I was inspired to copy a Fighting Fantasy character today. Lord Azzure. His image is depicted on one of the newer versions of the Fighting Fantasy book “Assassins of Allansia”. I discovered that this character was originally drawn this way by artist Karl Kopinski.
I started off by sketching the character on an A4 piece of paper using an ordinary HB pencil. I then added some shading in pencil, scanned it in and completed the colouring using Procreate just to save time.
Kids age 8-12 were able to indulge in Manga Art at Otterspace today!
Fans of Anime shows, films and Manga books swapped notes on what they love about the genre and spent the hour drawing their favourite characters.
Collaborating with Otterspace to deliver the classes means kids get to learn drawing skills that align with their interests in a super fun environment! I was honoured to teach them tips and tricks I’ve learned along the way to draw the faces they know and love, as well as creating new, original ones!
The brightly-lit gaming room has its own corner library, stocked with a great selection of inspiring books and comics, more boardgames than you even knew existed, friendly staff, great coffee and snacks and so much more! It’s a pleasure just to be there let alone lead a class of talented young artists who love nothing more than to spend time honing their craft! The Café even has an after school board-games club running alongside the Manga Art class where kids can learn new board games.
Today’s FREE Manga Art taster class focused on faces. I first demonstrated how to use a few simple steps to get face shape and proportions just right as a basis for positioning nose, eyes, ears, mouth, brows etc. The kids then personalised the face adding things like elf ears, moustaches, hairstyles, and so much more. In case anyone needed to refer to those steps again after class, everyone went home with their own copy of my first ever custom “Manga-zine”, packed with my own sketches and tips covering everything we covered in this week’s class. (Check out my YouTube Short video at the bottom of this post to get a sneak peak of Vol.1 of my Manga Art Class Zine)
Be sure to book your place by selecting the class on your preferred day (Wed or Thur) on Otterspace’s website https://shop.otterspace.ie/event
Classes cost 10 Euros per person per class and appear on the website one week in advance.
I’m excited to be starting a new series of Art classes! This time I’m teaming up with the wonderful staff at Skerries’ board games cafe, Otterspace! What an inspiring, welcoming venue to delve into all things arty! With its own fabulously well-stocked library of games, books and lots more, Otterspace has been growing in popularity by the day. And what better way to get creative than to attend a class in a space full of so much artistic inspiration!
Full details on otterspace.ie but I’ve included the text from Otterspace’s website below:
Otter space is happy to offer Manga/Anime art classes, run by local artist & illustrator Kristina Keegan.
Learn how to create your own original characters, draw faces, bodies, clothes, and poses in a fun, relaxed environment, with a garda vetted instructor.
Aside from working on her own projects, Kristina has run afterschool art classes in local schools, and has been involved in various community art projects. Her aim is to nurture a love of drawing, build skills, and have fun!
Students can build on existing skills to use in their own projects, whether that be creating original characters, webcomics, playing card art, or more. All skill levels welcome!
Paper, templates, step-by-step guides, and drawing tools are all provided, but please bring your own favourite colouring pens/pencils.
Classes are every Wednesday & Thursday starting the 28th of January, with two different age groups as follows:
Wednesdays:
3-4pm ages 8-12.
4:15-5:15pm ages 12-18.
Thursdays:
3-4pm ages 8-12.
4:15-5:15pm ages 12-18.
January 28th and 29th will be FREE to try as taster sessions, but we ask that you please register so we can get an idea how many are attending.
All following sessions are €10/person. Bookings are on a first come, first serve basis, so we recommend booking early to avoid disappointment.
New designs and a variety of sizes and price options are available as of today with my homemade Christmas Cards! The old favourite “Fox in the Grass” now has two companion cards: Two foxes under the mistletoe, and a robin singing on a snow-covered fence post. Similarly, the classic Skerries Mills painting I offered last time has a new twist with brighter colours and two new companions: Skerries Harbour Pier and Old Time Skerries. All cards were designed, printed and handmade in Ireland. My original artwork has been reproduced on recycled card and lovingly assembled in my home studio here in Skerries.
