Personal Piece #9

My mother told me to pick the very best one and you . . . are . . . it!

Clopin! Oh my gosh, long time no see! My first cartoon love, after Miguel from The Road to El Dorado. This was just a recreation of a movie screen cap that I never finished. I think the whole point was to practice some architecture. heheheh, love how that worked. :D 

I's needs to blog!

Well, hello there all! Long time no see! Methinks we have some catching up to do!

Just to get it out of my system, I PASSED PROFICIENCY LAST NIGHT! YAAAY! *ahem* Terribly sorry you had to see that. I shall attempt to reign in my enthusiasm. But yes, passed with surprising, delightful results and I may now continue my studies as an art major without fear. I did it. I am proud. I am happy. :3

Seriously, having that suspense forever gone has given me this newfound energy and spunk. I feel like nothing can stop me today! I am pumped, I am excited, I am awake, I have a loooong to-do list and I be scratching things off already, despite two hours of work at the office (that has been the extent of my morning). I feel good . . .

So, in order to celebrate, I shall now do what I should have done a few days ago. :D New illustration art.

First up is the product illustration. I chose coffee. Does this really surprise you? I love it so, and miss Starbucks desperately. But I shall manage. Despite working diligently on this piece, I was slightly disappointed. I mean, others have been so kick ass . . . I think it's not too bad in terms of realism, but it could have a whole other dimension that I just wasn't sure how to include. Over all, "Meh," with a positive, upward inflection.

The second piece is a landscape that I foolishly forgot to print out. I'm not sure if it will do me any good, but I'm printing and mounting it tonight, along with my CML poster for Vis Com I. Hopefully, Rusty will be sympathetic. Will ya, Rusty? *bats eyelashes* lol Even if not, I'll still have a pretty printed, mounted piece of an African landscape, complete with elephants. I'm rather partial to my lil fat zebra. I find him lovable. P.S. Large scale watercolor stinks. Just saying. I mean, this one was slightly easier due to previous experience, but yish . . . That's a lot of pigment and brushstrokes.

P.S.S. The cashier window in MC has odd hours. But I got my print receipt details taken care of, so it's all good.

Cheers!

Yuuuuuuum . . . 

Crikey! We're on safari, mates! Why am I Australian in Africa? XD 

Personal Piece #8

Let us see what we have for the next personal piece *reaches into hat and fishes around with eyes closed*.

Ohhh, this is the sketch from my first lithograph print that I did in high school. It's Charles Aznavour, the first French musician I ever fell in love with. The actual print was never as sleek as the original sketch. 

I officially LOVE tablets!

I am giddy like a little school girl right now! I feel like running up to my friends and family squealing, "Lookie, lookie! Look what I just did!" XD I have successfully figured out how to add color to my line art illustrations in Photoshop on the tablet, and these are what I ended up with! I mean, I know there are others who can do SO much better, but for a first try, I am super proud of myself! :D Promise, this pride will not last. lol Just wait for future projects--I'm sure they will not illicit such a jubilant response. But for now . . .!

I think I might have finally found a niche in Illustration. I mean, I've adapted to everything new with the most ease I can muster, but this tablet work is so enjoyable, even though I have a way to go. But I'm excited about going the distance with this medium. It's so fun! I really want a tablet now . . . but there is no way with the expense right now. Hahaha! Oh, well. Gotta have a goal to shoot for!

Tablet animals! My digital toucan, guinea pig, fish, Border Collie, and French bulldog. The Border Collie is probably my favorite. He turned out most "realistic" out of all the them. Frenchie is the next favorite. :) 

Personal Piece #7

Time to dip into the "Art Collection" folder for another piece. Who will we have this evening?

Ahhhhhh! My autographed drawing that my dearest friend, Ashlee Estep, was kind enough to get for me when she went to Quebec for a Bruno Pelletier concert in 2009. Ignoring the obvious disproportions, this piece is so close to my heart. <3 

I'm on time!

I love getting homework done early, leaving the rest of the night to study for a midterm tomorrow after French practice! I have my two assignments ready for class and to celebrate, they are going on the blog early! Huzzah! Let's see what we have . . .

