Hello!

If you have arrived here you most likely are a new owner of a "Penciled In" drawing...our collaborative series for Art-o-mat®.

UPDATE: Late Summer 2012 This edition of Penciled In is a collaboration with William Hessian. William and Took met through Art-o-mat and enjoyed each other's art. William conducts Miniature Art Hunts across the US and Took knew she wanted to bring William and the Miniature Art Hunt to her hometown of Northville, MI. In 2012 Northville celebrated its 2nd Annual Miniature Art Hunt and William and Took decided to collaborate on 100 Penciled In portraits.
William started out with Took's basic characters that were transferred to the blocks and then added color and his own unique touches, giving them a whole new personality. You can find out all about William HERE and HERE -- he is one dazzlingly brilliant guy!
PLEASE -- leave us a comment, name your character, tell us how you got it...just look for your character's number on the back of the block, then find it in the Blog Archive on the right side of the blog...scroll down. We'd love to hear from YOU!

UPDATE: Summer 2011 This batch of Penciled In is a sort of "All-Stars" edition. Juana and I made 100 blocks with an assortment of 17 of our favorite Penciled In characters, as well as 3 *new* "Youngsters" -- a young cat, a young dog and a young rabbit. Each character has 5 variations. We hope you like them! PLEASE -- leave us a comment, name your character, tell us how you got it...just look for your character's number on the back of the block, then find it in the Blog Archive on the right side of the blog...scroll down. We'd love to hear from YOU!

UPDATE: 2010 "The Youngsters" is the all-new set of Penciled In characters. They will all be getting names and comments from us. If yours doesn't have a name yet, please check back periodically -- or tell us what YOU think it ought to be. Oh, and please disregard the instruction insert in your box...just look for character's number in the list in the Blog Archive on the right side of the blog.

We would LOVE to know how your teensy portrait came to you -- leave us a comment. Did you get it from a machine yourself? Was it a gift? Did we trade with you at the swap meet in Minneapolis? What machine was it in? Was this your first arto-experience?

Oh...and give the guitar on the right side of the blog a try, too!

Cap & Leo -- about us

Cap: aka Took Gallagher (a triple Capricorn)

Took is an arto-host and artist. She is living happily ever afterly in Northville, MI with her 4 cats.
Took is very easily entertained and enjoys a semi-wide variety of activities such as: cutting magazine pictures for collages, doodling new characters, playing Magic: the Gathering with Juana, drinking waaaaaay too much coffee. She also loves cotton candy and finding ways to turn her tongue blue.


Visit Took's other blog.

Leo: aka Juana Moore (a Leo)

Juana is a lifetime painter, collagist, and maker of stuff. She loves hanging out with Doug and the cats, playing with dolls, watching movies, customizing and painting toys.

Visit
Juana's website.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Y - 16 "Annie"

CAP: This cutie is letting me know that her name is Annie. Annie Panda.

Y - 15 "Flash"

CAP: This robot is Flash. His electricity flashes wildly. He is highly charged.

Watch out.

Y - 14 "Dorothy"

CAP: Her mom and aunt call her "Dotty". She much prefers "Dorothy".

She knows what she wants.

Y - 13 "Tango"

CAP: Tango is my favorite of the polar bears I think.

I like his colors and I believe that he is taking dancing lessons.

Y - 12 "Dougal"


CAP: I like all of the characters in this series, but this is my favorite calf.

This is Dougal. He is named for the dog in the old British tv series "The Magic Roundabout" (not that awful movie). I love that show!

Y - 11 "Sweety"

CAP: This is one of Juana's cotton candy colorings.

I love, love, love cotton candy...I love everything about it...the smell, the colors, the taste, the texture...everything!

This kitten's name is Sweety...because she is. (Pronounce it with a th instead of the s sound.)

Y - 10 "Cyril"


CAP: This snake reminds me of the delightful Cyril Ritchard as Captain Hook. I love everything about both of them!

I'm ssssso happy I found this video clip!

Y - 9 "Clover"

CAP: What an adorable little goat guy. I just adore his colors and background...he may be my favorites of these goats.

