Xi Shi

 

The next Ancient Beauty of the series - Xi Shi with imitation coy (since she was so beautiful that fish would forget how to swim and sink ;p). Might take a break before I finish the last two - to work on another portfolio piece since a workable composition finally came to me while at work today. Thank goodness it was truck day so I had ALL the cigarette boxes to break down and sketch thumbnails on...hey, it's better than drawing all over the receipt tape. lol...sigh -_- 

Wang Zhaojun

AhHa! Another update!! This is a revamp of Wang Zhaojun and a fanciful bird of paradise (since she was so beautiful that birds dropped dead from shame ;p). Stylistically I wanted it to be recognizable as something I would do and find visually appealing - but I more heavily referenced a different set of artists than I normally do in an attempt to start experimenting a bit more, pushing those style boundaries, etc.

Honestly I was most influenced by a set of prints that I purchased at CTN this year by Liana Hee of four geisha. I was drawn to them for several reasons, but most importantly because they are ATTRACTIVE. When I say they are attractive I mean that their simple shape language reads clearly, tells four individual stories that are cohesive as a set and they possess a certain charm that makes smiling irresistible. I hope that as I revamp the other three Beauties of China that I can also make them as attractive as Liana's geisha are. : )

Post CTN Surge

So. CTN was awesome. I saw many familiar faces, had the opportunity to speak with more artists that I admire (And purchase their lovely books and prints), sat in on many informative/amusing panels (Glen Keane's talk was totally worth the two hour wait in the rain and following cold), got a lot of promising feedback on my portfolio, and a few job leads - which means a portfolio revamp!

And thus...the above came into being.
Basically, I wanted to explore a character I had already created - still arguably the strongest in my existing portfolio - and give her the long awaited companion she's always blubbering about: Silvio!  (There is a specific sound that accompanies this piece in my head...something along the lines of a horse's whinny...because I think they are that deranged). The idea of Clarice and Silvio in the Comedia Del Arte "A Servant of Two Masters" is that they are more in love with the idea of being in love than with each other. It is a young, idealized love that makes them rather foolish and prone to extreme reactions (My favorite lines in the play being Silvio: I love you with all my heart! Clarice: Yeah? Well, I hate you with all my...SPLEEN) and other riddiculous-ness-es. Here I pictured them falling head over heels in their remedial love. Fun times.

More exciting stuff to come soon!! : )

More From Kit's Class

Another spare moment to post so here are the first two projects from Kit's Character Design Class: The Historical Costumes and the Yourself as a Super Villain. One might recognize Konstantin and Yelizaveta from a previous post - though with some modifications. In regards to the Evil Me, I thought about habits I would NEVER have (EWW SMOKING >P) and sought out a period of time and space in which I would have fun researching after the last project. My evil power is related to xenoglossy and clairaudience - I can speak in tongues or any other language and don't have to speak aloud to be heard - I get into your head and muck things up basically. My minions/victims are basically reduced to schizophrenia or other dissociative disorders and I get a good laugh out of how fun it is. I thought in that time of great excess I would delight in going over the top. 

Anyways, I hope to get around to coloring these in the next couple weeks when I get the chance. We'll see if time allows.

Just in Time

Argh! I have been so busy that I was beginning to worry I wouldn't get a chance to post this month...let alone have anything to post. Have been working two jobs, neither of which I am particularly fond of nor will cover upcoming expenses, and started refocusing on the portfolio for CTN. (Got my ticket and am so excited!!) Also decided to start a contest entry, try a digital master copy, and "unofficially" audit a class that was already 3-4 weeks in.
> <
So here are two still unfinished characters for Kit's first project that I hope to finish this weekend. I have dubbed them Konstantin and Yelizaveta. Their attire is Russian circa 1905 and the idea (Besides researching accurate costumes of the time) was to separate the two characters by age, social rank and gender. So hopefully they read as a younger man of lower economic status and an older woman of nobility. I'll admit I was mainly drawn to her hat (kokoshnik) and listened to the sound track of Fiddler on the Roof. ^^

This is only part 1 of 3 in the assignment, so it's safe to expect at least four more characters along these lines (In pairs) as well as the exercises that I missed at the start of the course.

So much to do. So little time. Guess I should get back to work. Cheers!