Happy Halloween!

A sexy ghost lady greets you this Halloween!

Have a great day, everyone! October, you were a blast.

Heads in Costume!

So this past weekend was, of course, the weekend of Halloween parties as Wednesday just isn't quite the day to get plastered and go to work the next day. Hence why there were no posts for Halloween this weekend--Saturday was party time and Sunday was recovery.

Today I was happy to see all my friends posting their costume pictures dans le facebook, and took the opportunity to knock out some heads as well as draw something for Halloween today!

Top L to R, Pirate (one of two pirate brothers), Madeline, A cute cat lady

Bottom L to R, Malory Archer and a Spirit Guide!

Halloween is super fun time and I hope you guys are enjoying the festivities!

In a Graveyard

Today's Halloween-inspired post is brought to you by graveyards and cemeteries! One of the few benefits to spending thousands of dollars on death and burying your corpse--Cool places are created and I can walk around in them!

This morning and afternoon I worked on a little painting from one of those thumbnails I posted. This was without the photo reference, so just working from memory and the thumbnail. It was pretty fun to do and I'll definitely be working more on it in the coming week or two.

Technically on time...

I almost didn't make it with today's post! Today was a busy day and yet somehow I feel like I didn't accomplish very much. Those are never good days.

Well, here's some cemetery landscape thumbnails. Forgive the horrid picture quality. Let's just blame it on ghosts or something.

Sittin' Pretty for Halloween

Better late than never! Today was a busy day for me, but I managed to knock out an hour speed paint to kick off the days to Halloween!

black cat waits at the window...

There are still so many brushes to play around with in Painter... I am over-whelmed! But little speed paints give me the chance to explore outside of what I'm used to using.

I hope you guys enjoy! Tomorrow will be more spooky drawings!

400!

Not too much to post today, since it's my birthday and my present to myself is to bake and lounge around the house, putting off work until tomorrow. But I have made it past 400 in the 1,000 head drawing challenge! Bask in their glory!

Tomorrow I shall ink the best 10 (technically I think I chose 11 or 12) and share those in the days to come. Also starting tomorrow is the countdown to Halloween! Check back for some fun, sketchy Halloween-inspired drawings!

Spooky and Silly Halloween Doodles

I took some lovely pictures at Mountainview Cemetery here in Oakland.

You may remember I mentioned in a previous post about a Halloween drawing challenge in which for each day of October you draw something inspired by Halloween. Well, damn, I thought.. Halloween is my favorite holiday and October is my favorite month! Although I may be biased since it also contains my birthday... but both birthday and favorite holiday all in one? Instant win.

So I started doodling and sketching some spooky things but quickly fell behind in the days. Since the initial challenge isn't really feasible for the entire month for me, I'm going to instead draw one a day the week before Halloween! So starting next week on the 24th, prepare yourself for witches, black cats, vampires, cobwebs, and all creepy Halloween imagery!

In the meantime, here are the ones that I accomplished before realizing the entire month was too daunting.

And I'll leave you with one more cemetery picture to see you on your way through the Internet.

Sabriel Book Cover

Some may have noticed (maybe not) that I haven't been posting on scheduled Wednesdays and Fridays. Because of my schedule this semester, I think I'm going to change up my blog post dates to Tuesdays and Thursdays. This way I'll be able to get back to posting regularly since my days aren't as busy then. So brace yourselves for a post tomorrow and the coming Tuesday!

In the meantime, I just finished my book cover version for Garth Nix's Sabriel. Below are process pictures along with the final version.

First there were thumbnails. And they were good. I came up with several ideas and then went with the one I felt strongest about (middle right). I also liked the bottom right corner idea, but felt like the composition was more interesting with the latter thumbnail.

The drawing!

I did a few value studies then settled on my values, moving onto a color study. Sometimes in the past I've been too impatient in starting a piece and skip these two vital steps. Never again. It makes the actual painting process much more fun since I found myself way less confused and angry when I would get lost. Guides are great to have, as it turns out! Just running blindly into the forest isn't always the best idea as I've discovered after years of getting lost in its midst.

And the final illustration! This was drawn in graphite and ebony pencil, then painted with inkwash and some white gouache for details. I then scanned it and did some photoshopping for textures, color correction, and value pushes. I really enjoyed working traditionally and digitally.

Let me know what you think!

See you all tomorrow on the interwebs when I get back to my new posting schedule!

Landscape In Progress

Today (and the past week or so) I've been working on this landscape for class. Still feeling very beginner level to landscape painting, but I'm hoping that with practice and time I'll gain more confidence in painting environments.

I also came across an October drawing challenge of a wonderful Halloween/October-inspired illustration a day! I'm going to try and get started on some fun little character sketches for that, so brace yourselves for witches, black cats, monsters, and the like!