Month: May 2019

animals, flora and fauna, Illustrations, Odd Little Stories, thoughts behind the work

I love the Forest with deer

Michele B. Naquaiya

deer-LUV-forest-web

I’ve seen lots of deer in the forest because I lived in the northwest for a long time.  How can you describe them except to say they are very sweet and can win you over.  Although I remember many mornings shaking a string of empty soda cans at them to make as much noise as I could to chase them away from my flowers and plants.  They always won and grabbed some nibbles before they fled.

Or when driving down a main street, a mom with her twins would come out of the woods suddenly and very slowly cross the street.  They understood traffic and I swear they knew stop signs. The only really dangerous  part is when they would try to cross a main highway from the woods to get to the cool riverbank.  All  you could do is slow down and pray they make it.

check out my online store to see this little guy on various products

animals, Illustrations, kids

Baby Goat is a Kid

Michele B. Naquaiya

baby-goat-web

Who does not like a baby goat?  They are like wise old men turned into babies, or maybe the other way around?  This is a little sketch from one of my many sketch books.  This one was done in quick pen with a few watercolor washes.

I am playing with matching fonts to my art.  I am very fond of this font, which is called “stroke dimension”.  Maybe a 4H kid out there would like this.  Here’s the store to get a t-shirt for a kid.

animals, fantasy illustration, flora and fauna, Illustrations, Pen and Ink Drawing

Chickens exotica

Michele B. Naquaiya

chickens-tile-web

Chickens are all about color and attitude.  After all, who has more feathers?  Maybe a peacock.  Peacocks are fancy and exotic. Chickens are commonly seen everywhere, in every place on the globe.  That does not mean they are common animals.

To me, anybody that only has two legs and can’t fly high or far, and who needs their wits about them to survive deserves some kudos for living so long.  I designed this artwork as a ceramic tile, hoping someday I could see it on a tile.  This may never happen but I think none-the-less it should be in somebody’s kitchen.  Make sure you check out the little hard boiled eggs in the borders.

Right now, this image is available on lots of neat stuff here.  Check it out por favor.

fantasy illustration, Illustrations, kids

You Are the Best, 2 kids’ portrait

Michele B. Naquaiya

you-are-the-best-web

The boy has the flower and the girl has the lollipop.  They are dressed in brown and white and their outfits don’t make any sense at all.  What was I thinking?  Perhaps they just walked out of a fairy tale.  This watercolor is a little retro looking I think and is reminiscent of a time when gingerbread cookies were the rage. ha  ha.

I am having fun with my wacom tablet and exploring new fonts. Even though the tablet is old, it still works great.  I wish I could say the same for me.  Not everything works..but  if you get the job done, does anybody really care?

I think this would be fun for grandparents.  Here it is in my on-line store.

animals, dogs, horses, cats, fantasy illustration, Illustrations, simple photoshop, thoughts behind the work

Dude…2 cats in a love conversation

Michele B. Naquaiya

Dude-web

A Big cat and little cat are having a love conversation. The big cat has camouflage artwork on his body and the little cat is making big body language. Who is talking to who? Who loves who?   It could go either way, so have fun with this.
Since I seem to be in my retro mood for the past few weeks, this was a small sketch in one of my many sketchbooks.  I always refer to my sketchbooks, whether the sketches are good or not.  The important thing is that you get the information down. Usually, the first sketch is the best one because that carries the message across in the strongest and most immediate way.  You can always tweet the drawing a little bit and get it to fit into what you want now.  This drawing was a little different because I kept it very raw and did not polish it up at all.

I scanned it and made sure I put it on a large white background leaving a lot of space to make room for a big text area.  I just made a mask and gave it a transparent background and then painted the cats some and with the direct selection tool, filled areas with different shades of black, greys and whites. I know there are artifacts all over the place but I am moving ahead and will repair the image later.  I hope this does not bother people too much.

this is how it looks on products: Dude-web