I've almost finished all the illustrations for the sale. I have one more to do and then they will be sent off for printing. Now I thought I’d tell you a bit about myself as an artist, what is behind these strange creatures and where they descend from.
I've been down many different paths of art throughout my life to say the least. I've gone from nature and bird paintings to tattoos, from digital painting to traditional illustration. And I will probably head down many more before my life on this earth ends.
Finding myself as an artist has been a roller coaster ride. And even though I take allot of pride in being an artist, I have always found it very hard to be judged by others. Don't get me wrong, I love all the feedback I can get and it makes me grow both as a person and as an artist. But since my art is so dear to me and something I don't necessarily do for profit, but for myself and myself only. It is my therapy and it is hard to have it judged by others because it is my saviour in many ways. In my drawings you can see the essence of me, the essence of Emelie and I guess the somewhat escapist that I am.
It is hard for me to write about my art and it triggers many emotions doing so. But I think it is something I have to share now that I have finally decided to sell my art. To think that any of you out there would like to own a piece of me is hard for me to comprehend. This is why I am sharing my deepest thoughts with you so you know what it is you buy if you decide to become the owner of one of my pieces. And it is important that you know the depth behind these creatures.
Anyway, back to me, being an escapist. I truly am an escapist and I think I always have been. I am scared of many things in this world. Scared of the dark, scared of death, scared of being left alone and so on. Fears that I know I'm not the only one to have, but they effect me every day, in ways that they shouldn't. My way of dealing with these fears is to escape to my own made up world where these things just don't exist.
My fears got worse as I moved to the UK six years ago. Let's just say that Sweden is a pretty safe and quiet place compared to the UK. But I think I needed it. During the first year I spent in UK I barely left the house. I was afraid that someone would just stab me in the street and became extremely paranoid. I had to stop watching the news and reading the news papers as it just ruined me. UK has hardened me in a great way and I am nowhere near as scared as I used to be now. I still struggle going on walks on my own but I think this is down to me being a mother now and me feeling very protective over my baby. I am sure it will go away eventually.
So the drawings you see are part of my inner essence and the creatures in my drawings help me to stay sane. Even though some of them might look quite insane haha. But these creatures help me through life and fantasizing about them is my escape. I need them just as much as they need me and without them I would be lost. I guess you can see them as my therapists.
I have now decided to sell my art for the first time in my life and I am so scared. I am scared that no one will like what I do, I'm scared that no one will feel inspired and most of all that no one will see the beauty that I see in these creatures. I'm scared that no one will understand them. Just as I am scared that no one will understand me, maybe I am scared that they will be left alone as I am scared of being alone. I don't know, but my decision makes me feel strong and proud, and whatever happens, I will remain strong and proud for the fact that I dared. And that is the end of that.
So here's to the future of not being scared. I want to share my inner being with the world and by doing so, grow as a person and an artist. I hope me sharing all this won't put you off my illustrations. I hope it will give them more depth and meaning. And also thank you for reading this far.
"As the sun sets over Tomodachi Island the Snow Colossus whale-like song can be heard from the Toketsu Mountain. His lullaby sends the Yeti Folk into a deep sleep. They know that the Snow Colossus will be watching over them as they dream of new adventures and distant lands."
The Snow Colossus is an old concept of mine. I meant to make a huge plush sculpture out of him a couple of years ago. I gave up on the project though but he has always remained strong in my mind.
As I was doodeling the other day he appeared in my sketchbook once again and I decided to make him in to a proper drawing. He is quite a magnificent beast and I thought he'd deserved it. He is a very calm creature who tends to make me calm to. I can imagine myself sitting in a field below the Toketsu Mountain watching the sun go down as I listen to his song. Wouldn't it be great if these creatures were real? Imagine how much calmer and friendlier the world would be.
The Snow Colossus - Lullaby will be part of my future sale sometime during April. You will be able to pick up prints and the original will be up for grabs as well.
I thought I'd give you a closer introduction to my sketchbook. Funny enough this is the first sketchbook I've ever owned. Sure I have had plenty of art pads, but I don't class them as the same. This book has opened up my creative streak tremendously. I can't say I have a straight answer as to why or how, it just has.
I guess you could say that it is what a notebook would be to a writer. Somewhere that I can just spew out my ideas as soon as they pop in to mind. I don't have to think about composition, I don't have to think about materials or colours. All I have to do is grab a pencil, sit down on the couch whilst watching Farscape or some other cool Sci-Fi series and then just draw.
I think the brown recycled paper helps an awful lot as well. When I sit down with white good quality paper, that's when I mean business, that is where everything has to be perfect. But with this brown paper there are no rules and plenty of room for mistakes.
I can try to explain how important this book is to me but words will never be able to describe how free I feel when drawing in this book. I just love it so much!
So to any of you artists out there that suffer from creative blocks. Go and get yourselves one of these, they don't cost much and I swear that it will make all the difference to your creativity. Let the creativity flow is all I can say! What an amazing little thing this book turned out to be!
I did manage to get some sculpting done over the weekend anyway. So the Dudes now got little horns in various shapes and sizes and the third Dude has got a face as well. I managed to start on the zippers as well which was one hell of a tricky one but came out nice in the end.
Teeny tiny detail.... Even made my hand shake for a second and I can't say that has ever happened before. The detail is great though and I'm very pleased with the end result. Now I got another two to make... pheeeeew!
Maybe maybe maybe I will be able to start a paint job next week. Let's hope ey!
