Birthday Girl Sketch

My best friend just turned 21...in Seattle! Since I couldn't be there for her birthday, I got a picture of what she wore on her birthday and did a quick photoshop sketch to commemorate it.

This sketch was inspired by the amazing art of Elsa Chang, who does these cute, clean little fashion sketches. I've been wanting to try out the style for a while now.

Taking Cues from Glen Vilppu

Tuesday morning's Anatomy class was going horribly...I kept fighting my tools to try to get a drawing that I could stand looking at. I got frustrated, and then I remembered what Will said about learning to draw...if you want to draw like the masters, then watch HOW they draw...how they hold a pencil, what kinds of lines they make, how they choose to capture the light, etc.

So after making a TON of awful drawings, which I won't post (heehee), I stood behind Glen for half an hour and just watched how he held his pencil, what kinds of lines he made, etc.

After being thoroughly inspired, I sat back down and captured the last pose of the day, which turned out looking, in a classmate's words, "Very Vilppu". Will gives good advice.

Here's the final:

Here's the other drawings of the day that are worth posting--a quick sketch and a face done from imagination based on what I've learned in both Karl and Glen's classes so far.

Doctor Who?

So I've been watching Doctor Who with my good friend Haley, who's a longtime fan. She decided I needed to get addicted to it, and thus we started the process. I really like the show so far...so intense!

Anyways, we were both in Karl's class today, and after doing a generic head template based on the demo, I shaded it and it just happened to turn out looking a LOT like Christopher Eccleston--the guy who plays the main character...

ANYways, I also did some more life drawing... :D Enjoy!

Heads and Hands with Karl Gnass

These are 5 minute poses from Karl Gnass's "Heads, Hands, and Feet" drawing class at the Guild. It's been really good so far.

In these ones we were studying specific expressions:

Lions and Tigers and Pears, Oh My!

More Composition!

Will often points out that people whose strength is in their drawing tend to ignore the compositional needs of their layouts and rely on their draftsmanship to "sell" their piece. As I looked over some of my work from his class last semester, I realized that I was definitely guilty of that offense.

I often get so into the drawing that I stop thinking about proportions, eyepaths, entrance and exit points, abstract shapes, and spacing...so I decided that this second time I'm taking Will's class (this time at the Guild), I'm going to focus solely on understanding and using simple graphic shapes to drive my compositions, even if that leaves less time for fancy drawing.

Argh, learning is hard!


Some compositional studies inspired by Paul Lasaine's abstract sketches (see his blog). He is such an amazing painter and draftsman, and yet he still spends time doodling abstract compositions on napkins in restaurants just to practice.

A New Hope:

Padme Inspired Fashion Sketches

As you can tell, the amazing art of Star Wars has been on my mind a lot lately--especially that of the amazing Iain McCaig. After perusing my collection of Padme concept art, I got inspired to do some fashion sketches of my own. Since I'm thinking of sewing my own clothes this summer, some of these might actually see the daylight, especially this first one:

 Here's a dramatic evening gown for Padme, complete with a couple of potential hairstyles to match:

Here are some experiments with shape and texture:

See this amazing sketch by Dermot Power (A Star Wars concept artist)??  --->

It inspired a slew of dresses based on a similar shape, some of which I might try to sew:

Kung Fu Panda and Tangled...

Hey y'all.

I recently bought both Kung Fu Panda and Tangled...what excellent movies! I love how, in both of them, you always know what each character is thinking even when no one's talking. Great animation, great boarding, great art!

Anyways, I did some expression studies of my favorite characters, using toned paper and a couple different pencils to get a feel for the volume of the character's faces as well as their expressions.

Tasty Melons and Shiny Grapes!

A second still Life from Nicole's class. She's the best. Her teaching has really helped me out. In fact, I used a lot of her concepts of "massing" and working the hard v. soft edges in my landscape painting from this weekend (see below :D).

After painting this, I ate the melon slice...Yum!

First Plein Air Painting!

The title pretty much says it all. My friend Haley, also an artist, called me up and asked if I wanted to go out and paint nature. I had always thought I'd get around to it, but to actually go and DO it? Wow! Yes! I was really glad she called :)

So we packed our bags, boards, brushes, and canvases, and drove to the Arroyo Seco under the Colorado St. Bridge. After walking the path for a bit we saw a gorgeous little bit of the stream with rocks and waterfalls, rolled our pants up, and took off through the mud, trees, spiderwebs, and streambeds. After trekking through nature for a few minutes, we reached our chosen spot and settled in on two rocks at the edge of the stream. I happened to look up and notice that the branch near me framed Haley so nicely...and I decided to put Haley in my first landscape painting :D...heehee.

Anyways, it was a total joy to sit with my feet in the mud (literally) and paint under the sun and trees. We took breaks to explore and do...nature-y things!

Here's the painting:

I don't know how I feel about that tree..
Anyways, here's a snapshot from my iPhone of what I was looking at while painting:

Still Life Painting Class!

This summer I'm taking 5 classes at the Guild. One of them is "Painting the Still Life" with instructor Nicole Duet. The first day of class was awesome...because Nicole is one of the best painting teachers I've ever had! She's so sweet and kind, but also so good at what she does. To top it all off, however, she actually teaches much more than many other instructors do. She gave us a long demo in the morning and explained everything she was doing--from which brushes and paints she used, how she set up her canvas, how often and when she used her mediums, what mediums to use, how much of them to use, etc etc etc.

Her clear explanation of a lot of the basics of painting was like a breath of fresh air! It was really refreshing to hear someone explain WHY we paint the way we do, and how to do some of the things that I'd only SEEN other instructors do but never learned how or why to do them myself.

Anyways, here was a quick value study of a couple of lemons. Enjoy.

Back, with a Space Pirate!

After a 2 week sabbatical (which really only lasted one week, at which point I got crazy and started being productive again...), I finally drew something :D

She is a space pirate. That's right. This morning my mom, sisters and I went to a used bookstore where I found "The Art of Star Wars: Attack of the Clones" for only 8.50! What a steal. After buying it (and spending hours drooling over Iain McCaig's delicious designs) I got really inspired to try a character design of my own.

Here's the final design sketch:

I started out with a basic body and posed it, then I added the clothes, which are heavily inspired by McCaig's egregious use of sweet hoods, awesome hairpieces, and general billowy-ness of fabrics...

Sigh. Someday...

I'm thinking about trying some digital coloring on this one. You may or may not see that, depending on whether or not it works :D

Learning time!!!!

Oh yeah, and this morning I had a dream in which I was wearing a very similar costume to this one...probably a manifestation of my desire to wear a sweet pirate outfit around! jeans suck.