Artist Progress 2016 - Faces

I looked over my older blog posts recently, and realised that not that much was really documented. It was interesting to see what was there. Each post was like a moment in time that I was taken back to. I didn't write a lot about my personal life or anything like that, but memories were still there, attached to the art and the words. It made me realise that I'd really life to blog more often, to keep more of these little parcels of time to look back on.

One thing I'd really like to start doing is practicing more, and having a set point to look back on, which I can say "this is what I could do then" and "this is what I can do now." I've decided that I'd like to create a few different artworks in about January and February each year, then try to recreate similar things at the same time next year, to see what progress I've made. I don't really have a set point to compare to from last year, but I have to start somewhere.

"January 2016 Traced Portrait", Digital, January 2016

I've been wanting to draw some more portraits, so this is hopefully the first of many. For full disclosure, this one has been traced over the top of a photograph, not drawn freehand. I know some people have a problem with that, but I find that tracing over an image helps you to look at lines in a different way than if you just look at the image as a whole, so I think it still has merit as a learning tool.

"January 2016 Freehand Portrait", Digital, January 2016

This one was drawn freehand while looking at a reference photograph. I added the flowers in her hair because I was getting bored by that point. That's also the reason I didn't shade this one, but I imagine the shading would have been pretty similar in style to the traced portrait.

This one is also available on my Youtube channel, Renee Dillon Art, if you'd like to watch me draw it and ramble a bit about nothing. Hopefully now that I've learned to record and add my voice to videos I'll have more important things to say in future,

30 in 30 - "The Plan"

I felt like playing with my Wacom tablet again today, so I made a digital abstract painting. I like the colours in this one. The blue/indigo shades layer nicely together. Maybe I should create digital mockups of my abstract paintings more often. I feel like it comes out more naturally when I'm not worried about 'wasting paint'.

Day 11

"The Plan", Digital, January 2016

30 in 30 - "Springtime" Repeating Design and Handbag Concept

One of the hardest things I find about creating something is creating with a purpose in mind when you start. It's easy to tinker about until you create something you really like through experimentation. it becomes difficult when you want to create a product, have many copies manufactured and shipped at great upfront expense, and just hope people like it enough to buy them. If you think you're self conscious about your art, try backing it enough to spend several thousand dollars on the hope that someone will like it. It's scary stuff.

This is my latest creation. I've been trying to come up with some more designs to print on handbags. I think this one would make a nice bag, so I hope people agree with me.

Day 10

"Springtime", Digital Art, January 2016

I made a mockup of what it would look like repeating on a bag.

Let me know in the comments section what you think of this bag design. Your feedback will help me to decide which bags to have made. Thanks for looking!

Color Throwdown 374 - "Tints and Tones" Abstract Digital Art

I really like the inspiration picture for this week's Color Throwdown challenge. I think the dining set is from Anthropology or somewhere like that? I seem to remember seeing it before.

I decided to make an abstract this time, just doodling in Photoshop. I used a few tints and tones of the orange and turquoise colour, to mix it up a bit. I quite like how that turned out. This also counts as Day 9 of the 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge. Still not sure if I should stick to abstracts for the whole month, but at this point I haven't felt like doing much else. Follow the inspiration where it strikes, I guess.

Day 9

"Tints and Tones", Digital, January 2016

30 in 30 - "Summer Nest" Oil Pastel Abstracts

More artworks for the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge. Still experimenting with oil pastels here. I find that I work very differently creating abstracts with oil pastels as opposed to paints. I don't try to cover the surface quite so much, which allows some of the original colour of the paper to show though. 

I'm using a keyboard with an attached mouseball at the moment, which makes it hard to edit these images. I'll crop and reupload them later when I have a proper mouse. For now, I just wanted to make sure they were posted before I went to bed.

Day 6

"Summer Nest", Oil Pastel, January 2016

Day 7

Day 8

30 in 30 - "Sunrise" and "Celebrate"

Apparently some people are having trouble uploading their links to the 30 Paintings in 30 Days blog. I wrote a how to article explaining How to Join a Link Party to Increase Your Blog Traffic a while ago now. Looking back, I'm not sure if it goes into enough detail, but hopefully it will help someone.

I like how brightly coloured today's entry is. I'm enjoying the opaque oil pastels on the brightly coloured papers. I should try doing some layering next and see how that turns out.

Day 4

"Sunrise", January 2016, Oil Pastel

Day 5

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'"Celebrate", Oil Pastel, January 2016

30 in 30 - "Time Capsule", "Olives" and "Hieroglyphs" Abstract Art

First post of 2016. Happy New Year, everyone! Looking back on the past year, I've accomplished a couple of things that I wanted to get done. I've been blogging for about two years now, on and off, and I've started to get more serious with it late last year. I wanted to average at least one blog post per week, which I've done. This year, I'd like to do more in the way of tutorials and posts that people might learn something from. 

