The Pinky Family

© Melissa Gaggiano

    What do you do for fun? Me, I occasionally wake up the cat and herd my family in front of a wrinkly bed sheet for a ten second photo shoot.

    Click here to see more of my photographic work.

Turning a New Style

    One of the artists that I absolutely heart happens to be Marguerite Sauvage. I love the freehand style of her work. She is such an inspiration to me so imagine how happy I was to discover an online Photoshop tutorial for one of her drawings - 

Marguerite Sauvage's Photoshop tutorial.

Marguerite Sauvage tutorial available at Digital Arts.

    There are many art tutorials to be found online and in magazines. But it is utterly thrilling when someone you admire freely shares insight into their work practices.

    The below illustration was my result from following Marguerite's 'tute'. It was a fantastic learning experience. Thank you Marguerite.

Melissa's tutorial result.

    To find out more about Marguerite Sauvage you can find her:

• Facebook
• Her folio
• The Jacky Winter Group [representation]

Back in the Saddle

It is just as my illustration says. There are a lot of things that I want to do, but hardly enough time to do it in. So it was a pleasant surprise this week to find a couple of time pockets to be artistic - in this case, it was my drawing that won out.

Illustration by Melissa Gaggiano

Fly to the Moon

Yummy Food

Just some of my fave, crave, raves…

A Rosy Blur

This afternoon I doodled in Photoshop with the below illustration. Then I added different motion blur effects, just to watch what happens. There are some Dr Who like effects happening, I think.

Kaleido Kristen

Doodly Noodle

Pop Up Dream

Here is another piece of Photoshop work I just completed. I was inspired by pop up story books and wanted to create something similar without going to the length of it being an actual pop up.

Raining Palm Trees

Unhinged

My Left Hand: Part, The Second

I Want Candy... Spring

I am currently working on another illustration in Photoshop, which is partially inspired by Spring. I'll show you my progress as I work through this one, beginning with today... This is my drafted sketch, hand drawn:

Brainiac

Here is another typographical experiment that I also just whipped up in Photoshop. Hopefully you can see what I am trying to achieve.

Shag Pile

This Photoshop work is a typographic experient of mine that I just whipped up.

My Creative Space...

Life inside a kaleidoscope

Okay! So here's the thing... I haven't been blogging a whole lot lately. I have been in that vague space between projects. Also lately I had been spending way too much time following blogs... like as in... all day. So I really needed a timeout. Also I didn't really feel that I had anything of interest to contribute, hence the radio silence.

Now that I am back on the train let me tell you/show you what I have been up and what I would really love to do in the future.

Since May this year I have been fixing up two old photographs which had been taken over fifty years ago. The photos are of my mother in law and her folks. I am now at the stage of almost feeling that I can stop doctoring the photo in Photoshop. When I am satisfied with the result I'll show a before and after. So stay tuned for this one.

• This past week I have been doing a makeover of myself, taking inspiration from Alice Cullen of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight. I started with a haircut.
  

• I then found some items that could easily belong in Alice Cullen's wardrobe.
  

• I tried to find a similar dress that Alice wears in the promotional photos from the first film, of course to no avail. So I decided that I would try to make the dress myself. I bought some grey/silver fabric which I will have a go at.
  

• I also would like to knit/crochet my own version of the white jacket that Alice wears in the cafeteria scene in Twilight, which is simply a delight.

I am also making production notes and preparing to make an animation short in Flash. This will be my first real attempt at a proper little animation, so I cannot say if this project will even get off the ground. Here's hoping though.

Kaleidoscopic Dreams

So I should have been working on my zine, but I could not help myself. I just had to create another kaleidoscope.

Perhaps I'll include a kaleidoscope in my zine. Or... Brainwave!!! Kaleidoscopes can be part of my zine theme. Hmmm... Good thinking 99.

No, I Can't Help Myself

I am dedicated to the kaleidoscope design and here is my latest masterpiece...

To create these kaleidoscopes I have been using swatches of my previous artwork. It seems that the more chaotic the lines and colours are in the original piece, then the finished product looks more natural and interesting. I created another kaleidoscope this morning which had a lot of straight lines and though I applied the same process it was a bit boring because there were so many straight lines and obvious lines.

My First Kaleidoscope

It may seem quiet on the blog front, but in actual fact I have been busy on a number of different projects.

I am still working on my winter zine, which I imagine will take a couple of weeks to produce.

Today for a bit of fun I developed the below image, inspired by the kaleidoscope. I rather like this effect and I am thinking of creating more images in this style.

Strike A Pose

After checking out the clothing boutiques at Southland today, my mind was in the fashion zone. So tonight I quickly created these four fashion drawings...

The Lean

The Window

Lady in Red

Seeing Green