IF: Cracked

Hope to add some colour to this little guy later.

IF: Legendary

My intention was to draw the legendary Loch Ness Monster for this weeks topic, however this character appeared instead!

Never mind, I think this little guy has potential...but maybe not legendary...

IF: Flawed

A little sketch to recognise my flawed start to 2009, I've really neglected posting on IF with my new online adventures (http://www.mjbee.etsy.com/ and www.folksy.com/shops/Bee )

Must try harder!

[Updated to inc a colour version - digital]

IF: Opinion (sought)

Would love your opinion on my new characters...(am I exploiting this weeks word?!)

Kiwi

Doodle inspired by Bella Sinclairs' funny entry for IF's 'Punchline theme.

IF: Baby

'Mum keeps a watchful eye on her babies as they try out their new wings.'

(Since encountering the truely wonderful art of Jennifer Meyer and her adorable 'fairy bunnies' I've been sticking wings on everything!)

IF: Wide (Fat Fairies)

These wide mouth little guys are set to get ever wider tummies as they work their way through this pile of fairy cakes.

The colour version is my first effort with digital colour / Photoshop, which is a media I'm completely clueless in...any advice gladly received!

My first idea was actually to have a large snail making its way along a narrow lane, the snail would have been a 'wide load' due to an extended shell - visualise porches, turrets, extra rooms... Unfortunately I couldn't make this work, would love to see someone else to have a go!

IF: Fail (or...'If at first you don't succeed...')

A few failed attempts usually come before success, as is the case for the character above.
Another sketch and just in time this week as I've been away, back to colour next week! This is a study of a rather cute dinosaur toy, I think he makes for quite a nice character so might revisit him again.

IF: Save (save the birds!)

A very quick sketch today, and the link to this weeks IF topic 'Save' isn't wonderfully expressed.

Basically I was going for a continuation of my cat theme from the 'Leap' and 'Heavy' topics, where the cat saves, rather than eats the cute birdies. Unfortunately I don't have time to develop this idea this week, hence the sketchy sketch!

IF: Homage to Pooh

A double homage, to the wonderful characters of A.A.Milne and inspiring illustrations of E.H. Shepard from Winnie-the-Pooh.

I wanted to interpret the characters and stories into my own style, but have found myself needing to study them a bit first, so for now I've included essentially a copy of one of Shepard's illustrations (above) and a couple of sketch studies (left). The wonderful thing about Shepard's simple, effective drawings is that you just can't capture the Pooh character making it even more special.
This weeks IF has inspired me to revisit these lovely stories and images, not least because they are loaded with lots of philosophical and zen thoughts too! (see 'Pooh and the Philosophers' by John Tyerman Williams and 'The Tao of Pooh & The Te of Piglet' by Benjamin Hoff).

Happy Easter!

Spare a thought for the Easter Bunny..

The washing line pencil sketch...

IF: Theory 'What is it like to be a bat?'

Philosopher Thomas Nagel offered an objection to the Mind-Brain Identity theory (which seeks to reduce all mental states to brain states, arguing that there is nothing that cannot, ultimately be explained in terms of our material brains and therefore observed).
Nagel points out that however much we might learn about bats say, their bodies, brains, behaviour etc.. we can never know what it is like to be a bat. There are private, subjective experiences that bats and the rest of us have which cannot be observed, therefore something remains mysterious about the mind even if we know all there is about the brain.

IF: Choose

'She went into the pet shop to choose a puppy, but just had to have the elephant!'

The Blanket sketch origins

This is how the blanket sketch below started out, I've popped it in as I prefer it to the colour version.