November 7, 2011

One step closer to growing up...

So the news has been announced to my parents. I will be moving out soon.

Of course how soon has yet to be defined (probably somewhere after December?), and I won't just be moving out. No. I'll actually be moving to the United Kingdom, to go live with my boyfriend (who lives there already).

But of course I need to save up some money first so we can find a place to live in. It's a bit hard to do when you have no job and finding a job for two or three months is almost impossible I think. So I'm trying to sell cards and jewellery, so far without much success haha.

If you're interested in any of my stuff and want to help me out, you can have a look at my Etsy Store. Or commission me for a drawing or something. Anything! =)

I made a cute brooch a while ago, which I recently put on Etsy. It's based on my 'Whistle' drawing (which you can also see in my blog banner). I simply wanted to try out my clay to see what I could do with it. If I get more inspiration, I might try making more stuff like this.

Music note brooch.

Also when I was in Spain, I didn't just make those four Christmas cards I posted about in my previous post. I also made a drawing, something a bit different. I had taken a list with me with a lot of random words on there, to hopefully give me some inspiration. Bottled is one of the words that was on the list and a word that stood out to me, so I started sketching.

The word “bottled” brought up the “message in a bottle” image for me. But I didn't want to have a typical letter in a bottle, so I changed it around a bit to have an actual person in there. Maybe a bit weird, but to me it fits. It's something that I imagine would go well with a poem. =)

A message of love and kindness, bottled away for when you need it most.

'Bottled Love'

Drawn with inks and white ecoline ink on brown paper, then I touched it up in Photoshop. I decided to sort of leave the creases in the paper (from the water/ink) because I think it adds to the image. =)


October 31, 2011

Christmas cards

Hey everyone!

I've had a bit of a "vacation month" during October, taking a break from everything and basically travelling to different places (some planned, some not). It's been a really nice month and I felt like I needed it to regain some inspiration and energy.

I've not sat still during this time. Apart from the travelling, I also made some new drawings! To get out of my artist block, I forced myself to make Christmas cards. It wasn't an easy task as I made them in Spain, while it was usually about 30 - 35°C outside. Not an easy task to think of Winter scenes then. =P

But here are the cards I've made, apart from the one with the snowman as I made that one a longer time ago.

Christmas cards!
Click on the picture to see a bigger version.


These cards are available for sale if you would like them. They are folded greeting cards with room for you to write a message on the inside. They also come with a white envelope.
It's €2.5 per card, but if you order 3 or more, they become €2! So you could get all 5 cards for €10. =)
They are also available in Dutch, except for the snowman picture which I only have in English.

If you are interested in any of them, feel free to let me know!

September 29, 2011

And now for something different

So I've been trying to pick up drawing and painting again recently. Things are still moving slowly as I'm still trying to find some inspiration though. It's difficult to get back into it, so if anyone has some inspiration to share, feel free! =)

I bought some new acrylic paints recently as I had noticed I had completely run out of my old ones (most had dried up, awww). And of course I had to try them out. I couldn't really think of anything illustrative to draw, so I decided to do something a bit more realistic, something I used to do when I was younger.

So I found myself a small canvas I had laying around and decided to paint a golden eagle. It's not the most realistic or detailed painting ever (it's a bit tiny for that too), but I like the result, especially since I hadn't used acrylics in a few years. =)


Golden Eagle in acrylics

September 27, 2011

Super Llama!

I was contacted a while ago by Wim Leers, who saw my stall at a local art market. He asked if I could draw an image for his new website (www.wimleers.com).
Not just any kind of image though, no. He asked if I could draw for him a Super Llama!


And of course I wanted to give it a try!

It took me quite a few sketches and some redesigns, because apparently llamas aren't as easy to draw as you would imagine. But in the end the result turned out quite nice I think. =)

Super Llama!

If anyone is ever interested in a commission (be it a logo, a drawing or something else), feel free to contact me. =)

September 22, 2011

And the winner is...

So the Give Away has come to an end! Time for me to pick a winner!

(Sorry for the bad picture quality, I had to use my phone for this.)

All the names are ready to be put in the bag.

The innocent hand (mine!) is ready to pick a name!

And this is the winner!


Congrats Karen Vandelaer! You have won in my first Give Away! =D
You can contact me at info@inespee.com to let me know what prize you want (and of course to give your address).

For everyone else, thank you for participating!
I'm sorry if you didn't win, but I'm planning to do more give aways in the future, so maybe Lady Luck will be on your side then! =)

September 17, 2011

New Magnets + Give Away Reminder

I have uploaded some new magnets to my Etsy shop! Some of those feature Japanese patterns and flowers, but three sets feature my own drawings. =)

Cute animal magnets!

Magnets featuring my 'Whistle' illustration.

Don't forget that these magnets (and a few other items) are available in my Give Away! So if you'd like to participate, leave a comment on the blog entry about the give away: click here.

