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!

What Time Is It...

Hello chums, apologies for the total absence of posts over the past couple of weeks, it's been a tough month so far, i've been feeling unwell recently and it's getting me a bit down. But no matter for here I am THIS week with some new illustrations to show you all!

If you're one of the lovely people who follow me on my various interweb profiles like facebook, twitter, tumblr or instagram then you'll probably have seen me post about the wonder that is Adventure Time at some point.

well Adventure Time is one of my favourite animated shows, I love it for so many reasons, one of which being the fantastic characters that inhabit the Land of Ooo (the world where the show is set) so I decided to draw two of my fave characters from the cast.

So here's my take on Princess Bubblegum and Marceline the Vampire Queen...

Yeah so these two definitely fit into the Candy Doll Club category but with a bit of a twist since technically neither of them are human. But more about that in a moment.

Bit of a backstory for those of you unfamiliar with all things Adventure Time, the show mainly focuses on the adventures and shenanigans of Finn the human and Jake the (magical) dog as well as the many other various inhabitants of the Land of Ooo.

It's a brilliant show for kids of all ages (that includes 23-year-old kids such as myself) with catchy songs, witty storylines and cleverly explained morals and life lessons.

Some of you might remember one of my previous Adventure Time fanart attempts, namely my Ghostbusting Time design featuring Ghostbuster Finn and Slimer ghost Jake (+ ghost princess, cherry blossom ghost and ghost-trap Beemo)

well this time i wanted to have a go at recreating some of the characters in my own style.

 There are so many incredible characters in the show, my brain is already buzzing with ideas for some of the other female characters, all potential future members of the Candy Doll Club for sure!



But for the time being I picked the two I love the most, Princess Bubblegum and Marceline.

So first up we have Bonnibel Bubblegum aka Princess Bubblegum, or PB, is the ruler of the Candy Kingdom

 PB spends most of her time benevolently ruling over the candy people but if she's not helping her loyal subjects you'll find her in the lab cooking up some new chemical concoctions or whipping up a snazzy new invention. She's a total Science whizz, all round genius and she's made entirely of (you guessed it) bubblegum!

Since she's made of gum I tried to go for a slightly different look, so instead of drawing normal hair, I gave her sugar sweet flowing locks of sort of gloopy candy hair (they look a bit like dreads as well I think) + a flask containing one of her latest chemical experiments because SCIENCE!

PB looks about 19 but she's actually over 800 years old! Her best friend is Lady Rainicorn (she's a rainbow striped unicorn in case you were wondering). By the way, PB doesn't have any tattoos because her candy biomass is incompatible with ink. And also needles!

but listen up cause now it's this gal's turn...

Marceline Abadeer aka Marceline the Vampire Queen, a radical dame who likes to play games, musical lyricist, songstress and bass player, 50% demon, 50% vampire, 100% awesome.

Unlike most other vampires, Marcy doesn't feed on blood to survive, instead she can gain sustenance from sinking her fangs into things and drinking shades of red, in particular the red of strawberries.

Unlike her Candy counterpart PB, Marcy has no aversion to needles and her carefully inked sleeves are dedicated to the most important things in her world.

Despite her youthful appearance, Marceline is over 1000 years old and has spent her long life travelling all over the land of Ooo. Marceline's father Hunson Abadeer is ruler of the Nightosphere but Marcy isn't really interested in ruling over the demons, preferring to be Vampire Queen instead.

Marcy and PB don't always see eye to eye on everything but they can work together when necessary, despite bickering and teasing they're still kind of close, even if PB doesn't always agree with Marcy's taste in music.

so that's that. New illustrations always wreck my head for a day or two, probably because i stayed awake until 3am trying to finish them. But oh well.

no plans for this week, but then as you all know I rarely do anything any more that requires me to actually leave my house for more than an hour or two.

so until next time, thanks for stopping by to see the pictures and stuff

cheerio folks!

