Finished:
BEFORE adding the deep light:
I'm not really sure which way I like it better XD
That's all I have for right now... Sorry. Nothing else interesting going on. ^_^'
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
New work
Three down, two to go for my five paintings by August 7 goal.
Finished:
BEFORE adding the deep light:
I'm not really sure which way I like it better XD
That's all I have for right now... Sorry. Nothing else interesting going on. ^_^'
Finished:
BEFORE adding the deep light:
I'm not really sure which way I like it better XD
That's all I have for right now... Sorry. Nothing else interesting going on. ^_^'
Monday, July 26, 2010
Excuse and a sketch
I apologize for missing ANOTHER showcase post. But I have multiple excuses for it.
1) The artist I contacted never wrote me back. <--- best excuse
2) The internet at my house died on Friday and I couldn't have written it anyway. <--- backup excuse
3) The dog ate my post. <--- I don't even have a dog.
Anyway, so those are the reasons I didn't post.
As usual, I've been working on a painting whenever I can get up the energy. I've been kinda mopey lately, so I haven't made my usual shutout progress. But you can't see it until I'm done, as always. It should be up later this week, though. Depending on my mental health XD
But I did do a sketch that I will show you! It's of my secondary character Lara from my novel-becoming-manga Nothing Good Ever Happens to Christine Ceal. Yes, I decided to change my manga from the Aoudanian Chronicles to Nothing Good because that story is more complete and, with the modern setting, it is easier to find references.
Plus, it's humorous and I think people will like it better.
The quality is bad because I was too lazy to clean up the scanner's mess. So I won't be posting it on DA because of that. It was mostly just a quick concept thing...
I did get to use my new 6H-6B pencils (I only had HB-6B before) and my handy-dandy kneading eraser.
WHICH REMINDS ME! When I was at Michaels to get the previously mentioned supplies, I saw this and had to buy it:
It's a raven statuette with feathers and everything. I couldn't resist. It's fully Soren approved, too, and I'm hoping he'll be in a good enough mood to behave until my mental state improves.
That's all, folks!
1) The artist I contacted never wrote me back. <--- best excuse
2) The internet at my house died on Friday and I couldn't have written it anyway. <--- backup excuse
3) The dog ate my post. <--- I don't even have a dog.
Anyway, so those are the reasons I didn't post.
As usual, I've been working on a painting whenever I can get up the energy. I've been kinda mopey lately, so I haven't made my usual shutout progress. But you can't see it until I'm done, as always. It should be up later this week, though. Depending on my mental health XD
But I did do a sketch that I will show you! It's of my secondary character Lara from my novel-becoming-manga Nothing Good Ever Happens to Christine Ceal. Yes, I decided to change my manga from the Aoudanian Chronicles to Nothing Good because that story is more complete and, with the modern setting, it is easier to find references.
Plus, it's humorous and I think people will like it better.
The quality is bad because I was too lazy to clean up the scanner's mess. So I won't be posting it on DA because of that. It was mostly just a quick concept thing...
I did get to use my new 6H-6B pencils (I only had HB-6B before) and my handy-dandy kneading eraser.
WHICH REMINDS ME! When I was at Michaels to get the previously mentioned supplies, I saw this and had to buy it:
It's a raven statuette with feathers and everything. I couldn't resist. It's fully Soren approved, too, and I'm hoping he'll be in a good enough mood to behave until my mental state improves.
That's all, folks!
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Demon Spider encounter #3
I thought that once we moved, I would be free of the wrath of Demon Spider and his minions. Apparently, I was mistaken.
So far they haven't managed to find my new house, but these arachnid ninjas are infiltrating other places I haunt.
Appropriate, considering the most recent location was my Tae Kwon Do do jang.
