winter hibernation

 I haven't posted anything for ages. I have been busy working on all sorts of things and taking part in exciting projects but for some reasons I didn't feel like blogging. I will post about it all soon. I promise!
For now some pics of my studio space. Lovely mess (I thought my mum would appreciate this;))

new pets

My new pets - a dinosaur, a crocodile and an iguana. Studio desk invaded by little wild boar dancing charleston. And firsts signs of the spring in my studio.

studio

I've not been posting any photos for a while (I've not been taking any either relying mostly on my sketchbook as a documenting tool - fun but time consuming). So here are some pictures of my studio space.

bad day

new gadget

You have no idea what fun it is to watch a guy who just got a new gadget. And I had no idea that you can get that excited about a piece of plastic with a touchscreen on the surface and internet inside.

This is a boar by the way, not a pig. The fact that I need to state this means that I should do some more boar research I guess...

Done!

It looks like I don't need to draw horses anymore! All the illustrations are finished and submitted to the publisher and the book will be published in July 2012. I hope you'll like it. It has been a busy summer but fortunately in Edinburgh we don't get anyhing like summer at all so there is nothing to complain about.  It was a fantastic experience to illustrate something which is completely different to what I usually work on. I learned a few things:
1. I can draw horses ( a big surprise).
2. I can draw human characters (even a bigger surprise).
3. Digital colouring is actually fun.
4. I love my tablet.
And now I feel like moving on to other projects featuring smaller animals - mice, shrews, bats, squirrels, weasels. Hooray for rodentia! The only problem is that I don't feel like drawing at all and I might need to take a week or two off with my sketchbook and pencils hidden at the bottom of a deepest drawer.

if: layers

I drew the badger because my mum asked me to. Badgers are cool. The spring hasn't come yet so he is wearing lots of layers.And I think he is missing a train.

magic pencil

I love pencils. I collect them. Every time I travel somewhere and visit a museum or a gallery I go to the gift shop and buy the cheapest and most basic pencil souvenir (or I ask friend to bring me some if they go somewhere exciting). I am always very disappointed if a museum does not have pencils or if they sell them for 5 euro each (like in Hagia Sophia in Istambul). And then when I draw with them I think about places I visited and people I met and I am more than sure that it affects my drawings. So I would pick up the edinburgh book festival pencil to draw my picture books, cartoon museum one if I want my drawing to be more comic style etc. I even have one with a citation from Tracy Emin but I have never used it. I am going to save it until I am fed up with my cute animals and I want to draw something very ugly.

Spent all day drawing killer plants and really enjoyed it!

if: sweater

Another quick sketch. A weasel this time.
It was two years ago. We noticed that dried fruit and nuts are mysteriously dissapearing from the jar we kept muesli in. It was supposed to be a fancy tropical muesli with plenty of exotic fruit and nuts but for some strange reasons there would be only not very exotic oats and bran flakes left in the jar. Somebody was stealing the fruit!
And I had to come up with that weasel story to clear myself from any suspicion.

a very engaging book

Another quick sketch from ages ago.
I have been busy furnishing flat for cat and dog recently, which is rather fun. I've got four double spreads to finish the dummy book and start producing final artwork. It is a little bit of a challenge as I try to be as playful as possible with colours, textures and techniques. A completely new area of exploration...
Yesterday I spent a very productive morning in my favourite continental cafe in stockbridge (they have very good cafe au lait and there is a marzipan soap in the bathroom!). I was teaching a dog to play golf. He was doing very well. Especially that I have no idea how to play golf.

The good news is that the spring is coming!!!

tiny mice

I almost lost eyesight yesterday when drawing these guys. For some reasons I decided to draw them very tiny, in 1:10 scale and mice are already very small animals so it was not the wisest thing to do. It was early in the morning and still dark in the coffee shop I went to which didn't help. Oh well, next time I will remember to draw things in some reasonable scale and then scale them down in photoshop .
Otherwise, I spent half of last weekend decorating the house where my new characters are supposed to live. They are moving in soon. I have been busy designing and drawing wallpapers and now all I need to do is to stick them to the walls.