September 14, 2011

Give Away!

(Scroll naar beneden voor uitleg in het Nederlands.)

So I'm doing my first ever give away! I figured it was about time I did one really. =)

What will I be giving away?

Click on the image to see a bigger version.

As you can see, there are a few things you can pick from:
  • you can pick one pair of earrings (rose studs or the dangling earrings)
  • or you can pick one of my magnet sets (designs can be found here, more will follow!)
  • or you can pick 3 postcards (you can see the different designs here)

How can you win?

I will be randomly picking out one winner (if there is a lot of response, I might pick more than one winner!). You can earn a chance at winning by following the next steps. Each step gains you an extra chance to win!
  • To participate, leave a comment on this blog post. If you don't do this, you won't be able to win as I only pick from the names that appear here.
    If you are not yet a follower of my blog, you can do so by clicking on "Join this site" on the right. =)

    Extra chances:
  • Share this give away on Facebook
  • Become a fan of my Facebook page (if you already are, you get the extra chance already)
  • Share this give away on Twitter
  • Make a Blog post about this give away
  • If you can think of other ways to spread the news online, feel free to use those too!
Make sure to show in your comment on this blog which ways you used to let people know about this give away. Only that way you can earn your extra chances of winning! =)


When does it end?

The give away will end at Wednesday September 21, at 20:00 Belgian time. This means you have a week to participate and to tell your friends about it!

Good luck!


In het Nederlands:
Ik doe eindelijk mijn eerste give away! Ik dacht dat het wel eens tijd was om dat te doen. =)

Wat geef ik weg?

Klik op de afbeelding om een grotere versie te zien.

Er zijn een aantal dingen waar je uit kan kiezen:
  • je kan 1 paar oorbellen kiezen (roosjes of hangertjes naar keuze)
  • of je kan 1 magneet set kiezen (de verschillende sets vind je hier, er zullen er nog volgen!)
  • of je kan 3 postkaarten kiezen (de verschillende kaarten vind je hier)

Hoe kan je winnen?

Ik zal willekeurig één winnaar kiezen (als ik veel reacties krijg, ga ik misschien meer dan 1 winnaar kiezen!). Je kan een kans maken om te winnen door de volgende stappen te volgen. Elke extra stap levert je een extra kans op!
  • Om deel te nemen, laat je een reactie achter op deze blog. Als je dit niet doet, maak je geen kans om te winnen aangezien ik enkel uit de namen kies die hier verschijnen.
    Als je nog geen Volger bent van mijn blog, dan kan je dat doen door rechts te klikken op "Join this site". =)

    Extra kansen:
  • Deel deze give away op Facebook
  • Word een fan van mijn Facebook page (als je het al bent, krijg je sowieso een extra kans)
  • Deel deze give away op Twitter
  • Maak een Blog post van deze give away
  • Als je nog andere manieren kan bedenken om het nieuws online te verspreiden, voel je dan vrij om die ook te gebruiken!
Laat zeker zien in je reactie op deze blog, welke manieren je allemaal gebruikt hebt om de mensen iets te laten weten van deze give away. Alleen zo maak je extra kans om te winnen! =)


Wanneer eindigt het?

De give away eindigt op woensdag 21 september om 20:00. Dit betekent dat je een hele week hebt om deel te nemen en om het aan je vrienden te vertellen!


Succes!

September 13, 2011

Anniversary Card

So last week was my third anniversary with my boyfriend and I decided I needed a card to send to him. But seeing as I usually don't like the cards you can find in shops (and I'm too lazy to go out to buy one), I decided to make my own card. I mean, I can draw, so why not eh? =P

After a few quick sketches, I came up with something I liked and I coloured it in Photoshop. And this is the result, which I printed out and sent out in the post. =)

This is the card version I made.

And this is the non-card version
called 'Loving Embrace'.

September 1, 2011

T-shirt design & Etsy shop

Hey hey!

Been a while since I was last active on here. I apologise. But then I guess if you're following me, you're already used to the long silences. =P

I have been busy this summer selling some of my stuff at a local art market. Mostly just selling jewellery, cards and magnets. It was a fun experience and I made a bit of money out of it (nothing amazing but any kind of money is welcome right now!). Too bad the summer is over now, but maybe next year I can do it again. =)

Now that I have more time again though, I decided to open up my Etsy shop again. I still have a lot of jewellery and cards left, so I'll be uploading those on there. It might take a few days as I don't want to upload it all at once.

If you're interested, you can go here: My Etsy Shop
Though you can always just contact me personally if you want to buy something! It saves me money as selling items on Etsy sadly isn't free.
Here are some of my items, but just a few!

