I made a special accordion book about a year ago with a little red octopus in it – I documented the illustration so you could see the layers of ink go on. I love using drawing inks (I used Windsor-newton inks in this one) because you can layer them to make really rich colors – they aren’t opaque like some watercolors, and they flow really well.
I was recently commissioned to create a journal for my friend Matt's birthday - made extra special because in the years past he's commissioned me to make seven different books…
This Octopus Miniature Book is one of my most popular posts - here I've polished up the photos, which show the illustration process of adding color to the octopus drawing.
[…] You might be surprised (or at least I was) to find that one of my most popular blog pages is my Octopus Drawing Sequence post from Feb 10, 2010, where I featured a step-by-step octopus drawing I did for a specially […]
Hi! I'm Ruth Bleakley, an American book artist who lives in Florida. As a former military kid, I've also lived in Texas, New York and Massachusetts. Growing up, I spent 11 out of 18 years living overseas in Germany, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. So, basically a citizen of the world!
In 2016 I starred in a Japanese TV show about papermaking - you can read about that strange and wonderful journey here.
4 Comments
This is adorable!
This is so cute, Ruth! What a simple idea, but done beautifully, and I like how the octopus and his bubbles extend over all the “pages”! Very nice.
I love it!! 🙂
[…] You might be surprised (or at least I was) to find that one of my most popular blog pages is my Octopus Drawing Sequence post from Feb 10, 2010, where I featured a step-by-step octopus drawing I did for a specially […]