Week 11: Running Low on Subjects

See, there's a bunch of trees in the way and unless I want to draw another one of them there's not much I can see well from the balcony. But I'll be out running around tomorrow so hopefully something else will show up that I can scribble out real quick.

Anyway here's the shed that the maintenance guys use.

I also took the time to sketch some in SAI, actually more of a fully body this time (no pun intended). It's my female version of Castiel from Supernatural. She is unimpressed with something. Probably some demons messing with Dean.

Week 42 and 43 Squished Together

Due to National Novel Writer's Month and general business and a week-long slump, not much drawing happened when it was supposed to. Today, however, I finished a commission in one sitting that was going to be Week 43. Week 42, however, is nowhere near finished. So I'm switching them up. This is now Week 42:

This is a commission for a dear friend of mine of a little role play family that we write, and her late sweet kitty Thomas who died a few weeks ago. It's very sad and I wish I could make it better, but at least I could do this drawing of our way of immortalizing him.

This is what was originally meant to be Week 42. Yes, it's another couple dancing but I don't draw fanart of these two very often and I've never done anything colored or finished and pretty. So I dove in and then life happened as mentioned above. Hopefully I'll finish it within the next few days.

There'll be Peace When Week 16 Is Done

Actually no there won't because Finals are the week after this, and then the week after that I'm moving... assuming I have somewhere to live. But it goes with the song from the last title.

Guess who slacked off all weekend and didn't bother inking Sam or sketching Dean until about an hour ago. Nope, totally not this person.

Dean's crotch is too high up. Must fix.

Week 16 Carries On My Wayward Son

The good thing about the anime style, often sloppy though it is, is the bold black shading that it uses. This will make my job incredibly easy. I haven't started Dean yet, probably because I'm saving the most beautiful character for last.

Also, I have school work to show off this time!

For my final project in Advanced Painting, I chose to try a portrait of my art heroine, Frida Kahlo. It's coming along well, and I'm well aware of the oddities in her facial anatomy right now. They will be corrected soon but the lighting looks nice right now.

This is my second-to-last print for my Printmaking class, another intaglio. It's another case of me going where I was emotionally led and not caring about the implications.

Week 16 Has Free Will

That title probably only makes sense if you're really into the TV show Supernatural. That's okay, because that's the subject of this week's project.

I started watching the anime adaptation of the show over the weekend and while the animation quality is cheap and the whole thing is cheesier than the Tillamook Dairy, I'm quite enjoying it. I haven't done something overly "anime" styled in a while so I decided to try my hand at the show's style.

The short woman is a female version of Castiel (who isn't in the anime). Dean will be added shortly.

Week 5 Waves Goodbye and Week 6 Arrives

Aside from the fact that this looks nothing like Jensen Ackles anymore, the print turned out decently. I'm not sure what went wrong there.

Lithography is stressful (partly because of my instructor) and I plan to never do it again. Ever.

On a happier, more relaxed note, I started Week 6 last night at a craft night get together with a friend. The local Renaissance Fair is having a poster contest and it wouldn't hurt to enter. The theme is Springtime. I did a lost last night but there are far more details to add. The deadline is March 2nd, but no harm in having it done early and being able to fix anything before-hand.

Week 5 - He's a Son of a Gun

This morning I finished drawing on the lithography stone and there progress will halt until I print on Tuesday morning. There will only be eight prints on nice paper from this. After that the stone has to be washed off so that the next person can use it. I've already decided to give one away, but I'll hold onto the rest as long as I can.

In other news, my new computer has arrived! I picked it up from the Post Office this morning. The "shell" of it is an old Thinkpad, but the internal workings are wonderful and smooth. As long as it works the exterior isn't a big deal to me. It's running Windows 7 beautifully and I'm very grateful to have Google Chrome back, plus a large screen.

The mass installation of all my software will take place tonight once I'm home from work.

Week 5 - Daddy Was A Pistol

Oh look, another Jensen Ackles drawing. It's actually for the original intended idea for the previous one, being a print for my Intermediate Printmaking class. Basically I have to transfer it onto a giant slab of rock and then use said rock to make the print. It's actually a bigger pain in the rear than I made it sound, but it's so labor intensive that I feel it deserves a whole week dedicated to it.

This is the sketch on paper that I did last night, using a photo as a reference. It's very scribbly at some points, but that's more of a tone reference for me.

And here's the start of my putting the image on the stone. I used transfer paper to put down the light basics and have been going over it again and adding lights and darks with special grease crayons and a grease resistant. The latter is what appears to be brown smudges here but will in fact be white in the final product. Basically those are the highlights. The border is just to keep me from printing or drawing too far out.

There won't be a ton of updates for this, but after the week I've had I think I deserve something of a break.

Week Three is Born to be Wild

I realize that is not the next line in the song, but the drawing is done now so I might a well use the title lyrics. Colored with Prismacolor pencils over Prisma color markers, plus a sharpie and a graphite stick.

No update for the painting today since I haven't worked on it since Friday morning.

Dean you are a very pretty man.

Week 3 Is Looking for Adventure...

...or whatever comes its way. I wasn't going to try and use that part of the line in a title by itself.

Something is still off about this lovely man's lips, which is why they aren't inked. They'll probably remain that way and just be implied with shading and color. I'm still undecided about the rest of the car interior but I really don't want to draw it. Maybe a nice medium gray background will make it unnoticeable how lazy I am.

Also, here's more or less the big reveal of the painting. It's a cover for Watership Down by Richard Adams. The rabbit (Hazel) won't be black when it's done, but with oils the key is to start dark and build up the light colors, so black seemed like a good way to sketch him in. He might also need to be larger.

I also added some more realistic trees in the background and put highlights on the roots, though they might need some toning down. They're a bit distracting.

Week 3 Heads Out on the Highway

You're probably seeing what I'm doing there with the titles for this week. Supernatural fan art is involved, I can't help it.

The only thing that still looks off about Dean is his mouth, but the lips will be less pronounced when it's finished and I'll move them a bit and that should solve things. Yes, he's looking out the window of his car but it's undecided how much of the interior I'll bother drawing.

The painting has made quite a leap just with the roots in the hole and the start of the lights and darks as well. Don't worry, the roots will have shades and highlights so they look less like veins/possessed worms/something else horrific.

And no, Amanda, it's not a cover for "Fraggle Rock". You're getting colder. ;)

Week 3 Gets Its Motor Runnin'

 Despite my hopes, the opportunity to start Week 3 early didn't really rise. That's fine, though. The two days of not having to worry about finishing a piece was probably healthy. There was homework to catch up on and a small amount of relaxing to do.

For this week, I want to do something of a portrait of Dean Winchester from the TV show Supernatural, as played by Jensen Ackles. There's something quite off about it right now but I can't put my finger on it. I considered starting over but since I already started penciling in the rest so we'll keep it.

Also, if you guessed "The Hobbit" or any of  J.R.R Tolkien book for my Painting III project you were incorrect but close. The author is English and the characters do live underground. Still not giving the big reveal yet.

Week Thirty Closes

 Okay, this thing looks pretty darn cool. I have no idea what my professor will say on Wednesday, but I have no intentions of doing anything drastic to it.

Also, another sketch just for fun, Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester from Supernatural. Well, a more comic-style interpretation.