Although I wasn’t able to finish the portraits of Jakob’s pets, I was able to complete Jakob’s birthday card on time!
Growing up, us kids (and even my mother to an extent) were all Halo buffs. The Halo I’m talking about is the video-game series that has spawned an entire universe including 20 novels, live-action movies, tv-series and anime-series and multiple fan made series using the game engine. It’s won awards for its story-line/script and music. The main character of the Halo series of games is the Master Chief who is a Spartan, taking from the legend of the original Sparta Spartans, you know the 300 etc, warriors bred for war.
The Spartans in the game were taken as children, genetically enhanced and trained for combat. It’s a really epic story line, so if you haven’t read the books or played the games or seen any of the shows I really recommend them. If you’re no good at games, chances are someone you know plays and loves the series so just watch them play to get the story-line (that’s what my mum did – she watched us play. She’d get grumpy if we continued the story without her haha!)
Anyway, a big part of the Master Chief’s story is the fact that he does not surrender, he does not give up, he will defy the odds and he will win to save humanity. I think my older brother really admires that tenacity and pugnaciousness. So that’s the inspiration behind this card.
I used papers from the Basic Grey Kelly Purkey’s Second City 6 x 6 paper pad and I believe the dark navy is from the Basic Grey pb&j 6 x 6 paper pad. The card is a very simple design and construction. The papers from the Second City Collection look very futuristic and very much like a lot of the Halo HUD & menu designs.
I don’t think I need to bore you with how the card was constructed as I think any crafter would be able to figure it out by looking at it.
The quote, ‘Never Surrender’ I hand wrote with my versa mark clear embossing ink pen and I used white embossing powder and heat set it. On the inside I wrote another quote to further inspire my brother: Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength – Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Unfortunately my older brother has been cursed with bad luck and a Murphy’s law kind of life so I think it’s important to remind people, especially our loved ones, to keep on keeping on.
Jakob’s birthday present, a series of paintings of each of his dogs, was unfortunately not completed on time. If you’re interested and you missed out on the previous posts, you can check out the individual posts for each pet portrait by clicking on the name of the dog.
Above is after I decided I would have Toby as a larger canvas when I had completed Jazz and Fred and had begun work on Jaeger. I had also drawn the sketch of Ralph. I really liked the alignment of having Toby’s big rectangle canvas in the center surrounded by Jakob’s other dogs.
Another photo showing the progress – these I was taking to try and motivate me to continue. Like saying, ‘look at how awesome this is going to be when it’s finished!’ For this photo and the rest of the photos, I had changed the arrangement of Fred and Jaeger.
This one shows all four surrounding dogs complete with only Toby waiting to be finished.
And finally! All five pet portraits painted and complete. Toby really does look fantastic. I originally wasn’t going to do a background for any of them. Now with Toby looking really majestic, I’m having thoughts about putting backgrounds on the rest of the portraits.
Let me know what you think in comments below.
Kelly's Art Table 