A study of Sherlock Holmes

 

 

A study of one Sherlock Holmes and the Hound of the Baskervilles.

These two elements are part of the same illustration, inspired by the classic Sherlock Holmes crime novel the Hound of the Baskervilles.

Again, as in the Adventure of the Speckled Band, in the Hound of the Baskervilles the breed of the canine is not clarified, but instead we are only told that it's a big hound. After some research I decided that the Great Dane (aka Danish Hound) was a perfect candidate for the role as it's great in size and can look menacing, so I sketched my Baskerville Hound using the Great Dane as reference.

Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Speckled Band

The Adventure of the Speckled Band is a Sherlock Holmes adventure written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In this detective story the murderer uses an Indian swamp adder that crawls down a bedside bell rope to kill his victims, without leaving any traces behind. One of the victim's last words are "It was the band, the speckled band!" referring to the snake.

It is one of the most imaginative Sherlock Holmes short stories, regarding the murder weapon. The Indian swamp adder has a lot of people puzzled as to what manner of a snake it was, as there is no such species.

I wanted to illustrate my impression of the venomous Speckled Band, as it crawls down the rope and attacks. It was a lot of fun trying to create a snake's face from the front, as there is little there to work with. Using geometry to solve the problem, I came to this interesting hourglass shape for its face and gave the swamp adder huge yellow eyes to create the image of death in its expression.

It's a little homage to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes I wanted to pay, as I often work while listening to his adventures, dramatised for radio with Clive Merrison and Michael Williams.

Lion

A new project can be very exciting to begin. Starting on a collection of illustrations of wild animals I felt the need to push my artistic vision to a different direction. I began with the king of the jungle, the lion, and used geometry, circles and ellipses, to bring together a my composition and give it balance. When it came to colour, I wanted to become even more adventurous and added to the palette more colours, other than the expected yellows and browns.
With this illustration, as well as the ones to follow, my goal is to present wild animals through a more colourful lens using a lot of imagination to capture their spirit and their character.

World AIDS Day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

World AIDS Day is held on 1 December each year and is an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV, show their support for people living with HIV and to commemorate people who have died. 

 

taken from the website www.worldaidsday.org

Lion - preview

With all those holiday cards I missed my animals. I have started making a new set of illustrations that focus on animals in the jungle.
So once more I resort to geometry to find beautiful shape compositions and a balance in my design.

Although there is geometry and symmetry, to a degree, I always keep my shapes organic and uneven.
Starting to work on these illustrations I'd like to experiment a bit more with colour combinations and use bigger texture patterns in order to give a richer, more unique look.

I began working on the lion and have been taking my time discovering the geometry in his face and mane as well as the colours that express his might and power.

Merry Christmas

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This is the final holiday greeting card I designed to celebrate the upcoming holidays. The star over Bethlehem and an angel spreading the news of the birth of the baby Jesus.

For this Christmas card I used gold and red colours to follow a more traditional aesthetic and reference the more spiritual aspect of the holiday as well.

Spring - revisited

 

I decided to print some posters for my nieces for the upcoming holidays and thought my illustration "spring" would make for a beautiful poster as it's colourful and has a butterfly and a bunny, doesn't get better than that! However, when I printed this illustration in the past I found that I would have liked the colours to be a bit different, so I went back to the original illustration and spent a few hours making all of the changes I wanted  before I have it printed in poster size. Now it is finally ready and looking better than ever!

Happy Hanukkah!

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The Festival of Lights, the eight days of Hanukkah!
The menorah has eight candles that symbolise the eight days the Maccabees’ menorah miraculously remained lit for, despite the fact that the oil fueling it was only enough to last for one day, during the Jewish revolt against the Seleucid monarchy. The ninth candle in the middle is the shamash, the servant, used to light the other eight candles.

You can buy my Hanukkah Cards by clicking here!

Christmas Cards!

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Winter brings us festivities and celebrations once more, it’s the time of the year when we exchange wishes and give presents to our beloved ones.

For this Christmas I have designed a card in red to capture the warmth the holidays bring to our hearts despite the cold weather.

You can buy my Christmas Cards by clicking here!

Happy Halloween!

Trick or treat, smell my feet.
Give me something good to eat.
If you don't, I won't be sad.
I'll just make you wish you had!