December 2018 – Ellen Million Graphics Blog

Wrapping Up Sketch Fest #105

What a wonderful Sketch Fest we had last weekend! Twenty-one artists joined us and contributed 50 creations to the Sketch Fest gallery – we have thumbnails and watercolors and colored-pencil illustrations. We have a Christmas teddy bear, wonderland winter foxes, sweet Christmas mice, and polar bears, too – alongside Christmas tree cats and curious blops, folkloric illustrations and more.

And did we mention the art for sale? Snag originals and prints for all your friends this holiday season – just look for the red border in the gallery to discover what’s on offer.

Let’s have some final featured illustrations before we go.

The holiday spirit gets a little earthy in “Mistletoad” by Nathalie Reinholz – Nathalie was traveling this weekend but still managed to squeeze in this sketch!

“Kitten in Christmas Tree” by Tara N Colna

Tara N Colna uses photography with “Kitten in Christmas Tree” to demonstrate that the struggle is real when you have kittens and Christmas trees together: “Can’t keep the new kittens out of the tree. This is Oreo getting caught, her brother Beelzebub jumped out before I could get him.”

We love this super-quick sketch from Kir Talmage! “Next Step of the Plot” captures the raccoon’s hopeful deviousness as he dons a disguise to steal Santa’s sleigh… “The plans were ready. The diagrams were complete. All he needed now was his disguise.”

Sarah Alden created this beautiful “Christmas Mermaid” and she has a question for us all: Sarah will be coloring her soon and asks, “Do you think I should keep the shell crown or go with more of a holly wreath crown instead?”

Feel the warmth of joy in your heart with this “Silent Night” landscape featuring a family of rabbits in scarves around a cheerful campfire.

This charming Christmas tree from Charlie Galvin made us grin! Here’s what Charlie said about it: “It counts as steampunk because I put the tree on a gear, right? The tree is also decked out in Edison bulbs. 🐙” We think it counts, too!

We hope you enjoyed this, and we hope you’ll participate in our next Sketch Fest in February! Enjoy the holidays and follow us on Facebook for the latest #EMGSketchFest updates.

Holiday Sketch Festin’

Our December Sketch Fest is nearly over, and it’s been seasonally appropriate and inspirational! Jump over there to check it out, and maybe even pick up a gift or two – prints and original sketches are for sale.

Let’s have some featured illustrations:

Amy Sue Stirland sketched this adorable “Warm and Fuzzy” pig, and she says: “This cutest fluffy piggy is enjoying his first snow in a warm winter cap.” She plans on finishing the 8.5″ x 5.5″ illustration with watercolor/gouache.

“Polar Bear and Her Cubs” by Peter C.M. van Herpt

Peter van Herpt’s animal illustrations never disappoint, and this protective polar bear with her two cubs is no different! This sketch was done with pencil, pen, and ink.

This sketch of a “Christmas Cardinal” from Sally Gilroy easily conjures the feel of a bright, crisp day and the birdsong all about. We can even see the colors!

“The Sweetest Mouse” by Katerina Koukiotis

Evelyn Henderson left the prompt of of “sweetest mouse” and Katerina Koukiotis delivered with this sweet creature! “The Sweetest Mouse” is a 5″ x 7″ sketch in colored pencils – and an ACEO LE print is available for only $6!

“Unimpressed and Ornamented” by Tallulah Cunningham is another illustration that made us laugh out loud – the expression on this giraffe’s face is priceless! Tallulah created this illustration with color pencils and pen on a paint swatch card.

We hope you enjoyed these illustrations – why don’t you head over to the full gallery and leave comments for our artists? And don’t forget to shop!

Sketch Fest Saturday with EMGSketchFest 105

Welcome to #EMGSketchFest Saturday! It’s bitter cold and/or rainy in the multilocational EMG offices, so we’re looking forward to staying warm and getting creative with all of you. Let’s take a look at some featured sketches from the gallery so far.

Kathy Nutt got the first sketch in this Sketch Fest with her imposing “Winter Forest Guardian,” which she describes as “Ent sketch with Micron pen.”

blopdotink has joined us for another Sketch Fest, sharing “itsapolarbear!” from her blopmess Christmas calendar: “It’s a continuous story with an ink illustration per day until Christmas and I am excited to base it (partly) on sketchfest prompts again. Let’s find out what mischief my blops are up to and what role their newly discovered ‘polar bear’ plays.” We can’t wait to find out!

“Cats in a Christmas Tree” by Julie Cooper

I laughed out loud when I saw Julie Cooper’s “Cats in a Christmas Tree.” I feel like this is exactly what would happen with enough cats around sparkling lights, shiny tinsel, and something to climb.

This adorably fluffy bear was created by Linda Sayegh: “A cute little Teddy Bear getting ready for Christmas. Colored pencils and a bit of Sharpie paint pen on toned Canson Mi-Tientes acid free paper. 5 x 7 inches.” You can actually purchase the original sketch of this piece!

Our final sketch – for now! – is “Red in Snow” by Harkalya Reveur and we really hope she does more work on it! She said she spent 20 minutes rough sketching here to create a concept sketch.

Head over to the full gallery to check out more illustrations – register for free and leave some prompts for our participants! And don’t forget to use our official hashtag of #EMGSketchFest when sharing your favorites on social media.