Amanda Kastner⬥StorySeamstress

Another fandom mashup--Doctor Who and Anne Steele! All the text was taken from Sense and Sensibility, so I think it's safe to say that Anne would consider the Doctor a potential beau if he ever had the misfortune to meet her. :) Get a print (or t-shirt, or iphone case) of this illustration at Society6!

The last month or so has been really busy for me, but here are a few recent pieces, all pen and ink linework with digital color. Stargazing...in a giant terrarium, perhaps? Growing up, I'd scour the woods for interesting lichens, and I think something like giant pixie cup lichen found its way into this picture! Check out my Tumblr for a process gif. Winter's just starting, but it's never too early to think about spring, right? If Rapunzel had a smartphone, I think she would have been addicted to posting Instagram selfies and surfing Pinterest for embroidery designs and hair tutorials. You can see the colored pencil version of this on my   Instagram --no selfies! ;)

My sister and I decided on an "East of the Sun, West of the Moon" theme for this year's giant pumpkin carving. It's not quite as large and impressive as the dragon we carved a few years ago, but this is one of our favorite fairy tales and it made us happy. :)

What do you get when you combine Dr. Who with the Korean drama  You Who Came from the Stars ? "Dr. Who Came from the Stars," of course! Here's the time lapse video showing my inks. I scanned the linework and colored it digitally. (Full disclosure: as you can see on my instagram , I also watercolored the original, but with very indifferent results . . . I'll blame it on the first time trying this paper, ok?) Despite my sometimes wibbly-wobbly perspective--don't look too closely at the Tardis!--I really like the finished piece. Check out my  Society6 shop  for  prints ,  iphone cases , and  t-shirts ! My sister still can't believe that while I was traveling last year I passed up not one--not two--but  three  opportunities to take a selfie with cardboard cutouts of the hero from You Who ; do you think she'll finally forgive me if I give her a print of this picture?

Although I would never want to compare Edward Bear (Mr. Sanders?) to Mr. Collins, I can imagine a Regency Winnie-ther-Pooh proudly displaying his closet of honey pots to visitors, which prompted this non-canonical '95 Pride & Prejudice/Winnie the Pooh illustration! The elaborate border and general Regencyishness were inspired by  C. E. Brock's  watercolor illustrations for Pride and Prejudice , and of course Pooh's design and the general color scheme were taken from Ernest H. Shepard's illustrations. Here you can see some of my thumbnails and the initial sketch (also on my Instagram account last week!) in  Non-Photo Blue Pencil . Inking with my favorite Sepia  Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens  and watecoloring took about two hours. Subscribe to  my youtube channel  and stop by  my Society 6 shop ! *Some links are affiliate 

This was a just-for-fun piece I did a while ago, though I'm only now getting around to posting it! I enjoyed designing the stylized stage scenery--I wanted the stage to be colorful, while the framing curtains look pale and monochromatic. And of course that's my favorite-ever sort of dress to draw! Prints available at my Society6 shop!

They passed several Stirlings, who groaned and reflected that now spring was come they would encounter that shameless pair everywhere.  My sister gave me The Blue Castle for my birthday last week. I'm remembering again just how much I like this book, and suddenly I had to draw Valancy and Barney out for a drive in Lady Jane Grey. Visit Society6 for prints of my illustrations, including this one !

Last week Storybird interviewed my on their blog. I've enjoyed being part of the Storybird community, and I was happy to share a bit about myself and my work! { read the interview }

Although the pond in front of our place is still covered in ice and there will be no frogs and turtles for a while, there's all sorts of hopeful springishness (is that a word?) in this picture!

      Breaking a path through the snowy woods is excellent exercise--though I'm not too sorry that our snow is almost gone already! Pen & ink sketch, scanned and digitally colored. Here you can see the steps of the coloring process. I've recently picked up stranded knitting, and Norwegian Selbu patterns definitely influenced the boy's sweater and mittens! The girl's coat detail was inspired by Norwegian rosemal designs.

Mentioned briefly in "The Last Battle" is Swanwhite the Queen, so beautiful that her reflection lingers in the forest pool for a year and a day afterward. I imagine that the dryads would come out and look at it after she'd gone. Pen and ink, scanned & cleaned up in Inkscape and digitally colored. There's a bit of the sketch on my instagram . And hurrah !--we are two months into 2015 and I have so far kept my Not-Officially-Resolution to post something every week for Illustration Friday. 

I sketched this last fall for Inktober . It took me a while to get it scanned, cleaned up, and colored, but this adventurous little lady is now featured in my Storybird and Society6 shops! Here's the original idea scribbled in a margin, and the pen and ink sketch:

Mark my words, there's an Aunt at the bottom of it.