the wrath and the dawn

I am just returned from this wonderful thing, where it was cold and glorious and cold and uplifting and awe-inspiring and cold and fantastic and freezing and fun and COLD. 

The mind-numbing temperatures, the great company of old friends, and the serendipitous meeting of amazing new friends prompted this post. The image above is some artwork to promote Renée Ahdieh's YA debut, The Wrath and the Dawn. 

See it in action here as her Twitter banner! 

You can also go to our respective tumblrs to see more artwork in the same vein (with more to come).

Also be on the lookout for the sequel and conclusion to Wrath coming out 3 May 2016 under the intriguing moniker, The Rose and the Dagger. 

Believe it or not, the above image actually started out as this sketch:

"For that, I won't even try to play fair"
(The Wrath and the Dawn)

There's a lesson here about what can happen when you open yourself up to change and new ideas and new possibilities, but I'm too bushwhacked from the weekend to figure that out right now. I leave you with this open ending.

medium: watercolor and gouache, some marker on that sketch (though the text and watermarks are pretty digital)

self portrait

So the past few posts were basically me throwing a whole lot of stuff at the internet. I find I'm at peace with that.

This last post (which is 5 out of what turned out to be 5 posts) was a self-portrait assigned by Ms. Frazee. This piece was a turning point for me: it was one of those delicate wooden puzzle boxes that you fiddle and fiddle and fiddle with til something clicks! and it opens! followed by a long while of "wait, what, how did that go again, what was the sequence....argh, why did I close it!" and you fiddle to get it open again.

It gets easier by-and-by, but that first time is pivotal because now you know it can open and you can open it. You're not just a clumsy oaf who can't open puzzle boxes.

medium: WATERCOLOR. I'm pretty damn sure this time. 

twinkle twinkle

Posting a few old portfolio things to begin making way for new portfolio things! Part 4/I-don't-know.

These next few story bits and pieces are from a few years ago, specifically from the classroom of great illustrator whisperer, Marla Frazee. 

Text by Jane Taylor:

medium: I'm going to say watercolor and pencil and be pretty confident about that.

untitled: that starry night

Posting a few old portfolio things to begin making way for new portfolio things! Part 3/I-don't-know.

These next few story bits and pieces are from a few years ago, specifically from the classroom of great illustrator whisperer, Marla Frazee. 

A turning point in a father-son relationship:

(I hate fishing...)

medium: I'm like 98.75% sure this is watercolor....(but really that damn 1.25%....)

chicken little

Posting a few old portfolio things to begin making way for new portfolio things! Part 2/I-don't-know.

These next few story bits and pieces are from a few years ago, specifically from the classroom of great illustrator whisperer, Marla Frazee. 

I still think is funny...(I might be the only one):

(this is all at various levels of finish....because that's apparently how I rolled in 2014)

medium: pretty sure this is watercolor...

the boy who cried wolf

Posting a few old portfolio things to begin making way for new portfolio things! Part 1/I-don't-know.

These next few story bits and pieces are from a few years ago, specifically from the classroom of great illustrator whisperer, Marla Frazee. 

A variation of The Boy Who Cried Wolf:

medium: mostly watercolor, I think....can't remember (alas!)

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.

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

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?

Whencesoe'er I came...

This baby we christened Octobook.

Jackie came over one day with this beautifully-engineered little thing and entrusted him into my care.

He was....challenging. Stubborn. Refused to submit to my authority. Sigh.
But I love this little guy.

You do your best to prepare the little ones for the real world and, with all your advanced worldly experience, you believe you've done what you can.

You reasonably expect your progeny to see clearly the path you've laid before them and to reverently partake of the wisdom you freely give--until, bit-by-bit, your carefully laid plans unravel and the wee little thing takes hold of his ever-strengthening faculties, dismisses your unsolicited assistance, and (by the power of his own fierce conviction) becomes a thing you could not have foreseen, could not have contrived, and would not have wanted to try to foresee or contrive if you could do it all over again because that would only ruin the delight of the surprise.

And so the artist finds herself a master, leading the vision, yet also, a servant, paradoxically, being led by it.

Whenceso'er I came / Whereso'er I go

The quote is from Moby Dick.

I pitched it to Jackie and she approved. I think it appropriately embodies the paradox of a character being led on by Fate while retaining his agency as a Hero--ever-willful and carving his own path; Fate be damned. It sounds contradictory and yet there it be. We demand that the Universe be linear, and the Universe, in turn, says "Screw you, puny human."

Who can fathom it.

We only cared to make 50, signed and sealed. You can purchase them here on Jackie's etsy shop. Object is smaller than it appears (a 3.5' square) but a warning: this is a very serious pop-up--not for the faint of heart.

Update (14.08.02): as of this week, Octobook is sold out (Comic-con 2014 was its fated last appearance). Alas! It's time has come to an end. They've all found good homes, I'd like to think, and I hope for their bright futures.

medium: watercolor scanned and re-printed to cut, folded, and packaged between two slices of book board.