Back and Ready for you

Mood is.......: busy, busy, busy
Listening to..: "Wish I May"- Breaking Benjamin
Watching......: Nada

Welcome to my little catch-all of the sketches I did during my exile.

First up- Ato and Pidge playing at Peter Pan and Wendy. She doesn't really make for such a great Wendy (she probably has more in common with Tiger Lily) but I was watching the most recent adaptation of "Peter Pan" and he reminded me quite a bit of Ato.

Older Pidge and Ato clearly. Nothing says homecoming like a fullbody hug, no?

Ato and Papi fighting. Which they do often but more so while Avo is away. Fear my wonky proportions.


Mul might be "Braid girl" in Ato's mind but she knows how to get him to behave via hard labor. I clearly have no idea how to forge a sword (or anything about blacksmithing) but to my defense I had absolutely no refs.

I like the idea of this one but I seriously need to fix that hand. Inspired by some story/Rp plot lines. Ato has bad, bad dreams.

Ato at various ages- top level is a young Guard. Bottom left is him still around that age, probably a little older but in something I was considering for his mating robes. A take on military uniforms. And the one on the right is him in his 30's or so.

Moving out of Una territory we have some humans. Left to right: Moira, Aidan, Garan and Elena. Aidan and Garan are half-brothers that get along like...well, junkyard dogs. Opposite sides of the law with very stubborn, macho personalities. Their ladies tolerate it only to a certain point thankfully.

Moira and Aidan again. Was thinking of it as around the time they were first partnered together. Moira is clearly uncertain of him but intrigued. ;D

Drawing a police uniform from memory ain't east. Nor are those little hats.

Pom and Adrik. Being lovely-dovey and shit. ;P

Sketch Exile Post 1 is finito! More tomorrow!

My geeky roots are showing

Mood is.......: tired
Listening to..: the AC unit running outside
Watching......: Criminal Minds (or about to)

Dunno how I got onto this kick. Might've been the convo with Mel yesterday (I think?) about what's going on in the comic book world. Sufficed to say, I won't be picking up anything anytime soon if they keep doing stupid shit. Ah well, the kernel of the characters are good.


This one I've already shown off the sketch but I've been poking at it. I hate the pose I stuck GA in (the male) and now I've made him too skinny. Well I don't hate the pose so much as drawing it frustrates me.
But I do like their expressions. I'm not fully sold on Canary's 'Smallville' inspired hair. I like the way they rocked it in the stills but I haven't quite got it here.


Man oh man it's been a long time since I drew Rogue. And more over, I've never drawn her as well as I have here. When I was poking around looking at Canary drawings, I noticed a cheesecake theme. Which isn't surprising considering her outfit but not something I'm fond of considering her personality. What that has to do with Rogue...I'm not sure. Except her outfit kinda reminds me of this one of Rogue's above. It isn't the one I grew up on (that was the green and yellow + bomber jacket) but it's my favorite.


Also, check out that expression. Rogue should be impish and a little crazy/naughty. Not emo dammit (or at least not emo-overload jeez).
That's all tonight, back to packing.

A commissions and some thoughts

Mood is.......: hungry
Listening to..: the tv
Watching......: "Law and Order" on TNT

I've been going slower than I'd like on my last few commissions. Some of it is the whole moving thing, the other is the fact that I'm just tired of thinking of interesting ways of drawing people and situations. Granted, I take pride in making my commissions interesting but I'm getting burnt out. I doubt that I'd get pleasure doing the regular straight on or 3/4's view either but I dunno. Maybe I just need to figure out something new to offer, something with a little more structure?

Anyways. Ruthie's last commission of our characters- Spencer and Ariel (otherwise known as 'Fishie'). I'm definitely liking the green as the base to the skin tones and it even works for the hair (since they are blond) but I'll have to play with it more with other skin tones and colors. I did go to art school and I do know color theory (in theory) but that was done with real paint.

