Hello and happy November! Now the nights are drawing in to showcase the stars above, and as we look up to admire November firework displays, I think the night sky makes a lovely theme for this month's free desktop wallpaper. I did one of these last month for my email subscribers and it seemed to be very popular, so here's a new one for a new month. If you'd enjoy seeing these sleepy animals under a sparkling night sky as your desktop wallpaper, here's a link to where to subscribe to get it: JOIN MY EMAIL LIST HERE October soon flew by here. One of the things I can tell you a little bit about is I had a photoshoot of my workspace a couple of weeks ago - a behind the scenes sort of thing. It was overdue really, as I needed to update the images I had of me in my workspace because: A. I am five years older than the last set of images I had taken (where does the time go?!) B. Some of these new images may be used in the near future for a local magazine feature. C. It also means I can update the about section of my Etsy shop, which I've been wanting to do for a while. Being an enthusiastic Etsy shopper myself, one of the things I always find reassuring when I discover a shop, is being able to see a bit of detail in their about section showing how my order has been created and will be fulfilled. That is exactly what I wanted to offer to my customers too. It also means, I can give you that bit of detail about how I do what I do and where I do it. Here are some of the images from that shoot, which I hope will help show that process... All the designs start as a line drawing or painting... Drawing with a simple black fibre tip is my favourite of all... Those drawings and paintings are then scanned and coloured digitally to capture the brightest print ready colours. The designs are then printed here in Britain using eco friendly FSC papers and vegetable based inks... All online orders are wrapped by me with the greatest of care and a personal, very heartfelt thank you!... Once all the orders are packed and ready, I pop them in my big 'Sparrow' bag as shown in the image below (it's a sample from my Society 6 shop - which I have to say, is a very good size and extremely sturdy). Then it's a brisk walk to the local post office to send them on their way.. That's me above, at my corner desk which is where I do most of my work. Things like drawing and painting can sometimes be done elsewhere in the house or garden, depending on what I feel like - but all the digital stuff gets done here. I hope you enjoyed a little peep behind the scenes and hope you have a great week. Best wishes Angie
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Hello, It feels like ages since my last blog post, February seemed to come and go in the blink of an eye! The reason for my quietness is I have been engrossed in a few projects. I can now share the main project that's kept me busy with you all as I mentioned a bit about it on a blog post I did earlier in the year. It's been a real delight to work on this series of nature guides, it's an ideal project for me with my love of nature illustrations. Goodness me though, they certainly involved a lot of work. Drawing up all the elements with pen alone took a fair few hours and let's not mention how long colouring-in on my computer took. I definitely feel like I have achieved something by sticking with it all and getting them all done.... The plan for them all now is to get them printed up as posters and listed on my Etsy & Folksy shops very soon (hopefully this week). These designs are now also with my publisher friends at ArtEco Designs, who will be offering them as wholesale greeting cards (blank inside, 120 x 170mm cards).... My Instagram followers will have spotted these in development. Instagram has been the only social media I've tried to keep updated in the past few weeks. For those of you who may have missed those updates, here are some of those images, so that you can see how the designs came to be. I now have LOADS of line drawn birds, leaves, butterflies and creatures everywhere... When I shared some of these on Instagram a fellow illustrator asked if I use a drawing app to speed up the process. The truth is, with this particular project the thought had crossed my mind a few times and I have the google searches to prove it! However, I absolutely love the simple act of drawing with a pen on a piece of paper - just like I did when I was a child. It was my dream back then to do this as a job when I grew up. Now I am firmly in my middle youth the need to escape to that feeling of being a small child drawing with a pen on paper makes me a bit hesitant to rush to make the whole process digital. I am no technophobe and grew up with every stage of digital technology and some of the drawing apps available are undeniably fantastic...but I'd really miss scribbling with a pen. A bit of offline living is a good thing in my book...or should that be in my 'sketchbook!'... These designs were done the long way as usual - hand-drawn, scanned and coloured digitally. Many started as sketchbook drawings, most as loose sheets (so much easier to scan) - all drawn with my trusty black fibre tip pen... It's hard to see some of the details on the design, which is why I have shared some of the close up images here, like the little hedgehog below from the bottom of the British Wild Animals design... I hope you enjoyed taking a first peep at them. An email newsletter will be going out to subscribers with an introductory offer for these as prints and posters as soon as they are ready and the listings are up on my Etsy and Folksy shops. If you'd like to receive that offer, here's the link to join my mailing list
Have a lovely week! Best wishes Angie |
AuthorAngie Spurgeon JOIN MY
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