pen – myf draws apparently

Decorating eggs

April 16, 2017April 16, 2017Posted in penTagged decorated eggs, Easter, eggs5 Comments

One egg with a chicken on it, one with flowers on it, one with experimental pastels on it (yes, it turns out pastels draw beautifully on an egg shell, but I hadn’t factored in the fact that the fixative would drip. A finer mist probably would have worked).

And one blank egg because the daughter has currently decided (despite my stance of ‘no such thing’) that all her drawings are rubbish. Hopefully she’ll pull something together before egg-rolling tomorrow. Since they all get smashed by the time they reach the bottom, rubbish drawings may actually be the best strategy!

Ladies of the Lakes, the end

April 8, 2017June 14, 2017Posted in Cartoons, Inks, pen, Sketch diaryTagged Comic sketch diary, comics, disability, PIP assessments, sketch diaries, sketch diary, UK politics14 Comments

Here is the final part:

Ladies of the Lakes, part 7

April 7, 2017June 7, 2017Posted in Cartoons, Inks, pen, Sketch diaryTagged Comic sketch diary, comics, disabled travel, sketch diaries, sketch diary, trains, travel, UK trains

In which we are on the last leg of our trip home, and continue to hit problems.

… and that was the end of our trip, but there’s an epilogue, so please do come back one more time tomorrow.

Ladies of the Lakes, part 6

April 6, 2017June 14, 2017Posted in Cartoons, Inks, penTagged Comic sketch diary, comics, holiday sketch diary, Lake District, Lakes comics festival, Lakes festival, sketch diaries, sketch diary, taxi drivers4 Comments

In which things start to go awry.

Here’s part 7

Ladies of the Lakes, part 5

April 5, 2017April 7, 2017Posted in Cartoons, Inks, penTagged Comic sketch diary, comics, holiday sketch diary, Kendal, Lake District, sketch diaries, sketch diary

In which we experience the typical Lake District weather.

Here’s part 6

Ladies of the Lakes, part 4

April 4, 2017April 7, 2017Posted in Cartoons, Inks, pen, Sketch diaryTagged Comic sketch diary, comics, Kendal, Lake District, Lakes comics festival, Lakes festival, sketch diaries, sketch diary2 Comments

In which I have a mini comics epiphany.

Here’s part 5

Ladies of the Lakes, part 3

April 3, 2017April 4, 2017Posted in Cartoons, Inks, penTagged Comic sketch diary, Finland, Finnish comics, holiday sketch diary, Kendal, Lake District, Lakes comics festival, Lakes festival, sketch diaries

Here’s part three of our trip to Kendal.

Now here’s part 4

Ladies of the Lakes, part 2

April 2, 2017April 4, 2017Posted in Cartoons, pen, Sketch diaryTagged comic festivals, Comic sketch diary, Lake District, Lakes comics festival, sketch diaries8 Comments

If you haven’t already read Part 1, start here. And here’s part 2:

Here’s part 3

Ladies of the Lakes, part 1

April 1, 2017April 3, 2017Posted in Cartoons, Inks, pen, Sketch diaryTagged Comic sketch diary, comics festivals, holiday sketch diary, Kendal, Lake District, Lakes comics festival11 Comments

As long-time readers will know, I often record holidays in the form of a sketch diary.

Now, my trip up to the town of Kendal in the Lake District last October wasn’t exactly a holiday; I was there for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival, selling comics. Nonetheless, so much happened in the 4 days away from home that I felt I wanted to record it.

And while my sketch diaries normally comprise just as much text as they do images, it seemed appropriate to do this one entirely in the form of a comic. That partly explains why it has taken almost six months to finish it: the other reason, of course, was that a few weeks in, admin for Draw The Line started taking up all my spare time and I had to put it aside.

Never mind – it’s done now: all 34 pages of it. I’m going to serialise it in 8 parts and I hope you enjoy it.

Read on to part 2

Totnes & Lyme Regis holiday diary, part 6: in which we break everything and go home

July 17, 2016July 18, 2016Posted in pen, Pictures of people, Sketch diary, Sketches, WatercolourTagged holiday sketch diary, lyme regis, sketch diary, sketchbook8 Comments

Totnes & Lyme Regis holiday sketch diary by Myfanwy Tristram

This is the very final episode in our Totnes and Lyme Regis holiday. If this is the first page you’ve seen, you probably want to start at part 1, actually.

Ha! I only wrote that page (above) out a few days ago, and several new things have happened in politics. It’s as if someone has pressed the fast forward button by mistake.

