Deep Roots

This took me three days to do, I tell ya'. THREE DAYS.

Okay that was mainly because I was ill so I didn't have much time, but when I did boy did I feel like I was pouring my soul into it. Detail was the key here, and I wanted to create texture by doing lots of intricate lines and circles to give it a bit of oomph.

Not too sure if I'm actually going to use this but it was nice to experiment anyway! Trying out different methods and compositions for the album cover. 

I was inspired by this illustrator called Angela Rizza who has some amazing, jaw-dropping work. You can find her on tumblr here.

The reason why I'm going back to sketching ideas is because I realised that I needed to come up with a design that would somehow relate to the album title. I chose a tree because Jonny Pain had mentioned wanting to have a forest illustration.
I also chose it because a tree is known to be strong, tall, and they could last many lifetimes. Their roots sink deep into the ground so it's hard to cut them down, and they are the symbol of nature. I'm going to continue with going with their forest idea until they have given me their lyrics... I would also need to re-evaluate what typeface I use as I would like that to link in with the title name as well. 

Tools Used | Biro

Unusual Words - Final Designs

I managed to finish my project two days before the deadline, woop woop!
I actually did a lot better in this project than I had done before. I guess that's because I had only researched on what was relevant instead of rambling off on one topic or another that wouldn't help me at all through my sketching and designing stage. Hmm.

Anyway here are my final designs, and I've also included a photo of when they were all printed out and pretty. I'm just so happy with them! Especially Avicide... Really tapped into my creepy side with that (not that I have a creepy side though!)

Printed out:

Made myself a new signature, woop woop!

I'm still not quite sure whether or not to use this or my tumblr as my main blog, so I decided to create a brand spanking new brush so that I wouldn't have to worry about continuously updating my URL to match the website/blog I frequently use!

I swear it took ages for me to do it... I don't know why but when placed under pressure I can't seem to write properly. Managed to create one in the end with my own handwriting.

Isn't it so beautiful?

Updated this illustration after a very long time! I wasn’t really satisfied when I finished it all of those months ago and my mum kept commenting on how she “had too much hair on that tiny head” so today I finally caved in and erased a whole chunk of it. I have to say that she does look a lot better now and not as if thousands of wigs had been placed on a skull!

Can't you see my new sig there? ;D

Guess that's all for today! I was going to create a post on how I made an epic blog design but I kind of gave up the idea of hassling around with codes to "improve" the look of this blog. I kind of like it how it is right now anyway.

And now I’m off for a nice bubble bath because it’s absolutely freezing today o_o Until next time!

Falling Feathers

Just some illustrations I have done this past week for my uni project.

I went and bought some feathers the other day from Hobbycraft because I think I might settle with the idea of having some falling feathers stained in "blood" for my Avicide piece. I have just decided which one to post but I thought that I might as well post them all here.

1 & 2. Used watercolour for the background, white feathers, and also some watercolour for the blood. 

3. Used biro and then scanned it into Photoshop to do some blood splatters and make some of the feathers blurry. 

Fragile

This piece is about the frail nature of life. It's linked to my last painting which you can see here.

I just find it so relaxing when I paint; listening to songs really do help, and I'm able to channel my emotions through the colours I use and the painting itself. It relieves me the stress of bottling everything up only to break down in the most awkward places. 

Very much an experiment as I haven't been "messy" with watercolour in such a lon time... Shall be posting a wip very soon, so keep an eye out for that!

Tools | Watercolour pencils | Watercolour Paint | Biro for the lines

Depression - Final and details

Click to see bigger

Just a little something I did when I was going through a hard time (I was feeling crap about not being able to have the motivation to design and that I was a bad person blah blah blah). Because I have left it for so long I kind of forgotten how it felt to be so emotional... Until now, that is. 

I'm still finding it hard to get out of this mess that I'm in since he was gone, but my current uni project has revealed to me that art is a way for me to channel my emotions. For example, I'm obsessed with drawing thin lines with messy watercolour techniques (like the one shown in the picture above), roses, and stuff like decay and birds... It's frightening, actually. But I guess that at least I'm not bottling everything up.

I hope to do another picture like this soon because it truly was an experiment that turned out to have a lot more emotion in it than it should've done.

Happy Halloween!

Okay so I was supposed to post this on Halloween, whoops. 

Tools | Watercolour pencils | Watercolour paint for the clouds and moon | Biro for the lines 

Falling Leaves

Can't believe it's actually autumn although it seems like summer skipped straight into winter OTL

Been working on this sketch because I thought it would be nice to take a break from uni work. I didn't actually "know" that I was going to come up with this, but after looking at my old work I was inspired to carry on with my Season Fae series. This one is, undeniably, Autumn!

Artist © Liz Owen

Tools Used | Watercolour Pencils | Biro lines |

Brightest Star in the Sky

R.I.P Daddy, this is for you <3

So my dad passed away a couple of weeks ago. It’s still pretty hard for me to face it that he’s gone, because it was just so unexpected. The last time I saw him he was completely normal… And then this happens.

I wanted to create something which I can just pour my emotions to. My dad was the greatest man I knew, who always encouraged me in my work.

He was my star in my darkest of nights.

© Liz Owen.

Dance of the Flames

This has to be one of my most experimentive pieces ever.

I realised that I never really stepped out of my comfort zone when it came to the body, so I decided to choose a dynamic kind of position so that I could learn more about anatomy. I referenced such pose from the lovely Jlior on dA, as her elegance inspired me.
I also experimented with different shading and colouring techniques, as I used various once for different elements; for example, for the skin I used a very minimalist amount of blur, relying on a low opacity hard brush to blend all of the colours instead. I really liked this technique and hope to use it again! 

Originally I was going to go for a different theme as I was listening to OBSESSION - SHINee, and their music really gave me the feeling of sadness, passion, and I kept having images of fire and explosions, and sometimes a bit of rain. Maybe next time I’ll add a bit of rain to this piece once I know how to paint rain. 

So tada! I hope to do more of these dance poses… Perhaps I could create a series?

References | Jlior on dA | My own photos |

© Liz Owen 

For the step-by-step process please click here to be redirected to my main blog