Mailart 365 has moved

After the disappointment of Megaman, I wanted to pull something out the bag. I felt a need to do some colours, without the help of my wife, but lay down something I could be really proud of.

I scoured the books for inspiration and just loved the colours of the artwork in Mike Careys "Unwritten". They were very muted, and I don't own any muted colours except in pencil, so I decided to drag out some elements of the images and colour them a little more vibrantly using Promarkers.

I'm really pleased with how this turned out, especially as I had to adapt colours to fit.

This one goes out today to a London address.

Sent in the post as seen here, with the address written on the back, 'shiny' side.

I recently signed up for Postcrossing. Many members specify that they DO NOT want handmade cards,  but they don't say anything about 'modifying' them... ;)

I really wasn't happy with the way this turned out at all. I wanted a picture with loads of shades of blue in it because recently we bought a blue Promarker set. I decided to draw Megaman, from the classic Nintendo game as I remembered that he was a range of blues.

However, I wasn't too pleased with the linework I laid down and Elena wasn't interested in colouring this one as it wasn't a pretty animal, so when I got started I made a right hash of all the shades and in the end the result was a confusing mess.

Not my favourite piece at all.

This one is off to Germany as part of my eBay Sharpies envelope series. I've nearly done 70 of these so far. I love the idea of a theme within a theme and will keep on drawing til all 200 are sold.

It's been a pertty good weekend for sales, with another 4 going and recent sales have been going steady. Hopefully will shift the whole lot in a year.

So the ink isn't working like my intaglio ink and I get these blobs that become new creative beginnings.  Having fun experimenting and adding another layer of materials to get something that works better.

Via Flickr:
Nightterrors
sent to my pen pal friend sarah in australia
copy from tara mcpherson's coloring book, used prisma colors and steadtler pigment liners. added the word nightterrors

Via Flickr:
sent to helen in uk
turned my 'excess stamp blotter' into a postcard. used left over transfer letters to match the stamped letters on the card.

Sorry haven't been posting lately, for some reason Blogger doesn't find recently uploaded pics on my Mac. But I think I may have fixed it!

This is the 67th envelope of Sharpies I've drawn since deciding to illustrate all my eBay envelopes and I fear I may have fallen into a pattern. I can't say it's the most inspired set of drawings and I'm much more comfortable with collage, but I do acknowledge that the process of making all these drawings is hugely improving my confidence with drawing. I've even started producing drawings the correct way up after going through a phase of drawing everything upside down
Also, my feedback profile is looking pretty unique. Check these quotes out


"Great drawing on the back of the parcel :) fantastic seller :) A*"

"Great item, exactly as described, fast delivery & best ebay item packaging ever!"

"Very Happy! Thanks! Loved the art work too! +++++"

"Perfect! Really loved the sketch on the envelope!!"

"Very happy with purchase. Quality artwork!"

"Great seller - A+ - lovely artwork!"

"loved the package with batman on it. many thanks! these will last long! A+++"

"Super! Very fast delivery, many thanks! And LOVED the art work on the envelope!"

"A+ nice pic as described many thanks recomended ****"

I'm pretty sure that nobody else gets feedback like that!

Actually, now that I've just copied all that feedback, I feel much better about illustrating my envelopes. In the space of one blog post I've gone from being down about it all to feeling AWESOME! Bring on the next 120  sales, as this is about the remaining number of Sharpies I have left to sell! :-)

This one goes out to Amo in China. It was lovely to sit down and do a collage from scraps today, rather than yet another eBay envelope. There's much more freedom in sending to mailart friends.