Been thinking about putting up some commissions on ebay and then maybe doing some portrait adoptions for EllenMillion's portrait adoption site. Except I'm not guaranteed money from either (and I'd really like to get away from the fantasy part of my art). Still, from what I've seen, in order to sell prints and things, fantasy would probably get me money if I took out the extremely personal aspects of them and made them more universal. Which is an interesting thought but ultimately sort of frustrating. I like creating art that appeals to me, it's why I became an artist- to have control and tell 'my stories' basically. But in order to make money, I need to make my stuff more approachable. I'm just not creative enough to come up with something that appeals to a wide range and I'm not talented enough to get by on 'pretty pictures' alone.

Speaking of talent, I ran across this rant at DA. I find it interesting what the artist says (haven't had a chance to read all the way through the comments) about perhaps using the term aptitude rather than talent. I like that. It gives more accomplishment to the artist rather than write it off as something that was handed to them. My less-than-artistically-inclined roommates (and even the one who was) can attest to how many hours I spent in front of my computer working on my art. Because art is a living thing that stretches and grows. And more over, if you don't use it, you do lose it to certain degrees. It's not just hanging around in your head waiting for you to pick it up whenever you feel like it. And that's enough of that.

I've also been considering getting into more 'hands on' stuff. I'm almost an exclusively digital artist right now and I find myself wanting to do ACEO cards. I think it might be fun- except I've never been able to do traditional media with the same flair or interest as CG. But hey, sketching can't kill me.

Another thing I'd like to try out is working on 'face ups' for BJD (ball joint dolls). Stuff like this one here would be immensely satisfying I think (and I adore freckles). I've seen some with tattoos that would be really fun to play with too. I don't really want to own a BJD (at least not at their prices, yikes) but the idea of making them from a blank canvas into someone or something really really appeals. Sort of like the make-up heads from when you were a kid (although those only came up colored in certain parts, bah).

And I think that's enough rambling for today. More as I figure out what I want for a new tattoo.

A couple commissions and curls, killer curls

Mood is.......: distracted
Watching......: channel surfing

First off. Another commission for Ruthie. I'm enjoying this set up although I need to figure out how to draw fish. >>

Next is K@'s killer commission. I think it'll be pretty awesome in the end but for right now I feel like I'm going crosseyed. Also, I hate Tam and his clothes. It was easier to draw him when he was only in pants. >P

I did a meme over on my LJ about my style and what I need to do more of. Both comments mentioned that I needed to work on different body types. Which I know. I don't think my characters look particularly long/lanky but other people do. And mostly I draw action oriented characters so there is a reason for it often. But I digress!
This is one of my non-action oriented girls, Izzy. Izzy whom I'm very fond of. Tried to make her look short and round. I hope it worked.

And finally, I am an art masochist. I spotted Prism-chan's Snow White and Rose Red lineart and decided I had to do it. One- it's so pretty and two, I've always been fond of said fairy tale. But then I realized that all that prettiness is because of lots and lots of detail. Including killer curls.

Obviously not finished but I'm stuck on getting colors for the last bits. I want Red to have warm tones at least.
That's all!

Ruthie Collabs

Mood is.......: tired
Listening to..: the refrigerator running
Watching......: Criminal Minds

Just a few tonight. Like I've said elsewhere, coloring helps me relax. These are sketches/inks done by my girl Ruthie. Most of the time of our characters as seen below.

2nd generation characters from a storyline that involved Ruthie's Felara race. I liked this one because I think I managed to pull off that 'watercolor' look I was going for. Or close to it at least. Funnily enough I envisioned it at night when I first saw the sketch. Ah well.
Next two are Skinwalker characters. First is an ADORABLE image of Dare (Darius) playing with Mikey. I lovelovelove the sketch and it screamed out that it needed color.

Next is of Ben and Nori. I had the worst time with the bedding so I kinda fudged it towards the end. This was started in my brief period of fascination with the 'white dot highlight' phase. It looks alright but it doesn't work with how I color. I do like that I used green for the base tone, I need to do that more often.

And lastly, a sketch I did of my last Selenthian. I don't have a name for him, all I know he's based on a bison. Frankly I wanted to draw horns and fun ears.

