Momiji Me

Tags

illustration friday, momiji

I’ve always been a dork for Hello Kitty and Co. (especially Chococat) and have a newfound love (and mini collection) of Momiji message dolls (inside each one there’s a tiny folded slip of paper for a message or wish), but kawaii (as wikipedia defines it: “the quality of cuteness, especially in the context of Japanese culture”) has never been a part of my own personal drawing style. It just seems gross when I do it, not cute. Like a lot of things, what appears simple isn’t always easy to achieve. But when I noticed that this week’s Illustration Friday theme was “messenger”, I immediately thought of the three “Book Club” momiji message dolls I recieved for Christmas and decided to give “adorable” a try. The results kind of make me cringe, I must admit, but it’s good to try new things, right? So, here’s a momiji me and my book of choice is a Moleskine sketchbook. My message is top secret.

nicole
I like children’s adventure stories and drawing in my little black sketchbook.
Turning the pages to happy times, our story of friendship forever.
♥

In the Sink, the Sink

I’ve participated in many an Illustration Friday theme. It’s a great way to get out of your head, at least for me. Maybe the same thing would happen if I randomly selected a word for myself, but I don’t, so who knows. For whatever reason though, Illustration Friday always helps loosen me up by encouraging me to make quick associations, not question them, and then just… draw. Without any sort of pressure. It’s fun and it usually brings out some pretty worthwhile results. In fact, one of my favorite silhouettes came out of a theme. You can see all of my previous theme posts by clickin’ here.

This weeks theme is “sink”. Looking at my illustration probbbably won’t bring that word to mind, unless one of your favorite bands in high school was also Plumtree and you had a habit of singing “In the Sink” in the shower because it served as a warm reminder of your girlhood days, collecting worms with your best pal. Which I doubt. Anyway, drowning imagery certainly popped into my head, but that seemed too straight forward, so I thought about the sink as an object, which immediately forced this Plumtree lyric, one of my favorites, into my head: But my worms are perfectly clean. I wash them twice a day in the sink, the sink, the sink. Listen for yourself and make the connection.

practice makes… dip

Still practicing with my tablet and quickly improving, if I do say so myself. Figured I’d practice my Bamboo sketchin’ and participate in Illustration Friday at the same time. This week’s topic is “dip”, which was a good excuse to start thinking about summer. A pale girl’s summer, anyway:

And here’s a larger crop to 1) show off how much smoooother my lines are getting and 2) again prove how indecisive I am. Not perfect, but hey it’s only been two days.

I love my tablet!

i need a hero

OH HULLO. So I decided to participate in this week’s Illustration Friday topic, which is “rescue”:

Of course after making both girls, I thought I might actually like the image better cropped. Now, I consider myself a pretty good paper editor, but editing images is always the hardest part for me. As is making decisions re: my life in general. So here are both!

I’ve turned the cropped version into a wallpaper, ‘CASE YR SCREEN WAS NAKED OR SUMPIN: 1024 x 768 | 1280 x 1024 |1440 x 900

Normally I go for sock-clad or simply barefoot gals, but I’m yearning for some ruffle flats right now, so there’s the INCREDIBLY DEEP MEANING behind this image for ya. My feet are pretty interested in the Report Ilana ruffled leather flats (in gray) and the Steve Madden Todd suede ruffle flat (in taupe). Not that I really need shoes, of course. And if I did I would need black ones. But moving along… the ribbon footwear was inspired by last week’s episode of The Antonio Treatment, wherein Antonio redid a retail space, complete with window dressings wherein the mannequins wore ribbons for “shoes” …JUST INCASE YOU WERE WONDERING.

Alright, well, I’m off to go see Dakota Fanning get sexy in The Runaways now! S’later, nerds!

to reproduce, as an organism does

I decided to participate in this week’s Illustration Friday topic, “propagate”. If you don’t want to read a million digressions, just skip to the bottom of the post for the image. Otherwise, here’s some ramblin’:

Failing to think of a worthy topic to organize a flow chart around, I was planning on doing some kind of family portrait, like a bunch of redheaded children or a family of four-eyed book nerds, all with their heads buried in whatever they’re reading. Then I started thinking about pregnancy, which made me think about the Hensel twins, Abby and Brittany. I’m sure that isn’t where most people’s minds go to when they think of childbirth, but ever since watching the documentary “Joined for Life”, the association has been persistent in my mind.

A very brief history of the Hensel twins: Abby and Brittany Hensel are 19 year old conjoined twins. Plainly stated, they pretty much look like a two-headed person; they both face the same direction, being joined down the middle and having a very symmetrical appearance, with two legs and two arms. Their coordination is amazing. They're able to type, run, ride a bike, and both have their own driver's license. In the documentary "Joined for Life: Abby and Brittany Turn Sixteen", the girls discuss all the things they plan to do: attend college (they're currently enrolled at Bethel University in Minnesota), get married (no word on boyfriends), and… have children.

Yes, have children.

How that is ethical or if it’s even possible, I know not. For them, I suppose it would be natural though, so while it would be a confusing situation (for me, anyway), I’m not sure how it registers morally. They do share reproductive organs.

