So, I took most the weekend up to catchup on my much needed rest. By rest, I mean not going to work or working on school projects. So, that in turn, made me need to catch up to revisions and things tonight. That's alright though, cause I think I have done a really good job.


Here are the revisions for the Gypsy piece. I really hope it's not incredibly dark on your screen, I've checked it on three other screens and it seems fine, but the one in class really hated it.  I also gave you a peek at the background. Yea, I painted most of it in....that's why it took so damn long. I think I've put in 45-55 hours. I kind of lost track. Anyhoo, I might revisit it at a different time but for all intents and purposes...it's le fin!










I also thought I'd post some of my preliminary work for my next piece in Composition. It's going to be a lot less heavy in color and values, and hopefully aim more for a children's book illustration. We'll see.

This is the one I'm going with. They're not rabbits, they're a chimera I came up with(that look cute and cuddly, huh?).


  These are the other sets I had to do.

Dang! I can't believe it's already november! This year has flown right by me.

Anyway, how was Halloween for you guys? It was pretty low key for me, hardly any trick or treaters came by and I was all dressed up! Boo! Ah well, it was a monday so It's kind of understandable...I think...maybe? Right, on to artwork.

So, the one for Illustration 2 came out alright, It's apparently kind of dark on some screens and I have some /more/ work to do (dies) but It's about 95% done.

Yaaaaaaaay. I kind of want to kill myself. I've sunk so much time and detail into this I dont even want to look at it anymore. All I can see are my mistakes (it's the claaaaw) and I need to finish it up by monday. Maybe I'll attack it tomorrow...or friday.

Other than that, we're already heading into project 4 in both classes with the preliminary stuff done for Composition and about to get started on preliminary stuff for Illustration. I've actually got a few sketches that aren't school related. They're not great, but proof that I do,in fact, still believe in the use of paper and pencil.

This is another sour faced Cora.This is one of the outfits she wears under her cloak...that she normally never takes off. You'd never guess she was attractive under all that frump. Not exactly thrilled with this, but it was nice to draw for myself.

I'm not really sure what the hell this is. It's a man, woman,snake...thing? I dunno, I was just doodling in class instead of doing thumbnails like a good little student. My bad. I wish I had brought my pens with me, I would have inked...it.

Who was supposed to be working on projects today but decided that she'd draw Rapunzel from Tangled dressed as Cinderella?


THIS GIRL! Didn't come out that great but I didn't spend a great deal of time on it, 3 hours off an on I think.

Happy Halloween~
Rapunzel is copyrighted to Disney, Image copyrighted to me...herpderp.

Phew. Okay. Just about done with this, the only thing left is to do some clean up (which I already started to do). I'm pretty darn proud of this. It has a strong composition and strong embodiment of the theme (Serpentine and Arabesques) It's been pretty well received. The Gypsy one is gonna be next, I'll work more on it tomorrow and probably post it next week.

Enjoy.

Okay, I'm about to rant like a 5-year old so you can skip this if you want.....

I was really frustrated cause when I got home because I walked into the bathroom and it was NAST-AY! I had to clean it, there was no escaping the grossness factor any longer and no one else had the decency to keep it up from the last time I scrubbed it brilliantly clean. Like, it effing sparkled brighter than Edward (/shoots self for a twilight reference). So, thinking I was done and could relax...I sat down at my computer and wanted to draw but the tablet drivers were effing up! Again! Took me twenty minutes to fix the problem. Now, with all that pent up frustration I decided I'd tackle a self portrait and work out my frustration.

End 5-year old-rant.

It worked. This was drawn from life, which I seem to do so much better at than from photo reference, and took me...an hour? Maybe less. It kept flip flopping between looking like me or my mother until I finally hit the right spot! Anyway, I think I'm close. I used variations of primary colors, red yellow blue, and I'm trying to not be afraid of color...which I seem to have been lately as I stick to analogous/monotone or duo-toned color schemes.

Whatddya think? Comments? I would love them.

Midterms come and gone, we're now closing in on the last half of the semester when things really get difficult and everyone crams projects into these last few weeks. I decided to jump into something pretty stupid, two rendered pieces at once. What was I thinking? Oh, how cool it would look in the end. Except, I'm feeling like I might be a little behind and I'm just so tired from work and school and no play!

Anyway, here is what I have so far. I would say Im 30-35% on my one for composition and 40% for my one for Illustration. I'm currently just working on backgrounds, slowly filtering in details and leaving the main figures for last. We'll see how it works, I think it's working out alright.

Composition: I'm doing this one on a creature called a Nix. They're evil water creatures that have been known to drown people as well as coexist with them. This is 11"X17"


Illustration: we had to illustrate two words. Mine was Chaotic and Trifle. I took the definition for trifle to mean knick-knack, bobble, small trinket...I know you can't see it yet, because I've been busy setting up the stage, but the main figure is going to be a gypsy whose fortune telling cards got out of hand and began to swirl around her and out of her caravan. I've been spending most of my time on this one, hoping the perspective is okay and that all the clashing colors aren't too hideous. We'll see. This is 18"X24" with an inch and a half border.
So, I'm tackling a lot of things I'm not too familiar with, water, how things react with water, perspective, fully rendered light, and a lot of elements all at once. Go me! I hope I can finish these in time, they're not looking too good at the moment. Wish me luck, I'll need it.

Well, I did a lot of working and a lot of school work but not quite enough it seems. I still need to do studying, go to bed early, wake up before the crack of dawn, and then start my week. *sigh* Well, I did get to dilly dally a little and whipped up another practice. I did one last night but I was aiming for resemblance and I didn't get it. Aaaah well.

Here is this one!



I could go further, but I dont really feel like it. There is still a lot wrong, but I like it where it is right now.

I'm going to practice in my spare time to understand not only more about photoshop and how I "paint" in it, but also recognizing and interpreting form.

Here is my boyfriend :D took me 2 hours, he kept moving. This one came out a lot better than my practice from last night which I will not share cause it's ugly and scary. :D

He's playing video games, real intense face is real intense.

Okay, so I'm really not satisfied with this but I think it's kind of unique. I had to illustrate the phrase "Thinking Outside of the Box" using flora, fauna, bugs, animals...natural stuffzors.

Full page Illustration
and the Spot Illustration
It was nice to do line work again but... I really didn't have a clue what to do beyond that. We'll see come crit tomorrow morning.

Well, I think I'm done with it for now. It's ready for critique and i'm pretty darn proud of this piece. It's in full color and fully rendered. I keep rediscovering that I can use photoshop to create works of art and continue to learn new things about it.

Anyway, here is my Female Djinn