A little update with a spaniel

I've had a pretty busy summer and blog got a bit neglected (as well as my social life) so let's rectify it asap!

The latest news is that we have also moved in to our new office space in Edinburgh's former veterinary college turned artists studios and space aka The Summerhall. It is so nice not to have to create a mess at home any more but to come to a specially allocated space for that work frame of mind. Unfortunately it also means that we are seldom at home and when we are finally back after 10 or more hours in the office (freelancing, ha!) all we can do is to cook a simple supper, have a bath and plunge straight into bed to be able to start all over again the next day!

There are several private commissions that I need to update you with and I look forward to hear from you before the Christmas time if you would like to treat your friends or family with an original gift!

Here is a golden background black spaniel painting that I created for one delighted dog owner:

A cat called Lola

I am allergic to cats but Lola has won my heart despite my constant sneezing in her presence and my  painfully red, swollen eyes! I have photographed her for Stuart Pilkington's The Swap Project  (while my friend Wojtek, Lola's owner took a picture of me with one of my illustrations!) and decided to paint her as a Christmas gift for Wojtek.

Here is how she came out on a slightly golden background:

Lip injection

One of the most scary beauty procedures - lip injection, ouch!

Peplum

I have not decided to get one for myself yet but I have featured it in my latest published illustration - here it is (image via my Instagram):

Are you planning to get some peplum element into your wardrobe?

Polish Red Cross summer first help leaflet

I was honoured to do some illustrations for a first help leaflet for the Polish Red Cross as a part of a summer help series of the Twoj Styl magazine. Here is a small sample - what to do when you burn yourself (pop your burn hand immediately under a cold stream of water!) and how to position a head of an unconscious victim so that they do not suffocate :

No hosepipe ban here...

The Scottish summer usually means drowning not is deep sea waters but rather in rain and...juicy strawberries which seem to thrive in the permanent humidity!  Here is another drawing from my series of summer accidents to avoid this year: drowning.

Coup de soleil...

...nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooon!

Today on the blog another illustration from my series about dangers of summer holidays for July issue of Twoj STYL magazine, this time a sunburn.

In the blazing sunshine

Wow! I would have never thought I would be writing these words while in Scotland but my, oh my, it is really hot here this week! We are living with our windows wide open and enjoying laying on the grass in the park and working in a blazing sunshine! The red, juicy strawberries and barbacues are all over the place and one has to slather a lot of sunscreen so that to survive whitout lobster's limbs.

Therefore my latest commission was spot on with the timing, with lots of swimming suit cladded gals, sunshine and hot summer dresses in the brief. It is not all about the sea and the Sun though, there are some serious issues in the article that the drawings are illustrating but it is better to be safe than sorry. So do not stay in the sun too much, reapply your sunscreen, hydrate and enjoy your summer while it lasts! I am off to a barbacue now!

I am in the new issue of Twoj Styl Magazine

I know, I know, I am a bit late again with that but the latest issue of Twoj Styl magazine has just reached me from Poland! And my illustration is in it:

New work for a beauty department of Twoj Styl magazine

It was a tricky subject to pull off in style, this one!

The picture editor emailed me about a new commission, stating that this one is not especially attractive as it concernes a foot peel, one that is really thorough so that it leaves your soles baby smooth and delicate for Spring but...it involves some unapetising elements that need to feature in the illustration for the article about a foot therapy called 'callus peel'.

I like a good challenge and after a quick exchange of ideas in our emails I sent this two illustrations which are now published in the April issue of the magazine.

Luckily the other illustration was concerning a sound massage so it was much more picturesque. Here is one of the sketches for the first idea, as you can see, we decided to feature an esthetician in the final version!

How I did it?

I was recently asked a question about how my illustrations come into being.

So I thought it might be interesting to show you an example (based on the illustration from my previous post) how the illustration looks like BEFORE it is being worked on. These are the rough drawings that were sent to the editor so that they could decide if that is what they want.

In the end a pose with some loose hair won and went into the colouring and background adding stage.

All elements are drawn by hand, then scanned and then coloured in the computer:

Oh, I could SO use some of that!

I am just back from an extensive trip to Poland and I have already managed to loose my Polish mobile card! What a nuissance, let's update the blog with the latest work (published this month in Twoj Styl magazine) and chant ommmmmmmmmm instead.....

Facial Yoga

Have you heard about facial yoga? I was really surprised when a beauty editor got in touch about illustrating a feature about these exercises. You are supposed to do lots of funny faces that are going to strenghten your muscles and stop your face from sagging.

Here are some asanas for your face that I prepared for this feature. I will be able to unveil the finished illustration in next couple of weeks.

The diet plan - continuation

I hope you remember my illustration for a 'diet article' in this month issue of Twoj Styl magazine - here is the final version.

Meanwhile, inspired by my own work (ha!) I went for a jog yesterday (I am recovering today and it is raining heavily anyway) and now I am having some supertasty and healthy Spring food aka the green British asparagus with a fresh organic steamed salmon. So the idea of getting some more physical activity + a better diet is working for me so far!

...and a bit about the decision making

Please click on the images to see all the details!

A bit about the stage fright

So far I was doing just pretty illustrations for Twoj Styl for their beauty section but to break this 'vanity spell' the picture editor commissioned a set of illustrations for their new 'self-help' feature. The first set is the version of the illustrations that is published with the text about decision-making skills and the current one is about...the stage fright!

It was a very interesting text to read and a very interesting task to illustrate the fear of public speaking. In both cases the illustrations show two stages - before and after:

Breathing excercises in print

My illustrations were published in the current issue of Twoj Styl magazine - the next issue contains some more of my drawings in their 'self help / psychology' section:

I would love to feel like that...

And this is how you would feel after making a right decision:

Decisions decisions

I am rubbish at decisions making.

For example last week I went to spend some of my hard earned cash on some shoes ( a girl always need shoes, right?), I decided to buy them within 2 minutes of wearing them in the shop. Came back home and then decided that well, I do not like them that much after all. And they do not go with any of my skirts ( a classic case of too slim legs combined with too sturdy shoes, I looked like I have stolen them from an older brother that I do not have!). Well, to my disappointment the shop protects itself from such undecided shoppers like me and it turned out that I am not able to get my cash back when returning the shoes, I will get a store credit.

So now I do not have anything nice to wear this early Spring and all my cash is locked in some stupid shop's store credit!

No wonder that when Twoj Styl comissioned me with illustration an article about decision making I knew too well how to prepare the drawings! These are some of the proposals for this commission. Stage one (I seem to be permanently in that stage with my decisions...):

Breath in, breath out

I was hoping to post my new illustration (for an article about breathing exercises) for Twoj Styl a bit earlier but a sudden bout of flu stopped me in my tracks. So let's breath in deeply and have a look: