Drawing of the week: Red Admiral Butterfly

April 25, 2017April 24, 2017 ~ ellajohnston12

This week’s drawing of the week is of a Red Admiral butterfly.

With the snazzy latin name of Venessa Atalanta (I think I may employ this as a pseudonym at some point), this beautiful creature is coming to a garden or woodland near you! (That’s if you live in the British Isles of course).

This beauty will be part of my every growing illustrated butterfly guide, I’ve got quite a collection of watercolour and ink butterflies now, I’m just trying to decide on which illustrations make the final cut. I’ll show you the finished piece soon.

Drawing of the week: Robin

March 8, 2017March 7, 2017 ~ ellajohnston12

My drawing of the week is a Robin – because these birds are not just for Christmas.

I often drawn to create illustrations of birds where they look a bit cocky or coquettish – I think this pose captures both.

The robin was voted Britain’s favourite bird last year so I hope this watercolour and ink drawing does him justice.

Drawing of the week: Eucalyptus

February 14, 2017February 10, 2017 ~ ellajohnston12

My drawing of the week is a young eucalyptus plant.

I was at a friend’s house last weekend and she had gorgeous bunch of eucalyptus in her lounge. They also looked so elegant placed on their own in the vase, unadorned, unfettered by other blooms. Inspired by these I had to source some of my own sprigs to draw.

It has kick-started me trying out some more botanical illustrations. I’ve already done some further eucalyptus sketches and some more watercolour and ink drawings of ferns.

Easy draw Valentine’s makes

February 10, 2017 ~ ellajohnston12

These easy-draw Valentine’s makes are perfect if you like your love tokens handmade. So why not give these illustrations a try in time for the big day on Tuesday?

I’ve got lots of posca pens from my workshops last year so grabbed an old white plate and some slate heart-shaped table mats and decided to give them a love-themed drawing update. And with my templates and how-tos you can do them to…

Download the Flamingo template below and take a look at what I did with my outline drawing on this video above.

Or if monotone line drawing is more your bag then follow this cute little demo movie. You don’t need slate, you could work this on any dark surface.

Monday Moodboard: Seed heads

February 6, 2017February 6, 2017 ~ ellajohnston12

Today’s Monday Moodboard is a homage to my teenage self. I was obsessed with seed heads when I was doing my A-Levels and after looking at this collection of images I can see why.

In fact I’m tempted to revisit this as a theme for my illustrations. They are structural, almost architectural in their form and the faded colours would look amazing in watercolour. I’ve got loads of dried allium and poppy heads displayed through out my home (see below) so I may have a little bash drawing at some still lives in ink I think the medium would work with its wild, ragged nature – I’ll keep you posted.

Monday Moodboard: Luxe Florals

January 30, 2017 ~ ellajohnston12

Luxe florals are just the right thing for this time of year, which is why today they have made my Monday Moodboard.

The freezing, wet weather and grey skies are atmospheric sure but the damp and cold can be a little draining day after day (last nights evening walk was a very muddy affair). So I’m warming myself with, and getting creative inspiration from, rich purples, velvety blacks, deep maroons and cerise tones as seen in beautiful, frilly flowers. I’ll be working on some sketches of these in the coming weeks with a view to working up pretty patterns and evocative illustrations.

Monday Moodboard: Feathers

January 23, 2017January 23, 2017 ~ ellajohnston12

Here’s my feather themed Monday Moodboard.

Happy New Year! Yes I know I’m a bit late, I started 2017 with a ton of commissions so I’ve been rather busy this past three weeks.

So 2017 has started really well for me – I hope it’s the same for you.

After a nice bit of satisfyingly new work to get to grips with I can now settle into working on drawings for new prints, gifts and stationery.

I’ve read a lot of trend reports saying feathers are going to be big motifs over the next couple of years. Which is very handy for me as I’ve been working on feather illustrations on prints for some time now one of which you can see in the bottom right hand corner of this board.

Here are some more feather daubings in close up…

Drawing of the week: Orange tip butterfly

December 20, 2016 ~ ellajohnston12

This week’s drawing of the week is a Orange tip butterfly.

After all that Christmas stuff I’m now working on illustrations for next year and I’m going to make an illustrated guide to butterflies. This is the first of many butterfly drawings.

The latin name for these creatures is Anthocharis cardamines and you can find them in damp pastures and meadows, damp woodland edges and glades, riverbanks, ditches, dykes, fens, railway cuttings and country lanes.

Christmas gift wrap ideas part 4: Christmas tree tags

December 15, 2016December 12, 2016 ~ ellajohnston12

My final Christmas gifting idea can also double up as decorations! I just decorated these mdf Christmas trees with posca pens I had left over from my autumn shows.
I’m very fond of sticking to a simple set of colours, so as well as using black and white designs I’ve also done some black, silver and gold trees. It’s about as bling as I get. Both of these would go with black wrap or metallic gold and silver papers.
As you can see I’ve used my laurel stem design (how to here), and simple star, snowflake, heart and tinsel motifs.
Another of my go-to motifs is my simple flower design. Like my other Scandi-style shapes it’s really easy to recreate as you’ll see by my how-to below.
Simple flower how to step 1: Make a three curved marks one at the top and two at the bottom. Simple flower how to step 2: Add two lines between the triangular shape so the shape resembles a dancing man.
Simple flower how to step 3: Draw curves around the lines to make petals and add a dot in the middle. Simple flower how to step 4: Colour in the petals and make little dots around the shape.

Drawing of the week: Zebra

December 6, 2016December 5, 2016 ~ ellajohnston12

This time for my drawing of the week I’ve done a very earnest little Zebra. Even in the middle of doing loads of Christmassy type stuff I still made time to work on my zoo animals series.

Although I love black and white drawings I can never resist subverting a traditional black and white subject with a bit of colour, so as well as using my black pens on this illustration I’ve adding some purple and yellow watercolour notes.

Monday Moodboard: Zoo Animals

October 24, 2016October 24, 2016 ~ ellajohnston12

Not sure how I feel about zoos but I certainly like the animals inside them. So my Monday moodboard is dedicated to them this week.

I’m broadening my drawing repetoire and have started drawing a range of creatures one would find in a British zoo. I’ve already created lots of flamingo illustrations and have just finished a zebra watercolour and ink piece. I’ll showcase more of these zoo-themed drawings in the near future (I’m exploring elephants and giraffes this week). Watch this space.

Drawing of the week: mid-century style leaves

September 28, 2016September 26, 2016 ~ ellajohnston12

As I’m very happy to share my experiments as well as my finished pieces this week’s drawing of the week is my collection of mid-century style leaves.

I’ve been working on a set of autumn designs and while I’ve been enjoying working with watercolour and ink, these initial pen sketches shown here were a real joy to play with and reminded me of illustrations and fabric motifs from the 1950s.

Normally I would use these as a starting point for something else however I actually like them as they are, they have real potential for pattern designs.

Plant of the week 30 May 16: Hibiscus

May 30, 2016June 6, 2016 ~ ellajohnston12

As tropical themes proliferate the summer collections this year I thought I’d concentrate on hibiscus flowers for my plant of the fortnight.

According to legend, the hibiscus flower is traditionally worn by Tahitian and Hawaiian girls and is symbolic of relationship status. Apparently if the flower is worn behind the left ear, the woman is married or in a relationship. If the flower is worn on the right, she is single or openly available for love.

These flowers look so robust and full of allure with their strong trumpet shape and long stigma. That makes them such fun to draw. Check out my watercolour and ink illustrations on Friday.

Ella's Place

Artist and illustrator.

illustrations