Saturday 20 December 2014

Funny Animals and Fiery Fred

In between other projects I've finished another brief for the Children's Book Diploma I've been doing. This time it was all about working with watercolours, something I don't use too often so it was a fun challenge. Firstly we had to draw 3 or 4 animals doing funny things, paint them in a bright colour then use a contrasting colour to add detail or patten, I did find this a bit hard, knowing who much to let the first colour dry before adding the second but I think they work ok and I love the fox.
 The second piece was an illustration for a story called 'Fiery Fred' about a young dragon who can't control his fiery breath and has set fire to a village. Again there are bits I'm happy with like Fred and bits that on reflection I could improve, like smoke from the fire but I was happy to get an overall mark of 76% for both pieces.

Thursday 21 August 2014

IF: Journey

My piece for this weeks Illustration Friday topic.


For a snail, even the shortest trip feels like a journey!


Saturday 12 July 2014

Boat Sketch

Yesterday we said goodbye to a college and friend at work. As she is leaving the area and her house boat I wanted to send her off with a personal sketch of the boat in it's current home as a memento to display in her new home. Hopefully she'll think of us and her time in Woking when she looks at it. Happily she seemed to really like it and it's given me inspiration to get back out along the river to do more sketching.



Tuesday 6 May 2014

Bank Holiday Field-trip

I love bank holidays with a 3 day weekend, especially when the weather turns out to be lovely! I hadn't planned anything as expected rain but decided to get out in the sunshine for a few hours and visit the British Wildlife centre that I'd discovered a few days before. Armed with my camera I saw otters, badgers, red squirrels and other British favourites and am already planning another visit with my sketchbook as it will be perfect for a project I have on-going. Worth a visit if you are near Surrey!

Sunday 6 April 2014

Diploma: Sebastian's Sink City

My absence has not been unproductive as I've been carrying on with my diploma coursework. To accompany the shading exercise I was asked to do a double page spread for a book called 'Sebastian's Sink City' where a miniature world is found or created under the kitchen sink. This is my piece and I've just received my feedback and was marked 78% overall. Definitely room for improvement but it's only my second submission so a good start!

Monday 3 March 2014

Diploma: Shading


I'm currently doing a Children's book illustration diploma course and this is my latest piece. The brief was to take a household cleaning bottle and make it into a home or structure for anything from an alien or tiny person using only shading. This is my interpretation, inspired by an insect hotel I gave my dad for Christmas. I'm really happy with the outcome and balance of shading, I went for the less is more approach, hopefully my tutor will agree but I have another piece to do before I can send it.

Sunday 2 February 2014

Illustration Friday: Exotic

It's been a little while since I've done one of Illustration Friday's weekly topics so thought I'd spend a couple of hours doing a quick pic. It's not a masterpiece but here's my fun take on the theme exotic.

Sunday 19 January 2014

The Sketchbook Project 2014: Spread 1-3

For the last few years I've been taking part in the Sketchbook Project and it's that time of year again when it's in the post on it's way to it's new home at the Brooklyn Art Library. The project is pretty simple, buy a sketchbook, choose a theme, fill it in and return it to be included in a tour and finally a permanent place in the library. This year I chose the topic 'Strange Neighbours' and wrote a little story about animals who are each disturbed by their closest neighbour. Here are the first 3 spreads of my book, I think they are probably my favourite but you'll have to check back for the others over the next few days to see what you think. If you want to know more about the Sketchbook Project and other projects they do the click here.


Welcome

Hello and welcome to my new blog, let me tell you a little about myself. My name is Jackie Kirk and I live in Surrey, England. I completed an art degree in 2007 and since then have been working towards becoming a professional illustrator, taking part in various projects and competitions and just trying to hone my skills. Although I've blogged for a good few years now its time for a fresh start so here I am on Blogger! Below you can see some examples of the work I've done and you are more than welcome to see more on my previous blog by clicking here. So thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you again as I start a new chapter in blogging and my work.