It has been a while since I made my account on redbubble.com, just never really could make the time to create or post illustrations; However, I find myself with some more time on my hands, which allows me to create and post to my shop!
I will have many of my illustrations up on the site as t-shirts, tank tops, laptop cases & skins, phone cases, bags & so much more!
Participated in my first Artwalk this year, it was such an awesome experience. I was excited and terrified to see my work displayed next to other artists lol all of the feelings were felt!
There were also some things discovered about me and my work: a lot of my illustrations are more masculine, I still have quite a variety of different styles of work – some people thought there were 4 different artists in my tent lol and stepping out of my comfort zone to engage with people looking at my work – being some one with social anxiety, this was terrifying to say the least, but it is one of those things that help you grow as an individual to better yourself and your skills so you just gotta power on through – which was becoming a little less terrifying each time 🙂
I was on 83rd Ave all weekend (July 7, 8 & 9th, 2017) from 10am-5pm each day. The spot I had was fantastic: right across the park where there was live entertainment, between both the crafter’s market and Farmer’s market; however, the majority of people walking through this area were of an older and a more family orientated crowed – now don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with an older and more family orientated crowd, it is just that my sales were not so great. It was my first year, so there have been a couple of lessons learned, one of them being that my work appeals to a younger/more niche crowd. So next year I will see if I can be positioned along Whyte Ave as this is more of where my target market will be; I just hope the weather is as beautiful next year as it was this year!
Special thank you to my volunteers, supporters and @thepaintspot plus all the sponsors for creating this great event!
Follow my Instagram and Twitter for live updates @noelle_fontaine
Out of the blue I was stricken with inspiration to do some Alien fan art; I love HR. Geiger’s work, in fact I have some as wallpapers on my Mac book pro & pc at work lol
I though about doing this as an airbrush piece at first, but then decided to do an ink wash instead; once i decided this I was debating on doing highlights with the airbrush…but it’s been so long since I’ve done traditional ink (with India ink, water and paintbrush brush) in general so I decided to just stick with the 1 medium.
Ink washing is one of my favourite techniques, the last time I did any was back in October for inktober 2016 which were all relatively quick illustrations, so it was nice to actually be able to spend a bit more time on this than the inktober pieces (October is a bit of a busy whirlwind month for me lol).
I can see some things that I think I could do better but that comes with time and experience lol want to refine and improve my skills and the only way to keep improving is practice, practice, practice 🙂
The substrate used for this illustration was Canson Bristol 96lb (260g), 11″x14″ (27.9cm x 35.5cm). I have been using this for most of my illustrations lately, it is double sided (1 is smooth and the other is textured – prefer the textured side myself but its nice to have the option) and is made from 30% recycled paper #awesome
In retrospect, to really achieve the look I was initially looking for I should of used Illustration board, but I am pretty happy with how this turned out…even though I am very out of practice lol That said this substrate surprisingly holds up really well to ink wash and water colour techniques (posts to come!) with little to no warping of the paper; mind you taping this down to a board does help to prevent this as there is a fair amount of water and ink used on this piece lol but even if there is a bit of warping you can place a heavy book on top and it smooths right out!
PENCIL SKETCH
PENCIL SKETCH CLOSE UP
INKED OUTLINE
MID-TONES AND BASE LAYER OF BACKGROUND
FINAL OUTCOME
CLOSE UP
I’m not going to lie, since it had been so long I procrastinated on finishing this piece for a little while lol I was afraid to mess up my pencil sketch and inked outline so the first layer of the ink wash was terrifying lol but sometimes you just gotta take the risk, swallow your fear and give it your all!
To see more of my work be sure to follow me on Instagram & twitter @noelle_fontaine where posting happens more regularly 😛
Thank you for reading and please do not hesitate to share your thoughts and critiques on this piece 🙂
Inktober has already come and gone, it seemed to happen so fast!!
This was my second year participating in inktober, you can check out last years blog post inktober 2015, many random ink pieces were created lol I found it a bit hard to squeeze in time to get these done but I am very happy I was able to complete the challenge and work on my inking skills!
October is usually a crazy month for me (making my niece & nephews halloween costumes, freelance work, full time work, participating in the night of fear festival media promos & event itself) so I decided to get a bit more organized & go with a theme: horror & macabre movies & tv series.
My big little brother is a Halo master! Master Chief CJ, Halo MASTER!!!
He lives, breaths, eats halo & it shows! The things he unlocks in the game & how good he is at playing it amazes me, not to mention his online gamer friends! I wish he would post his gaming skills because they are insane.
REWIND: He is my “Big Little Brother” because he is the baby of the family but is about 6 feet tall. He just turned 20 January 23rd, its hard to believe he is already 20!
So it is clear the inspiration for this illustration (which was his bday present 😛 ) is my big little brother, Justyn.
The Materials: • Bainbridge Illustration Board • X-Acto Knife • Watercolour Paint • Masking/Transfer Tape • Faber Castell Watercolour Pencils • Prismacolor Premier Pencil Crayons • Steadler Pigment Liner 0.1 • Sharpie Extra Fine Point • Jelly Roll 08 White Jelly Pen • Reference Pic • Pencil & Eraser • Wooden Board The Process:
1. On the Illustration board I sketched out the rough image, using reference image, then added the details
2. Outline final sketch & details with Steadler Pigment Liner 0.1
3. Mask off entire sketch with the transfer tape
4. With the x-acto knife lightly trim round the boarder & character. (Be sure to use a sharp blade & do not push down too hard, you do not want to cut the illustration board)
5. Peel the pieces of the tape off the background (only in areas you want to be painted)
6. Painted the background with water colour paints, starting with a light purple, gradually fading into darker a darker shade of purple to blue to black.
