Sunday Sketches: Dolls

One of my friends from the ye olde teenager days recently published her first book, called The Dollhouse Asylum.  Naturally, I got myself a copy and read it in a few days.  And then, whilst doodling a rolling-pin-wielding knight the following Sunday the Mister suggested I draw the book's characters.  Duh!  So I did.  Later I did a quick coloring job for fun and now here they are:

I think I got some character details wrong, as I didn't have the book handy but overall they turned out how I wanted and envisioned.  T-B, L-R: Cheyenne, Marcus, Teo; Ana, Cleo and Bee.  

Congrats, Mary!  I send you an artsy high five from across the internet. 

Team Team Team Team

I even like saying the word team!*  

About two years ago I was sitting at work and I had an idea for the greatest art EVER.  And then, just this month, I finally did it!  And it IS the greatest art ever, if not as timely as it would have been back then:

It was hard to get the details of his suit right, and I certainly simplified, but I'm happy with how it turned out.  It was kind of intimidating to work on, but so satisfying to have finally followed through with my idea.  And isn't Edward Scissorhands just one of the most beautiful movies ever?  I feel kind of stupid calling things "beautiful" but that movie is and so I say it is.    
 
(It would have been so much fun to put this on a shirt and wear it to a Twilight event, but since I haven't BEEN to a Twilight event in the last two(+) years, it wouldn't have worked out anyway.)

*Name it and claim it!

Come Fly With Me (J)

One day I sat a'doodling and everything was coming out ugly.  This seems to happen a lot lately, maybe because my drawing time is more infrequent.  Anyhoo, it was kind of depressing and irritating but I tried again, as one must do with arts.  And that drawing turned out!  It turned out so well that I colored it later and was pleased as punch.

I really enjoy doing fanarts, but it is also fun to do something original.  Though maybe it's a little If-Ginny-Weasley-were-into-planes?

It's nice to know I can still do stuff with a pencil or pen or stylus, whatever the case may be. 

Family Peeps (J)

We had a baby!  I know, I know--old news.  Babies take a lot of time.  I know, I know--old news.  But seriously, they do.  Which means I don't have as much time for making arts as I used to.  I don't really mind this though, because I like that baby so much!  Even so, it was a lot of fun to pull out my beloved tablet and fiddle around in Photoshop with this little family portrait:

I'm still getting the hang of baby proportions, and he looks older than his three (almost four!) months.  Oh well!  He's cute anyway.  That bearded fellow ain't too bad either.

Hahahaha.

Sunday Sketches: Food for the Drawing (J)

Today I drew a girl with her hair in two buns, except the buns were apples.  I don't know why this happened, but it was funny and reminded us both of an artist on deviant art who sometimes draws human incarnations of food (such as this).  So then, inspired by a few Asian meals we had this week, I started on a theme of Asian food personified.  Sometimes things just happen!

Tonight I gave them a fast coloring (whilst waiting for brownies to bake...browniesssssss) and here they are!  You can try to guess what they are and then find out the answers below.

Some of them were harder than others, but overall they were fun to think about.  And now for a brownie...

(From l-r: stir fry, sushi, egg roll, potsticker (complete with soy sauce) and sticky rice.  Sticky riiiiiiiiiiice!)

A Trio of...Princesses!

Now and then I feel like drawing a Disney princess.  Sometimes I feel like drawing three of them and making a trio of it.  The Ariel and Jasmine sketches are actually from about a year ago, then Belle came along about six months later.  Usually I only like my sketches for a few months, but I guess I still liked these--or I was too lazy to redraw them.  Either one is possible.

True story: After seeing The Little Mermaid as a wee lass, I spent several years drawing nothing but mermaids.  The best part is that it was always a back view of these mermaids, since I didn't know how to draw faces. 

Anyway, I decided for these I'd experiment with going lineless again.  I really wanted to feel more comfortable with it by the end of 2012 so I gave it another shot in the final hours.  Overall, I think Ariel turned out all right--part of this (like her hand) I really like and others (like her face) I don't so much. 

True story: Beauty and the Beast is my favorite animated Disney movie.  I tried to think of the reasons why, and then I decided there were no reasons why not.  But no, it did not start me drawing behind-views of French peasants. 

I like how Belle turned out overall.  Her face is nice, though I wish the colors had a little more oomph.  I have always had issues with being too light, no matter the medium.  It takes a lot of conscious effort on my part to push the contrast.  

True story: Aladdin is the first movie I remember seeing in the theater after we moved to Missouri.  My sister had a newspaper clipping that listed all the pop culture figures the Genie turned into, but I don't know how useful that was in a dark theater. 

I have never felt very strongly about Jasmine so I guess it's fitting I don't feel too strongly about how this turned out.  My favorite part is probably her right sleeve ("sleeve") and that bird.  Hee hee, that bird. 

True story: between finishing Ariel and doing the other two, Santa brought me a fancy pants new tablet (thanks, Santa!).  Aside from all the other fun bells and whistles, it was a jump from 512 to 2048 levels of pen pressure sensitivity.  I like to think I can tell a difference between Ariel and the others, and while I don't think any tablet gives you magical skills, I think the new tablet allows for more precision and control overall.  Anyway, it is a fun thing to work with and I've only accidentally stepped on it once.  

(The brushes for the backgrounds are located here: dandelions, birds)

Even More Favorable Odds (J)

Sometime early last year I decided to draw some side characters from the Hunger Games.  I drew a few, meant to color them and then forgot.  Well, last week I finally got to two of them, so here's a little PS to my last HG-themed post: Finnick and his lady love Annie.

Here's a secret: I don't actually care for most of the Hunger Games characters.  They are little more than names to me as far as emotional attachments go.  But I did like Finnick, and though I don't really care for Annie's character, it seemed nice to do the set.  Here's another secret: her outfit=100% inspired by Survivor.   

Overall, I liked how they turned out.  They were both pretty quickly done, but it's easier to get decent results with less time.  Improvement?  I like to think so.

Favorable Odds (J)

As much as I hate to take the top spot from the last post, it's been WAY too long since I had anything to say on this here blog.  A while ago (ie, several months ago) I reread all the Hunger Games books.  I like them, though I don't love them, but I wanted to draw the three leads again.  

It's always interesting to see what happens along the way from sketch to finished thing and in the case of these, Peeta is the only one I prefer finished.  This year I've been trying to face my fear of going lineless, and I think doing these helped (though I didn't get rid of ALL the lines...baby steps!).  Even though I have some issues with them technically, they did turn out pretty much exactly how I envision the characters and that counts for something.

(Sorry you're so flat, Katniss.) 

 

Here are the sketches for comparison.