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.