Launch of my new twin blog "Eat, Read, Watch"

Don't forget, this blog will keep being alive, the other one is just a more specialized one :)
Have a good day!

Elisabeth

http://eatreadwatchelisabethneveux.blogspot.co.uk/

Twin Blog on monday!

Good afternoon,

I'm into the last preparation for the launch of the twin blog to this old one.
This new blog will be about books, food and movies/tv series, and it will be illustrated again! there will be fanart, but also some extra treats depending on my ideas.
THe goal will be to make you discover things I love, rather than be a horror ;)
So look out, on monday is the start of a new adventure!
This blog will keep running, but for different projects which don't fit these categories!

Have a good weekend, I'm looking forward to make you discover many things!

Elisabeth Neveux

Hellboy artifact contest....

Today I have been having a bit of fun on trying to be part of the Hellboy contest! for those who know, I'm a big fan of Mike Mignola's creation ( to the point I recently rebought all the library editions, so my boyfriend could read them, and also because I always wanted to read Hellboy in English)....
Needless to say, the library edition is a wonder, with all its sketched at the end of the books!

I kind of wanted to work on Vasilisa's comb and Handkerchief, because I have a special love for Baba Yaga's tale. When I was 12, I had an amazing french teacher, and this was one of the tales she made us study (Mme Vanspeybroeck I think, sorry for the spelling), and I fell in love with this really scary story.

In Hellboy, Vasilisa plays an important role, and so does the Baba Yaga...

I tried to get inspiration from antique Combs and Handkerchiefs, and had a look at embroidery....
Here is the result, which is, for me, just a sketch, but at least, I have been drawing something!

Aujourdhui j'ai participe au concours Hellboy! pour ceux qui me connaissent, je suis une grande admiratrice de Mike Mignola (au point d'avoir recemment achete a nouveau l'edition de collection, pour que mon petit ami puisse les lire, et aussi parce que j'avais toujours voulu les lire en anglais)....
Je tiens a assister sur le fait que l'edition de collection est une merveille, avec les croquis a la fin de chaque volume.

J'avais envie de travailler sur le peigne et le mouchoir de Vasilisa, parce que j'aime particulierement le conte Baba Yaga. Quand j'avais 12 ans, j'avais une merveilleuse prof de Francais, et Baba Yaga etait l'un des contes qu'elle nous avait fait etudier (Mme Vanspeybroeck je pense, desolee pour la maniere dont j'epelle votre nom), et je suis tombee amoureuse de ce conte.

Dans Hellboy, Vasilisa joue un role important, ainsi que la Baba Yaga.....
je me suis inspiree de peignes et mouchoirs russes anciens, et ai jette un coup d'oeil rapide a des broderies Russes. Voici le resultat, qui est, pour moi, juste un croquis, mais au mois j'ai tente ma chance!

Lately...

I have been noticing lately that there is a huge augmentation of visits on my blog, and I noticed (with the help of the blog statistics page), that it was thanks to Noel and Antonia from Box Tale soup :).

So I followed the link and made a screen capture:

          
                                                             This made my day!
                                                   THank you Noel and Antonia!

More pictures!

Last Sunday, Black Jack Barnet had a gig in a lovely cocktail bar: Proof, in Chorlton...
I enjoyed a deliciously scrumptious Strawberry, vanilla ice cream and peanut butter milkshake (to die for honestly), with all the chaps...

Pin Ball, a Doctor Butler's Hatstand  Medicine band's friend, was on photo duties this day, and well, he took a few pictures of me sketching...this does not happen much, but here I appear on my blog, non drawing form ;)

Dimanche dernier, Black Jack Barnet etait en concert dans un tres bon bar a cocktails: Proof, Chorlton...
J'ai savoure un delicieux milkshake Fraise/glace vanille/beurre de cacahuetes (a en tomber, en toute honnetete), avec la petite bande....

Pin Ball, un ami du Doctor Butler's Hatstand  Medicine band, a pris quelques photos, et il a aussi pris quelques photos de moi en train de gribouiller...cela n'arrive pas souvent, mais j'apparais sur mon blog, en version non dessinee ;)

Go and visit Pin Ball on his facebook, all pictures are his intellectual property!
Allez voir Pin Ball sur son facebook, toutes les photos sont sa propriete intellectuelle!
https://www.facebook.com/pin.ball.334?fref=ts 

THank you Pin Ball!

Casting the runes first pictures!

Good afternoon!

Yesterday, Box Tale soup has released the first pictures from their new show "Casting the runes", an adaptation of M.R James chilling horror story! as you know, last month, I have drawn a few drawings for this play. :)

Box Tale soup has been created by Noel Byrne and Antonia Christophers. Their company uses a mix of theater and puppets, all created by themselves.
The music is composed by Dan Melrose, Aidan Smith and David Carden (aka Black Jack Barnet).
I cannot wait for the play to be aired in Manchester...

For more pictures, don;t hesitate to go and visit Box Tale soup's facebook here:  https://www.facebook.com/BoxTaleSoup

It's really exciting to see my drawing in use, in a project I love so much!

Hier, Box Tale soup a poste ses premieres photos de leur nouvelle piece de theatre "Casting the runes", une adaptation de l'histoire a vous glacer le sang de M.R James! comme vous le savez, le mois dernier, j'ai realise quelques dessins pour cette piece :)

Box Tale soup a ete cree par Noel Byrne et Antonia Christophers. Leur compagnie utilise un melange savant de theatre et de marionnettes, toutes crees par leurs bons soins.
La musique est composee par Dan Melrose, Aidan Smith et David Carden (Aka Black Jack Barnet).
J'ai vraiment hate de voir cette piece a Manchester...

