Brace Yourselves... Doodles Are Coming

I'm not sure what space time y'all might occupy, but in my time continuum it is November and it is COLD! Ugh, sometimes Georgia really gets on my nerves. In the summer I'm sweating like a sinner in church, and in the winter I'm shaking like a leaf on a tree! -And THEN there are those weird times when the weather just goes haywire! Hmph...

Seriously, though!

Geez! Enough about the weather already! What am I, some sort of weather person?!

Recently I have been steeling myself for an endeavor of epic proportions (to me, at least). I'm going to paint my room! I want to go crazy and make an awesome mural in my little space, but I haven't come up with any solid ideas. There are a few "concepts" I've batted around, some doodles hastily scribbled on napkins, etc, but nothing solid. Maybe I'll dream about it tonight? My poor room's gone through the overhaul of its life. Papers, old shoes, and ratty clothes were tossed to make way for a cleaner and more livable habitat as well as prep for the painting. Why am I so messy?

Almost this bad… definitely more books than beer cans, though.

I'm still not quite done, and I've been at it for about 2 weeks! On and off, sure, but still. How much mess can you fit in one room? As I was cleaning, I found some doodles from when I was young and foolish. Wow, it hurts a little to see them! I'm not quite sure why they haven't been engulfed in flames, but here they are for all to see. To be fair, this first bunch was when I was in high school.

There were a couple of doodle phases I went through, the biggest being the "drawing faces in profile" phase. I read somewhere that if you doodle profiles a lot that it means you are an introverted/ introspective type person. Yes, some people argue that there is a psychology to what we doodle and why. This is a lot like graphology (the study of handwriting). Depending on the doodle's placement on the paper, how hard or softly you pressed your pencil/ pen, the overall style, etc, you can discover characteristics about an individual's personality.

What's up with the face tattoo?

Of course there was an attempt at "anime/ manga style" phase. The allure of huge eyes and amazing hair was too strong to withstand! I was QUITE the Clamper in my day, voraciously reading through my friend's volumes of Cardcaptors, Rayearth, and Wish (among many others).

Here's some more random ones. The deer head is one that an aunt owns, actually. Next is one of a few faux tribal tattoos that I attempted. It was another one of those phases, I guess. Thanks goodness it didn't last long. The last of these is a lone wolf. I wasn't very confident in my drawing abilities in high school and ended up tracing over some Okami art, honestly. A few aspects were changed, but not enough to call it an original. Although… seeing it now, it might be a good idea to redraw it. This way, I could really see how far I've come!

Stagshead Revisited

My attempt at a tribal hummingbird? I can't tell anymore!

It's decided. I shall redraw you!

This second group is definitely more recent. These were drawn within the last 3 or 4 months, I would say, and they're more to my liking. My quest for style has been a success, and I'm loving everything I draw as of late. Face doodles are still my favorite, apparently.

Her name is Sarah.

"On a tropical island..."

Random heads and a new addition to my Goddess series.

This final bunch is interesting. Here it's just about experimentation. I like to be tidy with my inked lines, but I recently acquired a black brush pen in an attempt to loosen up. It's definitely fun how the shapes drawn flow nicely, but it's not as easy as I thought it would be. It's just going to take some practice... The pink haired chick was my first attempt. Ha ha, I just went all over willy nilly, so it's not great, but it's something! The next one is getting there. My final doodle was done with a leaky pen. I didn't known the pen was broken and had globbed ink where the right boot is most scribbly. I freaked, but instead of trashing it, I ran with it. I might just have to use leaky pens more often because it looks so cool, in my opinion!

Her hair reminds me of Ramona Flowers.

The colors of the leaves around here

I've always wanted a mohawk!!!!!

There are quite a few things I'd like to draw more of (not just doodle) such as fan art or stand alone ideas I've only thought about but not written or sketched out. Songs have been inspiring my mind space like crazy! It might be a good idea to make an everyday or every week art project based around songs, movies, or fandoms. I'll have to give this more thought...

