Material obsession

I have had a bundle of emails and messages from various people about making some of my designs available as material. I have been putting it off and then I got another missive asking if I had material designs for sale. 

so...

I have ordered from Spoonflower in the past and have now done some research on selling designs through them. http://www.spoonflower.com/welcome. So I visited Spoonflower and set up a Studio, deciding to start with some of my current designs. I  used the most popular designs viewed on Redbubble and downloaded The Question, Steam Trek and Marie Octonette designs then ordered swatches. This was recommended by Spoonflower to check the colour renditioning before finalising the design. 

 The swatches have now returned!

 

It is now official. I have three of my designs on Spoonflower. For those who don't know Spoonflower - it sells materials with artists' designs, or you can design your own! Designs are available in material, wrapping paper, wall paper and decals. My studio/shop is called Off the Artboard and  is viewable at: http://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/offtheartboard

I started with the most popular designs from Redbubble and have now to decide what else to make available.
If you have any ideas of what I should put up next, let me know. I value your feedback!

Wanna Mug? You Got It!

After a couple of days of relatively serious posts, I am aiming to be a little lighter and some pics. I am juggling some new ideas for designs as part of the Octopus/ Kraken series. Does anyone have any requests for our friendly octopi in Victorian action!

In the meantime, here is some more portable art! (don't forget there is more portable art (badges) on my website)

I have had some requests for some of my work to be available on mugs or cups. So here they are. I have started with my first series (so far), The Octopus/ Kraken series.

#1 Kraken Chestburster
#2 Deep Sea Ballooning
#3 In the Shade of Octopus
#4 Steam Trek
#5 Marie Octonette

All five designs are now available as mugs at Zazzle.

http://www.zazzle.com.au/katdb42/mugs?st=title#products
These are my two personal favourites. Which is your favourite?

This gives you an idea of what they look like! You know you want one for the office!

Remember the Octopus/ Kraken series is also available as tshirts at Redbubble.

Sneak preview of new artwork

Drawing mojo is back online and I have been doodling again. It is amazing how often, I start drawing one thing and it metamorphises itself into something completely different. I must be channeling octopi again...

This started as a purely Steampunk styled drawing of a space ship and I just had to put an ocotpus in. But, of course, they can't breathe in space, can they? So I added a little ship attatchment for him as well, with porthole-like windows for him to be able to see. His job? A stand-in for the articulated claws, extending from the space ship for manipulations and for repairs, of course!

Initially, it looked more like an airship or a metallic balloon. As I had already drawn a Deep Sea Ballooning Octopus, I wanted this to look more like a space ship. I added some planetoids (could end up being more moon-like) and a wibbly, wobbly, spacey, wacey bit of atmosphere that will end up with a starry night feel, if my GIMP-foo works out and I learn how to do some starry add-ons later.

Just as I was about to ink, I had an urge to add a Victorian-Steampunk astronaut doing a space walk... to retrieve his top hat. Leaving it at that, there was now more nib work. This one took a little longer than usual as I could not decide on the final positions of the octopus's legs and I changed the shape of the bell at the bottom.

While waiting for the main image to dry, I could still not decide whether I wanted to keep the spacey background...

I know I have mentioned how computers and I have a love-hate relationship. I doubt this will ever really change. Can't teach an old dog new trick, my mum used to say... though my old cat seems to be quite wily and often surprises us....

Layers, layers, layers. I had to use layers for this image. One for the spacescape and another for the main subject. I must admit that one advantage of the computer, over hand-colouring, is the ease in which it can be altered, erased or changed without having to redraw the inkwork. In this case, it also allowed me to ink the main subject and then ink the spacey background separately. In this way, I could add the layers, then decide whether to keep the background, or leave it off. Much easier than trying to remove the ink afterwards!

I have three versions now and can't make up my mind which to make as the final t-shirt version. Which do you prefer?