Holidays

Did a Christmas painting this weekend! Also finished up an Elf doll for my mom's birthday. Fully pose-able, made from super sculpy, wire and lots of fabric/wool. I used the technique I learned from Wendy Froud. Soooo it is a little Froud-ish, but thats what my mom likes!

Eastbound & Down

Thanks to Jarrod, I've now seen this show lol. It's amazing, and Stevie Janowski is my favorite! These are some quick doodles because if you saw this amazing beast of a man, you'd have to draw him too.

I love people with amazing faces! Who also scream at children and make me laugh.

"YOU INVITED THIS MONSTER!"

Aaahhhh good times everyone, good times.

Where the Wild Things Are

Saw it twice this weekend....probably will go a third time before its out of theaters. It's one of the few movies that didn't turn out to be a waste of money! And worth the few years of waiting. Max was great and Alexander was also pretty adorable with his whining. I'm kind of impressed at how close it was to the book since the book was so short; it really stayed true to the story down to every detail. Go out and see it!

Dudes

Been listening to a bit of 80s metal lately. Its the NJ kid in me finally breaking out of its dark little cage.

Last 2 boys are re-designs of an oooold character I have, Sam. I really want to go back in and push some of the shapes, so adding that to my to-do list!

Life Drawing

Me and my friend from work, Cory, went to our life drawing class this weekend! Man, am I out of practice. Cory's wife was sweet enough to ask to see these; the times range from 2 minutes to half an hour, but I don't think I used the full time for any of them except the last one. Sorry for the crappy quality, they're too big to scan and its pretty dark in here...




I know the proportions are a little wonky, but I'll hopefully get back into the swing of it!

- vine charcoal, compressed charcoal, grease pencil, and brush pen -


(also voting is still open on the toys! )

Toys!

I'm jumping on the bandwagon (and copying Jarrod), and put up some designs to Patch Together to try to get em made into toys.

Vote for em please? :) You have to sign-up to vote I believe but its free. And then you can submit YOUR designs for toys and be cool.



Snake Lady voting here

aaaand Hippie voting here


If they get enough votes they'll go into pre-order so I can get them made into toys! Neat!

Where the Wild Things Are

Heres a little doodle I farted out. This movie is gunna rock so hard...

Danny Cooksey

I have a little celebrity crush on the guy. Hes just so NEAT looking and his voice is so so awesome. I've had his song Stag on repeat for hours. Days even. I just wish there was a way to buy his music, cuz I have money to give him!

So I've been doodling him a bunch (again) and trying to get his face right (again). It's really hard because he has this awesome awesome nose that Im finding impossible to get down. His face shape is totally amazing and I will never tire of it though.



And here are some Livewire sketches, cuz I was watching some Batman Animated recently. I know the colored paper one is boring, but I was just inking a super super quick sketch so see how it would look on pastel paper. Not sure if I like it...

Also eep, I have a list of things to draw for people that I need to do. Apologies in advance!

Candy Rot

A new cavegirl! Drawn for a joint blog with my friend Serena.

Also, did anyone else catch the new ep. of Flapjack, "K'nuckles and His Hilarious Problem?" Ghostshrimp just might draw my favorite expressions ever to be created by man.

Marker and Pencil colors

Just some doodles and colors of sketches. I kinda like drawing the amazon/cavegirl-type ones, so Im working on some more too.

Im trying to get into a local life drawing class starting in September. Its for 8 weeks and I could use the class so badly, but Im not sure if there is room left. Heres hoping!

hippie

Been in a hippie sort of mood! One day I'll draw better poses and upload them.

Just a quick something before bed.

Zombies

Zombies for another 'weekly' challenge! Guy in the middle is Casual Business Zombie. And then this random Super Hero girl, because I was sent some awesome Bruce Timm refs and well...I need to practice some more.


Hah hah! Dangly parts.

scribble scrabble

Natasha Levitan, from these awesome 'how to cook' videos on a website that I lost the link to.





I was trying to see how close I could get a likeness without using reference. Theres a bunch I didn't post...but here are the ones that are the least offensive!

Also, Im sorry Serena, I'll draw a better 'you' next time!

something totally different

For years my dad has been asking me to paint a picture of his garden and I finally did for this Father's Day. I don't like painting realism; it's not fun, its frustrating and aggravating and takes too much concentration for someone who'd rather draw cartoons. But I think that's what I need right now. I've been slacking in my life drawing and painting, which is kind of scary to me. This is the painting I gave my dad :



It took me so many hours I can't count, many re-paintings of the same spot, and at one point I just ditched the reference photos and painted from memory. Heres a painting I found in my old portfolio, one I did three years ago in about an hour:




Overall I think its a lot better than the first one, maybe not lighting-wise, but color and technique for sure. It really made me realize how far I've fallen with my observational skills. Yikes. Time to get back into the paints and head outside!