Well, that's it for me. Until next time! ~~~ <(*-*<)

Barenaked Paintings

WOW! A lot of time and stuff has happened since last I blogged. I should be ashamed of myself since one of my New Year's resolutions was supposed to be about making entries and putting my work out there more often, but I forget! I really do have tremendous memory problems. Maybe not as bad as a goldfish's, though...

Haha... uh, where am I?

A few weeks ago, I read an article about our brains and how our unhealthy habits affect the poor guy... Getting enough sleep and drinking plenty of water are so important to our health. Geez, I'm still working on the water thing! I gotta get my 8 glasses in! Aren't our bodies about 65% water? 

This cat's got the right idea!

All funny stuff aside, I have work for sharing! These are school assignments, but they're sexy paintings of naked ladies! Classy stuff, obviously. This past quarter, a group of my illustration buds and I were lucky enough to take a figure painting class from Ed Murietta! He's an amazing artist who's worked as an animator for Disney and also was Senior Creative Director at Cartoon Network, among other things. He'd taught a figure drawing class last year that was equal parts awesomeness and frustration, so I was a little worried about how this class would go. I certainly can't say it was easy, but I made it through and have built some character because of it.

At first we did charcoal drawings...

These are a few of the figures from the drawing class. We did SO MANY! He told us to buy a newsprint pad and had us doing pose after pose. He made us work! It's a bit painful remembering how difficult it was for me at first, but I'm so much better now. The first 2/3's of the class was just drawing with charcoal. It got real, though, when he had us start to render these ladies. First we worked with just a little white charcoal. Then he upped the ante and had us work in chalk pastels!

My favorite of my figures!

Everyone else's favorite. Meh for me...

I got messed up and bought oil pastels instead. The top one is from that first class. It's always annoyed me that she's slightly crooked, but it doesn't take away from how awesome she turned out, in my opinion. The bottom figure is nice because of the pose's movement. Everyone I showed it to was a fan, but I wasn't into it as much. Maybe it was the smoothness of the chalk that I wasn't drawn to? HA! That pun was definitely intended.

If I remember correctly, Ed had us using 3 fleshy colors (a light, medium, and dark) for toning our figures and then a turquoise color that he referred to as our half tone (fancy-shmancy). We used it for reflective light and also for the transitional areas where light and dark begin to blend. I didn't really get it back then. The painting class was where I got to understanding the half tone.

Not brave enough to finish at the time...

Our process was exactly the same as with the chalk pastels except we were using water soluble oils! Holbein's the brand, I think. The paints are really nifty because you don't need to mess around with stinky turpentine or other weird chemicals. First we painted our figure's outline (see above). Then we'd block in the shadows. We used only our brown colors at first (burnt umber and terra rosa) but near the middle he got us to experiment with a cobalt in our shadows, and it produced some interesting results! Next we'd mix the overall skin color with yellow ochre, white, and coral red.

My bestest painting!

Quickie

Then what I would do is start adding a lavender color (halftone) where I saw reflective light happening. It also goes where the shadow meets with the lit side of the body. When its worked in a bit, it makes a nice transition to the core shadow. After that, I mix up the highlight color and blend that in as well. It's not that easy, though. There's a lot of back and forth, working colors in so they look just right, but then you've gotta find a balance so the painting doesn't get muddy. I tend to overwork my paintings, so I have to think about my steps and not get too carried away. It's easier to add on more than it is to take it back.

My comp

Doesn't she look like She Hulk's cousin or something?

For our last class, we worked on two poses, making them super nice and even adding some different colors to the mix! First we did a quick study, deciding on our composition, colors, and whatnot. Then we executed. It was awesome to see how far each of us had come. He was just sitting in the back (was he painting, too? I forget...), letting us do our thang. Yeah, I'm okay with this green chick, but I know I could have done better. Hmm... I just noticed I forgot the little sash she was wearing in the comp... Haha, oh well! And that's it. I'm already 2 weeks into this new quarter, so I'd better actually do some homework!

