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!

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

Who Ya Gonna Call?

Hello there my dears, I failed spectacuarly last week by somehow managing NOT to post a blog at all. For this I apologize, it wasn't a great week and every time I though 'ooh I should probably go do a blog' I found that I had absolutely nothing to talk about.

So naturally I just didn't push it. I mean I could have made stuff up and told you a fantastical tale plucked straight from the dizzying depths of my overactive imagination. But I didn't.

Anyway, i'm here now and guess what?! I DREW something again! Big news, I know.

If you're a regular reader of my inane ramblings then by now it probably goes without saying that I am a massive geek and a total fangirl (I declare this with pride, I feel no shame for my lifelong obsessions with books/movies/tv shows etc) so when I popped Netflix on in the background and sat down with my pencils and paper thinking 'hhm I think i'll draw a new Candy Doll type girl today' the result ended up turning into something completely different but nonetheless still kind of girly and eventually kind of awesome.

Despite having seen it at least 100 times (probably) and owning more than one copy of it on DVD, for some reason I once again opted to watch 'Ghostbusters' on Netflix.

So this is what I ended up drawing...

Now you're probably sitting there thinking... why? And that is a very good question which I will try to answer for you now.

Firstly, because GHOSTBUSTERS and secondly because, GHOSTBUSTERS.

Come on give me a break it's my favourite movie and this is the first time i've attempted to draw myself a proper Ghostbuster (I drew the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man once, and of course my Adventure Time crossover HERE) and since I can never seem to pick a fave from the Movie and I was never sure of all the characters in the cartoon, I invented my own fearsome redheaded (busty) buster ready to kick some supernatural ass!

She's a Rookie buster, still in training, learning how to catch ghosts without burning faces off or destroying buildings. Although she might have got a bit more than she bargained for with Slimer, I think he's taken a bit of a shine to her!

The blog upload kind of massacres the colour quality but it really pops, I tried to post it on my Tumblr blog but to no avail as apparently the wifi router at home hates me today with a vile burning passion because it took me about 2 flipping hours to upload everything for this post. I'll be quiet now.

So as well as the movie (obviously) I was also inspired by some of the brilliantly amazing GB Pinup girl shoots I saw over on Ghostbusters News so I thought it could be fun to have a go at one myself. So she had to be sexy (of course) but still dressed in the proper Ghostbusters gear ready to wrangle some ghosties! 

I had to wriggle a few things around (the patch on her arm is on the wrong side I think, but it's an illustration not a 100% accurate representation, so please calm down Ghostbusters fans, i'm sorry!) but she was still tonnes of fun to draw. 

here are a few of the shots that inspired the illustration, each one is linked to the corresponding post over on Ghostbusters News with full info about the photographers and models and so on.

And that's just a few examples from some of the shoots on the site, aren't they brilliant! I have a feeling that my next cosplay project might have to be a Ghostbusters costume, as authentic as possible, or maybe I can drag in my current cosplay alter ego and form some sort of Mary Poppins Ghostbusters hybrid?! we shall see...

So yeah that's it, a new drawing, at last. It's been a while since I drew a girl not covered with tattoos or multicoloured rainbow mermaid hair. Not that there's anything wrong with any of those things (obviously!) but it was fun to draw and colour something a little less pastel princess and more ghostbustin' goddess! 

Anyway that's all I wanted to share with y'all today since I have nothing else to tell you about.

I read some more books and marathon-watched a few shows online, which was about as exciting as it sounds.

So on that delightful note i'll sign off, see you all next time, hopefully!

Cheerio folks

I ain't afraid of no Ghosts!

Hello dearhearts, can it be, am I really back again so soon with another blog? 

Oh you betcha!

I'll get right to the point. Regular readers might recall me having mentioned one or two (or perhaps several) times in the past how I happen to be quite a fan of a certain film called Ghostbusters...

Actually, I'm a flipping MASSIVE Ghostbusters fan! I've seen the movie so many times I can practically quote the ruddy thing (yes i love GB2 as well, but GB1 is my fave), add to that my heap of Ghostbusters t-shirts + uniquely customised Converse (see those here) and various other bustin' related merch, well yeah, I guess you could call me a bit of a fangirl (well that's an understatement).

