CAZ LOCK DRAWS

• HIBISCUS •

I painted this series of Hobiscus from photos that I had taken around my parent’s garden this summer. I really wanted to do some more practice with my watercolour set and I enjoy drawing flowers. I thought it would be the perfect way to gain more experience with both.

It was such a fun challenge to try and replicate the colours by using thin washes of colours. It really made me think about my colour theory and not being able to get oversaturated colours like in the photos allowed me to let go of of notion of the illustration being an exact copy. Instead, I wanted the illustrations to not be perfect which is something I often struggle with when I draw as I’m quite the perfectionist when it comes to my art.

I plan to do some more of these in the future as I found it a really fun exercise.

• ROSE WITCH •

As I enjoyed using watercolours so much the first time I decided to work on another painting.

There was no real reason for what I painted apart from I wanted to work on something fun. So this witch lady was the result of my sketches.

• NOVA •

I finished working on this piece at the start of December (2022).

Nova Raye is a character I created that really enjoy drawing. When I drew this I was thinking about what if this was a piece of art for a computer game and what kind of setting she would be in. I settled on having her sit on a tree trunk because I like the idea of her story being a comment on the destruction of nature, and the way it’s taken for granted.

I’ve loved giving her a baby Dragon as a sidekick/familiar for a while. Originally it was a more western style dragon but I couldn’t resist the appeal of using a Dragon from Japan as they tend to symbolise wisdom, success and strength, all attributes I’d like Nova to learn on her journey.

I have more ideas about her story that one day I hope to turn into a comic. In the meantime, though I’ll enjoy drawing her.

Drawn in Procreate on an iPad Pro.

• FORTUNE TELLER •

This piece was almost like a reset for me. I’d been uninspired for a while as I had been really busy with my work. As I always sat in front of my computer I decided to paint instead. Although I wasn’t confident enough to concept the idea in traditional mediums, so I still did that stage of the process on my iPad.

As I intended this piece to be sold in my friend’s shop I chose a theme which reflected what she sells, so settled on a fortune teller. After I painted the canvas I decided to digitally colour the initial drawing I had done so I also have the option to sell prints of it.

• PEONIES •

Before Christmas, I treated myself to a set of watercolours. I always love watching videos of other artists using them and decided to explore the medium myself.

This is the first watercolour painting I’ve done in maybe 10 years or longer… It was a really fun piece to work on. Admittedly I picked an easy subject matter as I wanted to focus on using the paints. I had a lot of fun working on this one and I’m going to explore the medium some more. As much as I love painting digitally I found myself really struggling to complete pieces in 2021 and 2022 and I’m wondering if that’s to do with feeling stagnant and comfortable in the medium.

I’m looking forwards to doing a lot more experimenting with my art in 2023.

Medium; Watercolours, Indian Pen and Ink, and Sakura Jelly Roll.

• LAPIS •

I drew this piece as another experiment to break away from my usual style, wanting to experiment with something more realistic. Using a reference I found on Pinterest as a reference I drew this.

I annoyingly didn’t save the pin so I can give due credit to the original photographer or model, but if you recognise it please let me know so I can give proper credit!

I played around a lot with colour and texture before getting to this stage. The plants were a really fun addition to draw, although I can’t remember why I decided to add them.

Drawn in Procreate.

• UPPER SIX DAKI •

I drew this piece of fan art of Daki from Demon Slayer earlier this year after watching the second season. Mainly because I really enjoyed her character design. The obi that she uses as a weapon is a great idea, and the colours of her outfit are in total contrast to her depraved and evil personality.

I wanted to use this piece to experiment with a sense of movement and depth and the Obi lent itself perfectly to that aim. I really enjoyed working on this one.

• PANGOLIN CANDLE HOLDER •

I made this Pangolin candle holder back in 2022/2021. It was my first experiment with air-dry pottery using a Sculpd pottery kit I had been given as a present.

It was really fun to design, make and paint. Each of the scales were painted on and took me forever to finish! I chose the Pangolin because I think they are really cute animals but also because they are so close to being on the verge of extinction. I thought a candle holder that represented such a unique and rare animal would stand out.

At the time Sclupd had started running a series of monthly competitions with theme’s and my Pangolin happened to fit the theme when I finished it so I submitted and won first place (which I was not expecting at all). So thanks Sculpd for picking my piece as a winner and giving me the confidence to experiment more with clay.

• NOVA •

This was a really experimental piece for me. I wanted to try drawing something in a more realistic style and using a slightly different painting technique. I chose to draw my character Nova because she’s just so fun to draw.