Finally Working on the Last SB Illustration

I'm finally doing it. This last illustration will hopefully be finished next week (HA RIGHT?!) and maybe I can move on to having the manuscript critiqued and the dummy fleshed out by the end of the month so I can work on Lue's and Sue's. Welp, here I go.

I'm about to do a digital color sketch. @_@ there will be pink, lots and lots of pink.

More Nightlander Update...and Now I have a Word Press

I have a wordpress now yaaay. My internet is acting funny so perhaps the menu is a bit off at this time but... I can fix it.

I decided to go with a wordpress for research purposes. I used to use blogger for this, but Draw it Again has become just that, me drawing and painting things over and over again, my long process of failure. So hopefully I can organize all research material on this blog (HOPEFULLY.)

In other news, Nightlander has been developing as I've procrastinated on SB (shame!) and now has more content and character development. Is this normal for a PB illustrator/writer to jump between projects, even if it means to jump from a PB to a YA comic novel thing? I'll have to research that and put the information in the blog.

Anyway, peace!

I was NOT finished! (Am I ever really?)

After showing the Facebook critique group and going over it with friends and family, then going back to a critique group, I came up with this:

final before 

final after

The very first reaction was that the colors were lovely, but very dim. I needed to brighten the whole composition (and ultimately I agree with this move, however I now need to go back to the first illustration to make sure everything is consistent) The second reaction what that most people could not see the "Stitch stitch stitch" which is what I was afraid of. I still need to clean up those "stitches" a bit before calling it a final. 

Lesson: If you think your illustration is finished, it's probably not finished. 

Second Illustration COMPLETE (I think)

I truly believe that my process could be a lot easier if I tried. This next piece took about a dozen sketches and re draws and tears (haha) to make. 

The biggest problem that I've had for a long time is tone/shading and clarity. Perhaps I'm an abstract artist at heart, but rarely is abstraction acceptable in illustration...especially if that abstraction was meant to be a hand or something or other important detail that needs clarification.  To fix this issue, I began to determine tone in photoshop by scanning my drawing in (after sketching out the darks and lights in thumbnails @_@) and just going through with photoshop paint. After that, to help with color (which sometimes I'll get too many layers and forget that this is acrylic and NOT oil paints) I just plop in the color to determine where things are placed, and gain more clarification.

Then comes the re-draw yay! I figure out what I enjoyed most of about the sketch, then draw the final. The acrylic layer is then painted on for texture purposes (and for patience purposes as working with acrylics can be annoying sometimes, but I suppose thats what happens when working with a plastic paint, not nearly as flexible as oils or digital) as I like painted textures with a strong color and found the combo to be fairly interesting. Prints way better too! And quicker! Joy.

In the middle of making this, I realized in my sketch I didn't see the gutter problem with the dandelion and the first "stitch" sooooooo... had to fix it. 

I did.

And here it is.

Perhaps I'll add the words on here later tonight, but this is the page spread! Another illustration complete for the dummy. I'll be making this one next!

AH I FAILED!

SO I failed the April 50,000 word challenge.

That's because I finished my Stitching Butterflies book dummy! YAY!

I'm still working on Nightlander like usual. It'll just be a long term project like I thought it was going to be. If you're interested just go here to see my progress, slow as it is. I supposed you can't write a YA novel/comic in a month (or at least I can't.)

After making my book dummy, I began a final illustration to go along with the dummy. This process was similar to my others: lots of  sketches, final sketch, acrylic painting, digital painting over acrylic, and I'll do a final acrylic after the digital. Here's the process:

Took me a week of frustration, but I got it eventually. Next final I'll do...

NaNoWriMo in April? Sure

I'm doing it again...writing 50,000 words in a month.

Well I hope so anyway.

This time the goal is for NightLander. I completed Lil' Red but I think that was just a novel test run to see if I could stay dedicated (I did! I surprised myself!) Anyway, I REALLY need to get this story out for my own personal reasons. Also, if I write it out I'll have a more stable outline for the story rather than just random scenes that pop up in my head as I draw pieces of comic.

Camp NaNoWriMo  is just like the November one except its for people that want to do the writing trauma all over again! (yaaaay)

Will I succeed?

Can I keep up with the tumblr?

Another Video~

Another video that had a couple helpful reminders. I graduated from college almost three years ago. My artwork has definitely grown but the only commissions I tend to get are portraits or non-illustration work. I don't get them often either (though maybe more often now than I ever had) so I'm in a trapped state of not having enough time to do these kinds of things because of...what? My full time job? My long distance relationship? My finances? My anxiety? All these things are excuses. I just need to do the thing. 

I'm Finished! Woo hooo!

I'm finally finished with this piece! (maybe...for now I am though!) Is it a portfolio piece? I don't know but I'll probably add it with the other Little Red Riding Hood piece if I do. ^_^

Tumblr Sketchbook Comic

Update on tumblr sketchbook comic, NightLander.

Been working on this project for about two weeks now. Slow moving, but as I scribble down shapes  for the comic and write notes, scenarios seem to pop out of nowhere and I come across some interesting compositions I could potentially use later.

I was also apart of The Rose Petal Review, a website that features the creative works of teens and young adults going through different types of mental illness.

My goal for this project is to focus on the peak moments of someone going through an anxiety attack or depression. It's a tough goal to accomplish especially when showing those who do not have any kind of chemical imbalance, who may not completely understand all that is involved in a panic attack or days, weeks, months, years, of depression.