Until next time! ~~~ <(*-*<) 

Adventures in the 3rd Dimension!

It is semi late... a bit before midnight where I live. I'm working on homework, but surprisingly, I'm having lots of fun! Why you ask?

BECAUSE I'M SCULPTING! YAY!!!

Yeah, I really love working on 3D stuff, and one of my biggest projects this quarter is all about sculpted characters for a story I created called "The Potty Mouth". Strange name, huh? Ha ha ha! It gets better. "The Potty Mouth" is about a little girl named Ramona who is bullied by this oaf named Ralphie while she's playing with her stuffed animal. At first, Ramona is all sad and crybaby-ish, but then she decides to do something about this injustice! What does she do?? She wishes for her fairy godsister to come and punish Ralphie for being mean, of course. Rhododendron appears, uses her magic on Ralphie and... ah, well... I don't want to ruin the rest of the story, but of course, wackiness ensues which I'll sum up in one word: sentient body parts. Huh? That wasn't one word...

Two words: Learn to count, lady!

Don't get the wrong idea when I say sentient body parts! My story isn't some weird remake of Idle Hands for unsuspecting kids!!! That movie is pretty bad, by the way. I wouldn't recommend it.

Possessed hand? Gimme a break...

HAHA! Sentient body parts looks so goofy typed out. I guess I'll just spill the beans about the rest of the story so that things start to make a little sense. Where was I? Oh, yeah! Rhodo does her fairy magic on Ralphie to teach him a lesson (since bullying is wrong), but she messes up! Instead of zipping up his mouth or just making him be quiet, her magic makes Ralphie's mouth pop off and become an entity all it's own. Well, the mouth turns on Ralphie, making fun and calling HIM dumb names. Ramona feels bad about this, so she decides to make amends by helping Ralphie catch his mouth, teaching it a lesson, and also putting it back where it belongs: on Ralphie's face! After their adventure, Ralphie, Ramona, and Rodo become friends. Ah... I love happy endings.

The cloud is a poof for when the mouth goes back to normal!

silly mouth

phbblthlthbbthprbl!

This is the mouth or monstrosity, as he's affectionately known. I've got them doing different poses, two for each scene of my story. I made them out of sculpy, which is one of my favorite mediums now. Once I've got the right form, I boil them, sand them a bit,  and then paint them with acrylics. After I finish the other mouths, I will make my kid characters as well. Here are my sketches for the kids! They're kind of silly, but so is the story.

Meanie...

Rhodo the fairly cute fairy.

This is Ramona, the spunky one!

There's still so much work to do. I'll just have to keep chugging along at a steady pace. I'll try and post more of this as I go along. I love seeing it come together, and I hope others will, too.

That's it for me. Until next time! <(*-*<)

Munny for your thoughts?

*Phew*

I just finished up a very interesting quarter yesterday, and I feel as free as a bird! Overall, I got good feedback, and for that I'm thankful. I always get a little nervous when I put my stuff in front of the teachers (better known as our critique panel).

The one item I'm excited to share with the world is a little sculpture I worked on! Anyone heard of Munny dolls? Of course you have!- but just in case... Munny dolls are the adorable little (or very big depending on what size you order) vinyl toys that are like mini canvases. They're perfect for drawing, painting, and even sculpting on! On kidrobot's website (www.kidrobot.com), they're billed as DIY toys. They even made an appearance on the Martha Stewart Show! Yep, apparently, Rosie O' Donnell loves them.

They look like this when you get 'em, and there are other models, too!

Well, I saw one in a bookstore and bought it on a whim. Luckily at the same time, I was taking an acrylic painting class. Our teacher (Theo Rudnak! Look him up!) wanted us to experiment with something dimensional. Obviously, this chance encounter with the munny was fated, and I took it out of the box and started to imagine what it could be... 

