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I recently finished a new personal illustration inspired by ghost stories and ouija/spirit boards. I had a lot of fun painting this one, although it did take longer than I wanted. I took a lot of in process photos, so brace yourselves.

first came thumbnails

When I first had the idea, I tossed it around in my head for a bit. I knew I wanted it to be a dark image with one limited light source, so I went straight to value studies when I thumbnailed. I also make a lot of notes which may be scribbled a bit beyond understanding.

Who is our main character?

I wanted to reference my time as a teen in Chicago, messing with spirit boards, ghosts, and getting into goth, punk, industrial, and metal music. I got a lot of inspiration for creating the character from my friends and our teenage experiences. In earlier sketches, I had a group of teen girls, but decided to isolate it to one for less of an action feel to more of a creepy, alone-in-the-dark vibe.

Take all the reference photos!

Once I had my composition decided, it was time to get some reference. My first reference shots (on the left, cooler light) weren't as natural as I wanted. I knew I wanted candles as the primary light source, so I bought some candles, borrowed a tripod (yes, I still need a tripod... it's on my list), and retook some reference. Much better.

drawing time

Then it was drawing time. I did a relatively detailed drawing, knowing that most of the background was going to be darkness and texture, so I didn't bother with too many details there. Again, notes are my bad memory's friend.

transferred drawing to watercolor paper

begin painting!

so many washes...

painting site

I listened to a lot of Coast to Coast AM while working which really helped my mood. I also love working in front of my windows, especially at night. Don't mind the clutter... 

time to add the warmth

lots of evening and late night painting

I wanted to add black, but was wary about adding it directly to the original watercolor in case it wasn't what I wanted. I also felt the need to pull back before I overworked the painting and lost some of the spontaneous texture from the watercolor. It was Photoshop time for the finish.

creepin'

And the final illustration!

Inktober: Halloween-inspired

Here's my Inktober drawings thus far. I decided to draw one every other day, but even that proved difficult. I'm two short, but aiming to stay on track for the rest of October!

To follow my Inktober posts more readily, you can like my Facebook page or follow me on Instagram @datbootietho.

That's right.

Booty.

Booties.

Instagram.

The Simpsons

I made this illustration for my boyfriend's birthday. He's a big Simpsons fan and wanted my take on them. Previously, I did a series of illustrations involving my dead-chicks-style inspired by early twentieth century nude photographs, and he wanted something like that. Just, you know, not nude.

(pencil drawing on printer paper; Maggie in ink so I could trace it accurately through the finished painting)

It was a lot of fun drawing The Simpsons! Luckily, a class I took at AAU involved drawing Homer several times in the style of The Simpsons, so I was a little familiar already with emulating it. After already transferring the drawing AND completely painting it, I was looking it over and something was bothering me..... Maggie! I had completely forgotten to draw Maggie in my original sketch so I did the entire painting without her. Thus, Maggie became a ghost.

(ink and gouache)

The benefit of being able to draw: endless birthday and Xmas possibilities...

Ouija: In Progress

I've got to tell you, after living in a basement for several years (and a predominant part of my youth), windows just never get old. Scottish Play feels the same way.

I've been doing studies, shooting and gathering reference, and sketching a lot for a personal illustration about a girl and her ouija board. Now to knock out the drawing and get painting and inking!

Beyond

Another painting finished! I like how this one turned out, especially with the texture of the underpainting showing through the color. I was going for ghostly detective woman Chelsea Rasmussen!

Laying down the lineart and placement. I've been forcing myself to do this part with the brush this semester in attempts to stay loose. However, I saw on Dan Dos Santos' blog that he does a pretty detailed pencil drawing under his paintings... and it just looks so delicious. If only I could pull that off...

Laying in those darks

Underpainting complete!

Glazing color...

And complete!