Karen Gillmore Art

Comics & Illustration

Main Menu

Skip to content
  • Home
  • Bio and Pics
    • Interview with Hillside-Quadra News
  • Comics and Webcomics
    • Quadra Cats Webcomic
    • Mermaid Music Webcomic
    • Quadra Cats
    • Hourly Comic Day 2018
    • A Midsummer Night
    • Jurassic Lark
    • Root Redwing
    • Spam and the Sasquatch
    • Iris the Art Muse
    • Telling Tales
  • Illustration
    • Book Covers
    • Pen and Ink
    • Nature and Sea Life
  • Time Travellers
  • Drop me a line!

Tag Archives: cat

Painting the Caracal

August 1, 2017by karencomics Leave a comment

I can’t believe the Zooly Art Challenge is over! A month of drawing and painting animals was great fun, despite missing out on some due to my adventures with my […]

Read Article →
art challenge, Cats, Technique of the Week, tutorials, Watercolour, zooly
Yes, Iris, we've still got to do all those blank ones!

Exercising the Muse

February 12, 2017by karencomics 2 Comments

My hard-working muse, Iris, just sighed when I said I was going to do the Opus Daily Practice Challenge again. She has muscles on her muscles, she positively sweats creativity, […]

Read Article →
art challenge, It's an artist's life

A Spooky Christmas!

December 21, 2016by karencomics 4 Comments

Christmas-and-spooks seems to be A Thing, and it’s not new — of course Dickens’ great classic, A Christmas Carol comes quickly to mind, and modern tales such as “Nightmare Before Christmas” […]

Read Article →
Book Covers, Cats, Technique of the Week, tutorials

An Artist’s Holiday

October 25, 2016by karencomics 2 Comments

What do artists do for a holiday? They take an art workshop! I took a couple of days off of comics and making my inktober book to do just that. […]

Read Article →
Inspiration, It's an artist's life

False Felines

October 5, 2016by karencomics 2 Comments

Inktober, Day 5. I’ve been digitally filing illustrations and doing last little tweaks to the book art all day in Photoshop. Getting to do a wee quick drawing was a […]

Read Article →
art challenge, Drawing-a-Day, Inktober

Now is Come September

September 16, 2016by karencomics 1 Comment

… which is a line from a traditional song that I really like to sing this time of year. Not that it has anything to do with anything else in this […]

Read Article →
It's an artist's life, Uncategorized

After the Whirlwind

May 29, 2016by karencomics 6 Comments

Sometimes it seems to me that like life is a big, irresistible wind: a wall of atmosphere that picks up this puny human and sweeps her willy-nilly through the sky. […]

Read Article →
comics conventions, It's an artist's life

Takeout Planet!

May 11, 2016by karencomics 1 Comment

I’ve been working like mad on the new book of the Quadra Cats stories. It’s based on the single-page episodes, but with much, much more added to link them together into […]

Read Article →
Cats, Comics, Uncategorized

Quadra Cats Book!

April 29, 2016by karencomics 7 Comments

I’ve been working on a mini-comicbook of the Quadra Cats cartoons! I’ve got the script done, which will tie together most of the existing cartoons into a continuous story. Because they […]

Read Article →
Cats, Comics, Uncategorized

Kickstarter Calendar

January 14, 2016by karencomics Leave a comment

UPDATE: The Kickstarter was fully funded a mere hour before the deadline — hooray! If you want to follow the author on Facebook, here’s her author page. I’m putting in one […]

Read Article →
Book Covers

Kickstarter, last day: “The Shell Game”

January 13, 2016by karencomics Leave a comment

“The dragons are revolting and the magic is gone! Being queen is complicated.” Author Elizabeth Ann Scarborough has been running a Kickstarter for her new fantasy book, The Shell Game, for […]

Read Article →
Book Covers

Black Cat Evolution

October 24, 2015by karencomics 3 Comments

I’m on a roll with these black cats that I’m doing for Inktober. I’m really enjoying the challenge of trying to capture the sheen of their fur, and the intense […]

Read Article →
Cats, Ink, Inktober

Inktober Black Cats

October 20, 2015by karencomics 9 Comments

More Inktober goodies — this time I decided to tackle the challenge of black cats. Shiny black cats. Black cats are notorious for being hard to photograph, and drawing them […]

Read Article →
Cats, Ink, Inktober

Making Mermaid Music

March 16, 2015by karencomics 9 Comments

I’ve just posted page 11 of Mermaid Music, my webcomic. It’s my first full-page spread since pages 2 and 3, and I thought it was high time to do another in-progress […]

Read Article →
Comics

Political Cats!

