Psychic Consultant

I worked on this business card and poster design for my friend who needed some representation visually for her palm and tarot readings. Henceforth, her business card! If you're in the Bay and need some psychic advice or consultation, don't hesitate to contact Madame Dragonfly! (dragonflyshan@gmail.com)

A Feast

Aha! Some work!


Here is an illustrated attempt for a book cover for the novel "A Feast for Crows" by George R.R. Martin. Now don't let this mislead you; "Feast" is still my least favorite book of the series and took some time to get through all that Cersei, and yet whom do I draw?! Well, I had a sketch from a life drawing class some time ago which I liked and it reminded me of Cersei so I started a random drawing on some bristol and when my final for a SciFi/Fantasy class came up.... Henceforth what thine eyes see!


I'm learning and gaining some comfort in Painter and I must say it's surprising for me to not be yelling at the computer nearly as much when working on it, much less begin to think of working digitally! Gasp! I know, I who struggled so hard against it, am becoming very entranced and interested in working digitally. The time has come.

The drawing was still traditional. ~_^

House of Leaves

Cover for book "House of Leaves" by Mark Z. Danielewski

and I also drew an interior illustration as well (the scene where Johnny falls down the stairs with the tattoo ink after facing off with the creature in the dark; his fall covers him in the ink and he feels himself becoming lost in the darkness)

This was for the Midterm for my Digital Painting class, which, I must say, I am intensely happy that I ended up taking. Learning a lot and actually getting excited about working on the computer! Gasp!

Figure Drawing

I just wanted to share with you all this lovely site which provides both nude and clothed figures in various poses. You can set the timer for 30 second gestural warm-ups, 1 min, 2 min, or even 30 min. I look forward to the site expanding their images but even where it stands now, it's a pretty damn useful tool.


Here are some sketches I did from the site a week or two back.

Now let's all get drawing!

War Days, First Comic

Anyone remember years ago (okay, maybe it was just one year but you know how procrastination and self-loathing can stop a gal from drawing and inking) I mentioned I wanted to make some comics about my experiences going to Catholic grammar school? Well, the first comic is done. Hopefully it won't take me another year to do one more because that would be pretty damn pathetic.

King in the North : Reprise

And so came the time for me to finish the drawing inspired by A Song of Ice and Fire, "The King in the North!"

The sad part was that the sheet of bristol the drawing was originally on (drawing on the left) started falling apart after the first wash and lifting of whites. Yikes! So I had to transfer the drawing to some hot press illustration board I had. So begins the laborous process!

Since I lack both the epic light table I so desire, as well as that fancy stuff called transfer paper, I went the old, cheap faithful method I learned from Fred Nelson: graphite on the back, then trace over. The only thing is it was exceptionally light, and of course I needed to work on the line art again anyway, but now it REALLY needed more definition.

However, I must say I like how his expression and face came ut better this time. Watch the drawing appear out of thin air!

Tada! The finished line art in H pencil with shadows. Now for that sweet, sweet ink....

Blue wash in process... this was what the bristol just would not stand for...

Finished blue! But I wanted to add a touch more color; I do enjoy working in a limited palette but I wanted the light source to have a bit more feeling.

The finished product! I ended up going over some parts with a black carbon pencil to darken up, add more contrast and attention to the main points of interest. I plan on experimenting how different pencils, pastels, and charcoal hold up with ink wash. Time for further experimentation!

The King in the North ; Winter is Coming.

Drawing Dump

It is as I said... and here, a dump of drawings from the summer.

One of my last from Anatomy... finally starting to get the hang of white charcoal pencil on toned paper.

I really enjoyed drawing this model. She had a lot of energy and beautiful curves (including her lovely hair!)

Loved her hair cut and the look-away.

I now have a thing for drawing backs... mmm, back muscles...

Something about this model (and I've drawn her a few times in varying classes) reminds me of Brienne of Tarth... (yup, still hooked on that crack)

Ba-da-bum-bum, Ba-da-bum-bum

That's meant to be the opening tune to A Game of Thrones.. phonetically sung via type.

