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...

 

Candy Hearts ♥

hello chums, as promised i'm back again with yet another thrilling installment of Jade's Life, this week featuring a new Candy Doll illustration + some other stuff.

so let's get on with it.

As you may have noticed, I spend a lot of my time drawing ladies with colourful hair and nice clothes, I'm not always sure why I draw things like this but I enjoy creating them so that's what matters right?!

Anyway there's a new one further on in this post...

but before that, here's some anti-Valentine Candy Hearts I did for V day last week.

I usually try to create some sort of illustration for Valentine's Day but this year I left it too late and I didn't have time to put together a new Candy Doll (like the one below) so I opted for Girl Power candy hearts instead!

 In case you're wondering, I spent my Valentine's Day wandering round town with my little cousin Sienna and then in the evening I went for tea with my friend Lorna before going to see 50 Shades of Grey with her at the cinema for our Valentine's 'Date'. In my defense, I would like to point out that I only agreed to go see that film with Lorna on the understanding that she'll go and see Crimson Peak with me in October! ^_^

Lorna is a MASSIVE fan of Jamie Dornan, so I didn't get much say in the matter when she booked tickets to go see the film. I didn't mind too much, it was nice to spend a V Day out doing stuff instead of sitting at home watching horror films by myself + consuming my body weight in butter popcorn.

ps: here's the Birthday card I made for Lorna last month! (see, i'm SUCH a good friend! I mean this card was obviously soooo tedious and boring to put together...)

right i'm getting distracted, back to the post, back to the ART!

 I also made the design available on a bunch of products over on Society6 (I think the clock is my fave!)

Right then, onto the other thing i've drawn recently, say hello to this gal!

I braid/plait my hair pretty much every single day so it's always fun to draw a Candy Doll with a nice plait, gotta love that chunky rainbow braid right!

she's not got any (visible) tattoos but she's a certified member of the Candy Doll Club (see her rosette!) and she gets her jeans and necklaces from ASOS 

she's also available on various cool stuff via Society6

* * *

in other news, this week I sent off a super cute Sailor Moon tote bag to a lovely lady in Alaska! I'm sooooo happy to have finally sold this bag! I really enjoyed working on the design and when I added it to my shop it got a lot of likes and faves from people but nobody bought it! So i'm glad to know that someone out there liked it enough to give it a home.

 after i'd sent the bag off I took the opportunity to update my Etsy Shop with some more tote designs,
there's currently only one of each bag in stock so if you've had your eye on one, be aware that it might not be around forever!

 

ALL available bags are listed HERE + each bag comes with a matching Candy Doll Club ribbon rosette! AND a bundle of free postcards and stickers, it's really super good value for £8

right and now I can't think of much else to tell you so i'll end the post. I think i've done enough self promotion for one blog!

until next time, thanks for stopping by to read (or look at the pictures) hope to see you again next time!

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

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!

Doodle Tote Bags

Hello my dears, hope you're all fine and well this sunny Thursday evening. At least, it's sunny here, obviously I can't be sure that it's sunny wherever YOU are.

Lets stop talking about the weather.

So yesterday morning I got a sudden urgent need to draw something, anything, everything!

This happens to me from time to time and I usually just scribble out something halfheartedly on a nearby sheet of A4.

However this time paper and pencils didn't seem to hold the solution, nor did sketching out a design for a new painting, so instead I sorted out some plain cotton tote bags (that have sat unused in a box for well over a year) and thought i'd have a go at doodling straight onto the bags instead of anything else. Like the walls.

This was the result...

Now it's not the first time i've drawn onto fabric, nor will it probably be the last, but every single time I sit down to do it I somehow always forget how much FUN it is!

I mean yeah it's true that the pens dry out super fast and the slightest nudge sends the line wavering into a wobbly mess but still, there's something very gratifying about drawing on fabric. To me anyway. I don't know maybe it just felt good to be drawing anything at all.

I tried not to over think the  drawings too much so tried to work on them quickly before my mind could talk me out of it or come up with some other spontaneous scheme.

The first design I drew out quickly turned into a bunch of Sailor Moon doodles. Yes i'm still very much stuck in Sailor Moon mode, and I don't think i'll be leaving the obsession behind just yet, especially not now that I have the new cartoon to watch (which is utterly brilliant by the way).

Then I took a break because my wrist was protesting achily at the unexpected need for it to actually do something other than turn a page in a book or pick up a fork.

THEN I came back to my desk and drew out another 5 designs. After which my wrist really REALLY wasn't happy.

Next came a very sweet design, as in the doodles are so sweet they'll rot your teeth! Everyone loves cakes though right?! I know I do. And sweeties. And DONUTS! So this was probably the easiest one to draw.

Next there was a Summertime themed bag, lots of fun Summery type things. I'm not much of a beach fan (growing up on an island has forever lessened the excitement that a beach and the sea usually instills in people. I see the sea several times a day and I went to school opposite a beach. I like them, but I do not love them) but I was obviously thinking of lazy days on the sun drenched sand when I doodled this one.

After that it was a slightly less cluttered one, simple but nice (probably my favourite in fact) a slightly 'Sailor Larry' tattoo inspired bag. The text was the most fun bit to do.

 Then after another break for water and sweeties, there was a slightly Lolita inspired bag. I'm currently re-reading Lolita so it seemed like a good idea to throw in some bits n' bobs from the book (and the movies) and this doodle was the result.

And last but certainly not least, I drew out one of my 'dolls', in fact she was one of the first ever 'Candy Doll' girls I ever drew (way back in 2012) so I thought it might be nice to plonk her and her judging stare onto the side of a bag.

The bags were super fun to doodle on and since each design was different, it didn't get too boring. In fact i'd probably have carried on decorating more bags if i'd had any!

Anyway, all of these 100% unique and one-of-a-kind work of art tote bags are now up for sale in my Etsy shop.

Y'all will probably think they're too pricey, in which case oh well, I guess i'll just never sell any! You see, as much as i'd like to slap on a super cheap bargain price, I drew each one by hand, literally until my hand ached, they took about half-an-hour each!

That's three hours altogether, three hours I could've spent reading or staring at the ceiling.

Well they're there anyway, and if they don't sell i'll just have 6 nifty new tote bags to shove all my books and stuff in. 

To sweeten the deal, each bag comes with a very sepcial handmade limited edition ribbon rosette and matching button badge.

If you've been a long-time admirer of the Candy Doll girls then this is your chance to officially become one of them by joining the Candy Doll Club.

The rosettes are super sweet and perfectly candy coloured! They look great on the tote bags but if you still want a limited edition rosette (and badge) for your very own self, they're available separately HERE.

Okay so that's that. Recent spurt of creativity. Not much else to tell.

I seem to be getting worse at finishing these posts so maybe I should end on a song!

Don't worry i'm not about to start serenading you, but here's a video of a new-ish song I really kind of like. The lyrics are brilliant and it's impossible for me to not love every scene of the video as it is SO VERY VERY VERY candy coloured!

If my Candy Doll girls were real (which they are, obviously...) then I think this is what they'd listen to. A Candy Pop pop song. perfect



so until next time, cheerio folks, thanks for reading!