Mellanie C

ATC Round Up: Crows

Here’s a quick round-up of crow artist trading cards I’ve been making lately for swaps and trades: Thanks for visiting! More art soon…

ATCs: Cats, Cats, and More Cats

More cats for you here. I’ve been making a lot of these lately. I think because I want to make sure that they aren’t flukes or just happy accidents. I’m so amazed by how well these are turning out. For a contrast, here are some cat drawings I drew in 2008: Big improvement, I think.

Pen Sketch: The Cat Next Door

Fletcher, brush pen and gouache on paper, 5 x 7 inches Prowling his own quiet backyard or asleep by the fire, he is still only a whisker away from the wilds. ~Jean Burden

Ballpoint Pen Sketch: Something Serious

Something Serious pen and paper, 5 x7 inches Instead of filling requests for portraits, I’ve been filling up my sketchbook with ballpoint pen drawings. Here’s one I thought came out quite well. As always, Michael is my ever-patient model. He looks like he’s thinking about something pretty serious, but I think he’s just asleep.

Graphite Sketch: An Impossible Angle

graphite on paper, 5 x 8 inches On the first sunny and warm day this spring, Michael and I went to the park. Michael basked, and I sketched. At first I was frustrated. I had chosen an impossible angle and as it was such a glorious, lazy, summery afternoon I just couldn’t bear toContinue reading “Graphite Sketch: An Impossible Angle”

ATCs: Bulldog Drawing

Bulldog by Mellanie Collins is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 United States License. 2.5″x3.5″ gouache and colored pencil Here’s a little bulldog drawing for an artist trading card I made by request. I have mixed feelings about this drawing. I think the eyes turned out okay, but it just seems to be missingContinue reading “ATCs: Bulldog Drawing”

My Own Mini-Portrait Party w/ Lindsay Long

© 2011 Mellanie Collins I’ve been trading artist trading cards (ATCs) for about three years now. It’s a great hobby and it’s really helped me with my drawing. The first trade I did was a portrait exchange with Ujwala from Draw the Line. We each drew each other and it was a great experience. Continue reading “My Own Mini-Portrait Party w/ Lindsay Long”

2010? Forget About It. I Did.

John Bavarro for Julia Kay’s Portrait Party Pen, ink, and marker on paper, 5×7 inches Let’s pretend last year never happened. It was not one of my best. In fact, it sucked. I’m just tucking 2010 away to that that place in my brain that isolates things like songs from the 80’s that IContinue reading “2010? Forget About It. I Did.”

Wishful Thinking

© 2010 Mellanie Collins Oh how I’ve been missing drawing! After starting a new job and succombing to some nasty and persisent sinus funk, I’ve not been able to get much drawing done for the last month –or even this month. The sketching I’ve managed hasn’t been worth sharing. I did manage to do thisContinue reading “Wishful Thinking”

African American History Month: Bessie Coleman

4″ x 5.5″ pen and markers Bessie Coleman (1892 – 1926) was the first woman to earn an International Aviation License and the first African-American licensed pilot. Born in Texas, Bessie was the 10th of 13 children. Unhappy with small town life in Texas, she moved to Chicago in 1915 to join her brother andContinue reading “African American History Month: Bessie Coleman”