I have private lessons occasionally with the grandmaster to work on my kick technique because my rotating sidekicks are abysmally uncontrolled (I have no balance at all). Anyway, we had finished kicks and I was working on my basic forms while he took a call. The form I was working on calls for a step back at one point. Not even a second after I took that step back, a large black mass suddenly fell from the ceiling, just where I had been standing moments before. Now, the ceiling is black, so I just thought it was a piece of insulation or something. So I glanced down.
As you have doubtless figured out by now, it was not a piece of insulation. It was the effin' biggest non-tarantula spider I had ever seen in my life. One of those black shiny ones with the pointy butt and loooong weirdass front legs. Legspan and all, it was about the size of my fist.
To my credit, I didn't scream (I didn't want to freak out the grandmaster). I just ran like a maniac to the other side of the room and waited for him to come back, trying to build up my guts to kill it before he came back and saw me running from a spider when I was supposed to be training to fight.
Oh, the irony.
Sadly, I wasn't able to do it. Every time I would take a step toward it to squash it, it would start to move. It's their movement that freaks me out so bad - not necessarily the size (although that makes their movement more defined). It's the way their legs move, all one at a time with little creeping motions. So when he'd move, I'd panic and run away.
Eventually, Master Kim did get off the phone and came back. I pointed the failed ninja assassin out to him and he appropriately remarked "Oh, that is big." like it was nothing, then proceeded to beat it to death with a kick pad. Although it took several good shots.
Unfortunately, he left the carcass there for an instructor to get and I couldn't concentrate anymore with it there. He hates spiders *almost* as much as I do, apparently. So I left and went home to make myself a cup of hot chocolate (yes, in July) and work a little.
Now I'm terrified of my own do jang. I just pray they hire an exterminator before Friday.
Also, I learned that even the grandmaster can hate spiders. And that learning tae kwon do will not cure me of my arachnophobia.
So far they haven't managed to find my new house, but these arachnid ninjas are infiltrating other places I haunt.
Appropriate, considering the most recent location was my Tae Kwon Do do jang.
I have private lessons occasionally with the grandmaster to work on my kick technique because my rotating sidekicks are abysmally uncontrolled (I have no balance at all). Anyway, we had finished kicks and I was working on my basic forms while he took a call. The form I was working on calls for a step back at one point. Not even a second after I took that step back, a large black mass suddenly fell from the ceiling, just where I had been standing moments before. Now, the ceiling is black, so I just thought it was a piece of insulation or something. So I glanced down.
As you have doubtless figured out by now, it was not a piece of insulation. It was the effin' biggest non-tarantula spider I had ever seen in my life. One of those black shiny ones with the pointy butt and loooong weirdass front legs. Legspan and all, it was about the size of my fist.
To my credit, I didn't scream (I didn't want to freak out the grandmaster). I just ran like a maniac to the other side of the room and waited for him to come back, trying to build up my guts to kill it before he came back and saw me running from a spider when I was supposed to be training to fight.
Oh, the irony.
Sadly, I wasn't able to do it. Every time I would take a step toward it to squash it, it would start to move. It's their movement that freaks me out so bad - not necessarily the size (although that makes their movement more defined). It's the way their legs move, all one at a time with little creeping motions. So when he'd move, I'd panic and run away.
Eventually, Master Kim did get off the phone and came back. I pointed the failed ninja assassin out to him and he appropriately remarked "Oh, that is big." like it was nothing, then proceeded to beat it to death with a kick pad. Although it took several good shots.
Unfortunately, he left the carcass there for an instructor to get and I couldn't concentrate anymore with it there. He hates spiders *almost* as much as I do, apparently. So I left and went home to make myself a cup of hot chocolate (yes, in July) and work a little.
Now I'm terrified of my own do jang. I just pray they hire an exterminator before Friday.
Also, I learned that even the grandmaster can hate spiders. And that learning tae kwon do will not cure me of my arachnophobia.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Showcase Saturday - Carina Nerland
This week's showcase artist is Carina of Norway!