Dimensions and Prices
Small White Rectangle Cards: H:15cm X W:10cm
1 card: €1.75
Set of 3 cards: €5.00
Set of 6 cards: €9.00
Large Brown/Buff Rectangle Cards: H:17.8cm X W:12.8cm
1 card: €2.50
Set of 3 for €7.00
Set of 6 for €14
Large White Square Cards: H:15cm X W:15cm
1 card: €2.50
Set of 3 for €7.00
Set of 6 for €14
Feel free to get in touch with your order if you live locally (Skerries, co.Dublin & surrounds) by email (galleriakristina@gmail.com). Unfortunately I am not in a position to offer delivery as yet, but can arrange collection. Payment options: Cash or Revolut
Close up of the crest of the wave, Harry Clarke stained glass, Collins Barracks, National Museum of Ireland, Dublin.
This week we decided to visit an exhibition of Harry Clarke’s stained glass at Collins Barracks. I had already seen some of his work at the Hugh Lane, the National Gallery and in the windows of Bewleys and some nearby churches, so I was curious to see more. The detail in his stained glass is just unlike anything else I’ve ever seen. The snapshot of the wave above is from the lower portion of his work “The meeting of St. Brendan with the Unhappy Judas” (1911). The close up of flames tormenting Judas in the middle image below are from the same piece. To the left and right are two sections of the mermaid’s hair in “A meeting” (1918).
Harry Clarke’s work can be seen in churches all over Ireland.
Autumn was fast approaching when I started scouting out different angles to approach a painting of a local fashion boutique as the annual ‘Best presented shop front’ prize. Tidy Towns had chosen Aquila, so I was dispatched to start work on a small oil painting of the shop’s facade. The completed oil painting would have to be framed and presented to the owners of the shop in October 2024.
For this composition, I chose to include the entire building surrounding the shop, including its classic chimney pots and street trees. The leaves had just turned brown when I began the painting and were starting to fall to the ground by the time I finished it. At a particular time of day the shadows made by the tree branches as they fell against the pale yellow plaster of the old building were quite elegant, so I decided to take more reference photos and work them into the final composition.
I am told the shop owners were delighted with their prize. If you’d like to see the entire painting and not just the segment I’m posting on my website, why not pop into the shop and take a look? It should still be on display just near the counter. Aquila, Oil on Canvas, 21 Strand Street, Skerries, Co. Dublin, Ireland.
You can now leaf through the pages of the completed, hand-bound Sketch for Skerries book at Skerries Library.
Visitors can browse through all the wonderful artwork, find out how the book came about and examine the construction of this handmade “exhibition in a book” in the calm oasis of Skerries library.
The library is perfectly situated just off the main street of the town, which means popping in while out running errands is easy to do.
So why not take a break from your morning routine and flip through the pages of this wonderful collaborative art project. Remind yourself what a privilege it is to live in a place where anyone is free to express themselves through art.
Yesterday the Sketch for Skerries project came to a close and the completed book, containing original artwork of over 50 artists, went on display at the Skerries Eco Festival.
Members of the public and even some of the artists themselves arrived at Skerries Community centre on Sunday to turn the pages of the Sketch for Skerries “exhibition in a book”.
Visitors were able to choose between locating a specific artwork by scrolling through the table of contents and turning to a particular page, or browsing through every page of the book.
The hand-stitched pages of the book held up to multiple page-turns and visitors delighted in both the construction of the book itself and the wide range of beautiful sketches it contained. I enjoyed chatting to the public about the various steps involved in pulling together a collaborative community sketchbook as well as constructing the book itself.
Meeting some of the artists and listening to them talk about their creative process in responding to the call-out and creating a sketch was one of the most enjoyable parts of the day for me.
I hope to exhibit the collection again and possibly add to it by running the project again next summer. However, in the meantime here’s a sample of some of the excellent work that was on display.
Sample of some of the sketches (pictured above) clockwise from top left:
(bee Happy) anon, (skerries islands) Ellen Farrell, (bee) Noah, (Mozambique Spitting Cobra) Finn Ramos, (footprint) Kaitlin Payne, (cat) Grace, (feather) Marlene Muscat, (birds) Líni, (tree) Emma Cuschieri, (purple sky mill) Alexandra Farrell, (jellyfish) Marlene Muscat, (skerries mills) Chloe Farrell.
For the full list of contributors and to see the sketches in person, check back in on this site and come to the next exhibition!
Winter has definitely arrived, and so has my latest batch of Christmas Cards! I’m delighted to announce that these are now on sale and can be purchased at Skerries Mills Gift Shop or direct from me!