Yes, you could say I'm a bit obsessed... absorbed... but there's nothing like getting swept up into a new series and taken away by it.

Having said that, of course when the assignment of a still life for my Expressive Drawing course came up, I was in my A Song of Ice and Fire throes. And so I give you... "Winter is Coming"

One of the most interesting things I learned about this Summer semester was the wonder that is Matte medium and collage. Of course this technique sprung to mind when I thought of my still life subject matter. Words! Glorious words!

And here is the finished result.

Art Reproductions Now Sold (at German expense!)

Hark!

I'd like to share some sweet news. You can now purchase various reproductions of my selected works from Art Flakes!

For those of you interested, check out my store at Art Flakes.

And just so this post isn't merely promotional, here's a Master Copy of a Michelangelo drawing I did this summer.

I used india ink and a Hunt 105, maybe with a bit of a 107 too. Lots of fun and really got me thinking of those crazy overlaps and folds of the figure. My favorite part... the unfinished turkey leg. Yeah. It was like that.

And Another is Vanquished!

Summer semester has finished once more! I must say, this has been my favorite semester at AAU yet. Anatomy for

Artists and Expressive Drawing... both classes nurtured my favorite things about drawing--the human figure and experimentation! I'm happy to say I've learned a few things, be it muscles of the body or the wonder that is matte medium.

So, what happens after the end of every semester? Lots of scanning, photographing, and re-working! Uh, not to mention drinking copious amounts of coffee while sitting at home, basking in the freedom of each day.

For now, take a gander at these life drawings done on toned paper. More to come as the digitization proceeds.

The interlocking of forms is something I've heard before when drawing the figure, but this concept really was hammered in and made more sense to me now. Check out that ankle.. aww, yeah.. interlock into that foot.

On a surprising note, I never thought I would actually come to LIKE charcoal. Accept, begin to grasp its benefits, sure... but actually think about using it in my own time?! Toned paper, charcoal pencils, and white pencil.... pretty sweet. Now to experiment with colored pencils as well.

Oh, and have I mentioned how sweet Sanguine pencils/conte is?

The King in the North! The King in the North!

Drew this yesterday in my Expressive Drawing class. I've been pretty obsessed with The Song of Ice and Fire series after getting hooked from the tv show---I know, I know, I'm late to this fantasy party train full of weeping, but the show Game of Thrones is the best damn adaptation I've seen. Hence, Robb Stark as the King in the North. My scanner cropped it a bit since the original is a bit too large, but I have plans for coloring this bad boy in the future.

THE KING IN THE NORTH! THE KING IN THE NORTH!

Quest for the Night Wisps

Next Illustration down! My final for Watercolor class this past Spring has been fixed up and is good to go. I illustrated a scene from Phantom, by Terry Goodkind.

First I illustrated the scene after some thumbnails and color roughs. Once the composition was chosen, I had my wonderful boyfriend pose for me, scoured the internet for references, visited the Redwoods here in Oakland to get in the forest mindset (and to take good reference photos), then drew the basic illustration to size, working on getting proportion, scale, etc all right.

I was told about this sweet technique for watercolor in which you use a H pencil (MUST be Hard, and Bs will just smear) to draw and shade however much you'd like, then lay the watercolor over the pencil for a nice texture to show through. Definitely will be doing more of this.

Then a wash of blue for the underlayer....

and a whole bunch more until the finished product (probably should have taken more process shots, but it was the frenzy of finals afterall...)

"In the moonlight, Richard immediately noticed that there was something wrong with the trees. It looked as if they were all dead. The fat, squat trunks were twisted and gnarled. The bark had started to come away in ragged strips. The bent and distorted branches looked like claws reaching out to snatch anyone who dared enter the place" (oh, and

there's a lot of skulls and corpses everywhere, too).

