Skunk, Age 6

My beloved skunk costume, with its oh-so-fluffy tail. This was my costume for grade one – I remember our (fantastic) teacher dressed up as an old man and tried to fool us all, but…we figured it out (thanks to a lot of screaming and finger pointing).

Skeleton, Ages 4 and 5

Did I mention that the skeleton costume glowed in the dark? It glowed in the dark. (I never put on glow-in-the-dark makeup up, but I drew it this way, just for kicks). I remember being in kindergarten and being in the little kindergarten Halloween march around different classrooms – and in one class, one older, dressed as a pirate, pointed me out and said “Hey, lookit the skeleton! Cool!” …good times, good times.

Skeleton, Ages 4 and 5

One of my most awesome costumes, that was later revisited in life, and was anatomically correct (unlike the drawing you see here). My mom made every single one of my costumes, up until a few years ago, and she excelled at the skeleton get-ups, making sure all dem bones were accurate.

Witch, Age 3

When I was three I got to choose, for the first time, what my costume for Halloween would be. Apparently I was very enthusiastic about being a witch. Very enthusiastic.

My smile – which has plagued many-a-photo despite requests to ‘Kristin, be nice! – hasn’t changed much since, I just have better teeth now.

Pink Bunny, Age 2

October can’t help but be an awesome month. It’s the month of my wedding anniversary, my mom’s birthday, and some of the best holidays of the year, including Day of the Dead, Halloween, and Thanksgiving. There’s pumpkin pie, apple pie, turkey pie, apple cider, pumpkin carving, candy candy candy, and best of all, costumes.

In the spirit of this glorious month, I’ll be doing some quick cartoony self-portraits (scribbled in pencil, coloured quickly on the wacom) of my Halloween self through the years. Hopefully I can remember everything I was (not to mention what I/the costumes looked like)!

So here I am, age 2, as a pink bunny. I don’t remember this at all. I like to think that my parents dressed me as such because of their love for A Christmas Story.

Bad, baaad (old) anatomy

Another *very* old sketch. I actually did quite a bit of work on several projects on the weekend, did some get sketches and crossed several things off my list. Alas I cannot show anything as of yet (I’m mysterious like that).

I have absolutely nothing new and completed to share. Oh, there are ‘things’ done, but as one can see, I like ‘series’ and I don’t like posting compositions without their friends (I have done that already, and I don’t like it).

So here’s something old. Olllllld. Past 2006, I think. A sketch of the Weeping Willow, a character from the beloved King’s Quest series (in this case, King’s Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder). I was revisiting this a little while ago, but now that’s on the back burner, so…here’s the ollllld one.

The Weeping Willow

So much going on right now – and most of it I can’t talk about even past completion. Bah!

Medieval Animal Alphabet - Fox Watercolours

The second step in the ‘MAA’ series is transfering the image to watercolour paper and laying down a quick wash of colours.

A few weeks ago I completed what I would call a insignificant feat. It was the result of bizarre yet unimportant circumstances that were prompted by the gnawing of time and ticonderoga. I finally “finished” a sketchbook. I have always favored loose printer papers stuffed into binders and book jackets instead of the neat, collected fine bristol of sketchbooks. There are many sketchbooks that I had begun an artistic relationship with, only for me to scoff at them and turn them away leaving them empty hearted, save for the kiss of a graphite sketch spread across a page or two.

I can only guess that one book finally got to me, whispering to promise to collect memories and ideas. And in just over a year, I found myself sketching, drawing, inking, experimenting, life drawing, making notes for our game, developing postcards, designing wedding invites, writing down recipes, blue-printing logos, creating costumes…and coming to the last page. It was finished.

So I turned the book around and started drawing on the backs of already filled pages. So far, no smudging or mixing of lines. I can only hope the journey back will be as fun as the journey there.

Few of the pages would interest anyone, but I think I will be brave and post a few of them.

Medieval Animal Alphabet - Fox Sketch

This is how all of ‘MAA’ illustrations started out…just as a quick sketch in a little black book.