March 13, 2015by karencomics Leave a comment

I’ve been doing a little one-page cartoon for our local neighbourhood newspaper, the Hillside Quadra Community News, for several issues now. The stars are three cats, Tux, Jazz, and Alien […]

Read Article →
Comics

Cats-n-Sasquatch for Indiegogo!

March 10, 2015by karencomics 6 Comments

A couple of posts ago, I wrote about a crowdfunding campaign that I’m involved in. The Camosun Comic Arts Festival, or CCAF, is raising funds through Indiegogo for the event […]

Read Article →
Comics

Comics Class — Nuts-n-Bolts

January 30, 2015by karencomics 2 Comments

Hi everyone! This is week three of my Friday posts for “Comics for the Curious Beginner”, a six-week class I’m teaching at Monterey Centre in Oak Bay. This post expands on […]

Read Article →
Comics Class

VanCAF, Ho!

January 5, 2015by karencomics 10 Comments

I just found out today that I’ve been accepted for a table at VanCAF, Vancouver’s own Comic Arts Festival. I was on a waiting list, as space is very tight […]

Read Article →
Comics

Those Quadra Cats

December 26, 2014by karencomics Leave a comment

Happy Boxing Day! After all the kerfuffle of the season, I remembered that I was going to post the entirety of the second Quadra Cats, of which I posted a […]

Read Article →
Comics

Spam and the Sasquatch Update

November 24, 2014by karencomics Leave a comment

I’ve made a page so you can take a peek at the first bit of Spam and the Sasquatch! All part of the site overhaul I’m doing. When I started this […]

Read Article →
Comics, Spam & the Sasquatch

Digital Colour Play

November 6, 2014by karencomics 5 Comments

The other night I found myself at a meeting, feeling twitchy and wanting to doodle. No paper? But wait — I had brought my laptop! I dug out an ink […]

Read Article →
Digital colouring

A Pumpkin Lady

October 23, 2014by karencomics 8 Comments

Last year about this time, I decided that I just had to have something Halloween themed for my Facebook art page’s cover photo — so I made this pumpkin lady. That’s […]

Read Article →
Watercolour

Calico Cat

September 21, 2014by karencomics 2 Comments

As I mentioned in my last post, I’m going to be putting up some older work just to keep up the blogging habit while I’m away from the drawing board […]

Read Article →
Cats, coloured pencils

The Neighbourhood Cats

September 10, 2014by karencomics 4 Comments

A couple of months ago, I had an article in the Hillside-Quadra News, our local neighbourhood newspaper, and I mentioned when I posted about it here that I was thinking […]

Read Article →
Comics

“The Mermaid” Cover, part 2

August 6, 2014by karencomics 4 Comments

The cover that I posted the beginnings of two days ago is finished! This will be my entry in the Co-Mix exhibition here in Victoria at the Martin Batchelor Gallery. […]

Read Article →
Comics, Illustration

Post navigation

1 2 3 Next →
  • Comics Class
  • Watercolour Basics
  • Watercolour Wizardry
  • Technique of the Week
  • Polymer Clay maquettes

The Quadra Cats, a webcomic

The cover of Takeout Planet, the first book in the Quadra Cats series

When the neighbourhood cats meet a takeout-obsessed Alien Cat, they become impromptu ambassadors for Earth! Updates Mondays and Thursdays.

Mermaid Music, a webcomic!

Mermaid Music, Book One cover

Mermaid music is the story of a girl who accidentally runs away to sea, and finds herself in deep water indeed! Click the image to read the webcomic from the beginning.

All text and images © Karen Gillmore 2014 -2017

...except as otherwise noted. If you share, please link back to this blog — you'll feel a warm glow right in your karma!

Celtic Art

Wolf and the Stones (pen & ink, watercolour, coloured pencil)
Wolf and the Stones (pen & ink, watercolour, coloured pencil)
Wolf and the Stones (pen & ink)
Wolf and the Stones (pen & ink)
Eostre (pen & ink, watercolour, coloured pencil)
Eostre (pen & ink, watercolour, coloured pencil)
Eostre (pen & ink)
Eostre (pen & ink)
Celtic Green Man (pen & ink, watercolour)
Celtic Green Man (pen & ink, watercolour)
Celtic Green Man (pen & ink)
Celtic Green Man (pen & ink)
Celtic Dragon (pen & ink, embellished version)
Celtic Dragon (pen & ink, embellished version)
Celtic Dragon (pen & ink, outline version)
Celtic Dragon (pen & ink, outline version)
Elemental Steed: Air (acrylic)
Elemental Steed: Air (acrylic)
Elemental Steed: Water (acrylic)
Elemental Steed: Water (acrylic)
Elemental Steed: Fire (acrylic)
Elemental Steed: Fire (acrylic)
Elemental Steed: Earth (acrylic)
Elemental Steed: Earth (acrylic)
Elemental Manifestations: Water (pen & ink, watercolour, collage)
Elemental Manifestations: Water (pen & ink, watercolour, collage)
Elemental Manifestations: Fire (pen & ink, watercolour, collage)
Elemental Manifestations: Fire (pen & ink, watercolour, collage)
Elemental Manifestations: Air (pen & ink, watercolour, collage)
Elemental Manifestations: Air (pen & ink, watercolour, collage)
Elemental Manifestations: Earth (pen & ink, watercolour, collage)
Elemental Manifestations: Earth (pen & ink, watercolour, collage)
Celtic Seahorses (linocut on banana paper)
Celtic Seahorses (linocut on banana paper)
Celtic Seahorses (pen and ink)
Celtic Seahorses (pen and ink)
Celtic Seahorses (pen & ink, watercolour, coloured pencil)
Celtic Seahorses (pen & ink, watercolour, coloured pencil)

Coloured Pencil

"Two Lips" — from a photo I snapped of a bunch of tulips someone had given me. As the petals started to fall away, they got more and more interesting. This one took quite a long time, lots of burnishing.
“Two Lips” — from a photo I snapped of a bunch of tulips someone had given me. As the petals started to fall away, they got more and more interesting. This one took quite a long time, lots of burnishing.
"White Rose" — I took a bunch of white silk roses into a class I was teaching one day, and we all had a good time trying to make them look natural, adding backgrounds and suggestions of colour.
“White Rose” — I took a bunch of white silk roses into a class I was teaching one day, and we all had a good time trying to make them look natural, adding backgrounds and suggestions of colour.
"Sheltered" — a demonstration on doing an underpainting in dark grey pencil to establish the values turned into this.
“Sheltered” — a demonstration on doing an underpainting in dark grey pencil to establish the values turned into this.
"Broken Seashell" — I like to pick up broken seashells, because their curves are challenging and fun to draw. For this one, I used a technique I often use for figure drawing — woking on toned paper and just picking out the deepest shadow and the highlights with white and black pencils.
“Broken Seashell” — I like to pick up broken seashells, because their curves are challenging and fun to draw. For this one, I used a technique I often use for figure drawing — woking on toned paper and just picking out the deepest shadow and the highlights with white and black pencils.
"Falling Apples" — When I teach a coloured pencil workshop, I often go buy a bag of apples and hand one out to everyone. Apples are excellent subjects for learning how to build up colour from light to dark. After my demo, he whole class goes back to their tables and becomes very quiet for a while — silence is the sound of creativity! One class I actually had time to draw my apple several times on the same page.
“Falling Apples” — When I teach a coloured pencil workshop, I often go buy a bag of apples and hand one out to everyone. Apples are excellent subjects for learning how to build up colour from light to dark. After my demo, he whole class goes back to their tables and becomes very quiet for a while — silence is the sound of creativity! One class I actually had time to draw my apple several times on the same page.
"El Morro" — the famous landmark fort at the mouth of Havana harbour. I got really caught up in the rocks on this one.
“El Morro” — the famous landmark fort at the mouth of Havana harbour. I got really caught up in the rocks on this one.
"Pink Rose" — One of the most burnished coloured pencil paintings I have ever produced. This little thing is the size of a greeting card, and it took me many hours.
“Pink Rose” — One of the most burnished coloured pencil paintings I have ever produced. This little thing is the size of a greeting card, and it took me many hours.
"Bear Hangout" — from a photo I took in Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo. There were no visible fences, and everyone wanted to know how I'd gotten so close to the bears! Usually I would just smile and look mysterious.
“Bear Hangout” — from a photo I took in Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo. There were no visible fences, and everyone wanted to know how I’d gotten so close to the bears! Usually I would just smile and look mysterious.
Woman in Blue — indigo and white Prismacolor pencils on toned paper
Woman in Blue — indigo and white Prismacolor pencils on toned paper
Relaxing Woman — burnt sienna and white coloured pencils on toned paper; a fifteen minute pose
Relaxing Woman — burnt sienna and white coloured pencils on toned paper; a fifteen minute pose
The Blues — Indigo and white coloured pencils on toned paper _ ten minute pose
The Blues — Indigo and white coloured pencils on toned paper _ ten minute pose
Man Forming a Triangle — coloured pencils on toned paper. Going through my sketches, I was amused to see how many similar poses I've drawn over the years — there are only so many ways the human body can fold up, after all. I thought this drawing made an interesting comparison with the previous one.
Man Forming a Triangle — coloured pencils on toned paper. Going through my sketches, I was amused to see how many similar poses I’ve drawn over the years — there are only so many ways the human body can fold up, after all. I thought this drawing made an interesting comparison with the previous one.
sm flower demo 9
"Golden Retriever" — coloured pencil. I got the detail of the brush in the background by indenting the paper through a piece of tracing paper with a pencil. The tracing paper protected the working paper from the pencil, and I was able to lightly colour over the indented lines with my coloured pencils, building up layers of mixed colours. I eventually decided the white lines this left were too stark, and went in with very sharp pencils in different colours to tone them down.
“Golden Retriever” — coloured pencil. I got the detail of the brush in the background by indenting the paper through a piece of tracing paper with a pencil. The tracing paper protected the working paper from the pencil, and I was able to lightly colour over the indented lines with my coloured pencils, building up layers of mixed colours. I eventually decided the white lines this left were too stark, and went in with very sharp pencils in different colours to tone them down.

Watercolours

"Mount Baker Dreams" — The ferry from Sidney BC to Anacortes , Washington puts in at one of the islands in between. This is what I saw from the dock.
“Mount Baker Dreams” — The ferry from Sidney BC to Anacortes , Washington puts in at one of the islands in between. This is what I saw from the dock.
"Sunshine" — funny how cats always find the warm spot in the house!
“Sunshine” — funny how cats always find the warm spot in the house!
"Bones of the Earth" — a mountain in the Montana Mission Range that has an oddly shaped top above the treeline. It is not a volcano, but I suspect there is a hollow at the top with a lake. However, I did not climb up there to see.
“Bones of the Earth” — a mountain in the Montana Mission Range that has an oddly shaped top above the treeline. It is not a volcano, but I suspect there is a hollow at the top with a lake. However, I did not climb up there to see.
Wickaninnish Wind — This tree stands by the parking lot at Wickaninnish Beach , in Pacific Rim National Park.
Wickaninnish Wind — This tree stands by the parking lot at Wickaninnish Beach , in Pacific Rim National Park.
"One Perfect Rose" — an anniversary card I made for my husband some years ago.
“One Perfect Rose” — an anniversary card I made for my husband some years ago.
"Willow Banks" — part of a large wetland park at the base of Montana's Mission Mountains that I visited once.
“Willow Banks” — part of a large wetland park at the base of Montana’s Mission Mountains that I visited once.
"Rainbow Pebbles" — many of the techniques described here are used in this painting
“Rainbow Pebbles” — many of the techniques described here are used in this painting
"Winter Tree" — a Christmas card I did for a friend; the white was all masked off with masking fluid, after which I could paint freely, knowing all that lovely snow would be preserved in pristine white paper.
“Winter Tree” — a Christmas card I did for a friend; the white was all masked off with masking fluid, after which I could paint freely, knowing all that lovely snow would be preserved in pristine white paper.
"Storm Building" — I used a paper towel to lift colour out of a solid sky wash for the clouds, then dripped in a bit of grey, then more water for the backwashes.
“Storm Building” — I used a paper towel to lift colour out of a solid sky wash for the clouds, then dripped in a bit of grey, then more water for the backwashes.
pebble sampler — I make samplers of many of the techniques during class, using pebble shapes.
pebble sampler — I make samplers of many of the techniques during class, using pebble shapes.
Wildly blooming
Wildly blooming
"Haunted River" — painted over a saran-wrap texture in multiple glazes; an example of mixing paint on the paper.
“Haunted River” — painted over a saran-wrap texture in multiple glazes; an example of mixing paint on the paper.
"Night Lights" — the background nebula-like blooms of sky colour are salt; the individual stars are dots of white ink.
“Night Lights” — the background nebula-like blooms of sky colour are salt; the individual stars are dots of white ink.
"Long Beach Sketch" — the backwashes created by dripping water into a wet wash created the clouds and the misty effects in the rocks on the right.
“Long Beach Sketch” — the backwashes created by dripping water into a wet wash created the clouds and the misty effects in the rocks on the right.
"Edge of the Woods" — I started with very light washes to build up the background and lighter tones of the foreground; the dark trees went in last.
“Edge of the Woods” — I started with very light washes to build up the background and lighter tones of the foreground; the dark trees went in last.
Cuban Tree
Cuban Tree
The UFOs are coming! Or maybe they are flying hats. Suggested by one of the students, I thought it was a great idea. This demo used salt and gouache to make stars and the explosions (or maybe they are fireworks). The city is just simple brushstrokes with a flat brush.
The UFOs are coming! Or maybe they are flying hats. Suggested by one of the students, I thought it was a great idea. This demo used salt and gouache to make stars and the explosions (or maybe they are fireworks). The city is just simple brushstrokes with a flat brush.
This demo was to blend a nice sunset wash, and to show how to make very quick trees with brush scribbles.
This demo was to blend a nice sunset wash, and to show how to make very quick trees with brush scribbles.
This demo was to show lifting paint out of a blended wash (and add some more for shadows) to make clouds, and how to make aerial perspective by making distant things lighter and bluer. I wasn't sure what the landscape was going to be, it sort of evolved as I went along.
This demo was to show lifting paint out of a blended wash (and add some more for shadows) to make clouds, and how to make aerial perspective by making distant things lighter and bluer. I wasn’t sure what the landscape was going to be, it sort of evolved as I went along.
Demo to show masking (I masked off the blue areas), and how to draw people in about ten seconds! This is kind of a bizarre picture because the blue areas look like holes in the sky, but I kind of like that effect.
Demo to show masking (I masked off the blue areas), and how to draw people in about ten seconds! This is kind of a bizarre picture because the blue areas look like holes in the sky, but I kind of like that effect.
"The Sky's the Limit" — a tiny painting, 4x6 inches, in which I demonstrated lifting wet paint to reveal the light.
“The Sky’s the Limit” — a tiny painting, 4×6 inches, in which I demonstrated lifting wet paint to reveal the light.
"New Horizons" — watercolour, 4x6 inches
“New Horizons” — watercolour, 4×6 inches