Anyway, those of you with a love of all things geeky might be aware that this year is the 30^th anniversary since Ghostbusters was first released at cinemas, and that part of the celebrations this year include the release of a very special limited edition Lego playset

now I know what you're thinking, 'Jade you weren't even born when Ghostbusters came out, why should you care about some daft Lego?' and i'm going to stop you there because although it's true that in 1984 I was a good seven years away from even existing, that is entirely beside the point.

Growing up in the early nineties most of the music, films and TV shows I watched were all from the 80's, so it's no surprise that my favourite movie is from that decade (my second favourite film is the Blues Brothers, which came out in 1980). 

And if you're now thinking 'yes but Jade you are twenty-three years old, you are a grown-up, why would you waste your money on a toy?!' and i'll stop you there again because I will literally never grow up.

And furthermore... I got the Lego. So there.

It arrived yesterday morning from Denmark and although all I wanted to do was tear the box open and crack on with the build, I had to spend the day packing up books and things (i'm moving home soonish, hopefully) and then in the evening I had a cinema trip (to see Maleficent, which was brilliant!) so alas, I haven't had chance to carefully assemble (aka play with) the Lego kit until today.

First of all, the box is actually brilliant! I'm keeping it. Forever. Inside the box everything was bagged up alongside the instruction book, which is also brilliant! There's a whole bunch of quotes from the movie scattered throughout the assembly guide, it was great to glance down to see which parts were next only to spot a funny quote sitting in the corner. I would have taken some photos of it but I was too busy BUILDING!

In the general flurry of excitement that was opening the bags of bricks I didn't really find the time to keep snapping progress shots, but here's one of the carnage before the build. Literally the FIRST thing I did as soon as I opened the box was build the characters. Before I even thought of assembling the car, I built the guys, so that they could watch Ecto-1 appear next! 

And appear it did. In truly magnificent style! What a beauty...

When I found out that the set was being brought out in time for the anniversary I was determined to get myself one regardless, but I was so so SO pleased to see just how much attention to detail the kit has. The car is brilliant inside and out (it even has space for the proton packs in the boot/trunk) and it was SO MUCH FUN to build!

The guys though right? Lets talk about them! BRILLIANT attention to detail on the fellas, they each have their initials on the front of their uniforms and their names on the back (hidden beneath the proton packs) the uniforms on the front are all ever so slightly different as well, with little quirks for each figure in keeping with their movie counterpart.

 
They also all have two expressions, happy and scared, so I suppose a pre Ghostbustin' face and one for when they're trying to wrangle a ghostie down in to the darn ghost trap!

I'm not gonna lie, this is probably one of THE best things i've ever bought in my life! In a way i'm kind of glad i'm an adult (I couldn't even type that with a straight face) because I wouldn't have been able to afford something as awesome as this when I was a kid, and i'm pretty sure no-one, not even Santa, would have got me this as a present.

Once the kit was assembled and finished, it was kind of a sad moment because I didn't have anything else to build. But I DID have a lot of fun  posing and playing with everything.
I might have put three of the guys inside the car and trundled it all over my desk for a while, while singing along (loudly) to the Ghostbusters theme tune. But nobody witnessed it so it might not have actually happened.
(spoiler: it did).

After that I also might have plucked my little Lego Loki off the shelf and introduced him to the Ghostbusters. He didn't seem to pleased about new Lego folk invading the neighbourhood (of my desk) but they've managed to beat a God before so I think they'll be okay.

All I could think when I took this shot was 'Ray, when someone asks you if you're a God, you say Yes!'

Anyway as if you couldn't already tell I'm really happy with the set and it's brilliant and I LOVE it and i'll be quiet now. 

For the time being Ecto-1 + the busters have taken up residence on my desk, along with all the other fun junk I keep piled up on it (for inspiration).

And on that sickeningly colourful and rather merry note i'll draw this post to a close. I have a few others lined up in my mind shed (some people have mind palaces, at the moment I can just about manage a barely cobbled together wooden hut) so look out for those over the next week or so.

And as always, until next time, that's all folks...

ps - Watch this. You're welcome!