I swear, I am narcissistic in this class. First my ten variations of myself for the line art people assignment, and now five more pictures of me based on my Facebook profile pictures? What's next? Honestly, that is more of me than I'm sure most people would like to see. XD I don't mind how these turned out . . . now that watercolor is vaguely getting less intimidating, each piece is coming more easily. It's like an old friend who constantly gives you grief and tells vulgar jokes, but you just can't help but love them, you've spent so much time together, rather than a terrifying stranger lurking in the dark corner of a deserted alleyway waiting for the ideal moment to leap out and ruin your life.  . . . I'm a writer in addition to an artist. Can you tell? :D

The next series of drawings will get me sued if I clarify that the characters are property of Disney and were not drawn for any sort of profit. XD Cartoons are about the only thing I can handle on the wacom tablets at this time. SO. Hunchback of Notre Dame has five main characters . . . I need to draw five line art drawings on the tablets . . . WELL, all be dog gone! Coincidence? I think not!

I apologize . . . I am in a good mood tonight!

Anyway, enough rambling on my part. You came here to see art! I will not disappoint!

Night all! Cheers!

Look, it's me! In a myriad of ways . . . at least, that's what I tried to do. A little of real me, serious me, goofy me. It's all here.

Tablet work! WOO! Here we have Photoshop brushed Quasimodo, Phoebus, Esmeralda, Clopin, and Frollo. 

Personal Piece #6

I need some cheering up today. Let's see what we have in the trusty, ole files!

Josh Groban! Perfect! I did this piece last year over Christmas break in an attempt to apply what I learned in Drawing I to my own personal work. This was obviously a practice in composition. I had a spare cut matte left over from Design I, so I just trimmed the piece down to fit and hopefully look good in the process. I used this image for the Christmas cards I sent out to my family. :) The image of Josh was copied from his latest album, Illuminations. 

Size DOES matter . . .

Oh dear . . . why must my watercolors turn against me on a grander size scale? I know it doesn't look like it, but I actually worked long and hard on this piece. Too bad it doesn't show. The paint kept lifting off with each stroke . . . ahhh, it was awful! But for a first 20x30 piece, I guess I can't complain too much. I am   sort of relieved that we have the chance to do another piece of this size--now that I know what I'm doing, maybe I can prevent another train wreck. The mountains and water are a serene shade of blue, at least. It's calming, which I'll need in the next few days. Honestly, blogging helps me to keep from going crazy. :)

Cheers for now, everyone! I'll be back soon with more!

Personal piece #5

Looking into the files yet again . . . Our lucky winner today is:

HAHAHAHA! Beetlejuice! Talk about a blast from the past with everyone's favorite Ghost with the Most. I adore this movie and old cartoon series so. <3 

Well, hello there!

I am sorry, friends. I am rather behind in terms of keeping up with the blogging. Pardon my French, but the end of last week was hell and my body is doing nothing to help. I be trying to come down with something. I hope it's just allergies, but I'm not sure. I won't bore you or gross you out with details, but coughing and a sore throat are never fun. But I'm trekking through. I shall persevere! :D

Anyway, let's get down to the real business of this blog, shall we? Art! Monday's assignment was an assignment from memory. Well . . . Rusty didn't really specify what kind of memory. XD I had a recent drawing still in my mind and I, well, sort of kinda used said memory for a reference. It's not cheating! I didn't use a literal reference or photo. lol! Just . . . the mental, muscle memory of a previous piece of work. I was pleased with the result. The colors were happy and vibrant and the splatter with a wet paintbrush in the corner was way too much fun! More fun that it probably should have been. :)

By the way, the young man featured in this piece is Michaël Grégoire, an aspiring, and might I say extremely talented Quebecois singer/musician. I believe that art advocacy should be permitted on my blog, so if you are interested in French music and fantastic artists, give a listen here . . . 


http://www.facebook.com/pages/Michaël-Grégoire/155993597755325 
and here! :D
http://www.youtube.com/user/micgregoire 


Also, last class, Rusty totally let us play with the new wacom tablets due to a technological error with the DVD player. Oh. My. GOSH. Where have these amazing instruments been all my life!? They are so freakin' cool!! I was having WAY too much fun learning how to use mine. My good friend was laughing the entire time, abandoning her own drawings temporarily to watch and get a kick out of me. I'm sure I was entertaining. XD My shock and amazement at the mere hovering over the tablet with the pen to make it move about the screen was beyond giggle-worthy. Obviously, this was my first time using a tablet. The fact that I can draw directly onto the computer screen with it in my own style fills me with joy and fuzzies. I mean, granted, it's gonna take some getting used to, but I think I'll be fine. And if not, I'll be having fun! 


Cheers all, and thanks for listening! 

