distractions ii

"What she wanted was to see something no else could see or would see,
and maybe that was asking more magic than was in the world."

(The Raven Cycle, Book 1)

I like The Raven Cycle.
I like colored pencil art.
I like drawing.

ergo....



medium: not colored pencil.

distractions i

I fanarted. Not sorry.

In writing (the commercial stuff at least), they say if you can't summarize your epic story in one or two sentences then even you probably don't know what your own story is about.

Given my geographical bearings, even a stodgy old lady such as myself gets to do something ridiculously cool every now and then.  Via a ridiculously cool friend, I got to attend an early screening of Big Hero 6 and it inspired this bit of ink and watercolor as a thank-you gift for letting me tag along.

To me, this is the story in a nutshell. Spoiler-free: it's Baymax softening the hard edges of Hiro.

As a social-media-stunted shame to my generation, I don't use my tumblr as a tumblr so you can go to Ridiculously Cool Friend's tumblr to get in on this tumblring action (am I even using real words anymore?) and see more great fanart from the event in question under a very official #BigHero6MeetUp tag.

(I'm the chemist!)

#BigHero6MeetUp

more things

Figure drawing is foundation bread and butter.  No matter how skilled you are, this be hallowed ground -- tread and retread often. The way is well-worn by the footfalls of its many faithful.  

You go through reams of paper learning this stuff which, I think, is by design -- can't be too precious with each iteration: the objective is the skill, not the Mona Lisa.  At least, that was my takeaway.  

But, every now and then, a sketch or two rises from the reams that pleases even me.  Here were a few surprises from Art Center (maybe even pre-Art Center, I can't remember).  I like these.  I don't know why.  

  

I remember the objective of this one was to capture fear.
I remember this, specifically, because that was the class that I learned of Repin.

That's Ilya Repin.
Google him along with Ivan the Terrible and His Son,
but only after you've prepared your heart.

media: charcoal, ink, watercolor.

various school things

More things from my time at Art Center.

Painted traditionally (watercolors, gouaches, acrylics, inks....acrylic inks.  I was very adventurous). 

Painted traditionally, for the most part, I should say: there was digital adjusting to the last two.  I once met a fine artist who completely denounced digital -- the use of it at any and all stages of the creative process. 

"T'is cheating," he said. 

"I cheat," said I, raising my hand in dutifully-demure self-abnegation.

He had thought me one of his fold.  I corrected his assumptions and confessed to him my sins.  He patted my head, pitied my youth, and I walked away humbly absolved.  I'm afraid to report that, years later, my dereliction continues and has degenerated further still in its deliberate delinquency.  Call me cheat, scamp, lady of the night.  If you ask me, I bet Da Vinci would've happily (and readily) digitally edited his sketches, particularly before committing them to paint -- to very expensive, hand-mixed paint.  His purity was less from piety, I think, and more from a lack of resources.       

Can you see the violin?

A wine list for children 

A J-rock themed thing.

A mollusk.

medium: watercolors, gouaches, acrylics, ink, acrylic inks, and whatever else pleased my reprobate soul.

digital things

I think I'm just going to throw my digital stuff into this post.  Some pieces from here and there, accumulated during my tenure at Art Center.  

This  was another one of those projects where I ended up liking the sketch better than the final. 

Nuance-y, process-y, technical bits for those who like that kind of thing.

(I happen to like that kind of thing):

Here's where you take the photoshop lessons, the digital matte painting lessons,
and the perspective lessons you've accumulated over the years and mix it all in a pot.

Carnivores.
This is just vector art.  From adobe illustrator lessons alone.
Sola illustratio.

A self portrait.

A painted desert. Pft. See what I did there?

Yet another: sketch preferred over final. Sigh. Mastery is a process, right?

medium: digital

mythological things

Some paintings from a project from way back when.

These served as a series of illustrations for a friend's website.  Each character was to have their own personalities and traits which I attempted to capture through watercolor and gouache.

I'll post a few of them here (I forget how many there were).  I may post the rest some day.  Who knows.  My feelings towards blogging wax and wane irregularly.  What are you regulated by, O Feelings o' Mine?  The moon?  The sun?  The vengeful spirit of Pluto?

medium: watercolor & gouache

sketching things

More things from another life.

 

the first batch: ink/pencil/marker/gouache. Technique as taught by N. Schureman.

the last batch: charcoal, acrylic/oil. Technique learned elsewhere but for the same class.

intermission iii

 Been a busy bee--so I entertain you with this piece from a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away...

Not that long ago actually, lol. But I'm in a bookish mood because I just came from my first day at this amazing thing. So I share with you this bit of fanart from way back in 2011 for a book I immensely enjoyed, Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld.

"Being dorsal was real flying - the wind in her face,
and sky in all directions..."

Even after all these years, this piece really stayed with me. I edited it quite a bit--with watercolor, of all things! It was originally in oil and acrylic, but it just wasn't catching the brightness and skyiness I wanted Deryn to be surrounded by. I loved her freedom and her solitude. It was equal parts liberating and restricting, and I found that dynamic fascinating!

The inspired Mr. Westerfeld was wonderful enough to feature it on his weekly Fanart Friday blogposts and you can see the original version here. You can also see the Broadway musical poster version of it here (lol!) as well as a few cutesy, chibi versions of the two main characters I did back when I was experimenting with photoshop.

Maybe in the third round I'll try pen and ink. There's something nice about the gesture in the original sketch I really like:

Heck, I even like the back of the sketch, roflol!

 I think that's part of the magic of illustration sometimes. You don't know why something's working, it just feels right. So you just run with it and see where it goes....

Nice memories.



medium: Started acrylic and oil. Then digitally edited to a watercolor background. World is so forgiving with computers in it. Though I guess not so much with the internet in it too....balance?

paintings, still more

Self portraits from Art Center's Portraiture class with D. Luce.

I like these.  I don't know why.  

medium: oil

  

more painting things

Paintings from Art Center.  I forget for what class and for whose class and who was with me in the which class.  

They might actually have been from the workshops.

 

These funny little abstracts are from the end of a painting day.
I hate throwing away leftover oil paint, but I hate saving it too (it gets a weird consistency).
So I started doing smaller alternate portraits on a sketch pad or spare canvas to try to use up all the paint.
Confession: sometimes I like the caricatures better than I like the portraits.

I love painting.  

medium: oils, predominantly.

painting things

Figurative paintings from ye ol' Art Center days past. 

I forget which classes these were for.  My memory failing is not to be interpreted as subtext or subconscious inner-workings (though would I be conscious of it, if it were?) -- it's more likely the accumulation of too much time passing, too many faces blurring, and the privilege of too many great teachers in too many great classes imparting onto us the singular importance of the basics.  As it should be, I believe.   

mediums: oil (maybe acrylics) on probably canvas.