Each original handpainted image was created using watercolours, gouache and ink. They were then digitally reproduced and printed on good quality card stock with the finishing touches applied by hand.
Just drop me an email: cards@galleriakristina.com and tell me which ones you’d like (Fox, Cabin or Mills) and you’re preferred payment method and I will arrange the rest!
N.B. delivery only available for the Skerries region at present. Cards cost €1.75 each or €5.00 for a pack of 3 direct from me. Payment in cash on delivery or by Revolut both accepted. Details will be sent by email.
A new season of after school clubs has begun at my daughter’s primary school and I’m delighted to be leading the Art & Sketching club this term.
Thinking the kids might want to unwind a bit after a full day of schooling, we decided to keep things loose and let everyone’s imaginations run wild. The results were very interesting. In addition to the samples above, there were sketches of forests full of trees and wild animals, human portraits, graffiti-style fonts, Christmas-themed decorations, Anime-style people, 3D cityscapes and a LOT of BIG eyes!
I laid out an assortment of different coloured paper and card and tipped a basket of coloured pencils, pens and crayons for everyone to dip into. The gasps as the colours clattered and rolled out onto the table were quite amusing.
With John Coltrane’s relaxing tunes playing in the background, everyone busied themselves with some good old-fashioned pencil-on-paper drawing whilst having the chats.
From time to time I received requests for “board drawings”. Using the whiteboard proved to be a great way to demonstrate different drawing technique, how to recognise areas of their work that they loved, as well as those they weren’t so happy with and lastly, how to approach the sketching stage differently second time round.
All in all it was a lovely way to spend time in the company of other artists, and the only shame is that the hour goes by so fast!
There was a hint of Autumn in the air today at a local school’s wildflower meadow but the morning sunshine and hard work almost fooled a few of today’s community volunteers into believing summer hasn’t quite left us.
For the native plants that adorned this meadow, there can be no doubt about the change in season. They graced us with their beauty from March to September, until the time finally came for them to produce seeds for the following spring. Once their work was done, the work of the local residents began.
What a pleasure it was to illustrate these scenes of women, men and children working together in nature for a common cause.
Today marks the day I complete my “31 Reasons to Draw” challenge.
Just over a year ago, I embarked on thinking of a “reason to draw” for each day of December. My challenge was to share them daily in my blog and perhaps inspire others to take up the hobby of sketching, or return to it.
Creating daily blog posts during the busiest month of the year proved to be somewhat unrealistic for me, so I decided to stick to the plan but without the deadline. I am so glad I did! Not only did I get to enjoy Christmas and work on other projects throughout the year, but I also got the satisfaction of knowing I hadn’t abandoned my mission… I’d just adjusted my own expectations.
So here we are, on the final reason to draw of this series of blog posts, and that is, to “tell a story”. It may sound like a cliché, but a picture really is worth a thousand words. And for that reason, I’ll stop typing for today, and let these pictures tell their story. Enjoy!
In the 19th Century, a newspaper discovered that sales increased if the articles were accompanied by pictures. When photography wasn’t advanced enough to capture movement, artists were used instead. Can you imagine the world of advertising without pictures? Words are powerful, but imagine trying to advertise an upcoming event with nothing but 5 lines of Times New Roman text on a sheet of A4 paper. A drawing catches the eye and invites the viewer to find out more.
What makes you laugh? Probably several things come to mind.
For me it might be a funny dog-meme, an unexpectedly witty comment from a child, a scene in a film or book, a story told by a friend…. Sometimes they make you laugh just once, and other times, they make you laugh with every repetition.
Without fail, the drawings by certain comic artists (such as this one by Joshua Barkman of Falseknees.com) make me laugh not once, not twice, but every single time I look at them.
Isn’t it almost like a magic sort of medicine for the soul, that something as simple as a drawing can make someone laugh over and over again?
Time is so precious. How you choose to spend your time, who with, doing what… none of us have an infinite amount of it, so the scarcer it becomes, the more precious to us it is. Choosing to spend time drawing is choosing to rank that thing as being important.
Whether its the time we spend drawing a flower on a birthday card, or the preliminary sketches of an oil-painting, we have decided that either the viewer or the subject or both are important to us, and we took the time.