I've decided my female Selenthian is gonna have a passing resemblance to Rita Hayworth too.
Well that's all for tonight, thanks for stopping by. <3

Possessed

Mood is.......: @_@
Listening to..: Coldplay something or other
Watching......: VH1 videos

Wow, I totally don't know where this came from. Okay, so I do a little bit. I was in bed last night and I was toying with the idea of what my prodigals kids would dress up in come Halloween. I have never drawn a Halloween theme pic of my kids before so this kinda took on a life of its own.

Left to right:
Lana as sexy/bad cop, Zeke as a Musketeer, Tae as a domme (old pic that I finally have some use for! <3) and Luce as Bruce Lee from "Game of Death". Complete with gigantic Kareem Abdul-Jabbar footprint.


I am also working on a "V for Vendetta" piece for Nov 5 but I'm too buggered to upload that atm. I actually like my background so far oddly enough.
Ciao loves.

No braining tonight

Mood is.......: hot
Listening to..: commericals
Watching......: VH1 after hours videos

Yeah cuz I think it's leaking out of my ears. I can't even hardly half-ass a background. The only one that even works a little is the collab I did with Kate. That link leads to her lineart, which I had to attack upon first laying eyes upon it. Lovelovelove. That and Jorie rocks my socks.

Next up was just a random desire to ink an old sketch of my Una girl, Buck with her boy Col. I uploaded the sketch a while ago, so you can look for it if you're curious. Fear my gradient background skillz. Bah.

This is actually the first finished picture I've drawn of Buck.

And finally this may look finished but it's not. It's 90% there. I just really want a background. I just have no bloody CLUE what to put in it.
Also, Meg's hair is still pissing me off.

So that's it for tonight lovies. <3

Commissions and other things

Mood is.......: productive
Listening to..: "Put the Blame on Mame" (Rita Hayworth)
Watching......: Venture Brothers credits

New commission for my girl Ruthie. She gave me completely free reign on this one so I choose Spencer and Ariel from our Skinwalkers RP. In our 'verse, skinwalkers were in a nutshell werecats. Hence the chin-scritches. ;) I thought it was a cute image anyways.


And my next BIG commission for K@. Bane and her family. It's going slow but steady and I haven't had to fight anyone too much so far. I hope everyone's getting enough "screen time", since she is paying me for it. >>;
I also dig Bane's top but that's just me. It was HARD drawing Ace (right foreground) from that angle but I think it came out alright so far.


My girl Elena who I've always thought would make a lovely film noir dame. Somewhere between a femme fatale and a damsel in distress. Was inspired by a special I saw on TCM on ganster movies and them reminding me of the fact that Humphrey Bogart was awesome. Gangster and noirs aren't exactly the same thing but they overlap and it got me in the mood.
I like the completely tonal one a smidge better but the one with the pops of colors isn't too. Although I definitely think it has a kind of Turner colorization feel to it which is why I don't like it more.

I'll upload them both to paperdemon when I get my commissions a little more worked on.
Ciao lovies.

Slowing Down Again

Mood is.......: blank
Watching......: Golden Girls

Not much going on. Haven't drawn anything or worked on anything lately. It sucks and I feel badly because I have commissions waiting.

Just two today:

Playing around with colors for Jules and Zeke. I didn't have to change much from the last time I colored them (yikes, almost two years ago), just took down the saturation a bit. Julie's hair needs a bit of work but I'm not sure how yet. I love her boots.

Just something I sketched tonight on a whim:


Black Canary and Green Arrow from DC comics, with some "Smallville" flair. I don't like Smallville but I still glance at it, 1) because it's on before Supernatural, and 2) I have a lasting fondness of these two's relationship dynamics and want to see if they'll bring her around again. I giggled like a silly girl when I saw them on JLA Unlimited too.
That's all for tonight kiddies. <3

Mafiya, Old Fairy Tales and fanart because I'm a scatterbrain like that

Mood is.......: listless
Listening to..: "Like We Never Loved at All" Faith Hill & Tim McGraw
Watching......: Criminal Minds

I'll try to do this is some sort of order. I'm not feeling particularly creative or interesting at the moment so I don't know how enthused I'll be.

More of my Italian Gianni. First him with his momma:



He was a chubby little cherub as a kid. Actually he remained chubby until he hit puberty and discovered weights.