And work-wise, we were looking at the WiiWare game LostWinds as an example of what 40 MB can do. And man is that game amazing. Visually gorgeous, fun and interesting because most of it is trial and error, and control-wise really awesome. More games that utilize the cursor aspect of the wiimote, in a non-frustrating way, would be greatly appreciated.

Jam

Woooooooaaaaaaaah! Serena, the awesome animator/illustrator, finally posted some of her work to her blog. Check it out, shes crazy good!

And also here are some doodles done for our joint blog, Weekly Jam Session. Actually its more like our 'Yearly' Jam Session. We try to pick a topic and draw it, but they're sorta all turning into the same thing. Whatever!




These were done with brush pen, prisma color and copic markers, colored pencils, and white out. I'll probably draw more tomorrow if I have time while not doing Fathers Day fun things. I want to draw more non-boring poses and the like.

Self Portrait

This is how I look, according to my best friend Serena. I have a hump, buckteeth, a hoof arm and a claw arm, walk with a cane, wear one sneaker and drag a high heeled clad foot behind me, I have a half mask to hide the rest of my face (like its actually hiding anything), and the best part, a fat ponytail. Thats when you have a ponytail made up entirely of neck fat.

I'd have included some quotes, mainly the ones about how everyone at work is grossed out when I walk in the room, but I don't need to offend anyone. I'm already offending all the hoof and claw armed people of the world...

Extreme close-up!

Time for some fun. Its been a very not-so-fun weekend, so I wanted to just let rip.

Heres some stuff I drew a few weeks ago:


Here are some more quick drawings from the Barnes and Noble sketches:


And heres my guilty little secret: drawing explosive vomit and diarrhea for laughs!



This ones called the "Vomiting through your teeth on a first date," suggested by Serena.


This ones the "Nighttime Surprise Volcano"





The "Squirter"



The "Fancy Dinner Poop You Thought was a Fart"




The "Water Fountain"


The "Angry Revenge Shotgun" The "Didn't Make it in Time"

Good times, guys. Good times.

Thief and the Cobbler

Tack, mending one of Yum Yum's shoes. This is one of my favorite movies but only with the sound off. I'm trying to stick to my traditional roots so I don't forget how to paint, so I kind of forced myself to finish this as its been sitting on my table for weeks. Looking at it now I can see the lines are a little wobbly...but that's ok, that's what practice is for!

Done in watercolor, gouache, microns on some very crappy card stock.

Public

More sketches! These are some I did in public; the birds n kids were done the beach and the rest at a Barnes & Noble. Both of which I had people throw out comments about my hair (and feet for some reason). And at the thrift store this very old lady in a wheelchair asked her friend if I was a girl or a boy. See, this is why I do not like going out in public.






I did these sketches with a Pentel brush pen, and I really loved working with it. I was able to focus on shape instead of detail which was really nice. I went back in and tried to do a 'cleaned up' version of a few sketches:




but I like the sketches better.

I keep starting paintings and then stopping them...I have about 5 drawn out on paper ready to go but I can't seem to find the energy. I'm hoping life drawing will get me out of this rut!

Thurop

Thurop asked for bday gifts so he gets bday gifts!

I didn't start until 11:30 pm tonight...and now its 4 am. But I had a looot of fun painting again! Sorry I keep uploading fanart but its Flapjack and we all love Flapjack.

quick animation test

(blogger wont allow moving gifs apparently....so heres the moving one )

I actually did this a while ago...but I just found it. I don't know how to animate obviously, so it's a struggle, but its fun! And its teaching me about form and shape which is awesome. Its not done though I might just move onto another one and keep practicing and practicing.

just a few things for now

I really screwed up my wrist somehow so its been pretty painful to try and draw today. I had to give up and go soak it in hot water. I don't know if its my tendinitis coming back or if it was the 8 hours of baking yesterday, but I'm hoping it goes away soon.

Heres all I got done:




And an in-progress picture of a painting I keep working on and stopping.


I don't know if I'll finish it because even I find this boring. Putting groceries away? I don't know what I was thinking.

nothing original this time

Some characters that aren't mine!


Done over on tegaki e, which is basically like an online 'paint' program. You only have one layer and 5 undos. These are just quick doodles, so I kept them pretty small.




Salute them Shorts! I've been on a Danny Cooksey spree. He's got a great voice and I love his band, Arbuckle! If anyone knows where to buy some of his music, lemme know.


I'm gunna draw from mugshots more often.

Ugh god, I wish I could figure out what made me think eating hard boiled eggs in a hot tiny apartment was a good idea.

Wild Rumpus!

Quick doodle in open canvas because...my excitement overflows. Nothing makes me happy like watching traditional animation does, and its even better if its stop motion. But JIM HENSON PUPPETS just might make me the happiest. And Jim Henson Where the Wild Things Are PUPPET SUITS........aaaaahhh I can't handle it. The movie is going to be amazing. I'm happy the film wasn't re-shot, the 3D animated faces are perfect and lovely, and boy am I looking forward to all the screaming children in the theater.

crappy crap

I'm kind of tired of drawing cutesy crap all the time. I never really used to draw cute, and now I remember why. Its fun, but its the strange stuff that I've been neglecting to draw because I figured the cute stuff is what people want to see. No more cutesy for a while.






And heres me with Boober, to make me look cooler



This weekend I also made cupcakes with my sister and niece! Though Pillsbury's strawberry icing doesn't taste like strawberries.

sketches sketches

This is a doodle of a friend of mine at work, Cory, who's been a super awesome mentor and teacher to me. The photo I had to work from was pretty amazing!

The rest are just scans from my sketchbook.





I know I really need to work on getting down to one 'style' of drawing. But drawing lots of ways is really fun so its hard to focus...

expression

I was chatting with my friend Raven about animation and expressions, and she was telling me how she uses a mirror when she draws. Probably why shes so freaking amazing! So, being as sucky with expressions as I am, I wanted to try it out.




It was so much fuuuuun. And sure they're not amazing...but they're better than normal which is a start. I used Sam as a base and drew as many as I could. All of you should go make faces in front of a mirror and draw! Thanks for the awesome kick in the butt Raven.

Just doin stuff

Some silhouettes I did a while ago and never got around to posting.

I saw Coraline this weekend, and I was surprised at how good it was story-wise because I wasn't a fan of the book. The character they added fit in seamlessly and he was adorable. I saw it in 3D which was very distracting at times (those 3D glasses don't fit well over my actual glasses), so Im thinking about seeing it again and watching it normally. Definitely worthy of all the hype and worth the few years wait to see it.

Also, those Flapjack drawings I did last post got into the Valentine fan art video here. It aired on Cartoon Network right after the new episode last week, and thankfully someone put it online. Thanks to Mister Thurop and his crew!

Valentine

I don't have much else to upload but fanart...Soooo here it is! Done for the Flapjack Valentine contest over at Cartoon Network. Painted in watercolor/salt, pen and ink, gouache, markers.

STUFF

Doodles n sketches!

Heres a tip: Don't ever buy scallops from a New Jersey A&P unless you want everything in your house to stink like rotting fish. And its the kind of stink that clings, even to your hair, and especially to the clothes you wear to work the next day.

Witch

I cant decide if I should put lines on this or not...its not the best painting, and it was a little rushed, but whenever I put outlines on anything I completely screw it up. Eh...

done in gouache and watercolors on windsor newton!

Happy Holidays!

Heres the company card I did this year for Digital Embryo. Have a happy safe holiday!! Hooray!!

Also...our next game came out, Summer Sports 2 Island Sports Party (long name), so if you happen to play it, let us know!

Designs

Just some stuff Im working on. I want to have a bunch more expressions for each one, but its a start!


---Oh yeah, my laptop's screen fell off this weekend, so now I'm really without a computer unless Im at work. Sorry, its going to take me a bit to reply to emails and all...

Forest

This is the painting I did for my ma's birthday, since she loves the fall. Done in gouache with no previous sketch or underlining drawing which shows, unfortunately. Im a big fan of Scott Wills, Bill Wray, Lorelay Bove, Nate Wragg, Lou Romano aaaand so on, and I love gouache, so I wanted to try a more graphic painting.

Also, I wasn't able to scan it before I gifted it, so I only have this crappy photo.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Hope everyone has just as much of a fun place to work as I do.

Straws!

Paintings and Things

Here's a painting I've been working on, as well as some older sketches. I wanted to do a more Halloween themed painting, but I think this is as close as I'm gunna get.