And the third face is in place. Might make some small changes to this one though, it don't feel finished for some reason.
I am actually getting somewhere with these. Mainly because I've chosen to loose sleep rather than loosing time on my toys. So I've been getting up around six every morning to feed my little girl and then she goes back to bed and I go into the workshop. I've also been working later at night when she's asleep. I just can't put my toys down at the moment.
I've managed to finish two faces so far and I think that will be more or less it before the weekend now. The parents in law are coming to visit so I will have no chance to work during the weekend. But I will be back on it first thing Monday!
Here's some WIP pictures anyway. Loving them so far and can't wait to finish them.
My favorite tools that I tend to use more or less all the time :D
So many toys, so little time.... Or something! I do have time but something has come up that is way more important for the future of mine and my little family. So I have to put things on hold for about a week and only work when the little one is asleep lol. Not the end of the world I guess, but I'm so itching to finish of every single DIY platform I've got. But all in good time.
I'm also waiting for the glass eyes to be delivered so that I can start sculpting my Dudeboxes. I hate when things are said to be delivered at a certain date and then you sit there waiting all day and NOTHING! Good god it winds me up. I need to stop being so impatient me thinks.
Anyway, it is TBT and I thought I'd share with you one of my old Timelapses from Vimeo. I used to do these all the time, but since I am more in to traditional art than digital art at the moment I haven't done any in ages. You can check out my Vimeo for more videos and some embarrassing animations from when I did my degree.
I suggest you watch it in HD. Much better that way! :D
Here she is anyway, I drew her on my way to London for whatever reason I can't remember, but that is why she is called The Bus Girl anyway. Hope you like!
As I always have to have a gazillion projects going on at the same time I just thought I'd pull out my acrylics two nights ago and start painting. Funny enough I actually finished it. Which is rare these days.
I rarely paint, and to be honest this is the first acrylic painting I've finished since I was in school about 15 years ago.
To celebrate this accomplishment I thought I'd have this painting printed up and do a limited edition run of 50 pieces. They will be part of this sale I've got planned but haven't got a date for and the original will be up for grabs too. You can keep an eye on the Blog, FB or IG for info on this upcoming sale as I am yet to decide a date. It will be sometime during April anyway, but that is all I can say for now.
All hail the Queen of Candy Cove! She has finally made he first appearance after her mother sadly passed away. It is time for her to take over the reign of Candy Cove and her nerves are more on the outside than the inside. She's not much of a people person and hates center of attention (sucks being a Queen then I guess?!). This is something that she'll have to deal with however and she needs to take control over the terrible sugar lows she tends to get after eating to many Love Hearts!
The Queen of Candy Cove is modeled on an 7" Kidrobot Foomi DIY Platform by Emelie Jensen for Tomodachi Island.
In her left hand she carries a golden lollipop with pink rhinestones. Completely hand sculpted.
The Queen of Candy Cove will be part of Tomodachi Island's first Sale which date is still to be announced. Stay Tuned for more info!
I finally got hold of some Dudeboxes. I've wanted to work on them ever since I laid eyes on them years ago. Unfortunately Dudbox has gotten in to some sort of problem and they no longer produce vinyl toys. So I was very sad now that I finally started customizing toys to find that they are hard to get hold of. But I found some in the end and I bought more or less half the stock (I will buy more when I can afford it).
They are such great DIY platforms as they leave so much to you imagination. It took me more or less all weekend to prepare them for sculpting as I needed to fill them up and make them sturdy enough inside to carry the faces. But now they're rock solid and ready to go. Eyes should go in the post today and be with me tomorrow. I seriously can't wait to finish these I just know they'll look awesome when they're done.
Once I've got enough toys ready they will be up for sale. I will let you know when the sale will start. What I can say already is that there will be loads of original goodies and one of a kind items. Super excited about it!
Here's the general layout and the faces that will go inside.
So the Queen of Candy Cove is more or less completed. I am waiting for one of her accessories to come through the post before I can show her to you in all her glory however. This is my first custom vinyl toy that I am completely and utterly stoked about. I've used so many new things creating her and it's just made me more addicted to customizing vinyl toys. I have way to many in my possession at the moment, and I can't wait to work on all of them. Anyway, here's some W.I.P. pictures whilst waiting for the rest :D
Hi!
Welcome to Tomodachi Island's new hang out. This is the new beginning of Tomodachi Island. This means quite a few changes. From now on I will be running the Blog from here and no longer at Blogger. If you want to read old posts then I suggest that you head over to BLOGGER to read them there. I will keep the old blog up and running for those interested in the old Tomodachi Island, but no new posts will be written over there.
With me going through allot of life changes in becoming a mother and so on I have also found a deeper meaning to what I do. I think I have finally found myself in my art and started believing in what I can create for the first time in my life. The importance of Tomodachi Island is bigger now than ever. I really appreciate all the fans that I have gained through the close to four years that I've been running Tomodachi Island and I really hope that all of you stay with me now that I enter a new chapter in my life.
You will slowly see Tomodachi Island change into the essence of ME. Of who I truly am deep down inside. The furry monsters and accessories you are used to seeing will slowly disappear whilst you will see more of my art in the form of prints, sculptures, custom toys, resin toys and of course you will even have the chance to own some of my original artwork later on.
It is time for me to embrace who I really am and my art likewise. I hope you stay to enjoy the future with me. I am looking at it with eyes wide open and full of excitement.
Here's to the Future of Tomodachi Island!
And welcome to Tomodachi Islands new hide out!
