A Highly Successful Commission

2009 June 21
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click for fullsize

This was a commission to repaint the Twilight poster with my friend’s husband Edward and cat Bella. ….it’s a satire, if you were wondering.

A Few Oldies

2009 June 19

Between the state of my wrists, some family things and the fact that it’s summer, I haven’t been making a whole lot of new art recently. Or rather, what I am working on I am working on so slowly it doesn’t show up on the internet.

So here’s a retrospective of things I have done. This ain’t fine art, this is what I drew when I had free time in highschool and university, and this is the person that wants to draw things for videogames.

Here, let’s start with a few randoms – most of these drawings were cached in story ideas for comics or videogames or novels, but things don’t often go where you want them to, and then eight years later all you have is adorable and amusing drawings to remind you of the good old days.

Parachute-cape-wearing character. Like the rainforest background? Surrealist watercolour gift for my grandmother. Watercolour fanart of a ravergirl for a friend's long-lost epic Toronto webcomic. Corel Painter drawing of a pirate person. Androgyny for the win! Corel Painter drawing of a desert guy (hah! man I had no idea what a turban looked like!) on a two-legged camel-dinosaur. Painter doodle of a furry. Yep. A furry. A fox-boy. Wearing an oversized hat. Reeeeeeally old photoshop drawing of a small kid and a phoenix. Like the bubbles? Painter painting of a wolf and a ... large-eared cat thing? Gift for a friend, coloured in photoshop, regarding a large patchwork coat she'd sewed herself. Painter painting of a girl wearing some nice capris and holding a pencil like an epipen. God knows why. Lomy! A photoshopped colouring job on a ballpoint pen drawing. Drawing of an elf who fights with a bo. An elf design photoshopped after reading tutorials by the artist of Mac Hall.

I’ve done my fair share of fanart, as well:

Fanart of Sparrowhawk (Ged) from LeGuin's Earthsea books. Note the angst-scars, staff and hoeg. Legend of Zelda fanart! A few discrepancies, but regardless, pretty cute. Painter again. Fanart of Scott Morse's Ancient Joe. Cept, turns out, Joe's a few different colours.

Now for the high-concept original stuff! These demons were designed, I think, mostly for the helluvit.

Photoshop painting of a demon with a quote from the Pope redefining "hell" in the Catholic church. A younger demon design. Demon design with more crosshatching. An adult demon with adjusted horns. I never did figure out how those would grow in without breaking into the skull.

These three are for an epic fantasy story I was working on. There was lots of sexy betrayal and sad landscapes and gore involved.

A lost-princess character all decked out for a fight. Hah, lookit the spikes!Two characters from a fantasy story, coloured hideously, at the point of betrayal. Oh photoshop. More tacky photoshopping for that fantasy story. But hey! Look! Environment design!

These are a few quick concepts for a story I had written to take place in a farmhouse. I had never, at this point, been inside a farmhouse except at Black Creek Pioneer Village.

Character design for a story about a farm. My god, everyone I drew used to be so thin! Scene illustration with farmgirl and bobcat. I think I might have made the cat's head a little big, eh?

These are raven demon designs for a story set in Quebec in the late 17th century.

Raven warrior design, colerase pencils. Raven warrior design, inked. My god, so skinny! Raven warrior design hanging from a tree. Creeeepy. Raven demon face designs, coloured in painter I think.Rorke, a raven demon in a fantastic suit. Rorke, the raven demon in a suit, and Seiquie, a poorly-named character who for once isn't terrifyingly thin!

These are some more artsy things I worked on in the first few years of university that I think are still kind of hilarious/awesome.

Mural painted on temporary construction fence at York U in second year Self Portrait from first year painting class. Watercolour gift for my grandmother, of her garden Portrait of a friend from second year painting class A thumbnail drawing for a watercolour that was stolen before it was finished. Portrait of my friend Bryn telling me to f*** off.

Anyways, hopefully that’s hilarious and interesting for you, too, internet! I know I was pretty amused, digging through to find all this.

Everything’s in Progress

2009 June 2

Gig in Progress

I know I’ve been pretty AWOL around here since that portfolio was finished, and I’m sorry! I’ve got a lot of things on the go, but nothing’s getting done. So I present to you some process work from one of the composition studies I did. A little value here, and hopefully I’ll get you a nice finished version one of these days! Your patience is appreciated.

Art Classes!

2009 May 8

The art studio I’m part of is starting to offer art classes and workshops! I’ll be teaching some comic courses for teens on Tuesdays, and Amanda’s going to be running kids’ art workshops on Saturdays, and rumour has it there will be felting and other handicraft workshops by our resident assemblage experts Kally and Lindsey. It’s all very exciting!

Details, as you’re clearly aching to know more, are here: 685queen.wordpress.com/art-classes/

That Oil Painting I Bragged About

2009 May 7

Here’s four progress shots and the finished oil painting:

Frankly That Thing Doesn't Really Interest Me Frankly ... Progress 1 Frankly ... Progress 2 Frankly ... Progress 3

Click for full size.

Click for full size.

I got into school!

2009 April 29
by portablecity

I got into school!! I’ll be going to Max the Mutt for Concept Art in September! I am outrageously excited, and intend to just get more excited as the summer continues. Ahh, the sweet payoff of an awful lot of hard work this past month. Anyways, that’s what all that was about, and it worked! I got in! Huzzah!

Finished Watercolour Paintings

2009 April 27

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Colour Studies and Composition Drawings

2009 April 27

I was more productive than it looks here…

2009 April 5
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Ta-dah! A second still life (a little cropped due to minimal scanning surface and laziness) and another composition design, this time with astronauts! I also flash-coloured it in photoshop, because that is how I roll. I am more than half-done the oil painting but I’m gonna save all the process stuff to display with the finished work. Patience all round, eh?

Oil Painting is Blowing my Mind

2009 April 3

One of the requirements for this portfolio is a finished oil painting. I believe it specifies that one uses shape and colour to render objects in space.

I seem to pick up my oil paints once every three years, for some one-off assignment, and every time I do I am amazed at how incredibly intuitive they are to use. All my frustrations with acrylics and gouache, all those times when I end up resorting to drybrushing to blend colours, all those furious curses when I simply end up lifting up the colours underneath instead of laying on the translucent coat I meant to – those are moot points with oil. Oil paints are so friendly!

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(click for full size)

I started my oil painting last night. I’m taking progress photos, so at some point I’ll try and remember to show you how it’s coming together. For the record, I’m reworking this particular Parables painting, “Frankly That Thing Doesn’t Really Interest Me” and having the time of my life with it. However: my first instinct with oil paints is to smooth out all the gradients and create a pristine surface. This is great when painting children’s skin and wine bottles, but only one of those elements is present in this painting. All my normal texturizing approaches are moot with oils, because they arise out of my incredible frustrations with acrylic and watercolour, and now I have to reimagine how one would create woodgrain, upholstery fabric, denim, old gum, crumpled paper… I suspect that there are a lot less easy cheats with oils. In fact, I suspect I will simply have to recreate a lot of the texture that arose naturally from my acrylic washes and the woodgrain by hand and by tiny little brush and by fanbrush and the like. I suppose that’s what makes this a learning experience, eh?

Anyways, hopefully I can wrap this up this weekend along with another big batch of still life and perspective and gouache exercises, and impress you all even further next week. Wish me luck!