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.
2 comments | January 10th, 2010
I was driving, on my way to the bank and then the optometrist, when a car pulled next to me beeping. The guy on the passenger’s side informs me that my rear right tire was flat. I thought I’d heard a weird sound coming from that side of the vehicle.
So, I turn around and go back home, thinking I can take my sister’s care instead. I get in and start pulling out of the driveway. I shifted into drive and found that the steering wheel was virtually unresponsive. I go back in the house and ask my sister about it, and she tells me (mumbling from under a mound of covers) that maybe it needs more steering wheel fluid, and at my protestations, of course she doesn’t have any available.
So after briefly weighing my options, I decide to just drive my car to get the tire changed. But, guess what? The battery has suddenly died. *head desk*
So, In this instance, it would be great if I knew how to change a tire and jump off a car. :/
Add comment | January 9th, 2010
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.
Add comment | January 3rd, 2010
It’s been a very dreary day (cold, overcast, raining), but I’m not feeling down, which is great, because last week was probably the worst week of my life in the past five years, which featured employment disappointment, a compromised immune system and—as the icing on the wrecktacular cake—the untimely death of my beloved feline friend Pascal.
Yeah. It was rough.
Last night I set up a store front on Etsy (artgyrlshop.etsy.com) to sell off some of the fan art that I did this past summer. I put up four pieces initially and one has already sold, so that is very encouraging. The funny thing is that it costs money to make money, initially, at least. Once I made the sale, the reality of shipping the item in a timely matter quickly set in. I had planned on mailing it off today, but, because of the weather and the fragile quality of the paper, I did not want to risk taking it outdoors, exposing it to humidity that could cause the paper to curl and wrinkle.
I did go to Alabama Art Supply and purchase some clear plastic sleeves at 35 cents a piece—I bought 10. So, the art is all sealed up and waiting to be mailed. Now is the task of getting a study cardboard envelope in which to mail it. I don’t have any lying around, unfortunately. Still, I consider all this as a business investment. That feels so weird to say, but it means that I’m getting serious about my craft and publicizing the services I have to offer.
I’ve been thinking about this seriously for the past few weeks, and I will be creating some art pieces specifically for cards and prints. My mother gave me some encouragement when I spoke with her today about my plans. She was helpful in pointing out that I already had a few old graphics that I could easily put on notecards. Hopefully I can start producing these in the next week.
It’s good to get these things sorted out as the new year approaches.
You may also notice some slight changes to the layout of the blog. The new header is the most obvious thing. The old one has been up for about a year now, so I figured it was due for a change. After fighting with WordPress for the better part of 2 hours I finally got the upgrade installed and every thing working properly. There were several moments when I came a hair’s breadth away from taking my frustrations out on my poor MacBook *pets*, but I’m glad it didn’t come to that.
…and then there’s that novel that needs to be finished.
1 comment | December 12th, 2009
