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.
I’ve done my fair share of fanart, as well:
Now for the high-concept original stuff! These demons were designed, I think, mostly for the helluvit.
These three are for an epic fantasy story I was working on. There was lots of sexy betrayal and sad landscapes and gore involved.
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.
These are raven demon designs for a story set in Quebec in the late 17th century.
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.
Anyways, hopefully that’s hilarious and interesting for you, too, internet! I know I was pretty amused, digging through to find all this.
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/
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!
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?
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!
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!



























































