ink inspiration - Iain Macarthur

I love doodling with black ink and anyone who has seen any of my notebooks knows that they are covered in swirls and curls. My favourite 'tool' is a sharp, crisp black fineliner. I get a real thrill when my pen hits the paper and I create a perfect curve or pattern. Today I have been entranced by the portfolio of English artist Iain Macarthur.

This beauty is from his Enchanting Series which I found on Behance. I love the change in tone used for such dramatic effect - from the soft pencil strokes of the ladies face, to the rich, solid black ink used in the clothing.

Another in the same series, this image has such incredible intricate detail in the mask and jewellery that you need to pop over to the Behance page here and see it nice and big!

This lovely lady is from another series called portraits part 2. I ADORE the detail in this bonnet. I can get lost in all the swirls and feathery patterns. All I can think of is how much fun this would have been to illustrate!
A wonderful talent indeed, you can find more of Iain's work in online portfolios here or here, as well as keep track of him through his blog.

A bright start

I'm enjoying the explosion of colour going on around as Spring gets down to business. My favourites are jacaranda and bougainvillea. We have a vine of deep red bougainvillea across our homes front entrance that is jam packed with flowers right now and there are a few jacaranda trees beginning to flower close by too.
In ode to this, I have gone hunting for floral colour today and here's what I found...

The 2 colourful photos above are from a Flickr gallery by Frozen Lotus. I love a good macro shot of flowers. The yellow flowers are so delicate and almost paper like.

While more muted in colour I love the feel of these flower photographs {above} by Rebecca Simm.

 

..and then these as well by Cathy Rojas's portfolio on Behance.

Flowers make such good photography subjects - colour, texture and all the wonders of nature that you only get to see close up through a camera lens.

Hope you enjoy this bright start to the week!

In the Forest

I very regulary drop by behance for random creative inspiration and today one of the featured galleries is In the Forest Where You Sleep, a collaboration by 2 talented designer/illustrators Marius Bauer and Jared K. Nickerson, who have come together to form System Kings.
Their collaboration has resulted in this beautiful series of wallpapers which you can download and pretty-up your desktop or phone!

I am quite taken by this fox who now adorns my desktop!

The guys have illustrated 5 forest animals and then each has been given a colour treatment to represent 4 different times of day, In The Morning, At Midday, Around Evening and At Night.

Head over here to find your own forest creature and if you want to have one of these illustrations on your real walls at home, the guys are selling A3 prints for 30 euros including international shipping.