Renewed Attempts

 

Incorporating more of my research...I'm taking yet another approach to this character. I still have much more development needed, but I feel like I'm getting much closer with this page. The finished "page" for her will probably be several pages long. XP
 

I had been close to finished on another important piece for a while, but then I had a break through (On a Sunday evening no less, so very hard getting myself to go to sleep for work the next morning after that epiphany) and scrapped it. Now the redraw is super close to finished and I feel super energized about it, so the painting will go speedy fast!! :) (Teaser below)
Then I should get back to that Fancy Bear...and some trees...lol 

Reference 1860-1865

I've been doing a fair bit of research (also a commission unrelated to this - don't know if I can post it yet) and while I didn't intend to post any of these sketches, Raul told me to and many people have found it helpful on DA. So I'm posting it here as well. In case it's not super obvious what I'm focusing on, it's the years 1860-1865 and comparisons between Japan and generalized Western countries. Dozo...

This and That

The Bar Tender. Who *spoilers* dies and causes Lola to become an alcoholic. After drawing so many girlies, it was a bit challenging, but also fun. Surprisingly so I might add.

Most of the working weekend was actually spent sewing.

Yeah, sewing. I shrank an existing pattern I had waaaaay down and attempted to make a miniature corset. It's been a little while since I was able to do such a project and I enjoyed it immensely. I think it shows that I'm a bit rusty, but I'll post the in progress photos...so you have an idea of how tiny I'm talking. lol

Also at the bottom is the progress on the face-sculpt I had started a while back. The character design has and is still evolving so I've stopped working on it for now - until I settle on something that works. 

Anyways, that's all for now! Going to do some Magic Box homework, so that will be fun. ; )

Onisan

Update to the Onisan Project! : ) Much happier with her this go and had fun with the prop design - not normally something I do, but enjoyable. Might be making a tropical pit stop before I continue with Oni himself, which I plan to combine with the Magic Box Month 3 lesson. Learning ALL the things. Drawing ALL the things. Not sleeping much...a fair trade in my eyes...not for the people I work with. lol

Character Sketches

Working on a new character, not "new" new, but new enough? Actually starting to get frustrated with her. I'm NOT a fan of the early Victorian hairstyles in Europe because they make everyone look old, manly and snobbish, so I fudged the historical accuracy hoping it would help make her look younger and a bit more feminine. (Aiming for a sophisticated early twenties) Trying to "stretch" her more and loosen her up since I imagine her as an animated character, but that too is proving hard since the further I try to push her, the further off model or awkward she starts looking. I was told that of the 6 drawings (3 of which I decided to scrap on account of said frustration) all of them looked like different people and were done in a completely different style. No suggestion was given as to how that could be remedied. A turn around was recommended to nail her features in place and give her a standard silhouette, but the first attempt (Not posted here) looked soooooo dead stiff that I felt it in my bad knee, took a pain killer and went to bed early. >< (Yesterday was kind of a nightmare anyway, so it was like...crowning achievement of FAIL)

Magic Box Fancy Miss Punky

 A bit late, but here none the less! This is what I am working on now - a fancy Miss Punky. For those who don't know - Miss Punky is my boss's PomChi (Pomeranian + Chihuahua) who likes to eat your foods and have her tummy rubbed. She's surprisingly quiet; she'll sit and watch you until you pet or feed her. If she's really hungry she'll do a little dance. Her winter hair cut makes her look like Simba from The Lion King. She's a sweetheart.

The painting above was done by George Romney. I chose it for this project for a variety of reasons, but mostly because of her hat. I felt like Miss Punky needed a ridiculous hat.

This is part one of four (I think), so hopefully before the next assignment comes out I'll at least have part two or three posted.
So far this project has been enjoyable, if not amusing to my boyfriend. : )

In other news, my prints and new business cards arrived for the art market this Saturday and they are looking mighty nice. Well, the business cards are a little off, but all the information is readable which is the important part. The image itself isn't cut off either. And I only ordered 100, so if they go half as fast as they did at DCC I don't anticipate leftovers for CTNX. So the next order should come out better. But the prints themselves are BEAUTIFUL and FOR SALE.

Said boyfriend will also be there at the art market. He will be doing a live painting "demo" of a creature...which from what I've seen of the prep work he's been doing...will certainly be interesting. I won't say more than that since everybody should come check it out!

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!

ASUBB: Insect Sketches

A random sampling of slightly older sketches from ASUBB while I keep working on the final output. All the kids in their party clothes plus Mama and Papa Fa Floridian looking grumpy as always. I feel like my feet are dragging on this one, which is very unfortunate, but I still aim to have a large enough buffer so I can start posting pages at the end of July. I guess that means it's time to stop commenting here and get back to work!