Michaël Grégoire, original pencil sketch and finished watercolor. Seriously, go discover. He is amazing. :D

Wacom Disney doodles! Copyright OF Disney, of course. Save for Pierre. His cartoon design is mine, based off of Bruno Pelletier's interpretation of Hugo's beloved character. Have I mentioned I LOVE that tablet? XD

Personal Piece #4

And the next piece we draw from the files is . . . .?! *drum roll*

Hahahaha! Audrey II from the beloved, macabre, corny musical Little Shop of Horrors. My ongoing dream is to one day be featured in this production! This piece was drawn promptly after a viewing of said production my sophomore year of high school, I believe. Whoa, older piece-action goin' on here. But I still adore the colors! :D 

Work, work, work

I should be doing other homework right now. But I'm not. XD I have had a very productive day: class, matte cutting, you name it! And what better way to celebrate than taking a few relaxing minutes to blog? My day seems to be made up of lights and darks. Lots of homework, but got all day to work on it tomorrow. Vis Com project almost due, but it's going faster now that I actually know what I'm doing with the mesh tool. Missed Art of Living Club tonight, but have all my pieces picked out and almost all my mattes cut for Proficiency. Gotta love that tug and pull of opposite forces!

In this next series of pieces, we have absolute chaos, color, and a strained attempt to be loose. Did it work? I'll let all of you decide . . . ;)

Long night ahead. Peace, love, and Pumpkin Delights. <3

Cheers!

So, here we have my rainbow assortment of friends and young adults. These didn't take very much time a piece. First combination of ink and watercolor, the ink providing structure. Some I am very proud of, simply for capturing my subject. If nothing else, the colors make me smile. :) 

Today's class work. This was supposed to also combine watercolor and ink, but I used very little of the latter. I did not want to use the reference I printed off, so I grabbed the worksheet I made myself for Religion class and drew the Hindu god, Vishnu. I took my time on him and created one piece I was truly proud of, as opposed to three not so hot ones. The second piece is a kind of joke. The swipes of color were the practice strokes I used to test the colors for Vishnu, and it was mentioned that the colors were parrot-esque. I tried to draw a Macaw over the colors and it turned into a bald eagle. Good at birds, I am not. XD 

Next "When I Receive the Chance" piece . . . lol

I am doing these personal drawings in alphabetical order, according to the file names in my computer. XD Let's see what is in store for us today . . .!

Awww, it's my old puppy, Angus. He was the most beautiful brindle French bulldog! Done with black Prisma color pencil. 

Good morning, everyone!

Ohhh, thank you Exploring Religions class for blessing me with an hour of meditation this morning! I feel so content, calm, and rested. Perfect for some peaceful blogging time. I have my latest pieces for illustration on hand, 10 architecture watercolor pieces. Okay, nine to be precise. I didn't realize we could use other photo references and I was out of ideas. *shrug* Next assignment, no problem reaching the goal--we can choose the subject matter? Hello, colorful portraits! :D

Anyway, Rusty gave me an interesting hint in the use of watercolor this morning: be intentionally random. I do believe that is that most oxi-moronic thing anyone has ever said to me. XD I mean, yes, I know this free medium is liberating, and not paying attention to detail is key, but even when I try NOT to be tight, I end up doing it anyway. It must just be plugged into my internal wiring, I suppose. No matter how I try to shake it, it keeps resurfacing. I'll get it. One of these days . . .

I's excited to include ink into these next watercolor pieces! That will make things much more doable, I think. The neat freak in me is pleased, even though I am trying to beat her over the head with tubes of washable paint at the moment. It's an adventure, for certain. Only time will tell.

Cheers all! Have a good day!

My watercolor buildings! Some turned out quite well (for me) while others are still lacking. I do feel more comfortable, like  I am improving to a certain extent. 

Exercise in class this morning. Flowers. Pretty. I enjoy the first and third (the purple monochromatic)  but not too crazy about the second, The red was meant to accentuate the piece . . . I think it failed. XD Practice, practice, practice. 

Art unrelated to school for blogging sake

I know I said I was going to try to blog a piece of my own personal art a day to keep me in the habit of blogging. Buuuuut this daily ritual didn't exactly work out. SO I am officially changing the project to "Personal Art Blogged Whenever I Receive the Chance." :D Enjoy all! Thanks so much!

Cheers!

My incomplete portrait of Annie Lennox, which turned out to be a favorite despite the fact that it never did get finished. Prisma color pencils. 

Oh la la! I have some catching up to do!

*Sigh* I fail at life. Okay, not really. In fact, I feel like for the first time this semester, everything has finally fallen into place. I've been up to my ears in assignments and work, and I've finally decided that I can't take on everything at once. I've set my priorities in order, dropped a course to lighten my load, and I'm back, baby!