I quickly decided that I wanted to sculpt my munny into a colossi type creature, inspired by the awesome bosses you fight in Shadow of the Colossus! After a little research into my subject (which consisted of pizza and about 5 hours of playing through some Shadow), material (super sculpy), and possible process (curing of clay, creating texture and what not), I got to sketching. I didn't want my colossi to be a replica of one from the game, but I wanted the inspiration to be clear, as if it was a piece of this already existing series.

My 2nd favorite colossi, Barba, and partly my inspiration for my doll.

So began my sculpy experiments. Super sculpy is actually pretty cool, and is easier to use than regular clay, in my opinion. Especially since it doesn't dry when you leave it out! The vinyl was too smooth to just stick the clay onto, so my first step was sanding the surface. After drawing my design onto the doll, I started rolling and pressing pieces of clay onto the face. I sculpted into these with my clay tools and even used random stuff like toothpicks or paintbrushes.

Ze super sculpy

My baby's face.

Slowly but surely, the face began to come together. As I was working on it, though, I realized I had not payed much attention to my reference. The stoniness of the face is more like a mask than just stone features, so I began to fill in certain areas I had missed.

I'm adding the rim around the eyes in this part!

The munny head shape is a little like monkey, so I decided it would be interesting to give it that push towards a primate face. There are a few colossi that are inspired by animals. I remember the bird colossi being especially cool. Anyways, I cut small slabs of clay that I put together carefully to create a squarish snout, which I then added nostrils to. 

His little club's laying in the background.

The face was the most difficult part, but once I got warmed up, it was easier to get into the body and arms. Those details were kept much simpler in order to let the face shine. I also added blocks of clay down the middle of his skull, sort of like a mohawk.

I'm finally DUNNY! Haha, that was bad...

I had a feeling that if I put this little dude in the oven, I'd be setting myself up for some serious heartbreak, so I looked up a different way to set the clay and found that boiling it was just as good! Just a minute or two for the thickest parts (less than half an inch) and it was all set! Then the even more nerve wracking part... the paint! I knew it wouldn't be enough to just paint it a stoney color, so I took a big bristle brush and dabbed this stuff called AcrylPro all over it. It's glue for ceramic tiles but it's the perfect consistency for adding interesting textures to smooth surfaces. I did two dabbed layers, getting a roughened texture that was more to my liking. Then I painted some watered down gesso on it. Let me say, it was very difficult getting the paint into all the little nooks in this thing.

Looking good, little guy!

Finally the paint. First was my base, kind of brownish gray. Then I took a funky sponge and stippled the bajeezus out of the munny. I mixed a few different grays so I could layer the stipples and have it look more organic, but I'd actually like to paint it again. I'm not quite satisfied with the color of it.

Dun dun DUN!

Here he is. In the end, I decided against any hairiness. I wasn't sure I'd be able to pull it off, so I stuck with what I knew I could. In the future, however, I'd love to try this exercise again and see how much I can improve on it. Oh, and I also forgot to picture him with his weapon. I should do that!

Well, that's it for me. 'Till next time! <(*-*<)

Resolution, part two...

It has been about a month since my last post, but I'm trying, I swear! I'm just a little forgetful is all. Well, today I wanted to share some doodles I've done for a pattern making class that I'm very excited about.

My series is called The Hunt and is based around traditional English fox hunting. I've decided to create a story around the characters I see taking part in this hunt: a chicken, a fox, a hound, and a hunter on his mount!

I have inked the first few and scanned them in so I can digitize them and make them into vector objects. For this project, I will be working in Illustrator. I'm familiar with the program but this class has opened up a host of possibilities.

fox prints

the rascally reynard

the plump hen

I'm not quite finished with all of my pattern elements, but so far I am liking the style. I can't wait to put everything together! So far I have ideas for a toile, damask, and a couple of stripes, but I need to mix it up. Throw a little toss in there or something.

nice colors

I love the shapes of the elements! So cool.

