+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.

Title: “Ladybug + Raj”
Medium: Pencil, Photoshop CS2
Notes: Episode 3, Season 3 of The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon commented on Raj’s fear of women and insects, concluding, “Ladybugs must render you catatonic.” And then I saw an icon on LJ that said, “I ship Raj/Ladybug,” and I thought, I must draw this.

This looks kind of rough, compared to my other recent pieces…because it is. I photographed the pencils and colored them really quick.