18 Mar 2014 Leave a comment
in aquarium
I tried — and failed — to get a good photo of the Kelp Forest display, my absolute, all time favourite tank at the Two Oceans. Every time I see it, it grabs all of my attention. It’s like one of those Japanese paintings come to life.
The kelp sways slowly from side to side, the sunlight shines through the dim water, and every now and then a particularly large fish looms out from between the kelp leaves to give you a cynical mother-in-law sort of look.
14 Mar 2014 Leave a comment
in 1 My books
I just got these proof copies of my “Sisters” series – the new matte covers look really good. I liked the glossy covers too, but I think these are better. The illustrations inside came out nicely too.
You can get these from Amazon, but if you buy them from The Book Depository then you get free international shipping.
11 Mar 2014 Leave a comment
in 2 Work in progress, All my drawings
I do my illustrations on Photoshop – often in many layers. This can create some strange effects. Here I switched on all the layers of multiple illustration projects in one Photoshop file, so that multiple drawings are superimposed over one another. Quite evocative 🙂
04 Mar 2014 Leave a comment
in 1 My books, 2 Work in progress, All my drawings
Two more creature-portraits from Crooks and Straights.
This is a haarskeerder – a kind of fae. They are winged, and live in communal nests very similar to the way wasps do. They line their homes with anything soft – including human hair (hence their name) and they like collecting small glittering objects. They can be dangerous, as they have the ability to hypnotise any human that threatens their nest.
This is Paddavis, a household spirit similar to a brownie or a niss. He is originally from Ireland, but has lived in South Africa for many years now. He still gets sunburnt though! Not the most reliable creature, he likes stealing food out of cupboards and leaving mouse droppings behind to cast the blame of his thefts elsewhere.
02 Mar 2014 Leave a comment
A drawing that emerged as a result of my testing some Photoshop techniques.
27 Feb 2014 1 Comment
in 1 My books, 2 Work in progress, All my drawings
More illustrations in progress for “Crooks and Straights”
This is Nico, my main character’s younger brother. The book is pretty much about her attempts to protect him from danger.
This is Brakman, a poor old man who used to be a werewolf. Now he makes his living as a IT guy and does a bit of hacking on the side, if anyone is willing to pay him.
22 Feb 2014 1 Comment
in 1 My books, 2 Work in progress, All my drawings
More work in progress – illustrations for my book Crooks and Straights.
This is of a teacup genie. It’s not finished yet, but nearly there. At first I got the face all wrong. Far too serene for this character.
Second attempt is better, but now he looks a bit too wise:
The teacup was fun to do:
Not finished yet – but it’s looking a lot better now. Struggling a bit with all the pale shades of grey. I think his face needs a bit more work…
19 Feb 2014 Leave a comment
in 1 My books, 2 Work in progress, All my drawings
This drawing gave me trouble. I finally figured out that the composition wasn’t working and after I cropped it, things became better.
I wanted to use shades of grey this time round, rather than just black and white as in my previous book illustrations. First try didn’t go that well:
I went back to the text and found that there’s supposed to be a newspaper on the table under her, so that helped with the background.
It’s not finished yet, but mostly there. Time to move onto a new drawing.
15 Feb 2014 Leave a comment
in aquarium
Rock pool at Mouille point this morning. Our aquarium-volunteers training group went on a field trip 🙂
14 Feb 2014 1 Comment
in 1 My books, 2 Work in progress, All my drawings
More new drawings for “Crooks and Straights”. This is of a geni – but I got his face wrong the first time round. Below is the second attempt. He’s supposed to be plump and quite friendly.
13 Feb 2014 Leave a comment
in 1 My books, 2 Work in progress, All my drawings Tags: contemporary fantasy
Started another drawing for “Crooks and Straights” – this one is of the doll my main character, Gia, makes.
A close-up of her face:
12 Feb 2014 Leave a comment
in 1 My books, 2 Work in progress, All my drawings
The first rough drawing for my book “Crooks and Straights”
This is a door knocker that hangs on my main character’s door. It’s based on a hamsa hand, a two-thumbed hand with an eye on its palm, which is a very common good luck sign in many parts of our world.
In my story this door knocker acts as a ward against magic. I think it’s going to get very much simplified 🙂
06 Feb 2014 Leave a comment
in 1 My books, 2 Work in progress Tags: magical creatures, urban fantasy
This is why I’ve not been putting up any new blog posts for so long:
My new book Crooks and Straights! Ready for the proof-reader.
This is a whole new story, not a sequel to my earlier books.
It’s set in an alternate version of South Africa, where magical creatures live among the rest of us, but are second-class citizens. The growing Purist movement threatens to take over the government, and plan to eradicate all magicals they cannot use for their own purposes. My heroine, Gia, has a younger brother Nico, who is not quite normal. Things go off the rails when Gia accidentally alerts Special Branch (the police force that deal with magical creatures) to the fact that there is something special about Nico…
I’m starting with the illustrations today.
Watch this space!
18 Jan 2014 Leave a comment
in aquarium
Today was the day!
I attended the orientation session for new volunteers at the Two Oceans Aquarium. Next week we start our training for about 6 weeks (we must write a test each week!), and if we pass, we get to start doing the front-of-house volunteering.
The place has a wonderful vibe. I’m so glad I signed up.
08 Nov 2013 Leave a comment
in Inspiration
I have a new obsession — I’ve upgraded to a larger aquarium. Today was the day I had to move my three cory catfish from the quarantine tank to the larger tank, to join the two corys I’ve already got in there. Apparently corys like being in a group, and the two I had were not too happy all by themselves.
Corys are difficult to net without hurting their spiny little fins so I made a fish-trap. A water-bottle cut in half with one side jammed in wrong way round, and a pellet of food for bait:
For a while it looked as though I was going to get lucky and trap a snail…
I thought it would take time, and was preparing myself to be patient but once I buried the open side a bit in the gravel, it was a matter of seconds before – one! Two! Three! In they went.
Couldn’t really get a good picture because these little things wriggle and swim around so fast!
Once they were in the big tank, the two resident corys who are usually so shy I might not see them for days, came out immediately to inspect the newcomers. At the moment, all of them are rooting around the bottom of the tank in a happy little group. So far, so good!
Next time, I’ll use a bottle that’s not pinched in the middle (less chance of escape once they are in) and use less bait, too. A whole pellet was far too much.
Masha du Toit 
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