MeticulousMadness Etsy Shop - Original Paintings For Sale!

Hello and happy February!

I'm now selling original paintings and illustrations on Etsy.
So, if you've ever wanted to own one of my original, hand painted pieces - now's the chance! =)

I've got a small selection available currently, but more works and close up photos will be added soon!
I also plan on adding other merchandise, like signed prints, postcard packs and more!

Please check out my shop {here}. Hope you like it and stay a while.


Have a great week!

Inktober Challenge: Completed!

Hello, and welcome to November. Congratulations on surviving the "boos" and pumpkins of October and good luck on making it though the Christmas decorations already overtaking the towns. They start appearing earlier each year, don't they?

Anyhow, a few posts ago I mentioned joining in the Inktober challenge fun. Originally, I was only aiming to complete 2 drawings a week, but then I ended up making all 31. They're all pretty small - on average less than 3x3 inches in size, and "casual" compared to the style of my finished work but I'm still pretty proud of myself for setting aside time for them. My theme was tokens and characters from my favourite films. Hope you enjoy!

Calendar view =) Films were picked each day based on mood.

 And here are a few close ups:

part 1

part 2

part 3

Oh, and if you're curious about which movies have been represented here's the list below.  (You can also flip through the images individually and read a tad more about the pictures via my Instagram page)

1. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. (I'm a fan of the 1st and 2nd movies, less pleased with the ones that followed)
2. Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers (I love all three parts of the trilogy, this was just the one the quotation is from)
3. The Mummy (Love The Mummy Returns also)
4. The Fifth Element
5. The Third & The Seventh (Only 12 minutes long, but fantastic)
6. You've Got Mail
7. The Fountain
8. Frozen
9. Pirates of the Caribbean (Fairly fond of all of them)
10. Inception
11. How to Train Your Dragon
12. How to Train Your Dragon 2
13. Tangled
14. The Wedding Singer
15. Ice Age
16. Disney's Robin Hood
17. Ghostbusters (1 and 2)
18. Titanic
19. Meet Joe Black
20. Sherlock Holmes
21. Guardians of the Galaxy
22. Wedding Crashers
23. Tristan and Isolde
24. James Bond - Skyfall
25. Hellboy
26. X-Men: First Class (I'm a fan of all the X-Men films, but I'll say that First Class and Days of Future Past are my favourite)
27. Batman Begins (Love all 3 films from the Dark Knight trilogy)
28. Back to the Future (The 1st and 3rd of the trio are great, but I'm not very fond of the 2nd one for some reason)
29. The Avengers
30. Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring
31. Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King (There were still a few movies I could have given a nod to, but I decided to finish off the challenge by rounding out my Lord of the Rings collection because if I had to pick my MOST favourite film (or trilogy) that would be it.)

*Most of the pieces were completed with micron pens, ink wash, and/or white ink/gouache. 

Thanks for visiting! =)

All images are ©Mariya Olshevska

Inktober Challenge

Happy Wednesday!

So, it's that time of year again - Inktober. If you've never heard of it: "every October, artists all over the world take on the Inktober drawing challenge by doing one ink drawing a day the entire month."

I decided to give it a try because I love inking! It's always one of my favourite parts of completing an illustration. My personal objective is to encourage myself to sketch more random things for fun outside work, without getting OCD about details. And I've given myself a theme: tokens and characters from my favourite films. So far, I've been keeping up, sharing my little ink drawings on my Instagram and Twitter pages each day. I've been drawing pretty small on some scrap watercolour paper and here's what I have so far:

Fawkes from "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" | 3.5 x 2.65" | micron pens

The Leaf of Lorien brooch from "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy | 2.75 x 2.75" | bamboo pen +microns

The Key to Hamunaptra from "The Mummy" | 2.75 x 2.375" | micron pens

The element stones from "The Fifth Element" | 2.125 x 2.5" | micron pens

A scene from "The Third and the Seventh" | 3 x 4.5" | ink wash

The subway butterfly from "You've Got Mail" | 2 x 2.45

The Mayan dagger/map from "The Fountain" | 2.5 x 3" | microns, marker + gouache

Elsa's sovereign's orb from "Frozen" | 2 x 2" | pencil + microns

Are you also doing the Inktober challenge? Share a link to where you post your drawings!

Have a great week!

Sneak Peeks at Patterned Persons

Hello fellow visitors!

Sorry I didn't post anything last week, BUT today I am happy to announce that I've officially wrapped up my share of the work for that secretive,collaborative project I've been mentioning. The results of all the effort will be slowly revealed shortly - with some full images making their appearances in March.

In the meantime, here are some sneak peeks of the characters' design processes and more finalized versions:

A mix of pencil sketches, inked drawings, and finished pieces - all cropped closely for this collage.

Prior to starting on my paintings, I created portraits of all the characters from the story. This step helped me to better contemplate each of their personalities, which were then easier to translate into their "in-scene" presences. And yes, they all wear patterned attire (in the end), because I couldn't resist, and more importantly it's part of the traditional Japanese clothing aesthetic.  

Most of these portraits are quite small (4 x 5.25") and I'm considering putting up some originals for sale. I'll return to this thought later and keep you updated. :)

Thanks for visiting!

P.S. - if you don't already, please follow my art on my Facebook page for more frequent updates: Mariya Olshevska Illustration.

Character Sketches

Ahoy there!

Posting some sketches tonight! These are for a children book illustration project, the first part of which is character concepts for a story.

Here are some of my favorites:

Wishing everyone a creative and happy week ahead! :)