Carina is one of my favorite fantasy and video gaming artists. I first ran across her art a few months back when I stumbled across this painting:
She has a very personal relationship with her art, which I appreciate. I don't want to be a "professional artist" because it would take away the freedom that art brings. I like to escape into my art, and Carina's art is pure escapism, in more ways than one.
From Carina:
How did you get started as an artist?
That is a very good question – as I started drawing before I was 2 years old, I actually don’t remember. But I guess it was my older sister and mother who encouraged me to start drawing. Eventually, when my younger sister was born, we naturally encouraged her to start drawing at an early stage as well. Me and my sisters were very quiet, calm and well-mannered kids who could spend hours and hours together, just drawing or playing videogames and minding our own business. We had so much fun doing these “activities” together, and I have lots of nice memories from those times.
I have never taken any drawing lessons or such – I am self-taught.
What usually inspires you?
For me, making art has always been some sort of an escape from reality. I and my sisters didn’t have the best childhood, as our father (to put it mildly) is an alcoholic and psychopat, and our mother slowly but surely was broken down from the way he treated her. When drawing we felt safe, and could focus on making fantasy worlds through art where anything was possible – where there were no such things as anxiety or fear.
Now that I have “my own life”, art is a nice and relaxing escape from all the studies I do. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical Engineering, and will start on a Master’s Degree this autumn. My studies are so different from art in all ways, which makes drawing and painting a good source of recreation. In art there are no rules or restrictions - anything is possible! Only the imagination is the limit.
I played a lot of videogames growing up. Since I got my Nintendo NES when I was 4, this also functioned as a reality escape. I’ve mainly played Nintendo. Videogames has from that time on been a significant part of my life, and is still today definitely my main source of inspiration for art. In my old artworks, I can see that I started drawing far more mushrooms after I turned 4 and got a Nintendo and Super Mario games, haha! I think the games I’ve been the most influenced by are the Super Mario series, plus the Legend of Zelda games on Nintendo 64 (especially Ocarina of Time).
Music that inspires me the most are soundtracks from different videogames, especially from the Zelda series. Those games have so much beautiful music with so much emotion to them! They also reminds me of long evenings of playing videogames and having fun with my sisters.
I have also had other inspiration sources in my young days. In addition to videogames, I think I have in the past been influenced by the old drawn Disney movies. I watched a lot of Disney movies when I was young, and was very fascinated by how well they were drawn. And I had periods where I drew a lot of “My Little Pony”-artwork too, haha! And oh, I almost forgot Pokémon. When I was around 11, I was extremely fascinated by the Pokémon TV series, collectible cards, games and such, and I drew a lot of Pokémon fanart.
What advice can you offer beginners?
That is kind of hard to answer, as I don’t remember much from when I started drawing. However, I think it is important to remember that you have to love what you’re doing. It really shows in the artwork if the artist put his/her heart into it or not. And of course, patience and practice is crucial.
I also think it is good practice to draw using lots of reference pictures in the start. I have mostly drawn from my imagination, but I really wish I had used a lot of more time drawing from reference images to make my style more “correct” and realistic.
Taking drawing classes may also be good help, although I don’t have any experience with that.
But then again, art is mainly a reality escape and a way to relax for me – it is something I do on a hobby-basis, and not something I plan on making a living from.
I really appreciate Carina's art for it's beauty and detail, but also for the heart that she puts into it. You can have perfect technique, but if you don't love what you're doing, it's going to be missing it's soul. She not only has the technique, she has the love and the heart to take her beautiful art and make it sing.
I truly thank Carina for her time in telling her story, as well as for continuing to create such beautiful and personal works of art.
For more of Carina's beautiful artwork, check out her deviantART gallery or her blog.
Carina is one of my favorite fantasy and video gaming artists. I first ran across her art a few months back when I stumbled across this painting:
She has a very personal relationship with her art, which I appreciate. I don't want to be a "professional artist" because it would take away the freedom that art brings. I like to escape into my art, and Carina's art is pure escapism, in more ways than one.
