Embroidered illustrations by Lucky Jackson.

Every now and again when i'm randomly browsing the web i'll come across something that is completley brilliant. These hand stitched textile frames by Lucky Jackson really make me smile :) They're right up my street, they look cute and also have a very strong collage/illustrative feel, at first i thought the figures were drawn but when you look closer you can see they're actually stitched - amazing ! And what's more - this artist has set themselves up to produce one of these textile pieces everyday for a whole year ... 365 unique works of art, all in the same format which realy makes a lovely seires :)

Polly Becker - Tactile Illustrations.

I recently came across this artist/ illustrator and i am totally baffled by her work :) She creates little characters (or assemblages) from all kinds of odds and ends, old dolls, collage, textile elements, jewellery etc. and photographs them against a white background - in a way that makes them seem as if they could be real.

 It's not just the figures she creates that really interest me but also the concepts - on looking through her gallery (link) you can really see the connection between the pose, or expression of the figure and how that represents an issue or explains the article the piece was comissioned for. Here are some examples of her weirdly brilliant creations...

Mechanical birds

Here are some birds i have been drawing for a current project at uni.The project title is 'Power', we have been allowed to illustrate this word/theme in any way we want to , so I have chosen to draw these little birdies ( which are usually seen as being fragile/delicate) and give them a sense of power by making them all mechanically machine-like :) These illustrations are based on real types of birds...

Nightingale

Chaffinch

Wheatear

Carrion Crow

I googled images of steampunk and clockwork creations while i was drawing these for inspiration... I think Steampunk imagery is so beautiful :)  I may draw some more of these and go into more detail with the whereabouts of the mechanics ( hinges on the parts that would move etc.) i vaguely did this , giving each bird a little rib cage and hinges on the legs but i think it'd be cool if the mechanics could be more correspondant to the anatomy of the birds.

Inspired by Iain Macarthur

This is an owl i drew, inspired by the work of  Iain Macarthur, i think his illustrations are amazing ...

My owl - Black ink pen on white paper.

Here are some examples of  Iain Macarthur's work...

I love the fact that no colour is needed to make these illustrations eye catching,black line on white paper is all they are, but they're still so effective. I would love for my doodles to be as good as these one day! 

Tattooed beauties

These bold black and white illustrations are by Adam Isaac Jackson, I came across his work on this website. I think his work is stunning, it appears to be both simple and complex at the same time. The lack of colour in these pieces really makes them have an impact, and these illustrations of tattooed women seem to be reminiscent of tattoo designs themselves.

Mixed media birds

I've been really busy over Christmas but still somehow have found time to do some art :) my mum got me a  book called 'British Birds' for Christmas  - i chose it because it had some really good photographs of birds up close and in flight. I think birds are really fun to draw and i am trying to practise drawing and painting them more realistically. Here are two i have done so far, there may be more to come :)

Mixed media birds : Watercolour paints,Conte crayon,black fineliner,white gel pen and chalks.