+listening: “Feeling Good” by Muse

I saw a photograph on my tumblr dashboard of the lower half of a girl standing on a rock in the middle of a stream. I liked the concept and decided to use it as basis for a new piece.

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It seems I’ve reached a crossroads conundrum in my artistic endeavors. Being presented recently with a new design opportunity has caused me to reevaluate what it is that I want to do with my talents.

I went to college and pursued Visual Arts because that’s where my passion lies (apparently). I got a degree in Graphic Design so I could get a job (ha!). I minored in Photography because, well, the art curriculum of the college required that I have a minor concentration. But I’ve grown to enjoy that art form as well.

At the end of the day, though, I create things because I can and I enjoy the challenge that comes with the visual problem solving and coming out with a creative and aesthetically pleasing solution. When I see the effect my work has on people, how they enjoy and appreciate it . . . well, that gives me the drive to create more.

This new design venture, though, has me diving back into the world of design. It’s a little scary, slightly overwhelming. After a while, those feeling will pass, and I just have to dive in and see where my skills take me.

Art is never finished, only abandoned.
—Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)

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Just purchased Corinne Bailey Rae’s new album, The Sea. It is amazing, bittersweet and all around awesome. I also purchased OK Go’s Of the Blue Colour of the Sky. It’s nice and funky. They’ve progressed in their sound, but it’s still distinctive, so it plays like a natural evolution.

The following art contains spoilers for episode 3.14 of The Big Bang Theory. I read the episode description and could not get this image out of my head.

Teaser:

(more…)

Sky High . Warren Peace/Layla Williams . pencil

I’ve been wanting to illustrate this for a while, about five months, actually, since reading a certain story. It was this image and another that involved Warren presenting Layla with a potted plant as a peace offering. I’m really glad I took the time to draw the ivy. It was a nice challenge.

That’s twenty-ten, in case you were wondering.

I present my first drawing of the new decade. I had planned to do some new art over the holiday to eventually sell as prints. Last weekend I visited my sister in Pensacola, and I didn’t have time and lacked the inspiration to get any art done. Another holiday weekend with four consecutive days off came around, and I was beginning to think that I would not be able to get my muse to cooperate and come up with some original art. (Seriously, the amount of fan art I did last year was almost embarrassing, yet good practice overall.) So, I decided to look at some art I have saved on my computer for reference. I had not looked at it in ages, but it did the trick. The art that I found particularly inspiring was by loish.

I have been wanting to get some solid drawings done of characters from my novel, but every time I tried things just didn’t flow and I could not get the character to come out how I pictured in my head, or make the person’s features look consistent with previous drawings. It was quite frustrating.

[Evan just hopped up on the arm of this chair and sort of demanded that I pet him.]

Anyway, I got the drawing done in a few hours last night and I’m quite happy with the result. I had not drawn anything for about a month. I barely too any photos, either, but that’s another story.

E’lari & Aliyah . pencil

I had so much fun with their outfits. I’m glad now to have a more concrete idea of what their clothing will look like. Before, I had draw E’lari’s clothes a more flowing and less tailored and structured. However, her body got lost in all the folds before, so I like the idea of the corset type top with a colorful, patterned sash around the midsection.

I shall try to get this colored by next week and possibly draw more characters from my novel.

About a month ago I sold a piece of TBBT fan art to a collector (fancollectorgeek). He had seen my piece, A Viable Pursuit” requested if the original artwork was available for purchase. In this economy? Uh, yeah.

After receiving the artwork, he informed me that he was going to get the work framed at a comic shop that has some pieces displayed on the set of The Big Bang Theory. The guys at the shop liked the art a lot, which was very heartening to hear.

This is the original finished piece:

And here is the framed original art: