9th January, 2020
Leading up to the Christmas holidays I created a handful of illustrations for friends and family, one of these being a highland cow. Did you know that the highland cow is the oldest cattle breed in the world! People have loved these long-haired, crazy looking dudes for centuries!
Framed and ready to wrap!
So anyway, I thought I’d create a quick blog post that shows my highland cow creation process. When creating fine art I do find I enter a pretty deep flow state, often losing an hour or three in the blink of an eye! As/when I remember, I do try and capture my progress, taking a quick photo on my iPhone.
It starts off with an outline…
I use Google images (or a photo I am given) for inspiration, or sometimes I draw from memory. It really depends on the subject matter. A pencil outline is “step one”, this allows me to make mistakes and gives me a platform to build on.
I then apply some detail…
No more pencil, its over to pen! With an outline in place I let my imagination take over, adding my own twist and style to an image. No room for error!
And a little more detail…
At this stage my highland cow art is nearing completion. Again no room for error, this particular illustration took a few hours from start to finish. You wouldn’t want to make a mistake and start again!
Highland cow art
Job done!
I do get a massive sense of achievement creating art like this, what was once an empty sheet of paper now contains something unique, one of a kind! Art is also a great escape from tech and business, we all need a “happy place”, I am lucky that mine forms part of my day job. Please check out Sea Life Art for more illustrations, added a link below.
Until next time, keep it tidy!
Mike