i made a drawing a couple of weeks ago. did some picture research on the internet, sketched a rough on paper, redrew all the components in a loose and scribbly fashion on the back of some official letter i’d been sent, scanned them in, then pieced it all together in photoshop. i was pleased that day to finally figure out how to drop colour into a tonal greyscale drawing, without the colour layer obscuring or compromising the pencilled outlines.

layers > multiply

that’s all it took. for years i’d wondered. i sent it off then, to where it was needed, and not an hour later, received a two-word reply: oooooh! beautiful! how warm and shiny i felt.

the kid works much quicker. she takes a sheet from my tray of one-sided printouts, and draws directly in any shade of felt-tipped marker. a few days ago she grabbed the nearest biro and made my new favourite drawing: a joyous supermarket excursion with a cat, a mouse, and a family of tiny kittens. it really sums up the happiness i feel when i’m at the supermarket.

(though not the bit where i stand in a queue for 20 minutes because my woolies refuses to put more cashiers on, grumble, gnash.)

something else that makes me happy is the super speedy three day sydney zine from dawn at handmadelove, full of drawings of smiley food to eat around sydney (in three days, oh the pressure!). just look at the lovely watercolouring, and the cheery lettering. here’s one of my favourite cafes, badde manors, #3 in glebe. it’s true: they do have a way with potatoes.

[ picture from handmadelove ]