Sugar Skull Flower Finished

So last night I took a few moments and finished an illustration project.  It was intended for our house, but my friend Julie likes it a bunch and she talked me into selling it to her.  I will end up making another copy for hubby (he says I never keep his favorites, including this one).

 This is the first big project I finished with my Koh-i-noor 7 pen set.  I am so happy with the performance of these pens compared to the Staedtler Pigment Liners I am used to.  And so far these pens have not been quite as high maintenance as I expected.  I get a greater variety of line width with the 7 pen set than the four pen set of Staedtlers, and since these are refillable I will end up saving a ton in the long run.  If you invest in these and have a Hobby Lobby nearby, consider buying them there.  I paid about $70 for mine after the 40% off coupon I printed off.  And I didn't have to worry about them being damaged during shipping. 

Here is the completed drawing.  It was done on a 14x17" piece of Strathmore bristol board, and the image itself is almost 12" across.

I am selling PDF downloads in my Etsy shop for $4, and hope soon to offer prints.

Skull Flower/Mandala - WIP

Here's a new project I am working on.  It is very similar to my owl flower - it is made the same way.  I start out with a drawing and estimate how many times I want to repeat it.  I then size and photocopy the drawing, create a flower center, and make a mock up with lots of tape and cut out photocopies.   Then I place it on my Lighttracer II light box to trace the final drawing.  Here is a photo of this step with the skull flower.

The next step is to trace the outline of the flower with a pencil.  I also add on to the drawing if I feel it is necessary.  I added a little heart tip to the petals of the center flower and some tiny flowers on the outside to make the drawing a little more full, and to tie the skull nose design in with the center flower.

When I am done with the pencil drawing I start to ink the entire illustration, starting with the outlines then filling everything in.  Before I would use a Staedtler pen set to do this, and I would burn through a set with every drawing.  Now I have my Koh-i-noor 7 pen Rapidograph set and I get more even lines, better details, and I don't have to worry about buying a $15 pen set for each drawing.  The pens were expensive ($70 at Hobby Lobby after a 40% off coupon), but they will pay for themselves after 5 drawings, and I really prefer them.   Here are a few pictures of the inking process. 





I am not quite done with this one, but when I get done I will post a picture for you to see.   I was hoping to have this one displayed in my house, but my good friend Julie has already spoken for it.  I do plan to make another one for our home, especially since hubby really likes it.