That's it for today. Until next time! <(*-*<)

A NEW new beginning!

SO! Here I am almost 6 months later with barely 5 posts to my name. What a travesty, so I've decided to make one of my new years resolution to do this blog thing more often.
There it is, out in the open. Now to deliver.

Lots of time (and projects) have passed this little blog by, so I'll put something up a few just to get started!

Serenity was the word I had in mind when working on her look.

Here I present an inked drawing of a character I worked. She is from the book John the Revelator, the mother of the main character John. I don't remember her name, though. Through the later parts of the story she is very sick and ends up dying. The last scene has her coming back as a ghost, almost like a rebirth.

This part really hit close to home, and I decided to draw her young, beautiful, and reborn (like she was in the end) instead of sad and sickly as she was portrayed in the last moments of her life. 

I also worked on the main character John and a sort of demon crow character that he dreams about throughout the story. My goal was to step away from the cute stuff I love (Hello Kitty) and try my hand at something grittier, darker.

Caw, muthuhflippahs!

Crows are imbued with interesting and dark characteristics that I tried to push and warp to create a creature that might be seen in someone's nightmares. The descriptions in the book weren't overly detailed, so I felt I could take a good deal of freedom with the crow. It's also a dream crow, so a lot of freaky things could be done! My favorite part is the bird's head.

"Oh, the places you'll go!" was the groups main inspiration

This piece was a group project, actually! My school buds Abbey and Michelle and I worked on this ad for Portfolio Center (our school)! It received positive reviews from teachers and students. It also got me thinking about a more signature style for my art, which is frustrating me to no end. OH! I got help from my friend Jamie with this ad, too! This truly was a nice collaboration.

All the pieces dropped into the blue space are different student's work. 

Well, that's it until next time! <(*-*<)

My Gift To Give

Today has been a pretty okay day!

My mom got my little bro and me up early to run some errands today. First the oil change, then to the fabric store to get some scraps for a quilt I'm making for a class this quarter (By the way... SO EXCITED!), and then my mom got a drug test! AH!!! I'm not kidding, though. She had to do it as part of the interview process for a job she wants, so it's cool. She's not addicted to anything. Except poppy seed muffins... uh-oh!

I wish I had Elaine's hair... :(

After getting home I finally finished this scratchboard kitty I'd been working one for about a month! Jeez, I know. It's not that I was having a really bad time with it... maybe it's just not the style for me? I made this kitty following a pattern. Actually, it's a little kit that is sold at Michael's stores. Pretty cheap, and it's always nice to try something new. Now that the cat is done, I'm going to ship it off to Mexico City. My cousin Gabriella loves cats, so I was thinking of her while scratching it out. (I'll probably do another, better one to make it up to her!) The one thing I will improve on the next time are my values. Especially in the body area!

Me-OUCH!

 I've also been decorating this little accordion book I got in a trash pile at my school. It's super cute, and it's handmade! Who would want to throw it away? I've decided that when I'm done, I'm going to give it to my Aunt Carmen. She's Gabriella's mom.

Their trash is MY treasure!

Ah, sounds so French!

I've drawn little vignettes and pasted some pressed flowers and leaves on each page. I also wrote a few things for her to keep her spirit up. She's been having a rough time with cancer, and I wanted her to feel loved. The book is mostly nonsensical and a little weird, but I hope she'll like it. Here are some pages from the book:

I got these clippings from a book in German, I think.

Ferdinand Lassalle in a Warhol kind of style. Green and purple suit him, I think.

It's kind of a bad habit of mine to give away the stuff I make all the time. Guess I need to take some good photos for my records and for this blog! It's decided then! My next big purchase shall be....

A DIGITAL CAMERA! <(*-*<)