The proportions and expression are good! Those are hard with kitties
Do you have any color pencils? I agree that if you want more detail, you could use those over the pastels. I also have heard of using watercolor pencils over the pastels. Which sounds like it might be awesome but also something you’d want to check out on a practice basis first. I also remember using the hard ends of paint brushes and tiny pallet knives to scrape off a bit of pastel to get tiny details back in highschool art class. Kind of a mix of pastels as a paint and pallet as tool technique.
This idea from the humane society is so cute. I’d be very happy with your portrait for $25 and a good cause!
ETA: I caught covid this week – or perhaps I should say it finally caught me after four years. @FloridaManJefe’s card arrived unexpectedly on my worst day, when I was feeling like hammered shit and in lonely isolation. You couldn’t have known Jefe, but it was a perfectly timed blast of positive energy that I won’t forget. Next time I’m in the Conch Republic, I’d love to thank you personally and maybe check out your operation.
of course! and thank you. glad you like!
thank you, @MrShiv , makes me very happy to know.
as said in the text, this is the beginning of a series of images that i have been working on over the last few months. i am very pleased with the project and hope it is well received.
the “conch republic” postage stamp is one i have envisioned and worked on for over a year. i call it the 1c Red Flagler.
to anyone that may feel like “jumping on the train”, there are still some available places on the mailing list. each issue is limited to 20 to 40 cards and are not reprinted until i bring all the images together in a book with additional material, expanding on the history being explored.
but, it ismail art, so DM me an address if you woild like. my list is never stored digitally and is NOT for sale. i’ve made the spiel before, i stand by my promise to keep it safe. PO boxes welcome, aliases are welcome.
always free. it is my labor of love. i love to share.
Are you familiar with the Discworld novels of Sir Terry Pratchett (GNU)? One of the many recurring themes (and the subject of one full novel, Going Postal) is the invention of stamps as the key to a modern(ish) postal system. Literally as soon as stamps are invented, they become collectible, are used as de facto currency, etc. Great stuff!
as young’uns, DB and i were amateur philatelelists. we loved traveling to distant places in the vignette of a tiny postage stamp from afar.
i have indulged in similar “world building” with my own stamp issues, dating back to 1987 “Occupied Columbia City” and a series of stamps from my loft studio print shop in South Seattle. then to the “Free Zone of Issaquah” after leaving the city.
the Conch Republic is an open world sandbox to tell a story based on real history of a place that has inspired imaginations for over 200 years. i can only imagine and draw what i see there.
that is my inspiration and the context i want to share in what i do.
thank you for attending my TED talk…
day one we expanded the standard sized door frame for the gate the client bought at the local iron works, then made the custom jamb, hung the gate, and redid the trim.
we’ve been working on the upper cabinets for seven days. they go wall-to-wall all the way around. the X patterns are all calculated to hold pyramids of wine bottles, even on the sides. requires precise measurements and angles, and cutting out the center notches where they cross needs two saws and finishing with a razor knife for part the little saw can’t reach. if the X span was short by > 1/16" (like 1½mm) it was rejected, and each X had to be marked and fitted to the individual cabinet to account for minute differences per cab.