Antique golden owl earrings

Antique silver music note earrings

'Whistle' decoration magnet

Anyway like I said, you can find more stuff in my Etsy shop, including some postcards. Soon I'll be posting my greeting cards and self-made magnets as well. =)


I also finally made a new T-shirt design this week! Again it's been ages since I did one of those, but my boyfriend was bugging me about making a howling wolf one. I know it's not a very original idea, but I do like how it turned out!
You can click on the image to go to the T-shirt page.

Howling Wolf T-shirt


And that's it for now!
I'm currently still working on a logo/image for someone, so maybe once that is done I can post it on here too (if he agrees to it of course)!


May 5, 2011

Image stories

Whoo another update! Didn't expect that, did you?

I'm posting another example I made for one of my classes in secondary school. I was told by my mentor to think of an assignment that lets the pupils (13-14 year old girls) replace words with images.

So I had them think up a very short story. I gave them a long list with words, from which they had to pick at least 3. These words they would have to make into images. Then of course they still had to think of at least 3 more themselves. I let the pupils help each other to think up stories, or if they were really stuck I helped them along a bit.

To make the assignment a bit more challenging, I gave the pupils 5 fonts they could pick from. They were told to copy the fonts by hand. Some did really well doing this and even picked the more difficult and curly fonts, while some others tried to completely ignore this part (I made sure they still copied a font though!).

This is the example I made to show them, which I let them try and decipher in the class. Sorry it's in Dutch, but I'll translate it for those people who can't read it.

Image story.

The text says: "The evil witch flew on her broomstick over the forest. Behind her sat her cat. In her hand she held an apple that had been injected with a deadly poison."


I will update again soon with another example I have made for class. Tomorrow is my very last day at placement, so I better go and prepare for it some more! =)

May 1, 2011

It's oh... so quiet...

Indeed, it has been quiet for way too long up here. I apologise for that!

It's not that I haven't had anything to post, it's just that I've been too busy to find the time to actually post it. Plus I always feel like whatever I might be posting isn't worth it anyway. =P

But I'm going to try and change that, so here is another update!
My placement is almost running at an end, with only one more week to go. Yay! Excited! I'll be happy when it's over, as it's been a bit of a stressful time. And I'm still wondering whether teaching is something I want to do right now or not. I have a lot of confidence issues I would have to work on first before I can stand in front of a class heh.

Anyway, for my placement I've had to make some example images. Not too many, for most I could use old drawings I had or things I found online. But here are two images I made or my placement.

Under the covers

This drawing was used as one of my examples in a class for adults. I was going to teach them about 'frottage' (rubbing with a pencil over a texture so you get that texture in your drawing) and used this as an example as to how you can integrate it into a drawing. The blanket was made by me rubbing it over the sole of a shoe haha. Done in coloured pencils, which is something I rarely work with so it was refreshing.


Long hair portrait

This one is an example I made for my 12-14 year old students in art class. Inspired by the film "Rapunzel", I let them make a non-realistic portrait of themselves with long hair/a long beard. They had to use oil pastels for this. The objects were added in afterwards and are either collage or drawn (though pretty much all the students just used collage). They had to pick either things they liked, or things they didn't like.

The red version is the original, the green and blue one I altered in Photoshop to show them the difference between the colours (green and blue create a bigger contrast). I actually prefer those (especially green) over the original haha.


Long enough post for now I think, no? I think so!

I will be trying to update more in the future, but as we know it's not something I can promise. I'm not good at keeping promises like that anyway. =P

February 7, 2011

Procrastination

A long and difficult word, procrastination. But it's something I'm very good at it seems. Whatever important thing it is I have to do, I always manage to avoid it by doing something else.

At the moment, I'm supposed to be writing up 7 lesson plans for next week, as well as write down observation reports and some other assignments due Thursday. None of that is done right now. Oops.

Instead, I have been busy building my website, as can be seen in my previous blog post. And the last two or three days I've been making some earrings again, with more supplies on the way to make even more of them!




I'll get my work done, though it'll probably be a last minute thing. But I'm used to it!

February 2, 2011

My own website!

Yes! I finally did it!

My own website!

It took me ages and ages to figure out how to get a website together, but I think I finally did it. I don't know if it works properly on every browser and on every computer screen, but it looks good on mine. If anything looks wrong, let me know so I can try to fix it!

My coding and website designing knowledge is veeeery limited though. This looks really cheap and simple because it's the only thing I could get to work haha. Now to figure out how to set up a shop on there and I'm all set (if anyone knows how to do this, feel free to help me out). =P


Sorry for the lack of updates by the way, been a bit busy over Christmas (being abroad and being ill) and now with my placement. Hopefully at some point I can find the time to draw and post something on here. Maybe just sketches even. More interesting than nothing, no?

Actually, I can share two sketches I did a while ago in a programme called ScribblerToo. It's a very simple drawing programme, but it lets you create some fun stuff. Here's two random things I made in there. =)