October 2022 Calendar — danse macabre (ish)

These calendar pages are made possible by patrons, who get it a little bit early, along with alternative colourways, and other sneak-peeks and behind-the-scenes art: patreon.com/tanaudel. It is also supported by those very kind people who throw a few dollars towards it via the tip jar: ko-fi.com/tanaudel.

For this October, here are some dancing skeletons! What more can I say, except that any incorrect choreography is because the skeletons learned their moves from the movies.

Here are the early sketches — first roughly working out the movements, then filling in the bone structure (and referring to previous skeletal designs, so I could be inaccurate in the same ways).

And the design is up — in blue and pink — on Redbubble as prints, scarves, bags, cases, etc (along with other Halloween designs).

Below (for personal use) are the printable versions — one pre-coloured and one to colour in yourself.

If you like them and/or like supporting artists, you can contribute to the calendar (and get it and other behind-the-scenes things early) at patreon.com/tanaudel (starts at US$1/month) or tip me a few dollars through Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/tanaudel. Either is greatly appreciated! And of course many previous designs are available as prints etc on Redbubble and Spoonflower.

Also, I have a very occasional mailing list (not a newsletter), if you’d like to keep up with any major announcements: Mailing List Sign-Up

September Calendar: Faces in the leaves

These calendar pages are made possible by patrons, who get it a little bit early, along with alternative colourways, and other sneak-peeks and behind-the-scenes art: patreon.com/tanaudel. It is also supported by those very kind people who throw a few dollars towards it via the tip jar: ko-fi.com/tanaudel.

Still on the enchanted forest theme, September is brought to you by the feeling of being watched among the trees.

Other influences included: hunting for green-man roof bosses in Devon, and admiring Iris Compiet’s astonishing sculptures, browsing Oakapple Designs‘ replicas of cathedral carvings, attending the Once and Future Fantasies festival in Glasgow, and drawing acanthus leaves (these aren’t acanthus leaves anymore, but Bearbell’s workshop got me thinking about scrolling longer leaves, and generally drawing too many of them).

Here’s a first test of the idea, using a fine brush pen (the final image was loosely inked with an actual brush). I still like the clusters of berries, the hints of woodgrain, and the little fox-ish face, although it isn’t in quite the right style. I’d like to approach this design again, with these additional elements. And I can think of some other takes that would be fun.

Then sketches and layout and making sure it would plausibly repeat. However, I quite like these yellow and black sketches — they remind me of the covers of 1970s Shakespeare paperbacks. They make me want to write a little nonfiction text on characterisation in fairy tales, or something.

I have begun the repeating design, but it isn’t quite finished yet, due to me becoming abruptly and vilely ill earlier this week. I’ve put up the single image as prints/cards/shirts on Redbubble, and will update this post when the all-over design is available. In the meantime, many other designs can be found as prints, cases, fabric etc on Redbubble and Spoonflower.

Below (for personal use) are the printable versions — one pre-coloured and one to colour in yourself.

If you like them and/or like supporting artists, you can contribute to the calendar (and get it and other behind-the-scenes things early) at patreon.com/tanaudel (starts at US$1/month) or tip me a few dollars through Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/tanaudel. Either is greatly appreciated! And of course many previous designs are available as prints etc on Redbubble and Spoonflower.

Also, I have a very occasional mailing list (not a newsletter), if you’d like to keep up with any major announcements: Mailing List Sign-Up

August calendar: Enchanted forest

This calendar is made possible by patrons, who get it a little bit early, along with alternative colourways, and other sneak-peeks and behind-the-scenes art: patreon.com/tanaudel. It is also supported by those very kind people who throw a few dollars towards it via the tip jar: ko-fi.com/tanaudel.

Here, for August, is an enchanted forest, its branches ringing with improbable leaves.

I will be putting it up as a repeating pattern very soon (and last month’s Hind Girls are now up on Redbubble), so stay tuned. UPDATE: This design is now available as prints, cases, scarves etc on Redbubble in a few colours: Malachite (the green one above); Daylight (the oatmeal colour below); Folk Art (no lines); The Night Forest (bare branches)

Below (for personal use) are the printable versions — two pre-coloured and one to colour in yourself. If you like them and/or like supporting artists, you can contribute to the calendar (and get it and other behind-the-scenes things early) at patreon.com/tanaudel (starts at US$1/month) or tip me a few dollars through Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/tanaudel. Either is greatly appreciated! And of course many previous designs are available as prints etc on Redbubble and Spoonflower.

Also, I have a very occasional mailing list (not a newsletter), if you’d like to keep up with any major announcements: Mailing List Sign-Up

July 2022 calendar — Hind Girls

This calendar is made possible by patrons, who get it a little bit early, along with alternative colourways, and other sneak-peeks and behind-the-scenes art: patreon.com/tanaudel. It is also supported by those very kind people who throw a few dollars towards it via the tip jar: ko-fi.com/tanaudel.

