The Ways of the Force ★

Hello darlings, I would wish you all a Happy New Year but it's been over 3 weeks since NYE so I shan't bother. Apologies for the total lack of posts since 2015, I've started at least 3 on here but never seem to find the inclination to finish any of them!

Until now anyway. When I last blogged (last year!) I promised to do a post all about Star Wars... and you know i'd hate to disappoint you. I want to start off by saying that there are NO spoilers in this post, so if you haven't seen The Force Awakens or any of the Star Wars films, don't worry, I'm not about to spoil any of them for you. So let's crack on!

But first let me set the mood. Click play then carry on reading.



So then, Star Wars. If you're not a fan then you're probably rolling your eyes right about now thinking how you're SICK of hearing about Star Wars all the time... but if you ARE one of the sensible ones who likes/loves Star Wars then you'll no doubt rather enjoy this post.

I for one absolutely ruddy LOVE Star Wars. I was born in 1991 so practically all of the media I grew up watching/reading/listening to was from the 70's and 80's. Growing up I was allowed to borrow videos from my dad's movie collection and as a child, one of my favourite ways to spend a Saturday or Sunday was to watch all three original Star Wars films back to back.

I could read before I started school aged 4 and although I spent most of my time playing in the garden or indoors, I was never discouraged from watching TV or videos if I wanted to. This means that I grew up with a love for movies, especially the Star Wars ones. When I was at Primary School my parents took me on holiday to Las Vegas and there is a photo somewhere (I tried to find it but wherever it is, It's well hidden) of me in FAO Schwarz standing with a life-size Darth Vader with a massive smile on my face.

as you can see... things haven't changed much in the last 16 years!

To be honest my choices in VHS material weren't monitored very well. Sure my parents had told me not to pick any of the films with the red circle showing 15 or 18 but that was just a suggestion, right?! I watched the Exorcist when I was 7, surprisingly it didn't affect me at all but when I watched Alien aged 8 I had nightmares for weeks. You'd think this might scare me away from Sci-Fi for good, but when it came to Star Wars too much was never enough.

just 'some' of the Star Wars goodies I took with me to the Cinema on TFA opening night.

The kinds of films I would watch over and over and over again until I could practically quote them by heart included all 3 Star Wars, Ghostbusters and the Blues Brothers. At school one or two of my female friends had heard of Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader or Princess Leia, but none of them were interested in playing playground games with make-believe lightsabers or spaceships. There was no chance I'd get to run around the playground flying an invisible Millennium Falcon with my best friends, because they wouldn't know a Corellian YT-1300 light freighter if it fell from the sky (as you can probably tell, I was a Geek from a young age).

Star Wars water spotted in a local shop in January 2016. and NO, I didn't buy any.

Growing up I tried to hide my geeky tendencies from friends, well the female ones at least. The 1 time I remember admitting that I loved Star Wars and watched Star Trek on TV pretty much every day to my female friends, I was met wish looks of horror and simply asked 'Why?!'. But by the time I reached sixth form I found myself one of only 2 girls in a Design & Technology class full of boys and for the first time ever I had no reason not to join in and talk about sci-fi movies, video games and other geeky stuff, you know... the FUN stuff! Since then I've never seen the point in pretending that I don't like something I secretly do.

yes, that is me on the left. good guess.

To me Star Wars was and always will be an escape. As soon as the music builds and the opening crawl begins, you're already being taken away, across the galaxy to witness new worlds and creatures. To this day the Star Wars score gives me chills, no matter where or when I hear it. I know that in the lead up to the new movie I've probably driven my friends and family MAD with my excitement over each new trailer release and snippet of cast/plot info. Sorry but I'm NOT SORRY!

the amazing Star Wars gifts my friend Danny got me for Christmas 2015.

