My first work in print!

This week has been very exciting for various reasons and I've been working on a few lovely commissions. Unfortunately, I can't share any of it with you just yet, so I thought I'd show you this piece which has been featured in Doodle Arts Magazine.

It's a Filipino publication, but you can view a free digital version of their teaser magazine Doodle Arts Collection online.

My doodle and a short bio was featured in the 'Spotted' section on page 44 so go and have a nosy if you want to find out a little more about me!

This piece is meant to look like a landscape, with the sea at the bottom, land in the middle and sky at the top.

As always, I had great fun drawing it! I love the way the white windmill stands out so much against the brown.

Here's the drawing in progress!

...and here it is in the magazine.

See you next week peeps!

I'm sharing this post on the following blogs:  Handmade Harbour, Manon Popje's Illustrations, Nifty Thrifty Things, Be Different Act Normal and Tatertots and Jello.

Cycling, doodles and paper cuts!

Just a quick one today because I really haven't done a lot this week!

We've been staying down in South Devon this weekend to see friends and family. I've got a new (second-hand) bike so we went out for a bike ride yesterday from Topsham to Exmouth, stopping for a drink on the seafront before heading back. It's a beautiful route to cycle along the river and quite flat which suited me perfectly! The photo below was taken on my first outing on the Tarka Trail in North Devon.

On Saturday evening we went to our friends' housewarming party, making the most of the weather with a barbecue.

Today we headed home via a visit to a couple of the studios taking part in Devon Open Studios. Heather Jansch's fantastic driftwood sculptures were set out in some beautiful grounds and included the large horse which has been exhibited at the Eden Project. The second stop was in a little village called Luton, where we enjoyed a slice of coffee and walnut cake in the sunshine before browsing the artwork of Angie Carter-Woodwark and ceramic artist Janet Street.

If you live nearby, Devon Open Studios will continue until 21 September and it's definitely worth getting out to visit some local artists.

In response to some people mentioning that they would like to colour the doodle below, I've listed a PDF version in my Etsy shop which you can download and print for £1.50. If you do, I would love to see what you do with it!

I've started another doodle, but haven't got very far, as you can see!

Finally, I've designed a paper cutting template to sell in my Etsy shop, which I've been cutting out this week. It features the Earth surrounded by various modes of transport and is split into a day half and a night half.

It's based on a previous paper cut which I blogged about here. It should hopefully be available to download and print later this week, so watch this space!

Just a little nudge for those who are new to my blog, if you've enjoyed what you've seen and would like to see more, there are several ways you can keep up to date with my artistic endeavours!

'Like' my Facebook page.
Follow me on Twitter @ClareWillcocks.
Follow my blog on Bloglovin.
Or use one of the options on the right.

I'm sharing this post on the following blogs:  Handmade Harbour, Manon Popje's Illustrations, Nifty Thrifty Things, Be Different Act Normal and Tatertots and Jello.

My heart is complete!

We've had a FANTASTIC weekend! Sailing, a night out, cinema, beach and breakfast out - but it's gone far too quickly as usual!

In between all that, I have had chance to fit in some artwork though. This heart doodle is now finished and I'm relieved because it's been on my drawing board for far too long!

I've been picking it up and putting it down every time I've had a few spare minutes.

It's the most intricate I've done yet and I've enjoyed filling in all the little patterns and details.

Some little bits are quite realistic, others are completely from my imagination. I drew the heart outline first and build up the rest of the doodle around it.

Some doodle artists are able to go straight in with pen, but I find I need to sketch everything out in pencil first and get the order of objects clear.

I'm thinking of adding this doodle to my (currently empty) Etsy shop as a downloadable colouring page. If I were to charge about £1.50 to be able to download the doodle for printing and colouring, would anybody be interested? Please let me know your thoughts in the comments, both good and bad!

That's all for now! See you next week :)

I'm sharing this post on the following blogs:  Handmade Harbour and Manon Popje's Illustrations.

A new scanner and a doodle marathon!

Happy Sunday everyone!

I came home the other day to find that my boyfriend Sam had bought me a new scanner as a surprise. We had been talking about getting one since the last one bit the dust after falling off a chest of drawers - they don't bounce!

Anyway, I needed one to scan artwork and designs ready for printing and I'm very happy with the quality of the scan. For those who are interested, it's an Epson Perfection V370 Photo and seems good at colour and black and white scanning, as well as photocopying text.

I finished off a few doodles this week so put the scanner to the test!

I've been interested in the artwork of doodle artist Kerby Rosanes and Lei Melendres recently - their clean lines, detail and style of shading have really inspired me.

This was started sat on the beach, watching Sam fishing. I included everything I could think of at the time, from mussels and birds to cupcakes and puppies!

This next doodle was introduced in last week's blog post but with one thing and another I took a while to finish it.

Both doodles contain many of the same elements.

I can't help including the chunky little octopus, he's so much fun to draw!

A few people have suggested that I colour them in, but I'm not sure if that will take away from the lines and detail. I think I'll give it a go with my next one.

If you are interested in commissioning any artwork, including portraits, doodles or paper cuts, please don't hesitate to get in touch via the 'contact me' section (tab at the top).

I also have a giveaway running pinned to my Facebook page, don't forget to enter!

I'll leave you with a few photos from my weekend, it's been glorious here in North Devon!

I'm sharing today's post on the following blogs: Handmade Harbour, Manon Popje's Illustrations, Nifty Thrifty Things, Be Different Act Normal and Tatertots and Jello.

Pen and ink doodles for Dad's birthday

This week I've taken inspiration from an incredible doodle artist, Kerby Rosanes of Sketchy Stories. I've been following his Facebook page for a while and am constantly taken aback by the new 'doodles' he creates by hand.

They seem very organic, each tiny gap filled with little creatures and doodles. He also incorporates animals and larger forms within his work.

This is my attempt at a doodle for my Dad's birthday.

 It's centred around a birthday cake which appears to have attracted a lot of little critters!

I drew everything our roughly first, then outlined it with a 0.5mm fine line pen.

I still don't think there's enough going on though! I'd like to see every little gap on the page covered up.

This is my favourite section, I'm particularly pleased with the round wooden door.

Here's another one that I did at the beginning of the week. No specific focus, I was just practising building up the detail.

This is it before the shading and details were added.

And a few more angles, I got a bit carried away with the camera!

That's all on the doodle front. This week's project is going to be another one of these, but more detailed and elaborate, just as a challenge!

Bye for now, have a great week!

I'm sharing today's post on the following blogs: Handmade Harbour, Be Different Act Normal, Tatertots and Jello, Nifty Thrifty Things and Paper Saturdays.