May Drawing Challenge - Day 14

the theme for today was a bit of a tricky one i thought, 'a tree made up of words' conjured up all sorts of images in my head and i struggled to decide on what to draw. i've been working in my college logbook all day sticking in research while listening to music. earlier this afternoon a particular song came up on my macbook and so i ended up doodling this...

yep no colour. i wasn't really in the mood to doodle or drawn anything today let alone attempt a colourfully painted tree so it's definitely my simplest doodle so far but is still quite clearly a tree made of words, well lyrics to be precise.

some lyrics from 'Follow You Down To The Red Oak Tree' by Irish folk singer James Vincent McMorrow. and just in case you're now sitting there wondering what the song sounds like, here's the video for it :)





anyway that's that and that's my doodle for today.

so until tomorrow, that's all folks... xX

Parcels and Princesses ★

so today I had a lovely day at college! It was my turn to provide the music for the class so we spent the afternoon listening to all sorts of stuff from the 40's and 50's which was a-ok with me! + we oh so briefly got granted wi-fi access today, my macbook was the tester but the wi-fi only lasted about 10 minutes before vanishing again! fingers crossed they get it sorted... soon!

Anyway today I have some new artwork to share with you all!

I've been busy the past few days working on these little designs for college featuring princesses.

Now i'm not entirely sure what they're for or where they're going but I did them anyway!

There are 4 finished (are they?! I'm not sure) Princess Tiles altogether... so far

supposedly they're each based on an old Fairytale Princess,

there's... Sleeping Beauty

Snow White

Rapunzel

and Cinderella... although why this one is 'Cinderella' i'm not entirely sure! She's either Cinderella or the Princess and the Pea, or maybe Thumbelina... who knows! If anyone can think of a more suitable title for her... let me know!

oh and in case you were wondering, their unusual colour schemes come from a set of felt circles my mum got me, i intend to sew into them a bit so i guess the plan is for the embroidery pieces to link with these tiles!

* * *

in other news...

a big parcel from asos arrived for me today!

last year a client paid me with an asos voucher that i've been slowly but surely spending since then! i bought a dress with the voucher way back in February (obviously that's not me in the pic... but trust me, it looks much better on the model)

and this time i bought 2 more pretty dresses...

a cute little skin care gift-set

and a pair of adorable Cath Kidston earrings!

i just luuuuuurve getting parcels though! no matter what they're for! 

* * *

not much else to report on today, so far people seem to be liking the badges and mirrors! i posted off 2 badges to a customer this morning + i even sold a mirror at college!

see the full range here - Jade's Etsy Shop

back to college again tomorrow

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

music and mayhem ★

so i actually left the house yesterday afternoon/evening to head into Douglas to watch the red arrows + meet my cousin and my sister before the gig

here i am with my cousin Mandy, waiting for the display to start.

but more importantly... the red arrows were AMAZING!!!

i managed to snap a few quick shots of them swooping around Douglas bay but as we all know, my camera is a bit shoddy so the pics aren't that great. . .

they were really, really amazing though + we found out that one of the pilots was from Coventry, which was nice (all and i mean ALL of my family comes from/lives in Coventry!)

speaking of family, my sister Nikki turned up next

then it was time for the show, we wandered around the Villa Marina for a bit before the gig and Imelda came on at just gone 9pm

myself + Nikki attempted to take a photo but. . . you guessed it, camera + dark room = godawful picture!!!

Imelda looked amazing though! she had this gorgeous red and black polka dot pencil dress and a skull and roses necklace, very rockabilly, very awesome!!!

kind of like this dress only red with black polka dots and black buttons/belt/collar

the gig was amazing! i'd definitely recommend seeing her live if you ever get the chance, what a voice!!!

to be honest i think i just enjoyed getting out of the house for once! at the gig i bumped into Ciara and Julie from Sweet Ginger, my friend Melanie from the Alpine, my graphics tutor Andy and my web designer friend Richard, so all in all it was a super duper night

DEFINITELY go and see Imelda May perform if she ever does a gig in your city/town/country. . . for sure!

after the show i took a walk along the prom (Douglas Promenade) since it all looked so pretty with the fun-fair all lit up

believe it or not but this is one of the first years in a long time that i've actually bothered to visit Douglas at night during the TT, i'm so boring i always stay at home, but the atmosphere last night was great

so maybe now i know what i've been missing all these years

anyway providing it doesn't rain on Friday, i intend to make i into Douglas for the senior race day firework display at night :)

* * *

gosh bit of a boring post today guys! sorry. . .

i don't have anything else to tell you about since i've spent most of the past 2 days editing files for a tattoo design commission + a web design commission

busy busy busy!

i have 3 more artists lined up for the next few 'Creative Café' posts though, so i'll try to work on them next

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