First challenge; having a focus, AND BUDGET SUPPLIES THAT DON'T SUCK!

TA DA! First piece of art done, dusted, and mailed off to the Muse who inspired me! 

Challenge no. 1 came by way of an amazing person named Sarah, who submitted the phrase "Focus is so much more important than Speed" for my 2015 'Muse Me Challenge. I'm very proud of the result of my first challenge - not only did I manage this within the two week deadline I've set for each piece, I even managed to jump out of my black and white inked comfort zone and try a new medium! Final piece is at the end of the post for those looking for a TL;DR.

For those at all interested in the process and some of the techniques I used to get to the final piece, read on!



Partially through my initial sketch piece. I got this far and decided that it was looking good, but it needed some drama. It also became pretty obvious that the holiday panto I worked on leading up to Christmas and New Year was seriously influencing my style. (We did a bellydance pantomime revision of Jack and the Beanstalk, which included sending Jackie and her pet cow to outer space. It was all very retro sci-fi inspired, and that clearly came through in my crazy alien plants, lava lamp-esque water, and asymmetrical bricks.

So I grabbed the pens again, and started shading. And...managed to get a bitten by a little zentangle bug, too.

ONce I got to this point I was quite satisfied with the drawing. It was exotic enough to satisfy my requirement of being 'out of the box' with the submitted inspiration, but still (imho) pleasing and fun to look at. Edgy, but not off the edge and falling to doom.

I couldn't rid the feeling that it really needed some bright, funky retro space inspired colours to really be worhty of my current Muse, though. So I gave in and bought a pack of (mind you extremely cheap, probably would never EVER have been suggested by a proper art teacher) watercolour pencils and an affordable brush pack (again, I'm sure any art teacher would cringe at the sight of them) and proceeded to either full on own this new piece, or royally muck it up in the process.

Luckily, I didn't fail too much.

This took several episodes of Merlin and rather a lot of encouragement from D that it was looking awesome before I decided I could put the pencils, water, and brushes away.

I got to play with watercolour pencils for the first time, which was actually a lot of fun and also a bit nerve wrecking as I was constantly worried I'd muck up the piece beyond salvage. Luckily, I didn't, and I learned that wetting the pencil tip, scribbling onto the area you want to colour, and then smoothing with a slightly damp, square ended brush makes for awesome night sky rendering! I managed to get a bit of movement and depth just with that!

And here it is, all matted, quoted, and signed just before putting it into its posting package! 

      

Like what you see? Like the idea of free stuff AND bragging rights for inspiring the arts?

If you'd like to participate in my 2015 'Muse Me Challenge to help me fill my new sketchbook and stretch my creativity skills, you can go HERE for more info on the challenge and how to submit an inspiration. PLUS, as a thank you for being my Muse you'll get your own copy of whatever you helped inspire - FREE! Who doesn't like free stuff?!?!  My goal is one new inspiration ever two weeks, and there are still spaces left!

See you in two weeks with my next inspired piece!