Snowy Fowls and The West Wind

Happy Wednesday all those who have wandered over to this blog!

Today, I've spontaneously decided to share some paintings and sketches that I've done for a project that began last year. The project is currently on hold, so I thought it would be nice to post up some of the work.

For the most part, I was working on the fantasy characters in the story our team was developing. They were all hybrid creatures, based on the species of animals found in Scandinavian countries. I won't be revealing all of the illustrations done thus far, just a few.

First up, there's The West Wind. I've shared a few teaser close ups of him a few months ago {here}
He is a forest dwelling spirit. He can't quite fly like a bird but he can leap distances and glide on the wind because he is a hybrid of a lynx and a flying squirrel.

Here he is surrounded by some 'action' sketches.

And here he is all by himself, enjoying his walk in the woods. He might look peaceful, but he can kick butt, I assure you.

(Click to see a larger)

And now we have "The Snowy Fowls". They're hybrids of snowy owls and foxes - get it? Kind of cute, no? *Don't look at me like that*
Anyhow, these guys were once an arctic fox and a snowy owl who were subjected to a witch's experimental spell. Now their task is to figure out whether this mishap is a gift or a curse, and whether to seek her out in the hopes of getting changed back.

Character painting with some of my favourite exploratory sketches.

Character painting with some of my favourite exploratory sketches.

Snowy Fowl 1

Here are what the sketches looked like, if you were curious.

Snowy Fowl 2

 (Click to see a larger)

Painted with waterproof coloured inks, watercolour, and gouache on Bristol Smooth paper.

I still have to figure out the names for each of these fowls. Maybe one day they'll come to me in a dream, or something. :)

Thanks for visiting!

All images are ©Mariya Olshevska and may not be used or re-purposed without the artist's consent.

Please give credit if you share the images. :)

Blue Jayne

Hello friends,

"Blue Jayne"

I love plays on words so I was very excited to whip up this little painting!

This is a  new piece of mine which will be in two upcoming art shows in Vancouver next month. The first will be The Blue Show by Rain City Illustration at the Ayden Gallery. It will be on for two days - March 31st & April 1st, with reception night held on April 1st. (I'll try to be there) What I'll have there is this blue version (above), printed and presented in a 6 x 8" frame. 

Next, the original of this image (below), which is actually sepia coloured, will be in The Postcard Show: Volume 4 on April 5th.

I'm killing two birds with one stone. Get it? I'm such a cheese-ball today, I know.

Anyhow, come down if you can. Both pieces/versions will be up for sale. :)

original size: 4 x 6

Now, here are the process steps that led to the finished piece(s):

Pencil concept sketch

Inks

Finished colour with ink washes + gouache + white pencil

Quick colourization in Photoshop

Some tonal adjustments and gradient application

Selected the background and re-colourized it

Process gif! I've been planning to do one for ages!

(*P.S - not sure if the colours are a little off on Blogger. Lately they've been differing from what they should be)

Original size: 4 x 6"

Materials: Pastel Paper + Microns + Ink + Gouache + White pencil

More lighthearted "play-on-word" mini paintings will be posted shortly.

Cheers!

Hitching a Ride on a Hummerfly

Here's the latest little illustration that I've been working on. Ages ago I had this sketch of cute creature that was a hybrid of a hummingbird and a butterfly. Wouldn't it be amazing if these were real? Anyway, I've been wanting to bring him to completion now and then, and so finally last week I started working on him, or maybe her...I'm actually not sure anymore. I've been craving to paint something fun, patterned, and whimsical and what better time than the present.

First, I traced the general features of the initial sketch on to my paper. Then, I made some adjustments to it, using hummingbird, butterfly, and birds of paradise references.

And then came my favourite part - the inking. I just love inking so much. I'll need to do some black and white line and silhouette based pieces soon, I think.

inks

Then, it was time to get to work on the colour. I've been wanting to do a pink/red/green piece for a while, so it was exciting to finally go for it. Though, I've gotta admit, I was quite weary of it coming out looking too "Christmasy". So, I decided to print out my ink on a piece of draft paper and quickly map out the colours.

colour study

Feeling more confinement I started layering down the colour on the good paper.

base colours

And then some shading to create a little volume was in order.

shading

Then it was time for the background. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do at first - to be more painterly or more pattern influenced. In the end patterns won and many, many circles began to appear.

background pt. 1

Finally, to finish off, I filled in those circles with even more circles and did some light shadowing around the Hummefly and some random "ink blossoms" as I call them around the rest of the background.

And there we have it!

Finished piece. Look at those lazy butterflies trying to hitch a ride.

Size: 6 x 10"
Media: Waterproof coloured inks + watercolour + gouache + microns


I kind of like to think of this as a "sister" illustration to the Carpe Diem Carpe Noctem firebirds painting I did last summer. They both have an elongated format, bird imagery, and patterned backgrounds. =)

Also, drawing the little Hummerlfy made me think of the song "Oranges on Appletrees" by A-Ha.

"Oranges on apple trees
Birds that mate with bumblebees
One big happy family
Endless possibilities"

Haha, just saying. Anyway, enough rambling. Good night and/or good morning!