But first, I'd like to try the 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge again. It's been a while since the last time I tried, but it would be good to get back into the habit of seriously trying to create something new every day. I know I can do it, I've done it before, I just have to make sure I do it now.

I've been a bit undecided about what I want to create for this month's challenge, so I might mix it up a bit as I go, and experiment with different abstracts, portraits, whatever strikes my fancy. We'll see what happens.

Day 1

"Time Capsule", January 2016, Acrylic Paint

Day 2

"Olives", January 2016, Oil Pastel

Day 3

"Hieroglyphs", January 2016, Oil Pastel

I'll probably put a couple of artworks on each blog post if I don't have much to say about them. That makes it easier than making a blog post every single day."

Poinsettia Christmas Flower Repeating Pattern

I had so many Christmas designs ready to go, and somehow December has almost crept away from me without posting any of them. This poinsettia design is bright and cheery. It puts me in the mood to draw some more floral designs.

Merry Christmas, everyone! Thanks for looking.

"Dreamcatcher" Repeating Pattern - With Video

I finally decided to figure out how to use Shadowplay to record my desktop and put some of my art process up on Youtube. I only have a couple of drawings on my Youtube channel from a long time ago, but I liked the idea of posting on there.

"Dreamcatcher Mandala", Single Tile

"Dreamcatcher Mandala", Repeating Pattern

If you'd like to watch me drawing this pattern and get an insight into how I create my artwork, go to my Youtube channel, Renee Dillon Art.

Product Ideas - Beachy Starfish Picture Frame

Now that a sample of my handbag is on the way from the manufacturer, I'm really excited about creating new products. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of startup capital, so I can't just get twenty samples of different items made up and keep a bunch of things in stock. So I figure I should make mock-up images of the products I have in mind, and show them off here, so I know which ones are most popular when it comes time to get them made up. 

This design has been in my head for a while now, and today I had to finally draw it out. It's a wooden picture frame with a printed starfish pattern on the front in grey and blue. There is a slightly darker grey wooden border around the opening and the edge of the frame itself. I know it's hard to tell what the finished product will look like from this picture, but if you think it's something you would like to buy, please let me know in the comments. The more interest it has, the more likely it will be made.

Thanks for looking. :)

Free Printable - Christmas Wreath Lineart

I felt like doodling a Christmas wreath today, and decided to offer it up to anyone who wanted to use it in their Christmas crafting. Feel free to download it for yourself and colour it in, put it on a Christmas card or a scrapbook page, whatever floats your boat. 

Click these links to download the full sized image or download a page with four smaller images. I hope these links work, because I'm using Dropbox for the first time to put these up. Also, if you don't have a Dropbox account already, I get some bonus space if you sign up using this referral link. So I'd really appreciate that, because it makes it easier for me to post new free printables for you in future.

I hope you have fun with this free printable wreath lineart. Merry Christmas, and Happy Crafting.

"Succulent Christmas Fern" - Christmas Themed Repeating Design

One thing I've learned about Christmas designs is that the best ones in my opinion are the ones that aren't necessarily that Christmassy. There are plenty of designs that look like Christmas decorations at the time, but don't look out of place for the other eleven months of the year. That means you get a good amount of use out of them, without having to find somewhere to store your decorations. That's what I was thinking when I came up with this design.

"Succulent Christmas Fern", November 2015

I think this would make lovely place mats or napkins for a Christmas place setting with red and white accents (such as plates, napkin rings or table runners). Or if you want a non-seasonal place setting, it would still look nice with neutrals such as cream or white.

"Succulent Christmas Fern Repeating", November 2015

I'd like to think more about designs that can be used outside of Christmas time, especially since a lot of people like to change their Christmas decoration colour scheme every year. If those people can resell or give away their decorations to people that can use them straight away rather than waiting until next Christmas, the decorations are more likely to be reused rather than thrown away.

Basic Black and White Patterns

One thing I've learned while working with homewares is that it can be hard to find simple coordinates. There are plenty of busy, colourful patterned things available, but when someone wants a throw rug or cushion to match, it can be difficult. Monochrome solids are often the best option, but simple patterns in a smaller scale can work too. 

So I thought I'd put together some simple, plainer repeating patterns that might coordinate nicely with some busier ones.

