Tag: #handcrafted

Posted on by — Leave a comment

New Things for the New Year: Part 2

img_4709

I mentioned before that I have some new things planned for this year.

The first new thing is a plan to create coloring pages of the original released art!

The original line drawings will be converted to ink line drawings. The scenery and creatures / monsters will be simplified to make them more appropriate for coloring pages. The pages will be made available for digital download by purchase through my store here on my site!

Next is new watercolor art of all of the released art!

It starts with the ink drawings from the coloring pages! Using watercolors, the images will be brought to life!

Follow that with stickers!

The creature / monster watercolor art will be converted to stickers! This means the scenery will be removed giving the creatures / monsters a chance to really shine. There will be two sizes to choose from! Sets of three will be available for purchase through my store, as well!

How do you feel about stuffed toys?

Grotesque Moi!’s released creatures / monsters are on their way to become a bigger part (ok, a little bigger part) of our world! I’m working on the basic form designs to turn the released creatures / monsters into really great stuffed toys! You will be able to carry your favorite creatures anywhere with you! There will be one size for most of my creations available for purchase in my store, too!

The Grotesque Moi! illustrations will continue!

More Grotesque Moi! illustrations are on the way! The first one is close to being finished! there is also two more ready to start!

Show!

The show season is well underway! We have applications out to some of the bigger ones and waiting to see if we get in to them! Meanwhile, we are lining up events, markets and shows! Keep an eye out for where we’ll be next!

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Creative Celebration Update #3

As promised here are the details in photos of my creations for the 20th Wedding Anniversary gifts to my wife and the ones we got for our daughter. The basic idea for the paper is from when I would make my own stationary to write to my wife, before we were married. It was made the same way aa this project but in smaller scale.

First was the creation of the wrapping paper. I used a roll of 36″ poster paper, acrylic paints, a 2″ brush, water and saw horses with planks for a large makeshift table.

 

I worked in sections basically making a color wash stain of various colors with the acrylic paints and water.

 

Once I had what I felt was enough paper painted to wrap with and it was fully dry, I moved inside to start decorating it. First thing was to cut the roll so that the painted part was more manageable. Then I started painting some hearts and balloons on part of the paper.

 

For the next part I had to get decorative stickers and of course the gifts. The stickers were some elements that I couldn’t make. Also, there’s no sense recreating the wheel. I like the way they fit each person. The focus for my wife is the hearts and flowers. For our daughter the focus was butterflies and balloons.

 

I made custom name cards for each gift. Most were in the form of riddles.

 

Next were the personalized hand crafted cards. They’re created with Canson paper, scrapbook pages, a color printer, hot glue and more of the stickers.

 

Both cards were butterfly fold with personalized printed transparent inserts and envelopes. This is how the finished cards turned out.

 

Everything turned out great and the back story made for some great points to reminisce and share with our daughter.

DSC_0329

 

Posted on by — Leave a comment

An Artist’s Journey 

 

Part 3

Because it’s been a part of my art for most of my life it seem like a good time to explain my signature and current web name.

XT comes from my family name, Thaxton. My father’s name was Thackston until he went into the Air Force. His original documents were burned in a courthouse fire. So when he got new documents he changed the “cks” to “x”. So my brothers and I were the first generation of Thaxton in our family.

When I was a kid, learning about art history, I found out about signet rings that was used to stamp the wax sealed communications. I was very intrigued by the double signet. I played with different forms until I figured out a modified cursive lowercase “xt”. When it is flipped over the “Rt” is there.

XT Logo 07062013

Long before created anything, I started incorporating this signature in my work. Many times it would be hidden in the work. I’ve used this with almost everything that I’ve created. If you happen to have one of my older pieces let me know if you found the hidden signature.

New Logo Small Image 02052017

I got a chance to play with jewelry making while I was in Merchant Marine training. Because I was able to test out of math class, I got to take a couple of electives. In the jewelry class I got the chance to finally create my signet ring. This has been used to put my maker’s mark on 3D that I’ve made.

 

XT Illos is my current web name for the illustration work that I’m creating. Fantasy Art is my favorite genre. I also create logos and tattoo designs under XT Illos.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Creative Celebration Update #2

It’s just over a week until the anniversary. I’m very excited for the celebration! 20 years is a big point to make to! It’s my greatest accomplishment to have built my family strong like this! Actual true love has been the secret ingredient all along. The thing is I never thought I would ever find it before. Now I can’t imagine my life without it. My wife is my perfect match in almost every way! Love is easy with her. Ok, that’s it for now just an update. I’ve got to save some of this for the actual anniversary. I’ll be able to post photos of the creativity things I’ve been up to after the anniversary celebration. No spoiling for me!
The Sources of My Inspiration! 

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Creative Celebrations!

I’ve been kind of quiet for a while. Besides working on developing some artistic skills, I’ve been secretly working on handcrafted anniversary cards for my wife and daughter. It’s our 20th anniversary at the end of November and for the past 18 years our daughter has been a part of every celebration. It is the most important time of our year! I won’t be able to post any photos until some time in December. So keep everything secret until then.