A Drippy Bear

I am super in love with my totally-not-waterproof fountain pen right now. I've been experimenting with it all week and am happily coming to the realization that I may have experienced a very "happy accident."

I love the absolute randomness that occurs as the ink separates. On my sketchbook paper it really only changes from dark blue to light blue, but on watercolor paper it can dry anywhere from a light violet to a super dark indigo. I am curious how coffee or tea will effect the dried color... must experiment further :)

Self Portrait - step by step

I finally packed and sent off my submission for the Self-Portrait Exhibition in NYC!
It had been awhile since I've even considered a doing a self-portrait so this was an interesting experience. As I was slightly out of my comfort-zone with the subject, I decided to stick with materials that I was confident with and used only pen and acrylic. The canvas itself is 4 x 4, so working with pen also allowed me to add smaller lines and finer details.

This is the photo I started with, I wanted to work from a mirror instead, but as the project spanned several days it was easier to just use a picture.

This was my initial sketch -- holy disney batman!

After the pen was applied (Micron pigment ink) I had some trouble with smearing. A coat of fixative addressed the problem, but made the canvas impervious to my attempts at watered-down acrylic. I coated the whole canvas with a thin thin layer of buff white, which allowed me to use the watery acrylic I love so much.

Pen has been mostly covered by the paint.

I reapplied the pen in a few areas and painted in the eyes. After another coat of fixative, I think it's pretty much finished.

The show is August 14th and I am going to see if I can journey to New York to go see it. Until then, I will eagerly await the next ArtHouse project :)

Tattoo!

I got to experience an exciting first this weekend; my drawing as someone else's tattoo!

I've drawn the art for all my tattoos, but creating something for someone else was new territory. He knew exactly what he wanted and even drew it out beforehand, so it was pretty easy to come up with a finished image.

I'm so glad to see that he likes it, and also to hear that his whole tattoo experience was positive.
Kind of makes me want another...

More Mass Effect Sketches...

So I'm pretty entrenched in Mass Effect 3.

I'm not incredibly far along, (as a healthy fear of the ending has kept me from trying to finish the game) so I have not yet run into Legion in Mass Effect 3. ME 2 however he was one of my favorites - - second only to Mordin.

I started this pen sketch of Legion last week and found myself throughly boggled by Geth anatomy. Or, Geth construction I suppose. Thanks to internet and many references I think I was able to figure out the weaving tubes and wires.

I also started a small digital painting dedicated to my favorite Salarian.

This is just a snippet from the larger image, very much a work-in-progress. Its an illustrated version of how I imagine my Shepard would have finished the Tuchanka mission... and that's all I'll say for fear of spoilery-spoilers.

Looking ahead to next week, I've a few more prints ready for Etsy and I'm kind of itching to do some sort of spring promotion. I've accumulated a lot of prints and paintings over the last few months and my art space could totally do with some spring cleaning. I always post promotion codes to my facebook page so be sure to 'like' page to see them :)

Hope you have a fantastic Sunday!

An Inky Elephant

I cleaned out the area behind my art-desk this week.
After finding 3 secret-caches of ferret food, a rubber mouse and many nerf gun darts, I also found an old blank canvas. *Yay!*

I had been wanting to make an elephant of some sort, so this was perfect timing.

I used Pitt Artist pens for the black lining, and watery acrylics for the elephant. The background is a mix of acrylics and glossy gel medium, which I liked at first but I am not so sure about it now. It has a subtle sheen, but as it's a bit sticky I'm afraid it's going to suck up the circulating dust and get grimy. Another reason to experiment with epoxy-resin I suppose.

Sea Turtle

Earlier in the week I received a fantastic suggestion via a facebook for a sea turtle, or "Honu" if you are in Hawaii.

This particular suggestion came at the absolute perfect time so I jumped on it right away. I had just finished a project and needed something new to work on, and am still playing Mass Effect 3 so I really, really wanted something happy to think about during the day. Also, I love sea turtles. In fact it was the thought of seeing a sea turtle that originally drew me to pursue a scuba diving license.

Alas... 10 dives later and still no turtles.

I made a few pencil drawings last night before switching to the wacom for this starting sketch. I decided I was happy enough with the arrangement this morning and started the coloring early this afternoon.

I'm planning to finish up the shell and background tonight, hopefully to have it completed by sometime tomorrow.

2012 'Take a Walk in Her Shoes' Illustrations

I'm wrapping up a few different projects this week.
The most exciting/nerve-wracking project being the illustrated poster set for the '2012 Take a Walk in her Shoes' fashion event. I finalized the drawings last week, sent them to an online printer and readied myself to twiddle my thumbs until the posters arrived.

I have a very hard time shipping out work to a printer I've never used before. Even worse on my nerves, is work created on deadline. I really had to trust that PosterBrain.com's promise of quality/speed was up to snuff when I sent in the work to be printed.

And it absolutely was.

I was floored when I unrolled the posters. They did a phenomenal print job, the customer service during the process was top-notch, and there was even a piece of candy in the tube with the art. Easily one of the best online printing experiences I've ever had. I don't do a lot of poster work, but they have earned themselves a loyal customer when I do!

I'll be mounting the posters over the next day or so and readying my business cards, stickers and coupon codes for the fashion event on Friday. I am so thrilled to be able to lend a hand for such a fantastic organization, and will be present at the event selling and signing the posters -- with 100% of the proceeds going to the Chapman Partnership for the homeless.

It should be an exciting day...hopefully I remember my camera too!