IF: Chicken

I had quite a few illustrations to choose form for this week's Illustration Friday... This one was made over a year ago and it was the first etching I have ever made. The illustration itself is not perfect, kind of unfinished, but I feel very nostalgic about it. 

bear the photographer

I had a very nice weekend with plenty of fun stuff, nice meetings, good books and no drawing (my studio got locked and I was not allowed any drawing for two days - a good thing to do). Yesterday we went for a little winter trip, met a herd of sheep grazing in the snow, agreed that sheep are good because they produce good stuff (wool and cheese of course) and made a snowman that looked like a huge bird. The landscapes are absolutely beautiful now and we were taking pictures with a small analogue camera, which gets rather tricky when you wear huge woollen mittens and you don't feel like taking them off. I felt like I was a huge bear trying to take a picture with a tiny camera and all he can see through the lens is his own paws and fur.

fish

So I spent the whole morning arranging fish. If you think it is easy to arrange five fish on an A4 page you are wrong!  I feel like giving up for the moment...
The good news is that the mighty Epson Stylus Photo R1900 arrived yesterday!

winter holiday

It has been very pleasant and productive Christmas break. We managed to go for a little trip to Highlands before the New Year and enjoy fantastic Scottish landscapes and ... breakfasts. And then back to my studio work. I am working on a several projects at the moment, which is good as I don't get bored and can jump from one to another. The bad thing is that getting to the final result takes more time. Anyway, I have been busy drawing dogs, cats, pigeons and bears, designing interiors for my new book (I must admit it is far more enjoyable to do interior design for animals then for people - they have better taste and you don't need to worry about budget!). I also spent considerable amount of time researching patterns, colour palettes and textures. This is part of my illustration work that I struggle the most with - so many possibilities! I am also playing around with the new techniques, which is exciting but sometimes gets very frustrating.
Otherwise, my etsy shop did really well and now I have to make more prints. Reinforcements in a form of an Epson printer and inkjet watercolour paper are supposed to arrive today! Scary...

my very own studio space!!!

I finally have my own studio space! it's true! I has been a week since we went to ikea to get the table, lamp and drawer unit but I am still so very excited about the whole thing! I don't think I've ever got such a wonderful present and I still feel like it was Christmas and birthday both the same day. And the best bit is that I finally started making new pictures. hurray, hurray! This is because the table and the drawers are not some ordinary table and drawers. They are magic!

Oto moja własne, wspaniała, osobista malutka pracownia! Wciąż nie mogę przestac piszczec i skakac z radości za każdym razem, jak obok niej przechodzę (a przechodzę często, bo mieszkanie mamy małe). Mam swój własny stolik, lampkę i co najważniejsze - strasznie dużo szuflad, do których można włożyc strasznie dużo kredek, ołówków i pędzli! No i w końcu zaczęłam tworzyc nowe rysunki, co ma pewnie związek z tym, że mój nowy stolik nie jest takim o sobie zwykłym stolikiem. O nie! On jest czarodziejski!

my studio

This is what my studio looks like at the moment which is rather sad. A little desk and a few shelves would help...It feels like my creativity is piled somewhere at the bottom.

No właśnie, tak teraz wygląda moja pracownia, co bynajmniej nie wpływa na mnie bardzo twórczo. Marzę o małym biureczku i o kilku półkach.

postgraduate degree show 2010!

Here are some pictures form our show plus with very brief descriptions. Thank you all for coming along! And for all the nice comments left in our comments books.

Absolutely amazing work by Tyra.
Bold posters and installations by Tom.Beautiful and cosy space created by Holly.
Magnetic and very clever show created by Jammie.
Julia's amazing studio space was an integral part of her show.
Swasti kept the suspence till the last moment. She also made a wall play music!
Wonderful contemporary fairy tale by Helen. Amazing colour palette.
Rachel's space was minimal. Only at first glance though. Until you've checked-in.
Lindsey's show was slightly psychodelic. Fantastic bold drawings and crazy patterns.
My work was cute, as usual.

apple green

Two weeks to go and the level of stress in the studio grows very high. many tears and general depression. Thought a bunch of apple green helium ballons may cheer people up. Not sure if it is going to work but it felt liberating to do something which is not degree show or illustration related.

Zostały dwa tygodnie do końcowej wystawy i poziom stresu w studio osiąga poziomy niewyobrażalne. Ogólnie płacz, rozpacz i głęboka depresja. Pomyślałam, że garśc pozytywnie zielonych baloników z helem może poprawic lekko sytuację. a nawet jeśli nie, to miło było zrobic coś, co nie jest związane z ilustrowaniem/rysowaniem/drukowaniem/wycinaniem/pisaniem pracy magisterskiej.

george and jimmy

The blue one is Jimmy the Bluebird, my new friend. I got him from Kate and I am happy because I have got my own pet now! I haven't had one since my parrots died when I was 13 or so.

Niebieski ptak po prawej to moje nowe zwierzątko, Jimmy Bluebird. Dostałam go w prezencie od Kate i jestem zupełnie szczęśliwa, bo od bardzo dawna nie miałam swojego własnego zwierzątka.