When I say I fail at life, that is, I did not get my first 10 watercolor landscapes completed. I feel like a bum. I'd be fired in real life. :) But as I've said, I have my head back in the game and no amount of exhaustion or lack of sleep is ever gonna bring me down. *sings like Elphaba from Wicked* Ahem, I apologize. I just got done seeing an amazing slam poetry performance, and I am wired! :D But I will stop boring you with the mundane details of my life and present some much needed blogging material for class.

I have a very unique relationship with watercolor. I love the freedom of the medium, which forces me to not be so uptight with my work, but in the same token, they don't do exactly what I tell them, and that makes the inner uptight artist in me frustrated. Still, it gave me an excuse to go to the new art store downtown and spend far too much on new art supplies. It filled me with joy, and caused my wallet to weep. XD

I also apologize for the quality of this work. Rusty told us to avoid train-wrecks by this time, but that is not going to happen. At least not now. lol These are past assignments, and after I finish a few other assignments, the latest 10 architecture watercolors will be posted too.

Cheers everyone, and have a good night! :D

First day of playing with my new watercolors. Ironic how Terry Madden had more influence on me than I thought. :D Also, a color wheel to help us keep track of the color spectrum. T'was fun!

What I was able to do of the first assignment. Sad, I know. My plan is to finish the assignment, if only for practice's sake. 

First in-class assignment. Image traced with Lucy, and painted from a black and white reference. 

Three posts in one day . . .dang, girl!

Okay, enough of homework! lol I need to post a few things on this blog that are unrelated to school for just a little while. Plus, I need just a little time to breathe between pressing assignments. So, if you would be willing, I'd like to propose the drawing of the day. My goal is to post a drawing at some point during every day from my artistic-related past for display as an aside from school and a chance to express myself here and there. These pieces will range from recent to a couple years old--all my favorites--drawn from my files and documents pretty much at random. Some will be finished, others yet to be completed.

I hope you'll look forward to this as much as I will. Hooray for personal projects!

Cheers! --L

Ahhh, here we have Daniel Boucher, one of my favorite Quebecois singers. Done with Prismacolor pencils, color scheme based off of original reference. 

People . . . or, Person

Well, this may be the most narcissistic thing I have ever done. Ten drawings of myself, in varying ink styles. My goal was originally to draw all my dearest family and friends, which I will do one day, but this particular assignment had a deadline that had to be met. Hence, I pulled out the ole light board, which, to my great disappointment and heartbreak, had a burnt out bulb. Luckily, it still served as a loyal drawing table as I traced the dark ink outline of my original reference. I'll have to get the poor thing changed out so that it might be my trusty tracing sidekick yet again.

Cheers and enjoy!

P.S. It is really difficult coming up with ten distinct ink drawing styles. After 50 drawings, you'd think I'd have this system figured out! XD

8.5x11.5 in. ink drawings, various styles, illustrated self-portrait

Labor Day homework . . . as promised!

Ten nature drawings blogged by Wednesday FOR Monday, which of course is Labor Day. Sound hectic? Psh, no problem . . .er, much of one, anyway! I have discovered that capturing nature is a bit difficult, for me personally, though it came easily enough. I also learned that if you are an art major taking photos of references in case you can't work from pure observation, people give you funny looks. "Why is she taking random pictures of the buildings?" "What's so fascinating that needs documenting?" "Is that girl talking to a squirrel?" XD These are only what I imagine from the faces I receive, of course. They may not think I'm nearly as odd as I think. I need a shirt that has the words "Art Major" plastered across the back. Then maybe that would explain a few things. :D

So, without further ado, ten observational ink drawings from nature:

8.5x11.5 in. ink drawings, various styles, nature 

Assignment #3

Hello all!

Here  I am, once again with the next 10 drawing assignment for Illustration, Art 219. The subject? You guessed it: architecture. Straight lines are the bane of everyone's existence, I believe. But somehow, despite its detail and complexity, I enjoyed rendering the Kirk Memorial Building. I think my need for artistic control suites the specifications of architecture. In this case, so long as accuracy is maintained, a.r. artistic technique is appropriate.

I am so sorry for not  elaborating in my  written description of the piece, but I was up until 3:30 last night working on homework (this series of drawings  included) and words are simply not coming to my foggy, sleepy mind. Not to mention waking up in the nick of time to get to class prevented me from eating breakfast . . . So if I fall asleep on your shoulder, or my stomach starts rumbling, my sincerest apologies. XD

Cheers! I'll be back soon, with more to come!

Architecture series of 10, 5.8x8.5 in. white paper. Kirk Memorial Building,  various ink drawing styles