Art and Illustration by Claire DeWilde
It was an accident — in fact, it wasn’t even that. She had been playing in the woods with her wooden toys and had found the poor thing in the grass.
Of course, armed as she was, there seemed to be no convincing them.
What would you have done?
This year, I finally did it! I made an ink drawing for every single day in October. Thirty-one unique drawings with my trusty crow-quill pen (and one in ball point). I’m so proud! I only fell behind twice during the very last week.
Using the “official prompt list” by Jake Parker, I [mostly] based each drawing on events and dogs I’ve seen at my various dog-related jobs. It was the structure I needed to stick with the challenge!
They’re all up on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. If you’re reading this much later though, save yourself some scrolling and look below.
These are my top six favorites:
All thirty-one (in reverse chronological order):
I even tried a little animatic. Be advised: do not watch this if you are eating!
Watercolor and ink!
If you don’t know, Labeouf, Rönkkö & Turner started a live stream in New York on Inauguration Day, inviting the public to say “He Will Not Divide Us” into the camera and microphone. In under a week, I had collected several screenshots of things I found interesting or funny, and I knew I had to draw what I saw.
People come to the camera for all kinds of reasons. Some people sing, some people stay silent, some people shout vulgar things, and some people say the five words at the center of the project. Through it all there is bad weather, wild costumes, possums, dogs, and lots of food delivery. Just seeing the ebb and flow of this segment of 36th street has been fascinating.
This was the first year I completed Inktober! The key to success for me was being okay with less ambitious drawings on busy days so I didn’t fall behind. Thanks to everyone who cheered me on. It was fun, but I’m glad it’s November now!
Here are all the drawings in order:
I discovered Omnichords last summer while skipping randomly through the internet. A week from the day I learned of these magical instruments, I bought my OM200M on eBay. Since then, I’ve been strumming to synthesized drums like the all-knowing space goddess I imagine myself to be when I plug in my Omnichord.
Read about the history of Omnichords here!
I have noticed, in my time as an Omnichordist, a terrible dearth of Omnichordal ornamentation! So how about some Omnimals?
Are you an Omnichord enthusiast? Well, if you want this design (sans my name) on a shirt, a bag, or notebook to jot down your electronic compositions, I’ve set up a Redbubble page for this design.
I made this so I could have a bag to carry my Omni, and the drawstring bag (15 x 19.5″) is juuuuust long enough to hold it! Plus, I was able to pattern these guys across the fabric, which I think turned out pretty neat-o.
Anyway, I’m really happy with how this turned out, and I’m excited to add more designs to Redbubble! If you have an idea for a t-shirt or mug, suggest it either in the comments or via email!
A short story in watercolor and ink.
This assignment asked us to provide a three-image narrative wherein each image was essential to the story and resulted in a surprise. What I enjoyed most was actually the formatting requirements. It was assigned to be set up in a french fold (folding the paper into quadrants) so that each image was revealed in sequence, doubling in size as it opened.
Take your time with each image before scrolling to the next. Hopefully any quirks in the formatting haven’t spoiled the surprise for you!
What do you think? Was the foreshadowing too obvious, or not obvious enough? Were you surprised?
This commission was especially fun. I was given total creative freedom, which can be either a blessing or a curse. In this case it was an absolute blessing because I had been looking at a lot of Peter Parnall’s work and I wanted to try something different.
I started by sketching the dog to get familiar with the forms, then I traced over my sketch with simple, bold, organic lines.
After transferring the lines to drawing paper, I colored each shape flatly with Prismacolor pencils and then traced over the lines with a 0.5 Copic pen.
The result was an exciting modern twist on a traditional portrait.
These adorable dogs and cats were commissioned as gifts for friends of the client. I love the challenge of capturing an animal’s unique personality!
All of these portraits are 5 x 7″.
“George” [pencil]
“Mable” and “Owen” [watercolor and Micron pen]
“Tiny and McKenna” [pencil]
“Batsy” [ink and watercolor]
“Howie” [pencil]
“Tucker” [ink and watercolor]
Artful Armadillo