"Simple Crosses", Digital, October 2015

"Simple Weave", Digital, October 2015

"Simple Triangles", Digital, October 2015

"Simple Stripes", Digital, October 2015

"Potted Succulents" - Tiling Cactus Repeating Pattern

Some days you start drawing, and come up with something that you absolutely adore. Thanks to these adorable little cactus pot plants, this is one of those days. Succulents in happy little brightly coloured pots must be one of my favourite novelty patterns. I'd love to have this printed up and made into a dress.

"Potted Succulents" Digital, October 2015

"Rosy Lavender" - Color Throwdown 367

Here's another Color Throwdown challenge that I'm just managing to get done at the last minute. I'll get better at remembering the deadlines for these, I promise. 

I've decided to go with more of a greeting card style for this particular challenge, since to be fair that's what I'm actually supposed to be making when I enter these. If you wanted, you could pop a sentiment on the bottom left corner, but I decided to leave it blank. I tried to go for a loose colouring style with a soft brush, but I'm not sure if it just looks like I accidentally went over the edges and didn't bother to fix it.

"Rosy Lavender Greeting Card", November 2015

Thanks for looking. :)

"Autumn Flame" - Pals Paper Arts 274

Some days, whatever you try to create just doesn't work out. I knew I wanted to spend today creating new art because I had a decent chunk of time to do so. I tried about three different things before coming to the conclusion that being creative just wasn't happening for me today, so I decided to work on some more businessy things instead.

But still, I knew I wanted to create something nice today, because I knew I'd be a bit sad about it if I didn't make anything nice. This was my third attempt at the Pals Paper Arts colour palette for this week, and I'm glad I persevered, because I'm pretty happy with it. 

"Autumn Flame Repeating", November 2015, 15x15 Inch

I don't know how I keep end up doing the colour palette challenges with chocolate brown in them, and skipping the ones that don't. It's a weird trend for someone who isn't that fond of brown. But it works quite nicely with the coral and yellow colours, so I can't complain. 

Thanks for taking the time to look at my art. Don't forget to add Renee Dillon Art on Facebook and Instagram to keep track of my latest work.

Arabesque Trellis Preview

I'm currently getting back into the swing of things after a pretty solid month of work at my day job. It's nice to have the time and energy to be creative again. Sometimes you just need a bit of time to play. Unfortunately, I wasn't quite thinking when I created this pattern, because I managed to save this small preview sized image that I'm currently using as a desktop background, but not the original sized artwork that I was actually going to make something with. So that's frustrating. Luckily, it didn't come out quite how I wanted, so I was going to have another crack at it anyway. 

For now, here's the small version to show you.

"Arabesque Trellis", November 2015

I'm not even sure if that's clear enough for you to see, but it's the best I can do. Let this be a reminder to keep track of what you've saved when you're closing files. I have a bad habit of getting distracted mid project, and going to work on another image, so I often have about ten tabs open at the end of a session. Don't do this. Save what you need as you go.

But also, don't worry too much if you lose things. It happens. There will always be something else to draw tomorrow.

Strive Home and Design - Handbags Coming Soon

Well I've been working hard this past month at my day job, so this morning I was feeling pretty fatigued. Luckily, I received an email this afternoon with some exciting news that has invigorated me. As some of you may know, I've been planning to have my designs printed on some things to sell in an online store. I've been going though the plans for the last few months, researching possible objects, finding manufacturers, discussing logistics, calculating potential cost and profit margins. It seemed like a big undertaking, with a lot of things that could go wrong. But, despite my cautious nature, I decided to say "Why not?" and took a chance on it. And today, it's looking like that chance is paying off.

This is the very first sample of the first handbag I've ordered. You might recognise the pattern as "Space Highway", from an earlier blog post. And here it is. On a bag. That actually exists. And I'm positively thrilled about it. All that remains is to look at the handbag in person when it arrives, then go about placing my first bulk order.

There are still some decisions to make, and some work to be done before I can start selling, but this is a huge step forward for me. I'd really love to be able to develop a business around my designs and today I'm the closest I've ever been to making that a reality. It's a good feeling.

"Lady Beatle" - Digital Mandala

I adore the colours in this one. Shades of aqua/blue and pink together make me so happy. I thought this one looked like a scarab in feminine colours, so I called it "Lady Beatle".

"Lady Beatle", Digital, September 2015

"Hibiscus and Pansies" - Floral Repeating Pattern

I keep coming back to pansies as one of my go-to flowers to draw. They have a nice shape to them, and they come in some pretty colours. I'd rather like this pattern on a summer dress.

"Hibiscus and Pansies", Digital, September 2015

I made this red hibiscus pattern first, before I drew the pansies. it looks very Hawaiian in red.

"Red Hibiscus", Digital, September 2015