angie brown :: artist | illustrator | designer
In my ongoing fascination with animals doing people things, I give you Boys Who Brunch, a cut paper collage featuring all recycled materials: paint chips, security envelope, greeting card envelope, hang tag from a screwdriver set, and a magazine page.
I really should do more like this.
I saw this random cat from the internet—I liked her expression—so gave her some accessories… and maybe there’s a bit of a backstory developing. Her name is Petunia. I think this might be my new journal challenge for a while.
I’ve been doodling animals drinking in bars a lot lately. It amuses me and I don’t know why so I’m just going to embrace it and call it my Thing.
Other projects lately include my Halloween costume, which got completely and ridiculously out of control.
Turns out, wiggery is not to be entered into lightly. More about that later.
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I’ve fallen behind on my bloggings of late, due to several books that insisted on my attention. Here’s a morning doodle to help get back into the rhythm of writing and posting.
Now that I see this drawing out of the context of my sketchbook, I’m thinking it could definitely be improved with the addition of a cat or two…
Since I started the Rocked that Look illustration challenge to work on human action poses and movement, I’ve noticed the unintended effect it’s had on the amount of care I put into choosing my outfit each day. “Could I totally rock out in this outfit?” I ask myself. “Can I play air guitar in this?” And most importantly, “Is this outfit going to be fun to draw?” These are two of my favorite looks from last week.
In other news, I’ve also been sewing plushies lately. I mentioned an iguana recently in another post, but I’ve decided that he’s not ready for the public yet. Inigo’s going back under the knife for a little redesign surgery.
We do, however, have the pleasure of introducing Toby, the adorable sloth baby. He, or someone very much like him, will be appearing in my Etsy shop shortly. Toby incorporates scraps from my Sherlock Halloween/cosplay dress and a bit of the wool plaid skirt I’m currently frankenstyling into a wrap-around.
And now frankenstyling is a word. You’re welcome.
I missed a few days of my air guitar / wardrobe illustration challenge this week, *because cats.* After three very tense days and as many trips to the vet, we are now on our way to a full recovery. To celebrate the health and wellness of our family unit, I had the girls join me for the special Halloween Edition of Rocked That Look. Inspired by the BBC series Sherlock, Vivi is rocking the titular role and her sidekick Jenkins rocks out as John Watson, while I, of course, am the apartment at 221B Baker Street.
I made the dress a few weeks ago using fabric printed with the wallpaper pattern of Sherlock and John’s living room. (Purchased from Spoonflower.) The cats’ costumes are purely imaginary, as no self-respecting cat would wear that ridiculous hat.
My favorite of this series so far is the green cargo skirt look from the 25th. That’s the one where I sort of figured out how I wanted these to look. And now I’m just working out the details and tough bits, and trying to push the poses.
I’ve been having tons o’ fun this week with my new drawing challenge, in which I render myself rocking out on the air guitar in whatever I wore the previous day. I’ve started calling the project *Rocked That Look* and it’s become a vital part of my daily coffee-and-Pinterest morning ritual. This week, while researching new pose reference images, (Hello Eddie, Jimi, and Jimmy,) I learned that the facial expression is an integral part of the guitar solo. One simply cannot play the air guitar without a proper Air Guitar Solo Face®. Other project parameters: Always vary the pose, and always push… push the media and materials, push the technique, push the movement and energy. Always keep it interesting, and above all else—no matter what—Rock. That. Look.
Also, I’m probably gonna need more boots in my life for this project to be successful…
Sometimes I get in a doodly mood, but can’t think of anything to draw. I’ve always thought illustrator Gemma Correll’s What I Wore Today project looked like fun, and with the hallowed advent of boot weather, it seemed like the perfect time to start a similar project of my own. Besides, I really need to work on my people skills… as in how I might draw them n’ stuff. I tend to draw lots of animals and plants, architecture and such, but not humans very often. I also want to explore movement and action more, something a bit more dynamic than the ol’ flat and frontal. And somehow all that landed me here… playing the air guitar. I’m not sure where the idea came from, but it amuses me quite a bit. So far, I have four such renderings of the past week’s fashions, and in all of them, I am wailing away mid-solo on my imaginary Les Paul. This is my favorite. Rock on, y’all.
This week’s project is a fun little illustration for a chili cook-off fundraiser benefiting local pet rescue groups and shelters. My friends in the feline rescue are teaming up with a newly formed canine rescue group that concentrates its efforts on the “bully” breeds. The concept they gave me was “bully dog vs. refined feline,” and the dog group happens to be led by a local chef.
I felt compelled to play with le fabric scraps on this project, and go all experimental with bleach and burlap and paint and stuff. Later on, I’ll be incorporating the illustration into a poster along with some hand-drawn lettering, and probably a few chili pepper doodles sprinkled hither and thither to nail the concept down visually.
I’m rather pleased with the overall look so far… My favorite parts, of course, are the dog’s “tattoos”.
‘Scuse me while I fangirl. I discovered artist/illustrator Oliver Jeffers recently. I’m fascinated by his work, his Irish accent, and his adorable hipster mustache in this video.
Just a little pen/color pencil doodle from le sketchbook in which I play with marks and fields of color.
Other proposed titles for this post included:
So I thought I’d branch out a bit from the usual cats and dogs, and add a bit of variety to my repertoire. I have noticed that men are easier to draw in this whimsical style, which is a total 180 from my historical stance on gender rendering.
I rather like the two guys at the top. I think they might be in a band. The one on the right is obviously the drummer, and Iggy, on the left, is probably the bass player. He’s my favorite. But that’s no surprise– I’ve always had a thing for bass players. I think they might also be British, which is another demographic that I currently fancy. (I blame you, BBC.)
I had a lot of fun inventing faces, but I’m not really sure where I’ll go next. Women? Children? Portraits of actual humans? Or maybe even people with– wait for it– bodies under their heads?
Maybe. Stranger things have happened.
galacticbloom