I'm not quite sure how this comic will turn out, or if it will become the YA novel that I wanted it to be, but I'll keep up the quick pace of jotting down ideas and of course, drawing them over and over again. 

Working on new long term project(s)!

To keep up with inspiration, I go to my usual sources; awesome music, walking, Mike Mignola, Art Spiegelman, David Small, a new artist I'm interested in, Craig Thompson, and a number of different artists and writers and musicians that are pretty much too many to list right now. Except this time to keep up with the inspiration I've started writing anything I thought of on sticky notes, scrap paper, paper towels, my little working station glass desk in the lab, anything, just to get an idea that I probably would've forgot otherwise and would've been frustrated with myself for it.

Wait, back up, rewind, before the sticky notes there has been this grand idea for a story that had changed from a small story to a poem, PB, middle grade, to aYA that I've been planning for some years (like four or so) however, I've never actually gotten past the starting point with each version, I just finished the little, crappy poem one day from the idea that I had four years ago out of nowhere and wanted to make something out of it.

I just never really got started on that project...because I didn't think it was any good.

It's this failure and this awesome article that had me thinking that I wasn't going to get anywhere by over thinking and this project was never going to get better if I just kept thinking it was bad, so I should just write it, draw it, scream it out recording myself (oh, I haven't done that yet, maybe I should) without thinking.

So here it is! My tumblr blog is slowly filling up with this story I call NightLander and it is the pieces of a comic, that I'm building together for a story (or maybe it is just a story...)This little blog of random scribbles is the farthest I've gotten with the NightLander concept, so I hoping to see it to the end!

On another note... I've been working on illustrations that might be good in a portfolio. This is one of them, slow work but pretty steady :) It has potential...maybe haha.

The Self-Portrait Project #2

I started this portrait project in an attempt to desperately claw my way out of the empty well of confidence, and I found myself in the end pulling small buckets of water from that once empty well. Not only did this project get me motivated to create art that I enjoyed making again, it reminded me that I CAN create the art that I enjoyed. Being in an artist/writers block is devastating for someone who is already pushing against a storm with liquid doubt up to the waist.

The next theme amongst the portraits I noticed was my reaction to each medium/material. The more I used bright colors, the happier I became and more encouraged I was to continue creating. When I tried to make a serious, realistic piece I just got frustrated and ended up making angry portraits with my frustration at not having the perfection I desire.

In frustration:





Slowly getting out of anger:

Then just fun things:

This helped me out a lot! No I didn't produce the absolute best work, but I created work that led me back on the path I was on before the artist block.

The Self-Portrait Project

For a good part of January I had completed a little series called "The Self-Portrait Project" which included around 20 self-portraits made in different materials. When I first went into the project I was only doing it to get myself motivated, to get out of the rut that I plummeted into and desperately trying to claw my way out. Then I started noticing little consistencies and themes unintended, I guess subconscious consistencies and themes.

This was the first self-portrait, cold out in my studio shed, tired from working all day in aggravating situations, frustrated because I was in an artistic rut and fed up with my self doubt. I see all these things in this mixed media painting on canvas. The blue freezing me, sticking my tired eyes in place with my skull peeking through the warm color of skin.  

Near the end I was drawing myself like a six year old would, creating a mixed media, colored pencil and digital, piece of me riding a dinosaur. This project was therapeutic! I don't see this miserable being anymore, I see one riding a dinosaur in happy colors that maybe my kid self would have drawn. I subconsciously took out my anger and melancholic mood into the person I was drawing, me.

This was one theme within the self-portraits I found and will perhaps do again in the future. 

AAHHHH Trucks

 Finished the truck commission! I had fun with these, they'll be my background for awhile XD

Four Trucks for Christmas~

Another commission! A simple one, but still fun~ Four sketches of different trucks for a 6 year old boy who loves trucks for Christmas. I will post the finals on here~

Commission for My Boss!

Just a graphite drawing. Will I make this into a color final? Nah, I think I'll leave it the way it is. I'll have enough forest pieces anyway haha.

Building a Portfolio? Uh Oh

Out of my entire website, I found only three pieces that has done anything to get into my actual portfolio. I guess they're right in saying it takes a lot of failure to gain any kind of success (whoever they are ha.)

My illustration work has disappointed me.

But! When I look and compare the work I was doing just a year ago, a lot has changed. I have gotten more accurate and I pay more attention to detail. I had thought, and this is a silly thought, that illustration was supposed to be "made up" or something that my mind has poured out on a surface without any reference. Well, it's not too surprising that I thought this. Going to college with many different artists, the fine artists and the illustrators were almost at war with each other in the ideas for what is a true art piece. As a fine artist and oil painter first, I thought that if I used reference the image would be too realistic and traditional to be an illustration.

Blah no!

Again, silly thought and perhaps thinking this way has made my art suffer. Any readers out there, if you have a stable idea of what art is rethink it! You might find a whole new reality.

To keep myself from spiraling down into a dark abyss of the stereotypical, almost archetypal, artist defeated depression, I started looking around for simple explanations for building a portfolio. I found this blog post helpfully breaking down what my portfolio needed to accomplish. I've read this one before however it's still helpful. Both of these illustrators seem to have their stuff together, and if there's any way of learning how to put a portfolio together and be professional, looking at successful illustrator portfolios is the best.

In the end, out of the 23 pieces on my website, and many others not on my website, these three are the only ones that are close to portfolio worthy. That's okay. If I can make three already then I can make three more.