Updated on Notes From The Studio

Notes From The Studio – Vol 3 – Studio Blog

Hi friend, welcome or welcome back to my studio blog – I missed last months upload due to being unwell, but I’m back for the most part and getting ramped up for Christmas – I’m taking part in the EHARTs Christmas online market again this year and will talk a bit more about that later in the post.

I can’t actually believe that it’s over halfway through October – where has that time gone? During September, I spent a large amount of time in bed, unfortunately, but I did have my sketchbook and music to keep me company. I did share some of the images on my Instagram stories, but with the nature of IG stories being fleeting, I’ve scanned a few pages to include in this blog. While I was unwell, I felt somewhat creatively stuck, but at the same time,I was wanting to draw to keep myself busy, so there was a lot of MyChem fan art. I don’t sell fan art, but the act of drawing the fan art inspired some further ideas (which have also been scanned for your viewing pleasure!).

MyChem Fan Art

Hand drawn ink sketch of the clown from the Long Live The Black Parade Tour using Gerard Way's character as a puppet. Text above reads "Well, they encourage your complete cooperation Send you roses when they think you need to smile I can't control myself because I don't know how"
A hand drawn ink sketch of Mikey Way playing a red bass guitar.
A hand draw loose pencil sketch of Ray Toro playing electric guitar.
A hand drawn ink sketch of Frank Ireo playing electric guitar.
A hand drawn ink sketch of Gerard Way singing the new bridge for Mama "a dagger a dagger please fetch me a dagger", in their hand is a fish.
A hand drawn, loose pencil sketch of the character Marianne from the Long Live the Black Parade tour. Text to the right of the image reads "when she sings, she sees everything".
A hand drawn, ink sketch of the character Marianne from the Long Live the Black Parade tour. She is wearing a bright red ball gown, dark glasses and fur sleeves. Text to the left of the image reads "when she sings, she sees everything".
A hand drawn pencil sketch of Sylvia from the Long Live The Black Parade tour.
A hand drawn pink sketch of Sylvia from the Long Live The Black Parade tour. She is wearing a black dress with a red corset and front panel, black fur sleeves and long black gloves. She has a black eye patch and black hair.

Moving from fan art to work inspired by the colour palette…

Keeping with the colour theme of black and red, as I was really enjoying the limited palette, I started to look at alternative fashion and punk fashion to create some characters of my own. Below are some of the scans. I did later take the images into Procreate to draw them, but it turns out I actually preferred the loose, sketchy style of the drawings. Not sure if I will end up coming back to them to make products with them, or if they were just for fun to practice drawing – I’d love to hear your feedback as to whether the loose, sketchy style would be something that you could see yourself using in journal spreads?

two mixed media sketches. The person on the left of the image is wearing a black crop top, black kilt with a red belt. They are wearing black boots with red accents, have shoulder length red curly hair and a red bag. The person on the right of the image has short red hair, a long red cardigan, high rise, black pin stripe pants with a grey tshirt. There are scribbly ink splotches in the top left corner of the image.
Loose pencil sketches of two people. On the left of the image is a person wearing a skirt, long waist coat, cropped tshirt and boots. They are mid taking their jacket off. The person on the right is wearing baggy jogging pants, a short sleeved crop top and holding a phone in front of their face.
Loose pencil sketches of two people. On the left of the image is a person wearing a skirt with red stripes and a black accent, long, black waist coat, red, cropped tshirt and boots. They are mid taking off their jacket which is black with red lining. The person on the right is wearing black, baggy jogging pants with a red stripe down the side of each leg, a black, short sleeved crop top and holding a phone in front of their face. They have shoulder length curly hair and are wearing sunglasses on their head.
a pencil and coloured pencil sketch of a man from the side. He has liberty spikes in his hair, is wearing red pants and a black tank top. He has a cigarette in his mouth and is holding a bottle. On the left of the image there are coloured pencil swatches in black at the top and red at the botton.
An ink sketch of a man from the side. He has liberty spikes in his hair, is wearing red pants and a black tank top. He has a cigarette in his mouth and is holding a bottle. In the bottom right of the image there is a pencil and coloured pencil sketch different man, he also has liberty spikes, is wearing a black leather jacket with red accents and red pants. He is wearing dark gloves and holding a cup.
In the bottom left of the image there is a pencil of a man, he has liberty spikes, is wearing a leather jacket pants. He is wearing dark gloves. To the right of the image is a woman with a messy bun, long cardigan and leggings.
In the bottom left of the image there is an ink sketch of a man, he has red liberty spikes, is wearing a leather jacket with red accents. To the right of the image is an ink sketch of a woman with a messy bun, long red cardigan and black leggings.

Mono Gelli Prints

I’ve been working on getting monoprints digitised and ready to share with the world – it has taken longer than I was expecting due to health issues and not being happy with the scans, but good news – I have been able to take high resolution photos, so I’m now in the process of editing them. Honestly, I cannot wait to share them with you! The aim is to offer the originals for sale and then have digital prints available to buy too.

You might be rightly asking yourself, “What are mono prints?” Per the Tate website, “The monoprint is a form of printmaking where the image can only be made once, unlike most printmaking which allows for multiple originals.”

My monoprints are abstract works made with high quality acrylic inks, often made using multiple layers and with different kinds of mark making, using found objects from around my home studio. Below is an image from when I was digitising the monoprints. (This image won’t be used to make the digital prints – I just liked the way the shadow was hitting with the sun moving around clouds.)

An A5 monoprint on a clipboard. The monoprint is an abstract with cool orange / reds, there are abstract marks in dark blue green around various parts of the artwork.

EHARTs Christmas Online Market 31st Oct 2025

Friend, it is coming up to that time of year again… the EHARTs Christmas Online Market. As part of Emily Harvey Art’s Patreon, twice a year, she holds an online market. It is full of wonderful makers and creatives, many of whom will have launches or market specific offers. The beauty of the market is that it is online, so people from all across the world are participating.

I aim to have the monoprints available by the time the market happens, along with Christmas cards, and hopefully Christmas ornaments. (This coming week will be a busy one for sure!)

Books, Media, and Faves

This month, I was gifted the 1st 5 copies of The True Lives of The Fabulous Killjoys by Gerard Way & Shaun Simon, illustrated by Becky Cloonan, so that was a real joy to read.

Tolkine is still in the freezer, but I have flirted with the idea of going back to finish off the last book in the series – he knows what he did, and I shall not expand further on that!

My friend Annie Gietz published her debut novel, which I am not ashamed to admit I read in two days – it would have been one if I didn’t have grown up responsibilities to attend to.

Looking Forward

Friend, following on from talking about books, I am delighted to announce that next month I shall have my first guest contributor, the wonderful Sewfy from Stitchwort & Nightknot. Sewfy is a fellow book goblin and creative soul. I’m excited for you to get to meet her but… if you can’t wait that long, here’s her Etsy to whet your appetite.

Hand drawn lettering which reads "Colzo Art" in a warm yellow ocher with a watercolour effect.

ColzoArt - Artist and Illustrator

Christian, Creative, Collabs. Artist & Illustrator based in Lancashire, England.

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