Here is the sequel to the June calendar — antlered hind girls, who appear from time to time in the world of Angela Slatter’s enchanting Sourdough books (these include the collections Sourdough, The Bitterwood Bible, The Tallow-Wife, and the novels All the Murmuring Bones and The Path of Thorns). The hind girls are perhaps not quite as gentle as June’s wolf boys.

Below (for personal use) are the printable versions — two pre-coloured and one to colour in yourself. If you like them and/or like supporting artists, you can contribute to the calendar (and get it and other behind-the-scenes things early) at patreon.com/tanaudel (starts at US$1/month) or tip me a few dollars through Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/tanaudel. Either is greatly appreciated!

Also, I’ve started a mailing list (not a newsletter), if you’d like to keep up with any major announcements: Mailing List Sign-Up

June 2022 Calendar — wolf boys

Note: Want to support the arts? This calendar is made possible by patrons, who get it a little bit early, along with alternative colourways, and other sneak-peeks and behind-the-scenes art (patron levels start from US$1): patreon.com/tanaudel. It is also supported by those very kind people who throw a few dollars towards it via the tip jar: ko-fi.com/tanaudel.

Here is the June calendar! It’s the first of two calendar pages I’m working on with a lighthearted allusion to some of Angela Slatter’s characters. June is wolf boys, for her novel The Path of Thorns, which will be launched next month.  These are perhaps slightly gentler souls than the ones in her novels, but I’ll offset that with the other piece of art.

Cover design by Julia Lloyd

The Brisbane launch will be on 17 June — it is free to attend, but you will need to book online here: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/meet-angela-slatter-brisbane-square-library-tickets-342553305157

Here’s a bit of the process behind this calendar art — first rough sketches and then tidier pencils on the iPad, inks with a dip pen and ink. I chose the yellow and grey colour scheme because of a nice 18thc-style pattern in these colours that I managed to find on a doona cover a few years ago. It’s faded now but I found it striking. (It had a design of birds in nests, not wolf boys).

And here (for personal use) are the printable versions — one pre-coloured and one to colour in yourself. If you like them and/or like supporting artists, you can contribute to the calendar (and get it and other behind-the-scenes things early) at patreon.com/tanaudel (starts at US$1/month) or tip me a few dollars through Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/tanaudel. Either is greatly appreciated!

Also, I’ve started a mailing list (not a newsletter), if you’d like to keep up with any major announcements: Mailing List Sign-Up

May 2022 Calendar — small treasures

Note: Want to support the arts? This calendar is made possible by patrons, who get it a little bit early, along with alternative colourways, and other sneak-peeks and behind-the-scenes art (patron levels start from US$1): patreon.com/tanaudel. It is also supported by those very kind people who throw a few dollars towards it via the tip jar: ko-fi.com/tanaudel.

Here, for May, is a calendar of small fairy-tale treasures, variously defined.

Here’s a glimpse of the sketch I used as a base. It’s drawn on an iPad in Procreate, which is proving very useful for adjusting sketches, moving components, and checking that repeats will work.

This is what it looked like when I was checking that it will join up as a pattern, in due course.

Then I printed the sketch and inked it, as usual, with a dip pen, while listening to the Disaster Girls podcast.

I do want to work it up as a repeating pattern, but I need to jostle a few leaves around and time has been slightly compressed by events. I’ll update this post when I get the repeating design up — in the meantime, there are many other calendar designs available as prints, scarves, cases etc on Redbubble: tanaudel.redbubble.com.

An alternative colourway, for patrons

And here (for personal use) are the printable versions — one pre-coloured and one to colour in yourself. If you like them and/or like supporting artists, you can contribute to the calendar (and get it and other behind-the-scenes things early) at patreon.com/tanaudel (starts at US$1/month) or tip me a few dollars through Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/tanaudel. Either is greatly appreciated!

Also, I’ve started a mailing list (not a newsletter), if you’d like to keep up with any major announcements: Mailing List Sign-Up

April 2022 Calendar — birds and flowers

Note: Want to support the arts? This calendar is made possible by patrons, who get it a little bit early, along with alternative colourways, and other sneak-peeks and behind-the-scenes art (patron levels start at very low amounts!): patreon.com/tanaudel. It is also supported by those very kind people who throw a few dollars towards it via the tip jar: ko-fi.com/tanaudel.

The April calendar is here! It’s a slightly retro pattern of birds and daisy-adjacent flowers (and bees, of course). A relatively simple design this time, as I was recovering from a (delightful) weekend at Oz Comic-Con — the sketches from that are here: Oz Comic-Con sketches.

