Creature

Fantastic Beasts Embroidery

Art

This week’s post was delayed due to a last-minute business trip across the country (more on that later). In the meantime, I’d like to share with you an insight to my newest fiber art piece.

I recently drew a pen sketch of the Niffler from Fantastic Beasts but couldn’t resist further exploring the imagery of this animal, depicting it in freestyle embroidery. The creature’s furry coat is proving to be a lot of fun, as I’ve been using different variations of grey and brown cotton to produce the platypus-mole aesthetic.

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Stay tuned for the finished product!

Hedgehog-Cupcake Drawing

Art

Those of you who know me, know that I was SUPER excited to receive a set of Prismacolor Premiere pencils from Andy this Christmas. Having already owned a small set of Prismacolor’s scholar grade pencils, I was eager to test the quality and capabilities of the company’s professional product.

(Plus, it was really past time I owned a set, given how much I use colored pencils in my work).

The piece I’m featuring today depicts a hedgehog residing in a cupcake wrapper and was inspired by a painting I did freshman year of college, titled “Bittersweet.” Said painting has been well received over the years and informally noted as being one of my most-loved artistic ventures.

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“Bittersweet,” 2012

Although my first hog is sitting in an ice cream cone, viewers often mistake the creature for a makeshift cupcake. This time, I decided to give the people what they want, putting the little critter within a cupcake wrapper.

As this latest hedgehog-inspired artwork is one of the more complete pieces I’ve done with my new pencils, I can definitely say that the Premiere pencils are better than the Scholar grade hands-down. Aside from providing a much wider physical array of colors, the actual pigments of the Premier pencils blend exquisitely, allowing for greater range still.

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Furthering the product’s capabilities, I invested in a set of blending pencils post-Christmas to complete my set and can easily say they were well worth the $7.00 I paid on Amazon. If you’re going to invest in the pencils, invest in a set of blenders.

I’d also recommend the Prismacolor brand sharpener, though truth be told, opening said sharpener to empty the shavings is anything but intuitive (you have to pull the top as hard as you can, by the way).

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So while this post is titled after one of my latest drawings, it’s really about my thoughts so far regarding this much sought-after pencil set. Conclusion? If you’re an artist or just enjoy using colored pencils, then this is the product for you.

Expensive? Yes. An artistic commitment? Yes. Life changing? For a third time, yes.