This map (below) was available free, all over the town, for tourists to pick up — and it was drawn by Hugh, our B&B proprietor. Taking a proper look at it, it’s clear that there is still plenty to do in Lyme Regis, so we will have to return.

We were sad to come home, but drawing it all has, as always, helped me relive the holiday. Hope you’ve enjoyed it too!

Totnes and Lyme Regis holiday sketch diary, part 5: Beatrix Potter’s windswept hair

July 16, 2016July 18, 2016Posted in pen, Pictures of people, Sketch diary, Sketches, WatercolourTagged holiday sketch diary, holidays on public transport, holidays without a car, lyme regis, sketch diary, sketchbook, Somerset2 Comments

Myfanwy Tristram sketch diary - Totnes and Lyme Regis

This is part 5 of our holiday in Totnes and Lyme Regis. If you haven’t seen prior episodes, you’ll want to begin from the beginning, so start here.

We’re nearly at the end of the holiday now: just one more installment after this.

As before, click on any image and then click again to see it at a larger scale.

The final episode is here.

Totnes and Lyme Regis holiday sketch diary, part 4: cows, worms, moles & other animals

July 15, 2016July 18, 2016Posted in Landscapes, pen, Photoshop, Pictures of people, Sketch diary, Sketches, Street illustration, WatercolourTagged holiday sketch diary, lyme regis, running, second hand books, sketch diary, sketchbook, Somerset3 Comments

The image at the top of this post is a happy accident which happened on Photoshop, as I was trying to clean up the picture of the bookshop that appears in the third page below. I like it better than the actual painting, so here it is as a header.

Part 1 is here, part 2 is here and part 3 is here. If you’d like to see the pages at a larger scale, click on the image and then click again.

Save

Episode 5 is here.

My complete Hourly Comic Day 2016

February 2, 2016April 8, 2016Posted in Cartoons, pen, Pictures of people, Sketch diaryTagged #hourlycomicsday, hourly comic day, hourly comics day7 Comments

Hourly Comic Day 2016 by Myfanwy Tristram p4

So – was it more difficult completing Hourly Comic Day on a working day?

You bet it was. There’s not very much of visual interest to draw, and it means you have to do a full day’s work and then put in several hours drawing into the night.

I saw a few canny people shifted theirs to Sunday, and I’m beginning to see what a good idea that is. If you were really clever, you could even draw your frames on the Sunday and then schedule them to go out once an hour on Twitter the next day… or is that just too duplicitous?

I was really looking forward to Hourly Comic Day but actually… I’d forgotten that it can be quite stressful, what with aching shoulders as you hunch over your pages, the insecurity of seeing everyone else’s work pouring out (and of course it’s *all excellent*), and the hardest thing for me, which is trying to keep up a decent standard of drawing in real time. It’s a real test of just how well you can extemporise, and that, for me, is a real challenge.

But enough moaning. Ignore my insecurities. I hope you enjoyed these cartoons. :)

Can I be a mother and a successful artist? Hmm, let’s see

January 1, 2016April 8, 2016Posted in Cartoons, Fashion illustration, Graphic Novels, pen, Pictures of people, Sketch diary, Sketches, WatercolourTagged drawing, graffiti, illustration, parenthood, sketch diaries, sketching, street art11 Comments

This piece of graffiti is a fairly new addition to an underpass on one of my running routes. I enjoy graffiti and street art well enough, but my goodness, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a piece of it that spoke so directly to my own concerns. I’d like to meet whoever scrawled this and have a good long chat with her.

I’m not sure whether the big ‘NO’ underneath it is in answer, or whether it’s part of a previous piece of graffiti. Either way, it adds some hollow humour that I also enjoy.

Anyway, with all of that in mind, here’s my review of how I did on the ‘artist’ side for 2015 (the parenting side is always a work in progress, and another matter).

Comics

Lots of my work comes directly from motherhood and this year that was reflected in two cartoons: one about the school run, and one about my own mum.

In 2014, I drew Underdog, which relates a true experience of sewing with my daughter, and this year it was placed second in a prize, which is very gratifying.

I once again had a shot at the Cape/Comica/Observer graphic short story contest, but feel more and more resigned to the fact that I’ll never make a dent in that one.

I made a four-page comic about what happens when you take synchronised swimming to an extreme.

Feb 3rd brings the annual challenge of Hourly Comics Day. I’m looking forward to this year’s, although as it’s a working day, I’m a bit concerned as to how I’ll manage it…

Clothes

The 30-pictures-in-30-days Clovember project was also a motherhood project: I drew everything my daughter wore (far more interesting than my own outfits).