This design and two other colourways are also up on Redbubble on notebooks, clothes, throws, prints, etc. Links to those:

• Orange on cream (as here)
• Orange on white
• Turquoise on brown
• Orange on brown

And here (for personal use) are the printable versions — one pre-coloured and one to colour in yourself. If you like them and/or like supporting artists, you can contribute to the calendar (and get it and other behind-the-scenes things early) at patreon.com/tanaudel (starts at US$1/month!) or by buying me a coffee or two through Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/tanaudel. Both are greatly appreciated!

Also, I’ve started a mailing list (not a newsletter), if you’d like to keep up with any major announcements: Mailing List Sign-Up

March 2022 calendar — hares

Note: Want to support the arts? This calendar is made possible by patrons, who get it a little bit early, along with other sneak-peeks and behind-the-scenes art (patron levels start at very low amounts!): patreon.com/tanaudel. It is also supported by those very kind people who throw a few dollars towards it via the tip jar: ko-fi.com/tanaudel.

Hares for March! Delayed by and drawn during the floods, just before power went out. I’m at my parents and we have power again — both their place and mine are above water but lots of other people aren’t — thousands of houses have been flooded. Here are some ways to contribute to disaster relief efforts: https://www.qld.gov.au/emergency/emergencies-services/help-disaster

The base lines are a pen and ink drawing, and my test sketches were in pencil, but I did the final sketch on the iPad — it makes repositioning components easier, and prints cleanly to be used as a guide for inking.

This design and two other colourways are also up on Redbubble on notebooks, clothes, throws, prints, etc. And until Tuesday (tomorrow!) Redbubble is offering 20% off everything with code 20FLASH20. Links to those:

• Blue hares
• Wheat hares
• White hares
• All my Redbubble art

And here (for personal use) are the printable versions — one pre-coloured and one to colour in yourself. If you like them and/or like supporting artists, you can contribute to the calendar (and get it and other behind-the-scenes things early) at patreon.com/tanaudel (starts at US$1/month) or by tipping me a few dollars through Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/tanaudel. Both are greatly appreciated!

Also, I’ve started a mailing list (not a newsletter), if you’d like to keep up with any major announcements: Mailing List Sign-Up

February 2022 calendar — banners

Note: Want to support the arts? This calendar is made possible by patrons, who get it a little bit early, along with other sneak-peeks and behind-the-scenes art (patron levels start at very low amounts!): patreon.com/tanaudel. It is also supported by those very kind people who throw a few dollars towards it via the tip jar: ko-fi.com/tanaudel.

Welcome to the edge of February!

For this calendar, I wanted to play with some patterns of ribbons and scrolls, to build up a vocabulary of flags to use as labels on maps (and for titles, etc). There’s also a sash for the Brave Little Tailor in there.

Technical details: I drew the line art with a dip pen and ink. I tidied the lines in Inkscape, and did flat colours, textures, and final adjustments in Photoshop. But I used Procreate on the iPad for the initial sketch, and to refine the shading.

And here (for personal use) are the printable versions — two pre-coloured and one to colour in yourself. If you like them and/or like supporting artists, you can contribute to the calendar (and get it and other behind-the-scenes things early) at patreon.com/tanaudel (starts at US$1/month!) or by buying me a coffee or two through Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/tanaudel. Both are greatly appreciated!

Also, I’ve started a mailing list (not a newsletter), if you’d like to keep up with any major announcements:

Mailing List Sign-Up

January 2022 Calendar — tiny forests

Note: Want to support the arts? This calendar is made possible by patrons, who get it a little bit early, along with other sneak-peeks and behind-the-scenes art (patron levels start at very low amounts!): patreon.com/tanaudel. It is also supported by those very kind people who throw a few dollars towards it via the tip jar: ko-fi.com/tanaudel.

Here is a little world to meander through, for the first month of the new year. If you want, you could add in new details and denizens, paths, boundaries, labels…

Here are the sketches (right), and the inks in progress on the light box (left). I’d printed up a 1cm grid template for a previous calendar, so I used that to keep things roughly spaced, but drew the rest free-hand.

The trees are an amalgam of observation, my own habits, and riffs on references and approaches in various other maps, tree books, etc. Most of those are cited in this map workshop post, but some inspiration was drawn from the Ladybird Book of Trees mentioned here.

The illustration is available as a print from InPrnt and Redbubble and is also on a few other items — I’ll add others once I make it into a repeating pattern.

And here (for personal use) are the printable versions — two pre-coloured and one to colour in yourself. If you like them and/or like supporting artists, you can contribute to the calendar (and get it and other behind-the-scenes things early) at patreon.com/tanaudel (starts at US$1/month!) or by buying me a coffee or two through Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/tanaudel. Both are greatly appreciated!

(You can see all the 2021 art in one post here: All the 2021 Calendar Pages.)