POur plus de photos, n'ayez aucune hesitation a visiter le facebook de Box Tale soup's, et c'est ici:
https://www.facebook.com/BoxTaleSoup

Je suis excitee comme une puce de voir mes dessins utilises de la sorte, dans un projet que j'aime tant!

                                 Something bone chilling is unravelling through this picture!
                                 Une apparition effrayante va vous donner la chair de poule!

All pictures belong to Box Tale Soup...

Casting the runes-boxtale soup...how it evolved...

Lately I have really enjoyed discovering the process of creation through videos or snapshots, so here is my version...

Generally, for me it starts with a BAD rough sketch...I really need to progress on this. Funnily for this one, the first sketch was chosen! the other ones were too clean!

Then I make a more defined sketch, this time with a pentel pencil (these are really precise and make a clean work), and then I go for a traditionnal inking...
There is nothing like feeling the nib and ink flowing on the paper! well, a bit less when the ink smells like rotten fish like this one! I work a lot with tracing paper, to try out and see where things are better placed. THis time it required me to have the characters cut, so I could move it, a bit in a "paper puppets theater"way"

Here is the evolution of the project. I took frequent snapshots, so Noel and Antonia would not be worried as the progression was really slow.

Have a good day!

              I really want to improve my raw sketch technique, so let's work more this month!

Here are the other drawings! Noel and Antonia had a very clear idea: they wanted a drawing looking like a photography...Noel's character had a picture of himself taken in that moonlit scenery. First the picture is normal, and then he sees a tiny black figure appear...it has a kind of "weeping angel" terror feel! don't shut your eyes!
I could not make four a3 drawings in two weeks of work, so I just made that scenery, and made the different bits separately. I did not have photoshop, so I made it the old way, by cutting with a very sharp scalpel. A bit of blu tack, and a scan, and it was done!

Funnily enough, this kind of lonely road, and hooded figure are recurrent in my work. When I was in my twenties, I worked on a project, named "the Psychopmpe". It was inspired by a recurrent dream  I was making at some point in my life. It was utterly terrifying, and I was glad when this dream stopped. In my dream I never saw the face of the hooded figure. Noel and Antonia wanted it to appear little by little, to be revealed for the last drawing.

For the last hooded figure, I wanted it to cling to the character, tried different bits, and my boyfriend suggested I made him lean closer, as if whispering. So I made it crooked and bended, a bit like the tree, with a tentacle like cape (ahh my late Lovecraft readings are also getting in my head).
For the face, I thought kind of mismatched eyes were important...with one really dark. I still think it reminds me of Nosferatu, but heh, I love my classical horror.

During all the project, I watched bad horror movies as I was working, to get into the mood. Why bad? because why wasting a good one? Just the  creepy sound effects and the half gazing helped me really immerse myself into it.  Mr Carden in the end, was really creeped out by the experience,  as it was two weeks of full horror at home! I understand why some artists have a special room now ;) (thanks Dave for bearing with me).

Well, that's all for today! Here are the dates of the show again, and their website... please go and see Box Tale's soup "Casting the runes", you won't be disappointed! I loved their adaptation of "Northanger Abbey", it was charming, funny, witted. You will absolutely forget that their puppets are puppets, very much like Jim Henson's puppets...


http://www.boxtalesoup.co.uk/


Sun 4th May, 8pm
Brighton Fringe

Sun 25th May, 8pm
Brighton Fringe

Mon 26th May, 8pm
Brighton Fringe

Sun 1st June, 8pm
Brighton Fringe

1st - 23rd August, 6pm
Edinburgh Fringe

Have a good day, Elisabeth neveux

Box Tale's soup's "Casting the runes"....

It has been a long long time since I last posted something.
I was not drawing much, because I was slightly lacking ideas about what to draw.
So during these months I have been feeding on books like I had not done in years!

THen things hapenned, and I was very happy to be asked by Antonia Christophers and Noel Byrne, the brilliant creators from Box Tale's soup  , to create drawings for their new play: Casting the Runes, by M.R James!
When I first heard about their new play, I was getting so excited about it, I might have pestered them with lots of documentation about ghosts...(it must have been tough on them)

By the way, they had a very clear idea about what they wanted, and it was just so enjoyable.
Don't hesitate one second to see their plays, I have been spellbound by their adaptation of Northanger Abbey. Here is their website: http://www.boxtalesoup.co.uk/
This artwork will be used during the play :)

 It all started with a moonlit scenery...the first sketch I made was chosen...They liked the crooked tree on the rough design, and I developed it, by first reproducing it in a more detailed way with a pentel pencil, and then used my new nibs from Joseph Gillott (2788, it's so soft to draw with these). For the floor, I kind of wanted a mossy effect, a kind of soft feel but still eerie! I made the full moon quite big to reinforce the weirdness.

Lately Edward Gorey influences me a lot, and also all the different books I have been reading. One of the people who motivated me the most is Enrique Alcatena, who also has a blogger! He illustrated the wonderful book series Shankar. Seing his work pushed me to be more thoughtful on my drawings, and taking more time when developing them, put more effort and concentration into observing how lights are. His work is wonderful and very inspirative!


Here is the result, I hope you will like it, as much as I loved working on it!