Aaaand last weekend didn't go as planned. When I got to the convention to meet Alan Lee and Brian, Wendy and Toby Froud, I realized the Frouds schedule had them there on SUNday, not the Saturday I was at the convention center, and Alan Lee wasn't going to be in until 4 that afternoon; and it was 11 am when I figured it out. I was luckily able to see Toby again (and he remembered me, so it wasn't AS awkward asking for a video...), and he was walking around with a Froud puppet. So it definitely wasn't a complete let down, but...I was hoping to get the books I dragged with me signed for Christmas gifts. Well, next time! Maybe. Heres his cute video:

A quick doodle from an internet site where you can draw online. It only has one layer and a very limited amount of undos, so it can get annoying fast. Also the "h" key, the "g" key, and the backspace key are now broken on my even more broken laptop, so I have to copy and paste the letters when I need 'em. Sure adds to the fun of whatever it is I'm trying to do online.

I did a quick animation of her twirling around in photoshop and image ready, but looking at it further its a little embarrassing. Maybe after I tweak it some more or something it wont be too bad to show.

Aaaaand something from work. I usually ask before I post anything from work publicly, but I think this one is safe as it was totally scrapped and we haven't touched the character in months and months.

Im going to meet Brian Froud and Alan Lee this weekend, and re-meet Wendy and Toby. Still haven't gotten around to posting pictures of that doll I made in her workshop...but I hope to get pictures and autographs from them and like a true geek I'll force them upon the internet to look at!

Ireland

I went to Ireland for ten days at the start of September! It was my first time on a plane and first time overseas, and sort of my first 'actual' vacation. I got sick during the 3rd day after spending 2 hours in the freezing pouring rain with a broken umbrella and no raincoat over at Newgrange. So the rest of the trip kind of flew by. Not to mention being in a car for 6 hours a day when youre nausous is a pretty horrible thing to have to sit through. But! I did get to sleep in a castle, and from what I can remember from that night (sick the worst then), the place was cool.

This is the outside, the inside picture I got was blurry which is a shame because it looked like the Shining.



The Cliffs of Moher, when me and my mom were BOTH sick, trying not to get blown off and trying to actually care about what it was we were seeing.





Galway was by far my favorite place, but that could be because we were there before I got sick. The water was so blue! And freezing, and people were swimming in it. It was such nice weather too, unlike the rest of the trip. We should have spent our 10 days there, so next time we know. Fishing villages are where its at.





The Ring of Kerry was gorgeous and full of nausea. Those TURNS are INSANE and everyone driving on them is insane. But the water is pretty and there are dolphins there, apparently. I didn't see any...so it coooould be a clever rouse to get me to roll down a cliff and see whats in the water.



Haha Dingle!



By the time me and my mom got to Blarney, we were tired and cranky and annoyed. But...it was worth it. Once we were back in the car.

It was good times though, besides the horrible plane ride there, and the horrible car ride home.

I came home to a broken laptop that I cant seem to fix, so Im updating from work. Probably wont update much until its fixed, which will hopefully be soon. Life is awfully boring without a computer. Also, my email is virtually useless because it got hacked into. So if you've emailed me, sorry, I doubt I got it!

Eeeeeh

I miss painting. So just some sketches until I drag my butt to the art store to buy watercolor paper!

Trying to keep busy

Its been a long time since I last sat down and tried to draw something not super cartoony. It was a really nice change of pace, I think I'll try to keep this up on top of drawing cartoons!



Drew these at my parents house when I wasn't able to use their pool...




This illustration has fought me the whole way. I ended up just...giving up, and went into Photoshop to fix some colors and add some details in the face. The rest is painted with watercolor and gouache. Im not 100% happy with how it turned out, I don't think I'll be going back in to fix it. It was a good exercise in transparency though.

And a quick Flapjack doodle to promote the great Thurop Van Orman's cartoon The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack AND his contest (of sorts)! Rumor has it he's asked the Flapjack group over on Deviantart to make their own episode, which may or may not be made into an actual cartoon. Go here for the details. Either way, its a great opportunity to show Thurop just how amazing his show really is!

Marker doodles

Done for a friend who asked me to draw her a 'cutie girl.' She seems to like it! I inked it with a Japanese brush pen, and once I got done with the face the phone rang...so the body isn't inked as nicely. Im sorry.

But!! I'm now working on an illustration for a contest. Excitement! I'll post it when its done, so I don't jinx it.

Watercolors

I did these a while ago, with eeeeevery intention of uploading them to my website. Welp, that never happened, as usual. So I figured I'd at least post them here if not there!

The second one was a study for the first one somehow. Neither came out how I pictured them but they were a lot of fun to do.