Just playing around with the idea of giving him a happy life and expression. It's hard making Gigi look happy and still himself. Guess that's pretty telling both about my abilities and his personality. My poor dog is made of fail. He's supposed to be a boxer but, yeah.



Finally got around to designing Serro's back tattoo and it's the only thing I'm very, very pleased about lately. I wish you could see it larger but I don't want people using it without permission. If you're really curious, poke me and I'll probably share.

Lately I've been thinking about my characters and my creativity and I've realized that I don't have much of my own. I haven't created anything that's solely mine in years. Since high school and that's sad. I keep using other people and their ideas as crutches and I feel so small and useless as an artist when I think about it.

This is Izzy. I don't know what I'm going to do with her, and doesn't quite look enough like her, but I like her soft body. She's not perfect, in fact she's kind of plain.


Now this is the idea I'm thinking of necro-ing back into something. I doubt I'll get anywhere with it because it didn't go anywhere the first time and I have a bad track record with ideas. After all, if I don't have someone to fall back on, I'm a mess.

Left to Right:



I had a thought to do a different spin on fairy tales right about the time I was in high school/ my first year of art school. It had some interesting characters, like the one above, my 'hero' Lily. She's supposed to be the 'princess' motif and I wanted to turn that on its head. The drawing on the left is at least 2 years old, probably older, since it says 06 in my comp but I don't think I was working on it by then, I'd say this was 04 or 05.

Right is my new take. I have something against blondes- I have trouble finding them interesting so I decided in order to make myself more interested in Lily to darken her hair. Dunno if it'll work but I like I can see a difference in the drawing skill at least. I also decided that I really don't like drawing fantasy. I don't. I hate armor and costumes and I want to return to modern stuff (not that that doesn't have problems too). And I like modern paranormal/fantasy stuff so I thought I'd give a shot at pulling the characters and their motifs into a modern setting. Or something. I doubt it'll happen but if I wasn't dreaming of being something, I'd really be nothing at all.



Seeing if I can sketch Lily more than once. And decided to stick in her best friend/'knight' motif in there with her, Salyir. I've drawn him since I gave up the project but I don't like that experiment much.

Nor am I fond of this:

See, I like him with long hair but I'm not going to turn him into freakin' Fabio or a bishie boy if I can help it. If it was in his character/makeup, I'd probably give him stubble/beard something manly. Bah. I'll do it to another character.



Started this sketch a while ago. Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender fame. For some reason my Zuko looks an awful lot like Bruce Lee (not that that's totally a bad thing, Bruce was a cutie for certain). And I can't decide between the two 'fires' (yes they will be fires once I get to fleshing them out). The one on the left has some neat colors, I've always liked blue and it provides some contrast/focal point...but then the one on the right has color harmony. And according to his skill level in the show, he doesn't do blue fire anyways. I guess I'll figure it out later. Or just make two versions so I don't have to decide.

That's all for now kids.

Bleh

Mood is.......: cranky
Listening to..: Criminal Minds
Watching......: "North Mammon"

Just two. Nothing really interesting to look at.



Avocado, Papi and their doomed parents. Dunno if I'll keep the green streaks in Momma's hair.



Finally finished drawing the stupid potter's wheel....except I think it's too short. Figures. I do like the texture I gave it to make it look like its stone though.

Two Down, One Up

Mood is.......: nervous
Listening to..: dunno something R&Bish
Watching......: VH1 videos

Two finished and uploaded to PD:


I'm pretty pleased with the Lana one. And hey look, one person in a picture and NO background! I have briefly overcome my OCD need to fill the space!

Which isn't going to last but oh well.



Valentino boys (and girl). Probably will make the 'bad' boys in this darker than the twins. That's it for tonight lovies. Ciao!

Step in Line plz

Mood is.......: achy
Listening to..:
Watching......: Vh1 videos

Like I said in the previous post, Zeke and Julie wanted attention. And I hate them for it. Because they didn't want just a simple portrait or pinup. Oh no. Not them. No they wanted something out of a fashion magazine. Bitches.



Not that I really hate them. I will, make no mistake. As cool as I think this could look, there is my mortal enemy involved- DETAILS. As you can see the rockabilly vibe totally got tossed away. She's still got that Stevie Nicks thing but with a touch of steampunk I think. Add a key to her necklace dumbdumb.