 It's been at least 20 years since I first saw 'Episode IV: A New Hope' but I never grew out of my love for Star Wars. Sure the early noughties saw the arrival of the prequel movies (but we do not speak of those!) and there's been frequent talk over the years about possible reboots or sequels, but I was happy enough rewatching the originals and imagining how the story might one day continue.

Thankfully December 2015 gave us all just that. The Force Awakens has already broken several box office records and will probably continue to take over the world (if it hasn't already). I think it's success is mostly due to the fresh new characters introduced in the film. I mean yes, it was incredible seeing some of the original cast return but it didn't take long for me to get way more excited about the new characters.

Me after seeing TFA on opening night. Yes I really do love 'Rats Sraw'.

I've been to the cinema to see The Force Awakens 4 times since it opened, which is a personal record for me but somehow doesn't seem like nearly enough times. It's no secret that I LOVE this film. Sure it has a few plot holes and you leave the film with more questions than answers but OH MY GOSH IT IS SOOOO GOOD! I love everything about it, the action and the drama, the new villains, the new heroes, it's just all very brilliant.

the original movies centered around the trio of Luke, Leia and Han, and the new movie gave us the similar 'dream team' of Rey, Finn and Poe. It didn't take much to win me over to adoring these new characters! I was already a fan of Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron, on the right) and Finn (John Boyega, left) and Rey (Daisy Ridley, middle) are both fantastic and funny and BRILLIANT! And yeah, I like the new 'baddie' as well, Adam Driver as Kylo Ren is awesome, but it's the trio above that really stole the show.

the 300 Star Wars stickers I bought to decorate my desk. for Science.

I'm hopeless at drawing guys, I mean I'd love to have a go at illustrating Finn and Poe but it will only end badly. + Rey is the MAIN CHARACTER, so I decided to have a go at drawing her. Now as I've said many times, I'm not great at making my drawings look like the people they're supposed to, so bear that in mind here. I tried my best though, I even added BB-8 to keep her company on Jakku. So... here's my fanart of Rey.

The detail on this one nearly killed me! I considered giving up soooo many times, or kept asking myself why I had to draw every single fold and crease in the clothing. But it was probably worth it right?!

To be honest I can't remember the last time I drew someone who didn't have rainbow hair or candy coloured clothes. It was strange to use such a muted palette, but somehow Rey wouldn't look right in a pink outfit! She's a scavenger on a desert planet, she's a survivor and a fighter, hence the bloody knuckles and dirty, worn clothing. She's also utterly BRILLIANT and amazing and perfect!

I added lots of textures to the fabrics as you can see, and it took forever. But you know what, it was still super fun to work on this one. Probably because I listened to the Force Awakens score on repeat while I drew/edited. But what else was I supposed to listen to?!

if you've a keen eye, you might have noticed throughout the post that I'm a bit of a Darth Vader fan, and yes... my lightsaber is red just like the ones belonging to the Sith (no, that's not a typo). I'm not sure why but I've always sided with the dark side, being a Jedi just seems kind of boring sometimes. The Sith get to dress in black, wield blood red lightsabers and generally go around being dangerous and badass. Thanks to an online dress-up game, I had a go at dreaming up what I might look like as a Sith and I think it's safe to say that Sith Jade would be EPIC!

just call me Darth Jader. or don't, whatever...

Black and Red are my favourite colours so on a very basic level it makes sense that i'd align with the Empire/First Order. Sure they're all morally corrupted and power mad, yes they often go around murdering people and messing stuff up but hey... they sure look good while doing it.

Hmm I'm not really selling it am I?! Ah well.

Anyway, the point of this post is that yes, I do love Star Wars, and no... I will never grow out of it.

Now all I have to do is keep waiting along with everyone else for the next installment, Episode VIII in December 2017. At least we have the Rogue One movie this December, just give me ALL THE STAR WARS!

so on that note i'll say goodbye, i'll try and blog again soon but we all know there's a chance you might not hear from me on here again for a few months.

so until then... May the Force be with you!

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

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!

