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

Candy Girl

Hello dearhearts! If you read the last post then you'll know i've been away for a week. I actually got back last Wednesday evening but i've been verrrrrry busy trying to organize my room (and my life) as well as attempting a massive clear-out of old stuff I no longer need!

Anyway it's taken me since then to think up a new blog post + to conjure up another new member of the Candy Doll Club... sort of

here she is

i know, i know... she's tooth achingly sweet! What did you expect?!

now when I say 'new' what I mean is 'reworked', since this one is technically a re-working of an old Xmas Candy Doll illustration I completed last December.

Back when I drew the lineart (and yes, I did DRAW most of this one on paper first) I couldn't think of a theme or colour palette for her so I ended up coming up with the Candy Cane polka dotted madness that you can see above.

So yesterday evening I was scrolling through some old illustrations and I thought about how much I liked the pose so wouldn't it be fun to turn her into a proper CANDY girl?!

So I did.

For this radical redesign, I was actually inspired by v brilliant French Blogger and style maven extraordinaire Katia aka LazyKat

I've followed (in a non stalkerish sense) most of her online profiles for a few years now (her Instagram is particularly epic - iamlazykat) and i'm always amazed by and insanely jealous of her pastel pretty style and very gorgeous (and highly enviable) wardrobe of clothes and accessories!

She always posts fabulously put together outfits and she's basically a real live human version of a 'Candy Doll'!

As well as being an all round Pastel Babe, Kat also has heaps of candy cute tattoos including a few My Little Pony ones, hence why the latest illustrated member of the Candy Doll Club has her two fave Ponies on her arms + another on her shirt.

And i chose My Little Pony because come on... who doesn't love some classic My Little Pony?!i grew up with stacks of the toys (i've probably got some up in the attic still) and i used to love watching the cartoons on TV.

so BIG thanks for the pastel inspiration Kat! merci beaucoup, tu es magnifique!

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in other slightly less colourful news, i had a WONDERFUL time away visiting family in Coventry, a really lovely week which included a particularly laughter filled visit to Leamington with my two darling nieces Madison and Daisy

i managed to snap this pic of them in a Fancy Dress shop, they always cheer me up no matter what!

and... i can't think of anything else to talk about so that'll have to do for now!

so until next time, whenever that may be, cheerio and thanks for reading!

College Exhibition 2012

hello again, i know, i KNOW... i said i'd post the other day but it was my final HND assessment yesterday at college so it was all a bit 'panic stations' while i sorted everything for that.

the good news is that i have been offered a place for the final BA year next year :) so yaaaaaaaay!

anyway, i thought i might share a few snaps of my actual exhibition. bearing in mind that we all get the same grey or white boards on which to display our work, we're kind of limited to how it's all going to look so it's not particularly glamourous or exciting... but it is mine!

so in case you can't really tell from the pictures, my end of year exhibition consisted of a set of printed cotton Tote Bags (with the handles pinned away) with matching Badges

a series of four acrylic painted canvases...

 

i also had three printed and embroidered cushions... (you can purchase these here)

some postcard and business card bunting + real sweetie garlands (they were so much fun to make!)

 as well as some little exhibition booklets... (available to buy here)

 

there are actually 20 pages in each booklet, they feature ALL of the 'candy pop dolls' as well as matching lyrics pages featuring the song lyrics that inspired each doll + some funky end papers :)

so there you have it! exhibition 2012... done!

in case you hadn't guessed it already, pretty much ALL of the stuff is already for sale

i have prints and postcards featuring the dolls as well

they're ALL available via my big cartel shop RIGHT HERE


and also on my Etsy Shop


(i'll hopefully be adding some badges and totes to the shops soonish as well)

and as if that weren't thrilling enough, there are now even iPhone cases/skins, hoodies, tees, prints, canvases and cards also available via my Society6 shop

they're also available on iPhone cases, stickers and stuff via my Red Bubble Shop

+ you can currently get 15% off ALL iPhone cases with the code IPHN15

* * *

ok i'll shut up about shops now! promise :)

i'm toying with the idea of giving some of this stuff away to one of YOU luuurvely readers but i'm not sure yet, would anyone like to get their hands on a free print + a booklet and some postcards and badges???

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