MYST: The Adora Saga

Hey Everyone!
As today is a snow day from work AND I finally feel like I'm getting over this second head cold I decided to get some artwork done today. First is an illustration I was commissioned to do for the 'Adora Blog' where hundreds of artists have created their own rendition of the adorable Adora and where her father blogs about her adventures. I chose my theme from a long list that was written out and when I saw MYST was an option, I jumped on it!

Done with a mix of pencil, colored pencil, ink, copic markers, and Photoshop.
I'm also currently working on an illustration for possible convention prints, finishing the second Alencia book, and doing thumbnails for Unintentionally Alice, a comic project Ryan and I are both working on. I'm also still trying to figure out how to turn my wordpress blog into the perfect portfolio/blog hub but just when I think I've got it figured out I realize I really don't. I'm gonna keep working on it but if anyone has any tips about how to have a porfolio page and a blog on there please let me know. Here is what I have so far if you'd like to take a look and give me your feedback. Idealy I'd like to have a tab for just my portfolio (so it's kind of like my Carbonmade page) and then on another tab have the blog part where I can talk about WIP and my creative process. At this rate I might just stick to blogger and Carbonmade but it just doesn't feel quite professional enough :/

Anyway thanks in advance for any feed back!
Back to work for me!

Vanishing Man

I remember a few months ago seeing some illustrations, I think they were art deco in style, where there was a solid black background and some figures in the foreground of who you could only see their heads and hands, their bodies were suggested in the black background. I thought it was really interesting and fed right into my love of using spot blacks in my comic work so I drew up this little drawing of Lor and her Necromancer friend looking determined.

Done on postcard sized Deleter paper with ink, colored in Photoshop.
Been doing some writing of Lor's stories, hoping to get started on some sample comics soon to start getting a feel for how I want to do them (actually did one in my sketchbook, going to scan it soon!). And yes I will finish that Alencia book soon >_>

2013 Art in Review

Decided to follow suite with Jingles and post my own 2013 art summery. It feels like ages since I've done any prop making but I'm hoping to get back to work on my Alencia statue soon. I just picked up this awesome book and I'm ready to take another go at it.

I'm hoping to barrel through this year doing more and learning more~

New Years WIP

Hello all! I hope you all had a fun and safe new years celebration!

I spent today aggressively cleaning my house, leveling up Pokemon, and trying to work on some digital work that I've been meaning to finish. Case in point, my Lor the Gravedigger illustration that I started earlier this year. I was happy to find that through my work on it today I was able to figure out how to successfully (in my opinion) draw blood/gore. I also decided to try and simplify the bushes in the background. I was trying to do a more 'painterly' style with them and I've finally realized that kind of style just doesn't work for me. I just can't work with it successfully so I tried to break down the shapes and shades even more. I feel like I'm about 90% done with it. I've also realized since the entire scene was put together after drawing and coloring Lor herself, I don't think the lighting will ever be 100% correct. But I'm okay with that. I'm really happy with the track this piece is on and thought I'd share that. Hoping to finish it up soon!

December Doodles

Hi all! I hope everyone had a lovely holiday! I've been really busy at work but now that the holidays are winding down I'm looking forward to some early spring cleaning and getting more work done! In the mean time here are a few things I've done lately.

A drawing done for my friend Seir of her beautiful ball jointed doll who seems to have a life of her own.

A little WIP drawing of a mori style girl. I've been really into 'Dark Forest Mori' and 'Strega' styles recently and even picked up some great wardrobe pieces today. I love the layering of textures and fabrics as well as the darker nature themes. More on that soon.
I've got some more work coming up but most needs to be scanned. In the mean time here's a tl;dr to do list for myself:

+ Finish setting up online store (photos and descriptions, take inventory)
+ Finish branding research and set up
+ Set up website, hosting and domain name
+ Finish second Alencia book
+ Choose conventions to show at and set up registration and plans for attending said cons.
+ Get house cleaned up and sorted

Lots of work to do...

Happy International Lolita Day!

Hello everyone!

I break away from hectic overtime and bad weather to give you a frilly drawing. I found out this morning it is International Lolita day (one of two such days a year: one in winter and one in the summer). Since I was at work all day I didn't have the opportunity to dress up so I thought I'd post this drawing I did over the last two days as a mild stress reliever. It features 'Seraphim' my reluctant Lolita Magical Girl/Super hero. She was originally part of the 'Spork Bunny' story and started as a gag character yet I found myself developing her pretty well. I would really like to do a mini comic about her some time describing her background and personality traits more.

Done with Copic multiliners, Copic Markers, and colored pencil on A6 sized Deleter comic paper ('postcard sized').

Day 15?

Hey guys!
So my hands are hurting a bit from work today so instead of drawing a new sketch I'll be sharing a never before seen illustration that I did a few months ago. This is part of my Elder Scrolls fan book project collecting illustrations and comics, as well as photos of props I've made, having to do with the Elder Scrolls games (as well as showing my love for them).

This illustration features my Oblivion character Mureil the Shadow Bard. Its my personal headcannon that she is the grandmother of my Skyrim character Merion the Lioness.
Here she is offering glow dust to the shrine of Azura while she is also being rewarded for completing Azura's quest by receiving 'Azura's Star.'

In other news it turns out I'm going to have over time ALL WEEK starting tomorrow so I'll be working 10 hour days and getting home by about 1am every night. Which will be taking up the night hours that I usually work on these sketches so I'm hoping I'll have time in the mornings to get these done but just in case I don't I'll try to share more finished works that I've been unable to share previously (or have just forgotten about) so you'll have something nice to look at while I'm gone. So bare with me, this week will be a bit rough :/

In the mean time be sure to keep up with podcasting machine El Goro, as he reviews a movie every day with "31 Days of Halloween."

Day 3

Hey Everyone!

Chugging along with Day 3 of "Doodle a Day October." Today Alencia joins in the fun and writes in her journal after a successful ghost-busting in a graveyard.
I may revisit this later but for now I'm off to an impromptu dentist appointment!

Don't forget to check out El Goro's "31 Days of Halloween" podcast where he reviews a horror movie every day for the month of October! Today's review is 1932's "Vampyr."

Doodle Day 2

Hey Everyone!

I'm back with Day 2 of my "Doodle a Day" project for October. Today I bring you an elven explorer about to find more than she bargained for on a dungeon crawl...

Stay tuned for more!

And don't forget to check out El Goro's blog for his "31 Days of Halloween" podcast project where he reviews a horror movie every day for the month of October! For day 2 he reviews Alfred Hitchcock's "The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog" from 1927. Talk about celebrating Halloween with style!

Colored Pencil Alchemy

Greetings everyone!
I was going to wait until the weekend to post but I thought I'd give you an early Labor Day treat. I realized recently that I hadn't posted any of the more time consuming illustrations that I had done for my Elder Scrolls Art Book project so I thought I'd share one with you today.

This one is of my Skyrim favorite, Merion the Lioness. She's not very good at Alchemy, and can only really make basic healing potions, so here she is slaving over an Alchemy table trying everything in her inventory to gain stats or make something she can at least sell. For this one I decided to use some earthy brown paper I picked up at Micheal's on clearance. I was eager to try some lighting effects with colored pencils and ink for contrast. I'm quite happy with it. I used this paper for a few of the illustrations so far but I will also be mixing it up with some watercolor and digital illustrations as well.

Stay tuned for more! I have a three day weekend coming up. Which means lots of time for working on projects so I'll have more to share coming up!

Of Eladrin and Amulets

Hey Everyone!
I'm back from Megacon and finally settling back into regular old life again :P I'm securing another second job (and possibly one full time job if the stars align in my favor) so I've been busy since getting back. However I did have a super fun awesome time and even got to see some old friends.

Here is the illustration I got to give to Wil Wheaton of his D&D Character Aeofel.



And here is the autograph I got from him too. The whole thing was a proud moment for me and I'll never forget it.


Next is an inked sketch from my sketchbook. I was having fun drawing my Dovakin, Merion, while waiting for the plane to arrive. This scene is from a quest in the game where she discovers this powerful book and while looking at it realized it was made of various kinds of skin (blood samples from each race of elves was needed to open the container it was in so looking back it probably didn't have human skin on it) but when you open the book you can choose which 'path' you follow and it levels you up in a bunch of stats. I reached a whole new level just from reading it :P But then it disappears...



Upon getting home I had to do some inking with my brush once more. I dearly missed inking with it while I was gone. Ink brush withdrawls anyone? Also added some Typography for fun and tried to make Merion look a bit more scratched up and weather-worn.



ALSO managed to find the perfect beads I had been looking for for my Amulet of Dibella. I tried in furious vain last night to sculpt the little leaves that are meant to be strung with the beads but I just couldn't get them right. The amulet itself is sculpted smaller than it looks when worn by a character. I think it looks too big and garish in the game so I made it smaller. But now with the leaf charms it's backfiring on me. I can't make them to scale no matter what I try. The leaves will not look exactly the same I'm afraid. I'm going to come back to it and try again later. For now this is my 'simplified' version of the Amulet of Dibella.



Next will be the Amulet of Mara! One of my favorite items, and diety, in the game! Also one of the more complicated pieces but I'm confident if I pace myself with sculpting it I can make it look as nice as the original. I'd like to make it as part of an 'Agent of Mara' cosplay one day. The priest robes aren't too complicated and I can pass around the little Mara pamphlets from the game :P Here's a peek!

WIP Grave Digger

Here are some WIP screen shots of an illustration I'm currently working on.

It started as a doodle of my new Grave Digger character but soon I realized I wanted it to be something more.

I started lightly sketching in a background and some little monsters for her to be fighting off with her shovel. At first I drew little imp-like creatures but I felt they looked too sympathetic so I decided to try out some more bestial creatures. I tried to mix rats with possums and make them look slightly more alien with extra eyes and boney extrusions on their backs.

After about 7 hours total, this is where I'm at now. I'm quite pleased so far but constantly finding things that need tweaking or adjusting. However digital drawing and coloring is something I feel I need more practice in so this has been a very fun and beneficial practice piece so far.

I'll be posting more WIP shots as I continue~

Exsocism by Tears

I lost my main job today (the one that actually gave me hours to work). Just as emotions swelled and overwhelmed me I painted this. And I honestly just feel so much better.

Watercolor, graphite, conte' pencil, ink pen on watercolor sketchbook paper.
5.5" x 8"

Tripple L

A little watercolor illustration in response to a comment from a friend about a wrestling name she made up for me.

THE LACEY LAMBASTING LOLITA!

The clothing designs are from various brands but I changed the colors to match a purple/lavender color pallet. I also wish I had that wig.

Maids and Dwarves

Had some time between jobs recently (before the black friday/weekend rush) so did some art-ing.

My maid character Alice during a service rush.
Pencil, Watercolor and Ink on 90lb watercolor paper, 5.5”x8”

Some digital WIP doodles of a new Dwarf guy and new costume for my poison brewer/necromancer Zona.

More to come soon, if I survive this weekend :P

Day 13

Hello all! So for today's drawing I did an ink illustration of some corpses and chrysanthemums. The corpses are inspired by the Cappuccini Catacombs of Palermo, Sicily. I found out about this spooky place after doing research for a college illustration project and it's stuck in my mind ever since. It's the only place I've seen that displays the bodies of people on their walls, on hooks, and in glass coffins. I heard it was considered an honor to have your body rest here but it never fails to make me feel uneasy. I personally feel like the remains of the dead need to be treated with a certain level of care and respect and while the customs here are accepted, I still feel uneasy about it all. But I think that's part of why it has stuck with me. Aside from this place giving me feelings of unease, I still respect it as the bodies of the dead were cared for and even preserved very carefully, including ritual visits from family members and even changing the clothing of the dead to be more presentable. Aside from Egyptian pharaohs I haven't heard of anyone taking so much care with the dead in contemporary times.

I also added chrysanthemums as they are a customary funeral flower in Italy (and must not be used for anything other than funerals).

Be sure to check out El Goro's latest podcast review for "31 Days of Halloween" with the movie "House."

Day 10- Hail Gozer!

Greetings all! Day 10's entry comes a little late in the day today since I wanted to finish it properly. Thanks to a suggestion from my handsome partner in crime Ryan, I tried my hand at painting Gozer the Gozerian of the first Ghost Busters movie. She was a lot of fun to paint and I had a good time playing with the colors.

Be sure to check out El Goro's newest "31 Days of Horror" movie review of THE DEADLY SPAWN!

Mistress of the Dark

When I was in late middle school/early high school I saw the first Elvira movie. Despite being a bit more prudish at the time, I thought Elvira was just such an awesome lady. She didn't care what people thought of her, and was sassy and confident. I wanted to be like her in these respects. Then later in high school I got to meet Cassandra Peterson at a sci-fi convention in London. She was super nice, absolutely gorgeous, and signed my DVD of her first movie. I still admire her to this day.

I think I got all the desire for red wash out of my system. I promise I won't abuse it anymore ;3;

Be sure to check out El Goro's newest podcast review for the 1976 movie "Satan's Slave."

Trickster Spirit

Today's Illustration is a creature I've designed for a future Alencia story. This creature is actually an enchanted mask that entraps the spirit of anyone who puts it on. In the story (so far at least) there are two of these masks that have spirits attached to them. They float around in the tomb they are imprisoned in collecting bones that they use to construct their 'bodies.' Because of this they can arrange the bones into what ever form they want. If they want to be snake-like they can, if they want lots of limbs they can. If they want to combine themselves into a bigger monster, THEY CAN. So I'm having lots of fun with them so far, but still have things to iron out. Today's illustration is one of them after it has torn apart some fresh prey to take its bones.

Also decided to stick to graphite and watercolor with this one. I think prefer the results when using ink and water color but I suspected a lot of the bone detail would be lost with the brush pen. Still quite happy with it and the layering I did with all the blood/gore.

El Goro's podcast today covers the 1960 movie "Jigoku." Check it out!

Note: Tomorrow's update might be late. I'll be out of town for the day, then going right into work that evening. I'll try to update that afternoon/night or twice on Saturday.

Offering

Hello all!

I have returned from my emergency trip to my Uncle's funeral and started back at work. I've been busy with that, trying to get portfolios printed for job applications and things are feeling stressful and at times overwhelming. To combat this I treated myself by picking up a copy of Skyrim that was on sale (Don't worry, I will be limiting my playing time). So as an offering of being absent and artless while I sort things out, here is a portrait of my character, Ciel DreadHawk.

Done with non-photo blue pencil, Pocket pentel brush pen, and PhotoShop CS5.5