Boogie

The power of RuPaul.

Comics! I'm still drawing comics from that Fun-a-Day momentum. Can't stop, won't stop!

New Illustration Process: Studies and References

I'm working on a new illustration involving a young woman using a ouija board to contact a strange spirit. It's in the beginning stages so there's been a lot of thumbnail sketches, studies, and I took some photo references to work on lighting, pose, and mood.

First, head studies. This really helps me to flush out the character and figure out who the girl is. I know I want the character to be a young woman, between 18-20, and very goth/rocker chick in style with perhaps a dash of nerd.

Some preliminary head studies. They're getting somewhere and I think I'll combine a few elements from a couple and flush her out further before drawing the illustration.

After deciding upon a pose and composition via my thumbnails, I took some photo references to establish the lighting and poses. I'll use more than just one, but these are vital for nailing those details. Also when taking my own photo references I often will stumble upon new ideas for poses or story-telling.

Next will be a few more sketches to solidify the character, sketch some concepts for the ghost, and search for more reference for her outfit, the ghost's clothing, and details in the environment. Then to the drawing! I will be using watercolor and inkwash, along with inking lineart separately and then bringing that into Photoshop to merge it with the watercolor. This should be fun!

More to come in the following week or two!

Comics and Cats

Every time with my cat, Scottish Play.

One of many lovely memories...

More comics from January's fun-a-day project. It was really great to get back into drawing comics again. It's also been a great way of getting my comic project War Days (working title) started! War Days is going to be about my experiences growing up at a very strict Catholic grammar school and my journey to atheism. 

Also, a cat sketch! Cause cats are too cool.

My boyfriend's cat Copernicus, which we lovingly refer to as Copernimeow oftentimes.

Comic Fun Time

This is me every morning, Monday through Friday. Ah, the power of coffee.

I am still working on some comics for January's fun-a-day. I just need to finish inking the ones I have drawn. It's been really fun making comics again!

Fun-A-Day! Starting 2014 with comics!

Happy New Year!

I'm participating in fun-a-day, a creative project a day for the month of January. I decided to draw comics since I love doing them and need to get back into the swing of things with my semi-autobiographical comic in the works. My schedule is one four-panel comic every two days: one to draw it and the second to ink. I'm a bit behind on inking and scanning, but here are the first three!

"Talk, Damnit"

"Spoiled Meows"

"T-Rex Tea Party"

I had several different dialogue ideas for their conversation, but didn't like any of them enough yet to ink it.

Still in the works... or forever unknown?!

Hopefully I'll be able to display my comics at Rock Paper Scissors here in Oakland for next Art Murmur. They hosted Fun-A-Day last year, so here's hoping they do it again this year since I got my act together this time. More details to come.

Last Commission of 2013

The last commission of 2013! I finished a commission for a private client which I'd like to share with you. The story was set approximately 1860s-1880s, encompassing the Civil War. It was a lot of fun to research all the period references and had some great room for character development.

I did a lot of sketching to establish how the two main characters looked, amassed a plethora of accurate reference (thank you, Library of Congress!), and took model reference shots for the poses. Time to draw and ink away!

I had a lot of fun creating these illustrations. I've been establishing this one-color interior illustration style which I think works well. It reminds me a bit of screenprints or silkscreens with the texture. Goal of 2014: learn how to silkscreen and print my heart out!

Pause and Draw: Mad Men, S6

Over the weekend I decided to start catching up on my Mad Men watching and do a Pause and Draw. Sometimes the show can get a little too dramatic for me (can no one be happy for more than two episodes?), but the ladies' dresses keep making me come back. ( *_* )