Y - 8 "Towser"


CAP: There was a great animated series called "Towser" that I really loved. I can't find any video examples to link to that are in English. I loved Towser's personality...I think this giraffe is quite like him.

Y - 7 "Ted"

CAP: It was a tie for some time when I was deciding which character to use for the labels for this series. Ted just barely lost out. He is SO cute!

Y - 6 "Suki"

CAP: This is Sukey.

When I was a kid, my sister's friend's family had 2 cats. One was a very elegant Siamese named Suki.

This little panda somehow reminds me of that cat.

Y - 5 "Monday"

CAP: This cutie's name is Monday because I drew the original drawing for this character on a Monday.

In the same way that "Kit" is the junior version of my character "Wolfy", Monday is based on my older character called "Bumblebear".
I am not exactly sure what a Bumblebear
is, but this is the kidly version of one.

I could have called this guy Butterscotch but I liked Monday better.

Y - 4 "Zzzzzt"

CAP: Named for the sound that the electricity makes when it arcs between the things on the top of his head...this is Zzzzzt.

Y - 3 "Bleu"

CAP: This is Bleu...the lamb who dreams of Paris.

This and that about the color blue:

A natural color, from the blue of the sky, blue is a universal color. The cool, calming effect of blue makes time pass more quickly and it can help you sleep. (So can counting sheep.)

In many diverse cultures blue signifies peace, or is believed to keep the bad spirits away.

Blue conveys importance and confidence without being somber or sinister, hence the blue power suit of the corporate world and the blue uniforms of police officers.

Y - 2 "Fancy"

CAP: I really like these drawings with the scene "inside" the character. I like how it looks.

This is Fancy.

Here are a few definitions for "fancy"...they all fit.
interjection –noun

1. imagination or fantasy, esp. as exercised in a capricious manner.

2. artistic ability of creating unreal or whimsical imagery, detail, etc., as in poetry or drawing.

3. a mental image or conception: He had happy fancies of being an actor.

4. idea or opinion with little foundation; illusion: Her belief she can sing is a mere fancy.

5. a whim; vagary: It was his fancy to fly to France for dinner.

6. capricious inclination; a liking: to take a fancy to walking barefoot in the streets.

Y - 1 "Kit"

CAP: This is the guy who is on all of the boxes for this series.

He is actually a "Wolfy, Jr." drawing, but colored in this style he looks more like a fox to me. So, this is Kit...as in baby fox. (Obviously I love, love LOVE him or he wouldn't be the drawing for the box label.)

In case you are unfamiliar with the "Penciled In" series, "Wolfy" is the first character I ever drew when I was in a Parks and Rec ceramics class several years ago. "Wolfy, Jr." is sort of what I figured Wolfy looked like when he was a youngster... and that is how this new set of characters came about.

"The Youngsters" series

CAP: Wow -- where does the time go? I have been meaning to make a post for each of the blocks in this new series but I have been making collages for a show I am going to be participating in.

To make up for my delays, I am going to post them ALL today so that they are at least up and folks who purchase them from Art-o-mat machines across the country can at least see theirs and make a comment. I will go back and name them and leave comments asap...Juana will comment as she can.

Stay tuned!

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Shipment on its way to AIC!





























CAP
: YAY -- I completed the finishing touches on the latest edition of Penciled In for Art-o-mat and shipped them off to Artists in Cellophane today!

Juana and I are calling this "Penciled In: The Youngsters" because the characters are all little guys.

Here is a sampling of the 12 ALL NEW characters -- Wolfy Jr., Bear, Robot, Snake, Calf, Monster, Goat, Cat, Giraffe, Lamb, Panda, and Polar Bear.

I will post each one separately and hopefully the new owners (and anyone else who feels like it) will leave comments for us.















Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Teaser...

Cap: Here are the first few "kids" for the second set of "Penciled In". We are calling this edition "The Youngsters".

I really can't believe these are the same sketches that I gave to Juana (Leo) to color. She is so gifted with color -- she gives the drawings such life and character. I LOVE them!



Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Series Two!

CAP: Hey -- we are starting a second series!

Juana and I are meeting up today to go over some new drawings I made last night...brainstorming session.