I <3 her boots. And I hate her dress folds. I just don't get them so I'll fake it and hope no one notices.



Apis pointed out that my girl Carina looked either like Sophia Loren or Raquel Welch (I get them confused) and I looked up some images of both. I think she leans more towards the Raquel Welsh vibe but both of them have that exotic and babalicious quality that I wanted for her. So when I looked at her family portrait I decided to try with her hair down and used a ref for the curls/waves. It's less in character for her than the updo but more in character for what she'd be told to do by her Papi.

Not much but I need sleep now. <3

Drama interrupts creativity....

Mood is.......: thoughtful
Listening to..:
Watching......: videos on VH1

...film at 11? I dunno. I sometimes write weird titles, although it is true. I had drama at DA, and then drama surrounding getting a job which jerked any progress I've been making to a halt. But I've picked up again and I have goodies to share.

Speaking of DA, I have left it for Paperdemon. PD isn't perfect but I already had the start of a gallery there and it isn't any worse than the rest. Better than sheezy at least. Here are a couple thumbnails to one finished pic and one sketch:



I like that they offer the thumbnails but jeez, could they be any smaller? O_< The sketch I'm rather frustrated with. I don't think it's dynamic enough but I'll figure it out.





Done on Tegaki but not posted. I like the general idea of the character I have here and I think I'll flesh her out. Since about high school, I've been intrigued with the Beauty and the Beast theme in reverse- making the female a hideous monster and the man handsome. When I was IN high school the story was very emo and all about unrequited love. But there might be a nugget of gold in there. I don't want to rely on secondary sex characteristics to define her as female but I hem and haw over lopping off her breasts. I think I'll keep her eyes mostly human since that's usually where people look. But yeah, long ramble on a quick scribble.



Before I even moved to my current state, I have wanted to do a drawn crossover between the McManus brothers of "Boondock Saints" and the Winchester boys of "Supernatural". I just love the thought of them drinking and telling each other wild stories. I picked this up again to sketch where I've added the two papas- which has led to the weird empty space in the corner there. I gotta fix that. Suggestions are welcome btw.



This is actually a slightly older image of my Italian 'Stallone' Gianni. He is being put up for the 3rd round in the Black Tears club and I thought, as an Italian and not a Russian, he wouldn't have the initiation tattoo. So what would he wear? I decided that a diamond worn descretely would work (in Russian prison culture diamonds signify informant/betrayer). I added the four smaller diamonds in the middle to represent his three brothers and father- and to double as a sort of 'cross' design.



What I'm actually working on right now. Commission for my girl, Ruthie of another set of our RP characters, this time in a Robin Hood 'verse. Guy of Gisbourne and Fayth. Originally this was just supposed to be a double portrait but I liked my idea too much to get rid of their lower bodies. I always wanted to contribute to Mel's 'dudes in distress' theme. ;p So while this is sort of reflecting an RP scene, he had more clothes on in it and wasn't on his knees. Heh.



Collage of sketches that may or may never get finished. All mafiya related. I'm particularly fond of the brothers beating up on Gigi in the right corner. Marcelo looks like a steriod freak but I think that works for his character.

Also, I uploaded it to show people I can't draw pronz. Not that you can see it here, but trust me.



So when I ran the 'diamond instead of the regular tat' across to the BT Boss lady, her original thought at hearing tattoo was 'horseshoe on his (Gianni's) ass'. Which cracked me the hell up and now my poor boy is going to wake up with a hangover and a tattoo that makes him look like a My Little Pony.

I am a sick, sick girl. XD



Boy you'd think I had mafiya on the brain eh? Just inking Gigi's family- and fixing Marcelo's weird hair/face descrepancy. This is much better.

That's it for now. I wanna draw Julie and Zeke from my Prodigals universe. Zeke has been chatting at me lately, letting me get to know him better. He's quite a bit more laidback than I originally pictured him. Less knight-in-shining armor but still a good man.

Julie just wants a fashion update. I'm thinking possibly rockabilly meets Stevie Nicks. Must ponder.

Ciao lovies!