

you can read the full blog post + see the other lovely illustrations HERE

so what else?! well, while i was in Dublin i managed to get my hands on this gorrrrgeous Totoro plush! i'm a massive Studio Ghibli fan and My Neighbour Totoro is one of my fave animated movies so i couldn't resist this little guy!

and continuing with the fangirl geekery, check out the awesome stickers that arrived for me from Florida the other day! Mini Avengers!!! illustrated by the very brilliant Dean Grayson

and since i am such a huge geeky fangirl and i have such a fondness for avengers stuff, in particular for a certain villain named Loki, check out what else arrived today!!!

a super amazing 'Loki Charms' tee by tee designer extraordinaire Bamboota

and a fabulously wonderful diddy Lego Loki!!!

yaaay for all the Loki times!

ok i'll stop now...

oh but before i go, i want to remind you all about The Goodbye Summer Giveaway currently going on!

you've only got 4 more days left to enter to try and be in with a chance of winning the bundle of cute prizes from Ireland (see full post HERE HERE HERE) 

it's really super easy to enter, all you need to do is supply your email (so i can contact you if you win, otherwise i won't bother you, promise!) and fill in some options on the Giveaway Form below. it's THAT easy!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

and until next time, that's all folks... xX

♥ curiouser and curiouser...

 so i've been a little quiet this week blog wise, i have a lovely new creative café post for you tomorrow but in the meantime i thought i'd share what i've been working on recently

i was looking at some of my old 'Where's Charlie?' picture book characters and i thought i'd have a go at re-inventing and altering some of the characters

so i ended up drawing two little princess style girls, and kind of like the last princess image i worked on, i imagined that these two were sisters, one very girly and pretty, the other a little bit more gothic

but as i coloured them i realised that they actually reminded me of something else... and so this was the next result!  with the lovely Ballaglass Glen acting as a makeshift Wonderland!

i'm not sure why, but as i coloured them it made me think of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, so i tweaked them a bit and added in a re-vamped 'cupcake princess' as the Red Queen!

i'm not gonna lie, they were a lot of fun to work on! i haven't really done any fan art for a while so it was nice to incorporate colours and details from existing characters for a change! 

* * *

a short but sweet post today, like i said i haven't been up to much!

look out for the creative café post tomorrow!

but until then, that's all folks... ★ ◕‿◕ xX

Who ya gonna call... ♥

i know, i know... i've been bad again! what happened to the daily posts i hear you cry?!

well, i don't really know... it's just me being lazy + college stuff i guess!

anyway, as i may have mentioned once of twice before, one of my absolute favourite films EVER is 'Ghostbusters' 

i must watch this film AT LEAST once a week (along with 'the Blues Brothers' which is probably my other top fave film) sometimes more, sometimes a lot more...

anyway, since i luuuurve it soooo much and because it really is one of my favourite films i though it was about time i had a go at a little fan art piece inspired by it's sheer bloody brilliance and genius!

so let me introduce to you, the one... the only... The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man

isn't he adorable! 

...adorably EVIL!!!

ah i love him, it's one of the best bits in the film, when he appears on the streets of New York seeking out the Ghostbusters to kill them... with his marshmallowy goodness!

yaaaaaaay for Stay Puft!!!

and yay for the pure genius of Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis for thinking him up in the first place! x

* * *

anyway, in other news, i've spent the past two days working on a new piece for college, it's a hand embroidered Pinup type thing and it is taking f-o-r-e-v-e-r!

i have a proper embroidery hoop and lots of lovely colourful embroidery silks + a stack of needles and threaders yet it still takes me HOURS to complete a small section of the piece!

here's a few photos so you can see how it's progressing... slowly

there's a loose sketch of the image on the back of the cotton so i'm not working completely from the photocopy which helps...

in case you were wondering, it's based on this lovely lady

so hopefully it'll look a bit more like this eventually (fingers crossed) 

 * * *

and that's it really i guess, i break up from college for the Xmas break officially tomorrow so hopefully i'll be able to do a post every day (ish) leading up to CHRISTMAAAAS!

i am sooooooooo excited! aaaaahhh it's nearly christmas!!!!!!

(SCREEEEEEEEAAAAAAAMMMM) 

i'll post a few snaps of our Chrimbo decorations tomorrow or... soonish (promise)

ok i'm off to make some tea now and maybe have a walk in the snow... oh yeah, i forgot to mention, it's snowing here AGAIN!

oh before i go i'll mention this as well, i'm on 49 blog followers now so i was thinking, when i hit 50 i might hold a little giveaway, i'm not sure what the prize will be yet, possibly one of my illustration keyrings or a little print of one of my pictures or something... or both, we'll see!

so to enter it you'd just have to leave a comment on the blog or on the facebook page... or something, and don't worry, you can still enter if you follow me on bloglovin or bloggers instead x

anyway, byeeee for now

that's all folks...

♥ ◕‿◕ ♥ xX

Спасибо и до свидания

(that's thank you and goodbye in Russian, sadly i've never been to Russia, i missed out on a trip with my History class a few years ago but it's a country i've always wanted to see, hopefully one day i'll get a chance, Покa x)