August 31, 2017
September! It is spring here, so this month’s calendar is all harpies and flowers.
They’re all based on assorted pigeons, and some of the flowers are real. Ish.
As ever, they are brought to you by my dear patrons at patreon.com/tanaudel: for as little as $1/month, you can get the calendar early – and other news and updates.
And an update! Last month’s coracle race is now up on Redbubble on scarves, t-shirts, etc.
July 30, 2017
I have been travelling for weeks, and still feel like I’m in motion. So, for August: a coracle race! (Also brought to you by a coracle-bound mouse in Kij Johnson’s forthcoming The River Bank (illustrated by me!), late-night discussions of Narnia and Reepicheep while at Readercon, and by all my supporters on Patreon, who get the calendar early – you can too!).
Edit: I left this open to confusion. These calendar mice are not specifically in The River Bank, but the monochrome fellow below is, and the book does of course feature certain folk Messing About In Boats.
You can see more River Bank illustrations at Light Grey Art Lab in Minneapolis, or preorder the book from Small Beer Press.
I had to research coracle races for this calendar, and the energy expended is hilariously disproportionate to the speeds achieved.
As usual, the calendar is below – you can print it in colour, or in black and white to colour it yourself.
If you like the calendars, please do consider supporting them on Patreon. $1 a month adds up and goes a long way towards keeping your friendly neighbourhood illustrator sufficiently caffeinated to get them done!
June 30, 2017
My continued thanks to all my patrons on Patreon who make this calendar possible!
Apparently catching stars is about as easy as herding cats. So it made sense that the birds responsible would be some of the more unimpressed and harried birds of my acquaintance, who when not pretending to be sticks can be found in bushes, howling (we used to call them murder-birds, at uni). Bush stone-curlews really do look and sit like this. They also find their own reflections entrancing. And (Triple-J language warning) one used to be pretty accurate on Twitter.
So here, to print pre-coloured or for colouring, is the July calendar. (Don’t forget to support on Patreon, if you’d like to make sure the calendar can keep happening).
May 31, 2017
It is the beginning of winter here, so I thought something Persephone-esque would be suitable for the June calendar (brought to you with the help of my patrons – join us!). Also, between Gone Girl (which we were teaching in one of the subjects I tutored this semester) and John Wick Chapter 2, I’ve been thinking about allegorical after/underworlds. With cheerful little moths.
I’m working on a pretty little repeat of the pattern ($7+ patrons are helping me decide on colourways). So here it is, for colouring or pre-coloured.
The calendars are free, but a lot of work goes into them, so if you’re able to throw a few dollars in the Patreon, even if just for a month a two, that would be a huge help. If you can’t, it would be great if you could tweet or post a link to my Patreon now and then – every bit helps. Plus, you get behind-the-scenes glimpses and other extras, and one day, when we hit that goal, more Daleks.
April 30, 2017
For the May calendar, a folly of wyverns. This calendar was made with the support of my patrons on patreon.com/tanaudel, and if you’d like to help bring out future months, that would be wonderful!
You can get the calendar early, there’ll be sneak-peeks of future projects, printable stationery… If I get enough support, I may even be able to restart the Dalek Game.
In the meantime, here is May, to print pre-coloured or for colouring in.
March 30, 2017
Since it is fine weather for ducks here in Brisbane, this is a very fitting calendar! You can support these calendars through patreon.com/tanaudel – my thanks to all the patrons who have made them possible so far.
“The Goose Girl” has long been one of my favourite fairytales, although it is one of the few with quite ordinary waterfowl. It’s more common for wicked usurpers to go around changing true royalty into ducks, a habit I first encountered in “The Three Dwarfs in the Wood”.
Sometime’s it’s swans.
But my favourite waterfowl (today) are the plain but helpful ones of “The Enchanted Princess” (also featuring bees and ants that pay their debts).
I read all of these first in two astonishingly-illustrated volumes of A Treasury of the World’s Greatest Fairytales, edited by Helen Hyman and with illustrations from Fratelli Fabbri Editori, although the individual illustrators aren’t identified.
You can download the images below to print at home (either pre-coloured or to colour in yourself). And if you do feel like throwing a dollar or two in the hat at patreon.com/tanaudel, I would be very grateful (and if you support at $3+ a month, you get the calendar early).
February 27, 2017
I just… love that dormouse so much.
Hello, and welcome to the March calendar. It has been brought to you by my wonderful patrons – you too can support calendar development and even have the option of getting calendars early, and stationery based on them, as well as behind-the-scenes glimpses and the thrill of patronising me.
I based these folks on Sir John Tenniel’s most famous illustrations for Alice in Wonderland, although I decided I was not really feeling like drawing legs on the teapot. One day.
By Sir John Tenniel
I didn’t used to love Tenniel’s design for Alice, but I’ve grown to. He captures so very well what many versions fail to: Alice is neither a terrible human being who never says thankyou, nor a precocious innocent.
She’s simultaneously a child trying to make sense of an adult world, to enforce upon it the rules she’s been taught (falsely) exist, and the only remotely grownup person in the make-believe chaos of Wonderland. In some ways, I think, she’s a rather close cousin to (some interpretations of) Susan Pevensie.
There will be some products and prints available soon. I’ll update, or you can keep an eye on Redbubble and Spoonflower.
As ever, you can download the images below for personal use for this month’s calendar: pre-coloured or to colour in yourself. And if you’re considering chipping in on Patreon, I’d be delighted to have your support!