3B pencil

I swear, anyone who knew me in college and before knows I never used to draw girls. And I always say I don't, then every post on here is a girl or something girly. Its weird. I always seem to draw them now!

So here are some more with a few boys thrown in, just doodles this time. It was great to draw without a blue underline again, but they're pretty messy.

Also, Im ready for it to be fall now. I love the summer, but only when I have air conditioning.

Moved!

Its taken me almost a full month to move into my new apartment...and after 3 1/2 weeks I think Im done! I had to throw a lot of stuff out, leave behind my cat, my new place is still messy and I have no where to put anything, but at least its done. And with roaches, disgustingly loud neighbors (naps are impossible!), and people randomly setting fireworks off in the parking lot it's got some bad with the good. But its comfy and in walking distance to my job so all in all it could be worse. I guess.

Specially if you've got THIS sitting next to you at work. GROSS!!
Anywho, here are some cats I was working on. 'Was' being the key word.

Practice

I went to the Wendy Froud class and it was pretty amazing. Both Wendy and Toby are amazing artists and teachers, I've learned a LOT from the 3 day course. Wish I could have stuck around for the advanced class! Next time. I was going to take pictures of the doll I made in the class, but its been so cloudy and rainy outside, so I have no natural light. Maybe this weekend if it doesn't rain again. Anyway, I've missed gouache! So I colored in a piece from last time and posted some 'expressions' that are a little bland but...I'll keep working on them.

Girlies!

I really need to get some life drawing classes or something. Ugh. Some doodles while chatting online! I really need to focus on my shapes some more, so I was trying to keep angles in mind with these. I've had Ovi's book for months and I sadly never sat down and read what he had to say on character design (Im a fooly fool), and it was just so obvious; keep angles and straight lines with your curves, and focus on pose and attitude. I've been told this a million times but I never seem to listen...

Off to NYC for 3 days! I'll post the doll I finish when I get back, if it makes the ride home on the subway in one piece.

Another quick Painter thing

I meant to include this in my last post but forget why I didn't...oh well. Im trying to do one image in Painter a week, but I've been doing freelancing instead. I GUESS thats a good trade off haha

I really miss sculpting and toy making but I'm taking a class with Wendy Froud next weekend (that I haven't prepaid for yet! crap), so hopefully that'll get me back in the swing of sculpting and sewing tiny clothes. I'll post pictures of whatever it is I make...if I remember.

And Summer Sports came out last Wednesday! If you pick it up, let me know what you think.

Painter

Ive been messing around with Painter this weekend, trying to get the hang of it. I've used it once or twice before and it confuses me still...but I'll keep at it.



I only really enjoy drawing faces. That makes me pretty useless! Ah well.



Larp! Larp it up! Larp a doodle-doo. Live long and Larp. (Sorry this took like 15 minutes and it shows...I'll try harder!)

Excitement!

Heres the illustration that got into Eye Candy. I got my books yesterday, and not only are they HUGE, but they're gorgeous and packed full of amazing people. Steven Gordon, Kei Acedera, Bill Presing, Jose Luis Agreda, and Andrew Wilson are in there so you KNOW its gotta be gorgeous work. Thanks so much to Alberto for making it happen! Go out and buy a copy, you'll be happy to bring 'em home.

I've been going through both books this weekend and got inspiried to draw some ladies. But then 'some' turned into 'one' and then I colored it.


The end!

Eye Candy From Strangers

Alberto Ruiz held a competition a while back, to be included in the book Eye Candy From Strangers. The prize was getting in (and getting a free copy...but getting in is really the BEST prize ever). And well...I got in! I have to say Alberto is a true sweetheart and very, very dedicated to the field. He loves what he does, loves art, loves the ladies, and really came through in helping out the lesser known artists with these books. He got so many submissions hes made 2 (maybe a 3rd on the way?), and they're really gorgeous. What surprised me the most was when I submitted stuff to be considered for the book, I was tired and didn't read the directions carefully (Im so dumb), so I had no idea it was for drawings of LADIES only. I think I sent him like....animals. And concept art of kitchens. But he spent his time going to my website and picking something out over just ignoring my entry completely. I'm really super honored to be in this book. It's the best feeling to be noticed by a fellow artist and paired with other people who share your interests. Theres SO much talent I'm pretty floored to have gotten in. So thank you to Alberto Ruiz! Its the biggest honor I've yet to get.

You can see the link to preview AND purchase here. My books come tomorrow but I was too excited to wait. I'll post pictures when its in my greedy little hands!