~ Phantom, The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind

Sexy Bear is Sexy

I present to you my favorite in class painting from my Spring semester at AAU. Sexy Bear is sexy. Once my instructor added that bear prop with the girl I was intrigued; when he put the mask on the bear I was hooked.

This is the first of an onslaught of work I'll be posting from the Spring now that I've survived. There was an ASSTON of painting and I must say... oil painting is difficult. I do enjoy the process and experience of painting and will continue to paint in the future, but I feel like it may just be for pleasure for now. Until I experiment a bajillion times more with the medium, I'm not confidant to call it my own.

My experience with watercolors on the other hand.... There will most definitely be more of that in the future.

Now, without further ado, more pictures.

He's watching you....

Aaa....

...aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!!

Lots and lots of painting! And I'm still not that good at it... but gotta level up my oil paint skills somehow. This semester is pretty crazy, so it's impossible for me to make a coherent post right now. I hope you enjoy the in process painting photos (and random model set-ups/pretty flowers).

Yonder Forsaken

Here are linearts for illustrations I've been working on/had in line to finish correcting and developing. However, it may be due to looking at them and fudging with them one too many times but I've decided to abandon these drawings in lieu of just starting over with completely new concepts. But there were still some qualities about them which nagged at me not to abandon... so here they are for your viewing pleasure alone. I doubt they'll see the light of day again, but each allowed me to learn a lot in the process of drawing it.

Attempted Illustration: a one point fantasy city scene

What I liked about it: the fact that it's a background heavy illustration. Also, I am still fond of the figure walking away with the cat. I also enjoy one point perspective for bringing the scene in on a specific point.

Why it's getting trashed: there are one too many little things to correct which makes me just want to start anew. The details in the infrastructure can be better. Also, the figure in the left peaking around the corner has one too many anatomical things wrong with it so I feel it'd be best to start from scratch.

What I learned: Detail, details, details. I need to be more patient and take the time to add some for heightened realism, as well as visual interest. Personally, I find those things impressive and inviting in illustrations--particularly background-heavy ones. But I can certainly say I feel 100% comfortable with 1 pt perspective now with all its little nuances.

Attempted Illustration: a scene from the book Phantom in The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. This is one of the main characters, Kahlan, trying to save a little girl from the Sisters of the Dark who just slaughtered her parents.

What I liked about it: all the details in the clothing, which I still feel is pretty decent. Also, the pose of Kahlan (the woman grabbing the girl) is still pretty good to me.

Why it's getting trashed: Not seen here is the background I incorporated. It was a little too wonky with one too many perspective issues (I believe it was a 3 pt or 2pt vertical). Background aside, the pose of the girl still has some problems--the foot in the foreground is bothersome. Also, I feel that I could have made her look younger. The anatomy isn't terrible, but it could be better.

What I learned: Motherfucking boots. Look at those sons of bitches. Awesome. You should see the lumpy, formless rainboot it originally was. I also worked pretty hard on the proportions and pose, but still feel that it falls short. I made some ground, but there's still more to do.

Attempted Illustration: Space Future, Go! a take on a scene from the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast

What I liked about it: Look at that beast! How cute is he? Also, it was so fun to draw all those tentacles and I think they came out pretty good overall. I also like the clothing and pose (mostly) of the Beauty. The overall concept of the illustration I'm fond of, even if there is no remaining Beauty and the Beast storyline elements at this point (in previous versions there was more furniture and developed background)

Why it's getting trashed: I started coloring the illustration but just couldn't get over those knees on the girl. Also, her face is... meh. I wanted to be able to work on the drawing larger in order to correct these things, but was already somewhere around 12x18 or 18 x24... I'd already worked on transferring and correcting the image for so long that utilizing my frankenstein-way of transferring a larger version with the supplies at hand just felt too daunting. Wasn't sure if the illustration was worth it.

What I learned: how to draw a squid-octopus monster. And that part was awesome.

There it is. Now these folders of drawings will go to the terabyte harddrive in the sky....err... living room.