Friday 30 August 2013

Birthday Card Blythe Doodle!

I'm currently undertaking a HUGE de-clutter at home (no doubt I'll blog about this at a later date) Last week I decided to downsize my book collection, I'm still not 100% finished with that, but nearly there! I donated about 100 books (there is no way I could ever bin a book) I was delighted to find some books that I'd forgotten about, one of them being a book on how to draw manga style characters. I'm not exaggerating when I say I've not drawn in years, but recently I have been thinking about starting to draw again - mainly to relax and also to keep my creativity flowing. So here are the results of my attempt to get back into drawing - its my niece's birthday so I ended up doodling on her birthday card envelope. I hope she likes it!

 My "Girl To GRRRL" how to draw Manga book - Very useful 
I decided to use mini Blythe as my "muse"!

 Started out in Pencil

 Inked in, no going back now!

 I kept adding colour, I was enjoying the process

Finished birthday card doodle! 

Tuesday 13 August 2013

Retro Reading Part Two - Mills And Boon Book Review (of sorts!)

In my last blog post I was talking about the Mills and Boon books that I had found in my local Charity shop. I was especially taken by the one titled "Satan's Master" I mean I couldn't just overlook a book with such an intriguing name. This is my second attempt at reading Mills and Boon. The first M&B novel that I tried to read (titled "Deceit of a Pagan") I only managed about 10 pages. It was just too... emmmmm... Well, it was written in the 1970s and very "of its time" regarding attitudes towards women shall we say! Ok, so back to "Satan's Master" I did a tiny bit better with that one, I managed about 16 pages before I gave up. Same reason as the other book, 1970s sexism reared its ugly head again. But what about that curious title of the book? A title that promises so much... maybe an obscure cult who reside in the remote Scottish highlands? Strange and magical rituals? A window into the mystic and unknown? No such luck, about ten pages in I learnt that "Satan" was the name of the cat belonging to the story's "hero" (and I use hero in the loosest sense of the word) But hey, its not all bitter dissapointment. The Mills and Boon cover art is superb and their logo is a first class piece of graphic design.


It says here that they are a "joy to read"
Sorry Mills and Boon, but I have to dispute that.


The Mills & Boon Logo is very cool! It exudes retro chic.


The other Mills & Boon novel I tried to read.