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 576 other subscribers
Follow Karen Gillmore Art on WordPress.com

Facebook!

Facebook!

Twitter!

My Tweets

Posts by Date

February 2023
S M T W T F S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728  
« Dec    

Monthly Archives

Lots of folks liked these posts!

  • Spam the Cat Becomes a Character Maquette (Part 2)
  • Technique-of-the-Week — Watercolour Monotypes
  • Technique of the Week — Watercolour Pencils
  • Nature and Sea Life
  • Technique-of-the-Week — Combining Pen & Ink and Watercolour
  • Inktober Black Cats
  • Technique of the Week — Collage, beyond the Magazine
  • Bio and Pics
  • A Comic in Process: from Thumbnails to Finished
  • Technique of the Week — How to be a Watercolour Wizard

Acrylics animal art art challenge Book Covers Brush and Ink Cats Celtic Character Design children's books Collage coloured pencils Colouring Pages Comics Comics Class comics conventions Cool Stuff for Artists Design Digital colouring Digital Drawing Drawing-a-Day Figure Drawing gouache Illustration Ink Inktober ink wash Inspiration It's an artist's life Linocut Markers Mermaids! Miniature Paintings oil pastels Paper maché Pen and Ink Photography Poetry Polymer Clay maquettes Printmaking Procreate Quadra Cats Reblogs Sculpture Short Stories sketchbook Song Spam & the Sasquatch Storytelling Studio Studio Journal Technique Technique of the Week tutorials Uncategorized Watercolour Watercolour pencils (aquarelles) writing zooly
Blog at WordPress.com.
  • Home
  • Bio and Pics
  • Comics and Webcomics
  • Illustration
  • Time Travellers
  • Drop me a line!
Karen Gillmore Art
Blog at WordPress.com.
  • Follow Following
    • Karen Gillmore Art
    • Join 576 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Karen Gillmore Art
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...