7. After 2 layers of this I used a dry brush, dipped it in white paint & spattered it over the entire image to create stars.
8. Once this dries, peel the tape covering the image & start blocking in colour with the watercolour pencils & blend with water, when it dried I did a second layer to add more dimensions with shadows, keeping the highlighted areas light from the start (it is easier to keep the white areas light than trying to add them back in)
9. Once this dried I used prismacolour pencil crayons (they go on creamy & blend awesome) over top to finish adding colour & dimension to the image
10. I did the pencil crayon one section at a time, using the extra fine tip sharpie to go over my existing ink lines to make them pop more, while adding some line work for shading (the pencil crayons pushed the strength of the felt back)
11. Once this was complete I used my Jelly Roll pen to add some texture to the highlighted ares & some stars to the background.
12. Peel off the rest of the transfer tape & framed the image (I made the illustration 8.5”x11” so I trimmed the matting of an 8”x10” frame to showcase the entire illustration)
Let me know what you think of this illustration, & of any critiques you may have. Don’t forget to follow me on my social to see what I am working on in real time!
This project was done as a Christmas present for my boyfriend’s dad, he is rebuilding a 1968 Ford Mustang – yellow with two black racing stripes & soft top. I made the license plate his dad’s initials with the number of the month he was born & the year (BN•0462).
Something that was very important for this project is having good reference photos – especially to be sure you are basing your piece on the right model. I had 1 car for the model, 1 car for the colour & two cars with a side view that both had soft tops.
A great tool I just picked up from the dollarstore was a water tray with a brush cleaner that holds brushes around the edges. I bought one for facepainting & then picked up a larger one for painting, the brush cleaner works awesome! Before I would use jars and containers but sometimes I forget to take my brushes out of the water and the finished on the brushes start to crumble & break off – this is particularity annoying when the finish starts to flake off onto the pice your painting.
Another great tool is a Staywet or Stawet Pallet, preventing paint waste by keeping paint moist (even acrylics) for days! It is especially helpful when this painting will take a few days to complete. This is how it works: there is a sponge saturated with water placed in a deep tray & some special paper that has soaked in hot water for about 15 minutes before being placed on the wet sponge. Once this is done you can place your paint directly on the special paper (which is also reusable) & when you are either taking a break or putting the paint away for the day you place the lid on top of the tray – be sure it is sealed tight – to keep the paint moist. Just do not leave it for too long where the sponge or paper could mold – this happened to me while in school, I forgot about it for about a month or two & did not clean it our or let the sponge dry out so it started to mold; I bleached the container & bought a replacement sponge & paper set, which are not expensive at all.
Here is the process & final outcome:
Blank Surface
Reference Photos
Plastic Paint Brush Holder/Cleaner
Sta-wet Pallet
Pencil Sketch
Penciled Background & Inked Car
Car base paint phase 2
All Taped with Final Details
Removing Background Tape
Final Outcome
Final Outcome
Final Outcome
Final Outcome
Car Process
Materials & Process
This was another experimental piece, I was not too sure how it was going to turn out as my paining skills & knowledge need some work; that being said, I am pleased with the final outcome & think his dad will really like it.
You can follow me on my social to see my projects & process in real time.
This started off as an experimental piece, I bought a pack of 2 larger black canvases (18”x24”) to play around with & was not totally sure what I was going to do with it but knew that I wanted to try something new.
After some thought and staring at the blank canvas I decided to re-create number 31 of my Inktober sketches; it is one that I wanted to expand on since the small sketch was created.
I started of with a light pencil sketch – lighting is very important as graphite is a bit hard to see on black, so doing this with angled light or in front of a window helps – once the sketch was complete I used tinted charcoal with some light pastels to make the illustration pop. I was pleasantly surprised with how it turned out!
About a day after posting it on Instagram someone I used to work with bought it for a family member for Christmas. I was surprised & delighted at how quickly it sold, at first I was unsure about selling it as it was an experiment that worked out better than anticipated 🙂
Shortly after selling it, I started to sketch out a design for the second black canvas. More on this to come once complete. Follow me on my social to see my process & projects happening in real time.
Here is a bit of a throwback on 2015 experimenting with ink & watercolour, stamp making, acrylics & pallet knives, digital drawing, facepainting, my first inktober, playin with some tinted charcoal, finally some more acrylic & ink illustrations.
This year was the first year I participated in Inktober (LINK) and am very proud of myself for competing the challenge; I was talking to my friend about how exciting it was for me to start, participate and complete and while she was on her Tumblr she saw a post about Huevember!
This is another challenge similar to Inktober but with Hues: 30 hue pieces in 30 days, you can add other colours as long as that hue of the day is the focal point.
I was very excited to hear about this challenge as well, this is something that would be more challenging for me as I feel like colour theory is a department I should work on to improve. I do not think I will participate in this challenge this year but will next year…or later in the year as another month’s project 😛 we will see how she goes. I have some plans to make some creative pieces to sell for the Holiday Season this year and need to focus on these ideas before taking on another challenge, more on this to come later this month.
If you choose to participate in Huevember post it on your social and tag me, I would love to see what you come up with for this challenge!
Noelle Fontaine Design & Illustration 