I'm BACK! Updates, News & Illustration Plans...

After a long time of not using Blogger...I'm back!
The past few months have been crazy and wonderful at the same time. I've just put the finishing touches to a rather big project, and working my way through several smaller ones. I've been so busy there's been no time for personal illustrations and coloured doodles...but hopefully all that's about to change, and you should be seeing a LOT more art from here onwards. (I know I said that last time, but this time it's true!)

****NEWS****
I'm very pleased to announce that I am working on a new picture book with the brilliant Bloomsbury Publishing! My agents have done the most terrific job of getting this deal,and I'm very excited to be working with them on such a great text. It's top secret for now guys! And no- it's not fox related!
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I've been mixing up my illustration style a little, so you won't be seeing pure digital art, but a mix of pencil and digital, like as seen above. I'm hoping to keep practicing the fully digital style, but my next few projects (and previous) are filled with the pencilly-textureyness. I have plenty of ideas to work on when I get time....so here are a few:

> The Haunted House
A 'new style' illustration, set at night! I rarely do night time pieces because of the whole lighting issues,but I really want to do a darker piece that mixes a cute fun character with a creepy tone. I'm thinking a squirrel, a bust of Pallas,and over the top wallpaper.

>The Balcony Everytime I walk to work I see a balcony thats filled with flowers...and I've really wanted to draw it. My travelling sketchbook has a few doodles of it. I've already started on this piece, so it'll probably be done by the end of the month!

>Badger Books I love Mr. Badger. I've not drawn him in forever, and want to draw some more of him. I've also never ventured into fiction book covers and typography. So this little project will be an experiment to create 2-3 book covers, centered around the Adventures of Badger. If they go well, I'll also try my hand at dip-pen 'interior' illustrations...something I've not done since University.

>The Bake-Off Originally I wanted to have this done for the start of The Great British Bake Off...but have had no time. A full colour illustration, with plenty of depth, texture and messy splat marks everywhere. Maybe a cat character...we'll see. Again, another something I've really wanted to do-- and will be an improvement on previous baking related illustrations.

There's several other ideas I have...but I'm aware of how much time I have and how many projects there is.
Hoping to bring more news and illustrations to you soon. Huge thanks to all my new watchers and existing ones...hoping to do a twitter/blogger give-away in the future too, so keep your eyes peeled.

Moonbunnies and more....

Time seems to be going so fast right now, I've barely has chance to catch up with everything. I'm working on my new goat-related book, and have just finished designing the main character, and I must say he's looking rather awesome.Can not wait to colour it! In the meantime, I've been doodling out some other ideas, including MOONBUNNIES!! There's a lot that needs altering with the piece, like the characters re-drawing better; but I'm hoping in my spare time to put together a few DPS's. So expect more rabbity-goodness in the future.

But don't worry, I haven't completely changed styles! The all-digital style is certainly still around...

The Tiger who came to tea!

Feature and Updates

_{A mole wearing a party hat!}

I've started work on my next picture book, and all is going well so far- I don't want to say much about it...but expect more goats! It's due to be published later this year, so more news on that in a few months time. In the meantime I'll be updating here with doodles (like Mr. Mole) every other day or so. And hopefully working on a few samples. And cards.
Recently been featured on Questioning Creatives; check it out here: http://www.questioningcreatives.com/natasha-rimmington/

Happy St. Patricks Day!

The Little Green Monster dressed up for the occasion. I think the beard oddly suits him

Little Red Hen Sample

I've been meaning to update my blog for ages, but I've been very busy. Currently working my way through as many new samples for my portfolio as possible; whilst trying to speed up. I know at Uni a final piece took me around 2 weeks-but this piece took me 2 days. So I'm certainly getting better. A lot of my scenes are super busy, so here's a more simple one based on the classic tale of The Little Red Hen.
Next..Moon-bunnies!

Experiments continued...

I used the flowers from last experiment, along with many others to create a new experimental piece. I've had this piece done for a while, and has been sat on my desktop waiting to be uploaded. It's growing on me...slowly.
I've also been working on new ideas for my 'sketchy style' but colouring proved trickier than expected. I really need to get going on some new samples for my portfolio; so hopefully I'll be able to sketch a few out tomorrow. I'm currently working on a commission involving bears; but more news on that when it's completed...

Frog Prince

After realizing that I always draw fluffy and fuzzy characters, I decided to draw a frog. I almost put a tail on him, because I'm so used to my characters having them! (I think frogs would look better with tails). As tomorrow is International Book Giving Day I thought I'd draw him reading,with his gifted books next to him. Next post will (hopefully) be an update on 'The Wolf and the Seven Kids', and other stuff I've been working on.
Someone commission me to draw more frogs please?!

Experiments.

I'm working on a new style...
Expect a new sample in the next few days!

Wild Scottish Haggis!

Almost forgot to blog this Tuesday! I'm currently working on a new sample and vignette, which will be finished shortly. All I can say for now is that it involves ducks. In the meantime, here's a Wild Scottish Haggis. If your on Twitter follow @HelloBroccoli, for Saturday Scribbles- a weekly illustration event; like illustration Friday...but a Saturday! Hopefully I'll have time to submit something this week, seeing as the theme is Chinese New Year! http://thenewbroccoliblog.wordpress.com/saturday-scribbles/

Twitter and Beavers

After my last illustration of the biking beavers, I found that Scotland has it's own Scottish Beaver Trial; in which it aims to bring Beavers back to the countryside. I don't believe I've ever seen the creature in real life, so in the summer I might have to take a trip over to Argyll and find them! The Trial works hard to restore the habitats of Beavers as well as educating the public on them, which I think is brilliant. The trial recently won a Conservation Award, which is why he's wearing a medal. (Hopefully one day we'll have the Scottish Bear Trial!)
http://www.scottishbeavers.org.uk/

In other news, I have a twitter account! So follow me there at: https://twitter.com/n_rimmington

Bear and the Brolly

I've spent the past few days working on different styles and techniques, using more traditional materials (graphite sticks, water colour and pencils). It's been a while since I've done work like this, but it makes a nice change to staring at my screen. We've been having a fair bit of rain recently, and Mr. Bear sums up my thoughts exactly.

New Sample: WIP

I've been busy this week practicing textures. It's been tricky, but I think I'm starting to get somewhere with them. I'm getting a little better with 'outdoor' colours too. I think I need to improve my colour contrasts, but I've been staring at this piece for so long it's getting hard to tell. Will revist this piece, as I really want to add it to my portfolio. Note to self: add more leaves.

I'm also thinking about setting up a Twitter account, as I'm not sure many people use blogger. So next month I might just have an account...
Oh, and here's the original sketch and close-up:

A New Year: New Sample

Hello everyone and Happy New Year! As it was my friend birthday on the 5th (and mine tomorrow!), I've decided to do a sample of monsters at a birthday party. You may remember the monsters from a previous sample, but this time Croc has been turned orange, as he didn't fit the background. I was trying to make my work more colourful, and I think I've managed it. Next I need to work on putting textures into my work, which is something I'm a little wary of, because I don't want it to look too over the top, or bad...We'll see.
Expect many new characters (and the return of a few old ones) this year. Aiming to do a new sample every week, which will be uploaded on a Tuesday. So, until next Tuesday....