Quick Update

Good morning!

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted. Ooops!
I think with each year, I've become progressively busier with different parts of life and it becomes harder to consistently blog.

To catch up, here are some highlights of my last few months:

1. New cards - I've designed and printed some new postcards with a "Happy Birthday" and "Thank You" message. They can be found at my Etsy shop.

2. "Naur Loth"("fire flower" in Elvish) - I've made a new illustration inspired by the elvish realms of Middle Earth.
Available through my RedBubble and Society6 shops.

3. I've recently finished a private pet portrait commission of this lovely cairn terrier.

Media: Pigma Micron + Prismacolor fine line archival marker pens, Koh-I-Noor (waterproof) drawing inks, watercolour, Acryla gouache on Strathnore "Mixed Media" vellum surface paper.

If you're interested in commissioning me to paint a portrait of your pet, please contact me through my website. Thanks!

 

close up

close up

That's all I can post about for now. I'm working on a few other projects at the moment, but hopefully I can share those a little later.

For more up to date art news, please follow me on my:

-Instagram (most active)

-Facebook Art Page

-Twitter

-Tumblr

Thanks and have a great day!

Memorial Portrait

Hello there,

It's been some time since my last post, and I hope that everyone's summer has been a nice one.

I've been very fortunate in that the circumstances in my life had finally worked out in such a way that I was finally able to visit Iceland, which was a dream of mine for about 10 years now. It was definitely a much needed getaway and a very uplifting trip. Though I did not do any plein air sketching or painting, I took a large number of photos and perhaps in the near future I'll use these for a fantasy illustration.

In more sad news, a month ago, my beloved childhood cat Toma (nicknamed Tomcat) has passed away at the age of 18. Although she passed peacefully, it was (and is) still very hard to come to terms with. Rationalizing that she had a healthy and comfortable life did little to ease ease feelings of loss, regret, and pain. So, I just tried to do something nice to honor her memory. I was very nervous about how it would turn out, but in small steps I worked towards painting her portrait. In the end, I'm pretty happy with the results.

Looking through all the photos we had of her, I picked a reference which I thought would work best for the composition I had in mind and would come closest for the expression and mood I was hoping to capture.

As usual, I started with a pencil sketch. Then did some ink with my micron pens to map out the main features and stripes in the fur.

Next, I tackled the background. I wanted it to have an impressionistic feel; suggestive of some of whimsical, forested area, but keeping the focus on Tomcat's face. I wanted to believe her spirit lives on somewhere green, lush and happy.

Then, I worked at building up subtle layers of colour to illustrate the softness of her fur, finishing off with touches of white gouache for the whiskers, eyebrows, and eye glimmers.

close up

For the final touches, I added a little bit of gold paint to add some accents to the eyes, fur, and the background. It's by no means an addition that has a visible impact on the finished piece after digital reproduction, but I find it to be a pleasant, understated feature of in person viewing.

 (I apologies for the lesser quality images of my in-process work. Unfortunately, I did not have the scanner conveniently within my reach, so all the work in progress photos are made on my phone.)

1999-2017

Anyways, if you enjoy the piece, there are now art prints and post cards available for sale. Profits from the sales with will be donated to two local cat charities which I like to support - VOKRA and Katie's Place.

Please find prints available on:

-Society6
-RedBubble
-InPrint
-TeePublic
-DesignByHumans 

Media: Pigma Micron + Prismacolor fine line archival marker pens, Koh-I-Noor (waterproof) drawing inks, watercolour, Acryla gouache on Strathnore "Mixed Media" vellum surface paper.
Paper Size: 8.5 x 11 inches
Painting Size: 5.5 x 6 inches

Thanks for visiting! In farewell, I leave you with one of my favourite pictures of her.

"Outside seemed better from far away."

Снегурочка (Snow Maiden) Holiday Card

Happy last day of November!

I have some new work to show today, finally. This is my holiday card this winter. It's inspired by my Ukrainian and Russian heritage by way of stories of the Snow Maiden and the traditional Slavic headdresses. Hope you enjoy! Below is the creation process.

2. Detailed pencil sketch.

3. Ink drawing with micron pens.

4. Work in progress; painting with (diluted) waterproof coloured inks.

5. Nearing completion; further painting with the (diluted) inks and also gouache accents.

7. Printed holiday cards, almost ready to be mailed. I'm considering adding some flecks of silver, to make them really pop!

Some close ups.

For the original painting, here are the specs:

Size: 6 x 8 inches (paper size)
Materials: Micron pens, Koh-i-noor waterproof coloured inks and water soluble gouache on Strathmore Mixed Media vellum surface paper.


The cards I had printed are 4 x 5 inches and are now available on my Etsy Shop {here}.
Other assorted prints and products are now available on my Society6 and RedBubble pages.

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!

Fancy a Fox?

Hello,

So, today I'm just going to be sharing a quick fox portrait I did over the weekend. Though rendering characters and scenes photo-realistically isn't usually part of my illustration style, I do think it's important to practice painting and drawing in a naturalistic fashion. I find that it helps me to better memorize the physical traits of different animals, plants, etc, which later translate much easier to more stylized works and spontaneous sketches.

I usually just like to work with ink washes for my animal portrait, but this time I played around with layering graphite pencil with ink washes back and forth to get the tones and textures I wanted.

Inari the Fox

I've named her Inari, after the Japanese fox spirit. She's a red fox.

Now, here are some process images:

Some ink washes and graphite texturing on the face.

Pretty much the finished version with a white background.
(Eye highlights are done with white gouache)

Played around in Photoshop to see how a sepia might look

Added the background with some more washes of ink and graphite shading and smudging. Also used white gouache to add some highlights to the fur. And some more playing around with sepia toning in Photoshop, of course.

My preferred version

 Prints available here on Society6

Original size: 4.5 x 6"
Paper: Strathmore 400 Series Mixed Media
Tools: Pelikan Black ink (17), Staedler graphite pencils, and Desinger Gouache - Permanent White (008)

Wishing everyone a great week, as always! =)

All images are  ©Mariya Olshevska