Merry Christmas!

Happy Christmas, all!

Advent Calendar, Day 24

Advent Calendar, Day 23

Advent Calendar, Day 22

Advent Calendar, Day 21

Advent Calendar, Day 20

I got on a bit of a roll doodling on the front of my sketchbook. The end result was kind of fun, and it is today's advent drawing. Less than a week remaining!

Advent Calendar, Day 19

Shopping: by far the most stressful activity associated with the holiday season. Some folks quite enjoy it, though.

Advent Calendar, Day 18

Reading Dickens' A Christmas Carol is one of the traditions of the season! The quote at the top is the very beginning of the book.

Advent Calendar, Day 17

Advent Calendar, Day 16

Pleasantly ironic timing on that. Huzzah for snow!

Advent Calendar, Day 15

Advent Calendar, Day 14

This drawing is actually a Christmas card for a friend of mine (a huge Dickens fan). I'm a little sad to be parting with it! But, I've a good scan, and I decided to make it today's Advent drawing. So, not bad.

Advent Calendar, Day 13

It is very dramatically windy and wet here (in a way that rather deserves the introduction "it was a dark and stormy night), so I suggest tea or cocoa and cuddling under the covers.

And, I must say, I would much prefer snow in December than rain.

Advent Calendar, Day 12

In honour of the Feast of St. Lucia (although, it has just occurred to me that I am a day early with this). It is a holiday to celebrate not only St. Lucia, who was a martyr, but also the triumph of dark over light - and therefore a light in the darkness of winter. The Scandinavian cultures in particular have some very lovely traditions, and the above is based on that.

Advent Calendar, Day 11

I ran a bit behind on drawing - so, today's is a little rushed and a lot silly. Fun, though, and I hope you enjoy it. Anyway, by request, a garland-wrapped TARDIS (with bonus 10th Doctor!):

(Doctor Who belongs to the BBC)

Tomorrow's should be a bit more special - I've something nice planned. Enjoy your day!

Advent Calendar, Day 10

Advent Calendar, Day 9

Advent Calendar, Day 8

So, I was trying to figure out why I couldn't get a lot of the light blue tones (the sky, the shadows in the snow...) to show up in my scan of this, and then I realized that rather than using a coloured pencil, I inadvertently used a non-photo blue pencil. Whoops. Lesson learned: look more closely at what I'm using to draw! But, here is the advent countdown drawing anyway. Sorry!

Advent Calendar, Day 7

At the risk of sounding insanely cliché, I have to say that I completely adore Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker. Last year's Royal Ballet production of it was on television (huzzah!), and it put me in a drawing sort of mood. So, Clara and the nutcracker!

Advent Calendar, Day 6

Advent Calendar, Day 5

Also, remember making paper snow flakes as kids? Then you need to go to this website: http://snowdays.popularfront.com/

Enjoy!

Advent Calendar, Day 4

Advent Calendar, Day 3

Advent Calendar, Day 2

Advent Calendar, Day 1

I rarely use coloured pencils, but I enjoyed this. Anyway, I hope everyone's Christmas/holiday season is off to a good (and hopefully stress-free) start!

Coming Soon

Things to look forward to:

For the month of December, this blog is going to be an advent calendar. Every day through Christmas, a fun winter-themed drawing!

Also, plenty more from my sketchbook and off my drawing board.

See you soon!

armed with over confidence and a screwdriver

So, I was re-watching some of Doctor Who earlier, and it resulted in some doodles in my sketch book. Thought I'd share because I had fun with them.

Anyway, Ninth Doctor:

Tenth Doctor:

And, of course, Eleventh Doctor:

(Doctor Who belongs to the BBC, the actors to themselves. I just like to draw)

Sorry for the delay in posting!

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!

I Live!

I am terrible at updating this blog. My new resolution is to do so more frequently! And, since it is made decidedly before the new year, I have a bit of time to work on it.

Anyway, my lack of regularity in updating has left me with rather a backlog of sketches and drawings to scan and sort. In the meantime, here's what I am currently working on:

Remember the sketch of this, from a month or so back at OSV? I rather liked it, and have decided to redraw it as a finished piece. A bit left to do finishing the linework, and then on to the watercolours!

I've a few other things in the works. I promise, I will post them soon!

Still Life

I thought I might share a recent watercolour still life from my sketchbook. It wasn't set up to be a still life, it's just what was on the table, and I rather like it:

...huzzah for tea!

Happy Autumn

So, it's been a while since I've painted using this method, and I had forgotten just how much I enjoyed it. You'll likely be seeing more of this in the future. For now, however, just a little piece to celebrate my favourite season coming in!

Happy Autumn, all!

More Sketches

So, I went to the Sturbridge area recently, which means that I once again come bearing some of my sketches from around Old Sturbridge Village.

It was a fairly rainy day while I was there, so the girls in the Freeman farm were working on their knitting and reading aloud from Northanger Abbey in the parlour:

I also have a few sketches from the pottery shop:

A few random sketches...

I haven't posted in a while, so I thought I would share some of the things that have been idling in my sketchbook.

First, a few doodles done in a café, of the other folks about:

And some random scribblings, including a character I am considering making a comic strip about, and (oddly) John Constantine:

This came about while I was listening to "Silver Dagger", which is a folk song. The first verse is "O, don't sing love songs - you'll wake my mother. She's sleeping here, right by my side, and in her hand a silver dagger. She says that I can't be your bride." I'm thinking of maybe making a finished piece of this.

And, Daleks. Why? Because I watch too much Doctor Who. Whoops.

...I promise that I will photograph and post some finished images soon.

character sketches

A few quick sketches of a new character: Brendan Burke, 95th Rifles. I'm thinking that I will do a few pieces with him soon. He could be fun to work with.

Storytime

And, the finish of the piece I posted before:

Today's Work in Progress

Well, as the post title suggests, this is what I've been working on today. I'll have it finished either by or during tomorrow, so that's not too bad. I've got to say, though, children are always smaller than I expect them to be - even in proportion to each other. My current plan: to do sketches of my cousin's daughter next time I see her for reference. I am definitely not above using my family and friends to suit my own ends, haha.

Anyway, more Colonial-era children:

Two More to Share :-)

So here are just a couple more of the things I've been working on lately. Both started as just a bit of doodling, but I liked them enough to add watercolour, and they took on something of a life of their own.

A few sketches of Colonial-era children. I think you will see more of these in the future - likely even with settings!

There is no explanation for this, save that I felt like drawing it. Hopefully it was worth the time spent!

Website!

Well, I now have a website! It is a bit of a work in progress, but for now it is at least something. Feel free to check it out: Meghan Hawkes Illustration

Collages

A while ago (potentially about six months at this point), I had posted a few sets of collages based on old photographs. The show for them never ended up happening, due to a variety of reasons, but it is still an interesting project to go back to from time to time. Recently, I found picked up a few more old photographs in a local antique shop, so there will probably be more of these in the future.

In the meantime, here are three more: