A Tweed Ride

 
Saturday I got to bicycle throughout Portsmouth and Kittery with about 40 other nifty individuals, all a part of the Swell Society's Tweed Ride. Vintage rides, natty attire, beautiful weather and delightful company made for an absolutely top notch day. You can read more about it here.

And of course I had to draw a couple of tweedy characters this afternoon.

 

Hallowe'en


Happy All Hallow's Eve! I made a comic for today and you can read it over here.

Hope you have a happy (and safe) October 31st. It's grey, drizzly and cold here (in short: gross). So in light of that forecast, I raise my chocolate bar to you, intrepid trick or treaters of this fair nation.

Form and Function

 
The outdoors has a wonderful Miss Havisham-like quality to it this time of year. Overgrown, fading mementos of summer fill the garden. But I find myself noticing (and appreciating) the form of every flower so much better now, stripped of color. I picked a few seed pods and ghostly blooms last week and they wound their way into my sketchbook today.

And a bit of good news: The Year of the Book made the 2014-2015 Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List. Thanks, Lone Star State!

All Hallow's Eve


Because there isn't enough Halloween in my sketchbook at the moment. But to be totally honest, I don't think I ever ran around All Hallow's Eve with just a cardigan. Show of hands, who else designed their costumes to fit over a winter coat? I distinctly remember Halloween '88 being the only pirate in history to wear a turquoise parka.

And jumping forward a few months, I have a quick survey. I've had a few people ask if I've ever thought of offering a calendar and I've been mulling the idea over. Is that the sort of thing other people would be interested in?

Halloween Cat Card Tutorial



I made Halloween cards for my nieces and nephew last weekend and midway through starting thinking this would make for a nifty tutorial. Ergo, here's a how-to for making your own seasonally apropos felines.

Tutorial after the jump.



Grab the above items, plus some black construction paper. For pencils, I used Prismacolor pencils because they're bright enough to pop against the black paper, but feel free to use whatever works best for you.

Instructions:

  1. Download a template (with folding directions) here.
  2. Trace template to black construction paper and cut out.
  3. You can start drawing at this point, or fold the card first. I folded first, just because it makes it easier to see what elements fall above or below the ridges.
  4. Thread needle and bring twine from back of card to the front. Tape twine to backside of cat. Repeat on both sides of the cat's face, near the mask.
  5. To finish, fold up the cat and tie twine behind the head.
  6. Voila! You're ready to spread some Halloween cheer.