From Carina:
How did you get started as an artist?That is a very good question – as I started drawing before I was 2 years old, I actually don’t remember. But I guess it was my older sister and mother who encouraged me to start drawing. Eventually, when my younger sister was born, we naturally encouraged her to start drawing at an early stage as well. Me and my sisters were very quiet, calm and well-mannered kids who could spend hours and hours together, just drawing or playing videogames and minding our own business. We had so much fun doing these “activities” together, and I have lots of nice memories from those times.
I have never taken any drawing lessons or such – I am self-taught.
What usually inspires you?
For me, making art has always been some sort of an escape from reality. I and my sisters didn’t have the best childhood, as our father (to put it mildly) is an alcoholic and psychopat, and our mother slowly but surely was broken down from the way he treated her. When drawing we felt safe, and could focus on making fantasy worlds through art where anything was possible – where there were no such things as anxiety or fear.
Now that I have “my own life”, art is a nice and relaxing escape from all the studies I do. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical Engineering, and will start on a Master’s Degree this autumn. My studies are so different from art in all ways, which makes drawing and painting a good source of recreation. In art there are no rules or restrictions - anything is possible! Only the imagination is the limit.
I played a lot of videogames growing up. Since I got my Nintendo NES when I was 4, this also functioned as a reality escape. I’ve mainly played Nintendo. Videogames has from that time on been a significant part of my life, and is still today definitely my main source of inspiration for art. In my old artworks, I can see that I started drawing far more mushrooms after I turned 4 and got a Nintendo and Super Mario games, haha! I think the games I’ve been the most influenced by are the Super Mario series, plus the Legend of Zelda games on Nintendo 64 (especially Ocarina of Time).
Music that inspires me the most are soundtracks from different videogames, especially from the Zelda series. Those games have so much beautiful music with so much emotion to them! They also reminds me of long evenings of playing videogames and having fun with my sisters.
I have also had other inspiration sources in my young days. In addition to videogames, I think I have in the past been influenced by the old drawn Disney movies. I watched a lot of Disney movies when I was young, and was very fascinated by how well they were drawn. And I had periods where I drew a lot of “My Little Pony”-artwork too, haha! And oh, I almost forgot Pokémon. When I was around 11, I was extremely fascinated by the Pokémon TV series, collectible cards, games and such, and I drew a lot of Pokémon fanart.
What advice can you offer beginners?
That is kind of hard to answer, as I don’t remember much from when I started drawing. However, I think it is important to remember that you have to love what you’re doing. It really shows in the artwork if the artist put his/her heart into it or not. And of course, patience and practice is crucial.
I also think it is good practice to draw using lots of reference pictures in the start. I have mostly drawn from my imagination, but I really wish I had used a lot of more time drawing from reference images to make my style more “correct” and realistic.
Taking drawing classes may also be good help, although I don’t have any experience with that.
But then again, art is mainly a reality escape and a way to relax for me – it is something I do on a hobby-basis, and not something I plan on making a living from.
I really appreciate Carina's art for it's beauty and detail, but also for the heart that she puts into it. You can have perfect technique, but if you don't love what you're doing, it's going to be missing it's soul. She not only has the technique, she has the love and the heart to take her beautiful art and make it sing.
I truly thank Carina for her time in telling her story, as well as for continuing to create such beautiful and personal works of art.
For more of Carina's beautiful artwork, check out her deviantART gallery or her blog.
*All artwork is ©Carina Nerland (www.xenonia.deviantart.com -- www.xenoniart.wordpress.com) and was used with permission from the artist. Unauthorized use of artwork is punishable by law*
Friday, July 16, 2010
The second Friday post
When I posted the last entry, I wasn't expecting to finish another painting today. But I did, so here's another post. I didn't want to wait until Sunday XD I've painted pretty much all day since I have to work 9-5 and don't have that much stuff to do. Works for me though, since I like the uninterrupted art time. Anyway, here's the painting. It's supposed to be my second anime convention painting, but they still haven't got the contracts posted, even though it was supposed to be done yesterday. Hrm...
I also did something a bit different and made a meme based on the painting process I used for that painting. Click on it to see the full: It might be interesting or amusing to you :D
View the meme here
Critique matters
I was totally proud of my last painting. So proud, this is now the third time I've brought it up XD But I really feel like it shows the most of my improvement.
I had submitted it to a critiquing group I'm part of and got some great feedback. Since I finally had some time yesterday, I updated the painting based on the feedback.
So...
BEFORE
AFTER
There were a lot of small details I fixed, but the main things were improving the branches and blossoms (which were apparently transparent) and blurring the background a bit to keep the focus on the character. Now I can be proud of it all over again. For another couple of days, anyway, until I finish my next one.
Do you want a prieview of it? Really? Reaaaaaaally?
Well, too bad. I don't do previews. :3
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Showcase Saturday - Marilena Mexi
This week's Showcase artist is Marilena of Greece!
As you may recall from my last painting, Garden Light, I have been working incessantly on improving my background ability. As a result, I decided to study up on some beautiful landscapes and detailed backgrounds. My search led me to discover Marilena on deviantART.
I was immediately astounded by the stunning amount of detail she puts into her work. It's as if you can see every leaf, stone, and wood knot in the scene. You can't just look at these paintings -- you fall into them.
I am particularly inspired by the above piece, Hidden Castle, as it reminds me a bit of a valley city I created in my novel mythology. The lighting and the depth in this work, especially, is outrageously stunning. It just seems to go on infinitely beyond the canvas. And really makes me want to go hiking XD
From Marilena:
How did you get started as an artist?
-Since I was very young I remember myself painting, participating in school painting contests and all sorts of artistic events. For me painting has always been a way of expression. I had been influenced by Walt Disney movies, as well as by my mother, who loves art and often took me to museums and galleries. She encouraged me to carry on with what I'm doing.
What usually inspires you?
-I'm inspired by my favorite bands Nightwish and Sirenia and general the symphonic metal music, also movies like the lord of the rings, twilight saga, matrix and my favorite artist and director Tim Burton.Generally I am influenced from the Greek mythology and not only.Always I like to hear and to read for myths and different mysterious stories,is something which is charm me and and make me to influence and to want to make with my fantasy mine stories.
What advice can you offer beginners?
-I don't believe in the word "talent", but in the words passion, love and practice. If you try really hard you will achieve your goals.
Love and hope makes us both better people and better artists.
Wait a second... Nightwish, Sirenia, AND Tim Burton??? I knew I liked her art for some reason. It's always fun to find a kindred spirit in the world.
Many, many thanks to Marilena for her time and permission, as well as for having such awesome taste in music. I'm listening to Sirenia's The Other Side as I write this.
As you may recall from my last painting, Garden Light, I have been working incessantly on improving my background ability. As a result, I decided to study up on some beautiful landscapes and detailed backgrounds. My search led me to discover Marilena on deviantART.
I was immediately astounded by the stunning amount of detail she puts into her work. It's as if you can see every leaf, stone, and wood knot in the scene. You can't just look at these paintings -- you fall into them.
I am particularly inspired by the above piece, Hidden Castle, as it reminds me a bit of a valley city I created in my novel mythology. The lighting and the depth in this work, especially, is outrageously stunning. It just seems to go on infinitely beyond the canvas. And really makes me want to go hiking XD
From Marilena:
-Since I was very young I remember myself painting, participating in school painting contests and all sorts of artistic events. For me painting has always been a way of expression. I had been influenced by Walt Disney movies, as well as by my mother, who loves art and often took me to museums and galleries. She encouraged me to carry on with what I'm doing.