This year I was lucky enough to work on a couple of projects with the Swedish fashion label Gudrun Sjoden, purveyors of beautiful, sustainable clothes. In March, I painted customers in their shop, and then of course in August I had an amazing two days pretending to be a model. This has to be the wildest and most incredible reward that drawing has brought me yet.

The sketch diary I made around that trip has had an amazing amount of comments, likes and shares: it’s wonderful to have had it enjoyed by so many. And that’s not the last of it: I’ll be working with Gudrun Sjoden again this year, and I’ll share more details when that happens.

Travel

We had family holidays in Frome and Barcelona, and I drew a sketch diary for each (16 pages and 26 pages respectively). The Stockholm diary added another 12 pages.

I also recorded a trip to Madrid for work (26 pages). I was particularly pleased to find a way to combine my very interesting day job, and my drawing.

I love having my sketch diaries, and I do enjoy the process of making them, but as my drawing ability improves, so do my ambitions, until I am in the silly situation of having to spend a couple of hours a day on them for weeks after our return.

This time could be used for other types of drawing, so this year I will have to think carefully about whether to continue.

As it happens, my favourite type of sketchbook appears to be really thin on the ground at the moment: I haven’t been able to find any in TK Maxx and Homesense, where I usually pick up two or three at a time.

I have two unused ones in a drawer at home and after that it’s entirely possible I won’t be able to find any more, which is a real shame as I’ve never seen any other sketch book that’s quite as well-suited to sketch diaries. Maybe it’s a sign that it really is time to give up.

Other stuff

As I only just posted, I drew my daughter’s stocking and all its contents (twice in one year, as it turned out, as I only completed 2014’s stocking on January 3rd 2015).

I also made my daughter’s party invitation – more happy combining of parenthood and drawing.

People and events

This blog was given an incredible boost by WordPress when they featured it in a round-up post at the beginning of the year, and then in a couple of subsequent features. That recognition has brought almost 5,000 subscribers to my blog. That’s great, and makes me think of ‘success’ and ‘exposure’ in entirely new ways.

But sometimes you also have to meet people in the real world, right? Even if parenthood has put you in the habit of staying in of an evening.

I went to a few excellent drawing-related events this year: an talk put on by the Lewes Children’s Book Group, and the inspiring Graphic Brighton conference.

Then there was the Brighton Illustration Fair which had a strong comics slant. This year, I’m going to try and be on the other side of a table.

Finally, I rediscovered Cartoon County, a group specifically for cartoonists, and right on my doorstep – I really should make more effort to go.

—

So, can you be a successful artist and a mother? To answer that question quite seriously, I’d say that yes, you can.

I’m not pretending that I’m a successful artist myself – that must depend on your definition of ‘successful’, but I’d bet that most people’s definitions would include making a living from it. I am an artist who’s becoming more content with her work, and enjoying a burgeoning readership though, so that must be a good thing.

If I had to guess, I’d say that the anonymous graffiti artist is probably in the early stages of motherhood (or maybe even pregnant, and thinking ahead?). If that’s so, then my answer would be to hang on in there. The first few years of motherhood do not allow for very much else, but that’s not a permanent state. And motherhood will inspire your art in new ways.

I drew everything in my daughter’s Christmas stocking

December 31, 2015April 8, 2016Posted in pen, WatercolourTagged Christmas, Christmas stocking, drawing, Father Christmas, illustration5 Comments

Everything in my daughter's stocking by Myfanwy Tristram

If you do something two years in a row, does that mean it’s an annual tradition? If so, I seem to have landed myself with a very fiddly one!

[Click to see bigger]

For comparison, here’s last year’s drawing:

Illustration for a petting party invitation

December 23, 2015April 8, 2016Posted in pen, Photoshop, Pictures of peopleTagged party invitations, petting party2 Comments

petting party birthday invitation by Myfanwy Tristram

Sorry – you’re not actually invited, which is why I’ve deleted the time, date and venue details from this image (you’ll have to imagine how they are in the same lettering, to her right).

I just wanted to show you the most recent results of my favourite annual job: designing invitations for my daughter’s birthday party.

You can see some previous invitations here (the year she had a party at Lush) and here (ice skating).

Tabs did have the nice idea that we could display them all framed up on a wall at home, so that’s something I might try and get organised over the holidays. She also said that she’d definitely wear a t-shirt like the one I invented for this illustration. :)