Cry Baby ❤️

Hello dearhearts, I've gone a bit AWOL again recently haven't I?! A lot has been happening and I just haven't found the time to write a blog about it.

And i'm still not going to!

so instead, here's my latest new illustration, it's a new addition to the Candy Doll Club (obviously!) and it's an illustration of one of my favourite singers... Melanie Martinez

for those of you unfamiliar with her work, Melanie is an American singer/songwriter/artist with this gorgeous voice and a candy coloured electropop feel to her music! The look is all sugar and light with sweet feminine pastels and lacy frills, but the sound is often deliciously sinister in contrast. 

 I love her music and performance style because it's a reminder that just because something looks sweet and innocent, doesn't mean it is. It says don't judge by appearances; evil can be pleasant and pretty on the outside. Just like poisoned candy.

it isn't hard to see why I like her so much! If you know my work at all then you'll known that Melanie is basically like a real life 'Candy Doll' complete with pastel hair, sweet tattoos and the 'don't mess with me' attitude that every Candy Doll embodies.

Her debut album has just been released and it's called 'Cry Baby' and I absolutely LOVE it! Melanie's songs are like a Mark Ryden pop surrealist painting come to life, with fairytale/nursery rhyme themes laced with darker messages and a much more sinister vibe lurking under the sugary sweet surface.

here's the title song from the album (there's some swearing in this one! so don't say I didn't warn you)

I particularly like the song because it's kind of empowering!

When I was younger I was quite an emotional girl, clumsy and quick to cry whenever I got a bruise or a scrape (which was often!), because of this the other students used to tease me and call me 'cry baby'. By the time I was fourteen most of my yeargroup + the ones above and below would shout 'cry baby' or 'cry me a river' at me whenever they saw me whether it was in class or not they'd yell it repeatedly at me until I walked out or inevitably burst into tears. So of all the things I COULD have been bullied for, this is what they picked.

Obviously looking back now it seems utterly ridiculous and laughable, but at the time it felt upsetting and interminable. I didn't want to go to school, I couldn't concentrate in class, even my so called 'best friends' used to join in with the rest of the bullies in an attempt to avoid being picked on themselves. It might seem petty and unimportant but it ultimately led to depression, anxiety and a life-long inability to exhibit emotions properly unless they become overpowering. I didn't cry for years, it wasn't until I started treatment for depression in February 2014 that I began to realise that it was OKAY to cry sometimes. That there was in fact nothing wrong with it!

So to hear a song like this with the lyrics 'You're one of a kind, And no one understands, But those cry baby tears, Keep coming back again' is kind of inspiring. I wish this song had been around ten years ago when I was being bullied. My favourite part of the song is the chorus,

'They call you cry baby, Cry baby... But you don't fucking care' 

anyway, inspired by the lovely Miss Martinez's new album and general AMAZINGNESS, I decided it was about time I had a go at drawing her!

 

she's always updating her look so although her hair doesn't look like this at the moment, it's one of my fave hairstyles that she's had and I don't think i've EVER drawn a Candy Doll with a bob before! 

The Cry Baby pennant flag was just a little addition to include the album title and one of Melanie's tattoos.

she has quite a few lovely candy hued tattoos including this pretty pastel Carousel horse.



as well as ice creams and other cute characters and designs.

the dress is inspired by Japanese Lolita culture but with some of my own designs to fill out the detail on the full skirt.

It was lots of fun to draw this one. I rarely draw the Candy Dolls based on real people so it was cool to recreate Melanie's actual existing tattoo designs and stuff.

right well I can't think of anything else to talk about so i'll leave it there I think. Thanks for reading, I hope you like the new illustration! I should have some more to show you again soon.

BIG THANKS to Melanie Martinez for being so fabulous and inspiring! you can check out her official website with links to buy her album HERE

and if you like what you see, then here's another of her songs with a twisted candy coloured music video!



bye for now!

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!