What usually inspires you?
-I'm inspired by my favorite bands Nightwish and Sirenia and general the symphonic metal music, also movies like the lord of the rings, twilight saga, matrix and my favorite artist and director Tim Burton.Generally I am influenced from the Greek mythology and not only.Always I like to hear and to read for myths and different mysterious stories,is something which is charm me and and make me to influence and to want to make with my fantasy mine stories.
What advice can you offer beginners?
-I don't believe in the word "talent", but in the words passion, love and practice. If you try really hard you will achieve your goals.
Love and hope makes us both better people and better artists.
Wait a second... Nightwish, Sirenia, AND Tim Burton??? I knew I liked her art for some reason. It's always fun to find a kindred spirit in the world.
Many, many thanks to Marilena for her time and permission, as well as for having such awesome taste in music. I'm listening to Sirenia's The Other Side as I write this.
All artwork featured is ©Marilena Mexi (maril1.deviantart.com) and was used with permission from the artist.
Unauthorized use or reproduction of art is punishable by law.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Bit of an update...
I am insanely proud of myself. Why? Because I finally got accepted into one of the upper echelon groups on deviantART!!! The founder is an artist I really respect and getting art entered into the group meant a lot.
A lot of my confidence hung on it, actually. I had decided that if my art wasn't good enough to get into that group, I wouldn't be going to Oni-con. So getting in has given me the confidence to stay up until 12AM on July 15 and get my contract in ASAP! I'm quite excited. I have a printing service set up, a decent amount of investible cash, and new confidence. Now all I need is enough art to sell. I have all of July, August, and September to build up a decent selection of art from various anime. I think for sale maximization, I'll stick with the more popular anime like Naruto, Bleach, Death Note, and Vampire Knight I'd say gag me to VK, but I'm really looking forward to painting Zero XD. I will also have a few pieces from The Wallflower just because I love it so much and am going as Sunako anyway. Not to mention, Hayakawa-sensei is supposed to be releasing a new volume in the fall, so maybe the waning Wallflower interest will have picked back up again.
Here is the painting that got me into the group and is serving as piece #1 of my convention stock!
Note: Like all of my paintings involving bright light, blogger doesn't have the capabilities to show it, so it looks rather dull.
I used many photos as reference (the background alone was crafted out of four different images) and am quite happy with the result! I'm usually less than adequate at backgrounds, but I really worked hard on this one and it paid off. I don't know that I'll do all of my pieces with detailed backgrounds, but I definitely wanted to try at least once!
Remember - 15% off commissions to help me go to Onicon!
A lot of my confidence hung on it, actually. I had decided that if my art wasn't good enough to get into that group, I wouldn't be going to Oni-con. So getting in has given me the confidence to stay up until 12AM on July 15 and get my contract in ASAP! I'm quite excited. I have a printing service set up, a decent amount of investible cash, and new confidence. Now all I need is enough art to sell. I have all of July, August, and September to build up a decent selection of art from various anime. I think for sale maximization, I'll stick with the more popular anime like Naruto, Bleach, Death Note, and Vampire Knight I'd say gag me to VK, but I'm really looking forward to painting Zero XD. I will also have a few pieces from The Wallflower just because I love it so much and am going as Sunako anyway. Not to mention, Hayakawa-sensei is supposed to be releasing a new volume in the fall, so maybe the waning Wallflower interest will have picked back up again.
Here is the painting that got me into the group and is serving as piece #1 of my convention stock!
Note: Like all of my paintings involving bright light, blogger doesn't have the capabilities to show it, so it looks rather dull.
I used many photos as reference (the background alone was crafted out of four different images) and am quite happy with the result! I'm usually less than adequate at backgrounds, but I really worked hard on this one and it paid off. I don't know that I'll do all of my pieces with detailed backgrounds, but I definitely wanted to try at least once!
Remember - 15% off commissions to help me go to Onicon!
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