And an equally brief history of me: Conjoined twin documentaries are to me what Lost: the Final Season appears to be to the rest of ya’ll. You eagerly await it and would lose your shit if you missed it. I am fascinated by the topic and have been since sometime in elementary school, when I first learned about conjoined twins watching the documentary “Katie and Eilish: Siamese Twins”, (so this was circa pre-political correctness, obvs.) about the Holton sisters (Irish) and their surgical separation, which resulted in the death of Katie due to a weak heart. I watched it, bug-eyed and heart-thumping, next to my mom. My interest isn’t purely morbid amusement, and while it’s easy to crack jokes (I mean, come on, you can see Abby in Brittany’s driver’s license photo!), the topic is fascinatingly complex and often heartbreakingly sad.

photo from Life magazine

So that’s my train of thought. All that said, this image is going to probably seem quite insensitive. Pregnant conjoined twins is a pretty nutbag situation though, guys. And I should note, I’ve also been watching some Daria (R.I.P.) as of late, and am (happily) reminding myself of a “Sick Sad World” cover story here. Without further ado:

I need to break into the greeting card scene. I think I’ve got something to offer. Hallmark, just say the word.

heavy ’bout everything but my love.

I’ve been kept busy these past few weeks. Trips to exotic and far off places, like… Detroit. Eating angel wings to the point of nausea. And, oh, working on a poster for a local theater. So I’ll have that to show/promote soon. In the meantime, it’s just a quick ‘un, but here’s my submission for this week’s Illustration Friday theme: Hollow.

Pretty much reads like a diary entry from my 9-5 life this past month. If a diary were worth keeping. But it’s not. Which is the point.

like that aliyah song. but longer.

Just a quick post to share my Illustration Friday submission for this week, before another Friday is upon us. The topic was “unfold”:

devil’s rain

Another Illustration Friday submission. This week’s theme is “craving”. I think the silhouette I had in mind originally would’ve conveyed the zombie’s sense of hunger better, but I wanted to challenge myself with a collage. I haven’t made one in ever such a long time. Plus, when I start thinking zombies I get very selfish and vain and need to be personally involved. So this illustrates another sort of craving as well: TO KILL AND BE KILLED.

Well, not really. But I would for sure like to wield a chainsaw like a badass. In a movie. Not so much in my actual existence.

In real life it’d be an axe.

As for the be-a-zombie desire, it’s already been fulfilled, but you probably already knew that, Zombies of Beaver Lake Part II being as popular as it is ‘n all.

you just wait and see (tra la la la la) she’s quite a girl

I guess in some really roundabout way this could work for this week’s Illustration Friday topic (“adapt”), but it seems like a stretch. Forgive me. Really, when I think about the word “adapt” I picture a human with wings, Darwin and Nicholas Cage. All separately. Maybe Darwin or Nicholas Cage with wings? I don’t think it’s worth my while to illustrate the later, in particular, though. ANYWAY, WHO LIKES PIPPI? OH, RIGHT. EVERYONE.

So this is my proposed Pippi Longstocking cover. Wouldn’t that be lovely? There is a very nice version illustrated by my dream girl, Lauren Child (of Charlie & Lola fame), that you should look into if you haven’t seen it and don’t find it worth your while to employ me to create one JUST FOR YOU (though really you should).

Anyway, here’s what I was aiming to illustrate to begin with before I realized I was makin’ a “P” (and also before I realized that the text read “shoe” not “toe”… despite having read over it at least three times. WTF, brain?)

From Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren, Chapter 7, Pippi Goes to the Circus:

In the meantime, the next act had started. It was Miss Elvira, who was going to walk the tightrope. SHe wore a pink tulle dress, and she had a pink parasol in her hand. Taking dainty little steps, she ran along the tightrope. She swung her legs and did all sorts of acrobatics. It looked so sweet. She even showed that she could walk backward on the slender rope. But when she came back to the small platform at one end of the tightrope and turned around, there stood Pippi.

“Quite a surprise, isn’t it?” said Pippi with delight when she saw Miss Elvira’s astonished expression.

Miss Elvira didn’t say a word. Instead she jumped down from the tightrope and threw her arms around the neck of the ringmaster, who happened to be her father. And the ringmaster once again sent his attendants to throw Pippi out. This time he sent five of them.

But then all the spectators in the circus started shouting, “Leave her alone! We want to see the red-headed girl!”

And they all stmamped their feet and clapped their hands. Pippi leaped onto the tightrope. And Miss Elvira’s acrobatics were nothing compared to what Pippi could do. When she reached the middle of the tightrope, she stretched one leg high in the air, and her big shoe spread out like a roof over her head. She bent her foot forward slightly so that she could tickle herself behind on ear.

P.S. Wouldn’t the Adventures of Pippi Longstocking logo make a sweet tattoo? I mean, if you knew nobody would mistake it for a Wendy’s icon?

swing, crack, thump.

So, I actually had two ideas for last week’s Illustration Friday theme (“cracked”), and this is the other one. A different style silhouette for me, but I think I like it. I’d really like some feedback on the grass in particular, though. With or without? Thinking about adding some shadows later. Right now I need a chai tea latte.

Click the images for enlargements.
And here’s a close-up of miss lady: