Look Left, Look Right

Ah yes, here we have your typical college art class assignment: drapery.
Aaauuurrrrgh drapery. I have never ever drawn anything that I get lost in so completely.
"Wait, ok, so there's this fold, and that fold, which turns into this crease, and wiggles around down there... wait, where am I? What did I just draw? WHAT AM I DOING HERE *PANIC*"
Yeah, not so fun. ... Except when my teacher is awesome and includes a deer skull! So of course I had to make that the focal point of our two projects on drapery. There is now a well-established running joke about my extreme adoration for animal skulls. I am so fine with that.
And here they are, done on 18"x24" black paper.

Also in the still life were two fashion mannequins and a skeleton, all three of them wrapped in fabrics. We had looked at some past student examples of pieces done of the mannequins and skeleton before that. In the drawings, Skeleton always seemed to be draping his arm over the very feminine Mannequin, sporting that signature skeletal grin. One of the other students and I made up stories about how Skeleton and Mannequin got together, got in fights, broke up, and later about how Skeleton was a stalker and always tried to woo Mannequin by singing lounge music to her... all based on the drawings of past students.
Art class is good fun, I am always, always happy to go. I think everyone needs to have an "art class" in their life: something they can always look forward to, something they enjoy regardless. It makes life much easier to live.
What's your "art class"?

Panoramaramaramarama...

While checking my updates on Deviant Art, I discovered this piece of artwork done by Marian Kretschmer. And by "piece of artwork" I actually mean "24 framed areas combined to have a circumference of 44 meters and a total height of 2.5 meters joined together in an infinite panorama". Seriously.
The piece(s) are meant to describe "24 hours and one minute in a life", so it has some very major themes such as love, loss, light, darkness, and death. The style of artwork is very surreal and dreamlike, much like Salvador Dali, except containing less giraffes on fire or melting clocks. Each of the 24 panels shift into each other nearly seamlessly, lending the piece(s) an infinite loop.

Click here to see it.
Also, click here to see the pieces on display.

I have probably watched this artwork slide by for about an hour now. It's hypnotizing. And think of all the work that's been put into it! For those of you who don't believe in the Metric system, there are approximately 144.3569556 feet in 44 meters. This painting is one-hundred and fourty-four feet long, guys. And six feet tall. I am humbled. The largest painting I've ever done has been able to fit under my arm. And I have little tiny arms.

Hopefully you enjoyed this tidbit of artistic achievement.

Painting with Kirai ("Shirtless Men and Dragons" edition)

A while ago I painted this:

While I was painting it, I took screenshots of my progress on it. You might think it's interesting to see how I work, so here we go!



First, I started with a sketch. I freehanded it with little to no reference originally as a doodle, but I liked it so much that I decided to paint it. So I scanned it in to Painter X at 300dpi. Drew it with a mechanical pencil.

After that I began painting the background, which is seen almost completed in this shot. I used a reference photo for the canyons in the background, but the stone wall and dirt I just made up. Because really, how hard could drawing a brick wall be? (Haha, get it, "hard"?) It's actually more difficult than you'd think if you have art ADD like me. I had to work on that wall in tiny little bursts or else I'd get immensely bored. Painting DIRT, on the other hand... oh man, don't get me started.

After the background, I started painting Jerreith! (The hardly-clothed elven man with the perma-grimace.) Also: CRAZY PLANTS. I figure they're some sort of succulent, like a cactus. They were probably the most fun thing to paint out of this whole painting. I don't get it either.

Oh hey look, I fixed his torso! Now it looks remotely accurate, thanks to that (thankfully censored) reference photo. (See the layer named "scary"? Yeah, that reference picture was that frightening.) Anyway, Jerreith looks much more anatomically correct at this point. (Not like that! Get your mind out of the proverbial gutter.)

Here we see Jerreith's hair and eyes and stuff. I also scrapped that stupid-looking dagger and replaced it with, um, a stupid-looking punching blade thing. Weapons aren't my forte, alright?

In this shot the color red makes a guest appearance. I just mapped out the shadows and markings in this stage. Also, Jerreith sports a totally adorable necklace. D'aww.

See you later, sketch layer! Still working on Alcora, the snake-dog-dragon-dinosaur. Ok, she's a slindragon, but you wouldn't know that, since I made them up. Anyway, still plugging away. Here I've added some more dusty effects to make the pair look kind of ragged and traveled. Oh yeah, and somewhere along the lines of this, Jerreith got a loin cloth. OH BOY!

Holy jeez that sun is bright! I think this is where I finished it. I rather like this painting, and I hope you enjoyed watching me paint it, in a way.

Thanks for reading, and have a super spiffy day. :D

Art-Time at the Zoo

Yes indeed!
My good, good friend and I went to the Woodland Park Zoo yesterday. I've been going to that zoo ever since I was about 4. The zoo is like a second home to me, it's one of the only public places where I can whole-heartedly myself and not worry about anything. It's almost like a stress reliever: meditation, even. When I bring my sketchbook, I can lose all of my thoughts just for a moment and become absorbed in the animals's beauty and complexity while I sketch or paint their likeness.
Another delightful part of the zoo is that every time I go, there seems to be something new on exhibit! This time around there was a exotic ground-bird exhibit (fowl, peafowl, pheasants, etc.) I had never seen this exhibit before, so I sat down and painted the most beautiful pheasant I have ever seen:

He (the golden pheasant) had free roam of the enclosure's path. And boy did he roam! I felt a little silly when I picked up my chair and had to scoot all around to get a good view of him so I could paint (at least a little) accurately. I'm still not satisfied with the gold color in my painting, but it does look better in real life, of course. My friend was drawing the other pheasant, who I thought ran just like a velociraptor from Jurassic Park.


We also went to see the Chilean flamingos!

Sleeping flamingos = easiest thing to draw ever.

Then, the birds and reptiles:




I'm pretty sure eyelash vipers are my favorite kind of snake. They have those adorable spiky eye crests and are the prettiest color yellow!

We also got to see a tiny little vine snake eat a live goldfish. He swallowed it whole and had a huge lump in his body-- SO cute. (Yes, cute!) I should have snapped a photo of it.

When we were at the wallaby exhibit, a little boy came running in, pressed his face to the glass, and shouted, "OH MOMMY, there are deer in here! Dead deer!"
To which his mother replied, "No, honey, they're not deer. Try again."
"...Buffalo?"
My friend and I busted out laughing. Children are hilarious, often without meaning to be. And that's saying a lot, since I'm really not fond of children in general.

But yeah, the zoo was amazing. I'm glad I was finally able to get paintings done of the animals, normally all I ever get are quick, sloppy pencil sketches.
I do declare another "zoo art" outing is in order for me.

Meet Tyke

My college is doing an Earth Day tree-planting fundraiser today. I bought a baby douglas fir, whom I have fondly named Tyke. Here's a photo of him, isn't he cute?

Baby tree! *gush gush*
Today after I finish my homework (if I finish my homework) I'll find a nice spot to plant him. My back yard is way too small, and since we have 3 massive doug firs already, I'm going to have to find a nice place for him. Perhaps up by the elementary school, or in the green belt.
I don't normally do anything for Earth day, so this will be fun! What do you guys do for it? Or is it just like Administrative Professional's Day, where no one does anything ever, because it's a greedy ploy to guilt money out of consumers? Ok that might be a bit harsh...

If I didn't have homework, I'm sure I'd be out doing something like this:

I painted this on-site when I was camping in Idaho along the Salmon river. Every year my family and I go river-rafting (on a private tour, since my dad and his buddy were river guides for 20+ years). Last year I did a lot of painting, which was all sorts of fun! There's something incredibly charming and innocent about painting natural like this. It's not a photo, it's not a still life in a studio, it's real life. I painted until the sun set, completely in time with the rhythm of our world, at her mercy.
*ahem* My apologies, I got a little too cosmic for my own taste, there.
But that aside, happy Earth Day. I hope you can take time to appreciate our kickass planet.

Crazy Mane

Finished my maned wolf painting!



It came out alright. I'm pretty sure I'm addicted to the salt-on-watercolor technique. Because just a plain old watercolor wash ISN'T ENOUGH! See, even Amy Brown knows this. Amy is an amazing watercolorist, and it's always fun to see her every summer at Browser's Books during the annual street fair.

Anyway, that is all I have to share at the moment. Thanks for reading. ;)

The Truth about Artistic Improvement

It's all too often that I hear "I'll never be a good artist" or "my art is so lame compared to ____'s art" and "why can't I get better".
Stuff like that is garbage. Artists: you all have your own way of living, and therefore you all have your own way of creating art. Some people improve fast, some people take ten years to get to where they'd like to be in terms of skill level, and some people will never ever get to where they want to be. It's what I've come to know over the past 5 years of being a serious artist. It's the facts of life, and it's all we can do to just roll with the figurative punches. Art is an extension of ourselves: it's part of our identities. Accept who you are and learn to love it. Even though you might not be the next Michelangelo or Van Gogh, you're you, and that is something no one else can say. (Unless you have an evil twin who tries to take your place and elope with your lover. I have no advice for you, in that case.)
So, budding artists, do not despair. You will get better as long as you enjoy what you do and do it often.
Here, let me show you. Proof of artistic improvement!
These are pieces of my character Jerreith as he's evolved over the years. Click to full-view.

2006


2007


2008


2009


2010


So next time you think you'll never get better, remember: as long as you enjoy the art you make, that is all that matters. Skill level is relative (and often trivial). But that's not to say don't try hard. If you want to be an amazing artist, go for it!



((UNRELATED!))
Here are some hilariously bad sketches I uncovered while tunneling through Mt. Oldart. Mt. Oldart is a relatively small mountain, receiving little snowfall and barely reaching Mt. Rainier's "butt". Some people have even called it just a really big hill. Either way, this is what I uncovered during my excavations.



Here we see naked dancing furries, terrible handwriting coupled with neopets fanart, and terrible terrible anime (can you believe I used 'kawaii'? If I could go back in time I would punch myself in the face for using 'kawaii').

My childhood and young adolescence were AWESOME, YOU GUYS.

Oh, and then there's this.

No comment.

I like chickens, Eddy!!

Today's post brought to you by my friend Stark's computer! It's super cute and tiny, I feel like I could put it in my pocket and go jogging with it and not notice. But then again, my laptop is a monster (17"), so, there's that.

Anyway, I said I'd have a dragon drawing this time, but instead I bring you this.


Ah, art class. Our model ditched on us last minute, so our beginning sketchbook theme was "the invisible model". My teacher is pretty funny like that.
I also brought a massive bag of random collage supplies that I have obsessively hoarded over the past few months. (Collaging is addictive, if you don't like to collect and hoard, I'd recommend not doing it. ... Aw who am I kidding. Collage, you fools!) Anyway, everyone was really glad to have had the chance to use antique paper and photographs instead of dated fashion and gossip magazines. So I found a couple chicken-related things out of the piles and piles of stuff. Ribbons, photos, newspaper clippings, old drawings, thread, buttons, textured paper... it was a treasure trove of AWESOME. To me, anyway.
I came up with this. It might have a meaning or some deeper explanation, but to me, it's just because I think chickens are quite awesome animals. (I've got three of them, they are near and dear to my heart!) And if I were at my own computer, I would share photos of them.
But I have overstayed my welcome on Stark's adorable little baby laptop.
Toodles!

"The most wasted of all days is one without laughter."

"The most wasted of all days is one without laughter." E. E. Cummings

A while ago, I taped a fortune cookie fortune to my desk. It reads, "Never let an opportunity pass you by." That is very vague and cheesy-go-get-em-tiger, but it has reminded me to be more impulsive and less play-it-safe. Too often people have called me up asking to hang out and I have withdrawn into my cave (read: room).
Tonight, my friends M and J (haha, MJ, get it, like Spiderman's girlfriend? eh? no? ok, sorry...) called me up and we went on a magical journey to Wal Mart.
Now I really don't like Wal Mart, BUT, we had fun adventures romping around the craft section, playing with fake bananas, and throwing yarn. Wal Mart is big enough to do stuff like that and not get in trouble.
After that we went to Ihop, again, on a whim. We ate delicious junk food and laughed at practically nothing. The atmosphere was 80% laughing and 20% frivolous idea-formulating.
"What if we all bought fake bananas and randomly picked them up throughout the day and started talking into them?"
Sigh.
It's nights like this that I am very glad to be able to stay out late on school nights and (theoretically) not regret it in the morning.

Speaking of the morning! We are doing collages in art class. I'm excited to share all of my beautiful collaging materials with my classmates. Or, rather, the 4 Art 107 students. Tiniest class EVER, gosh I love college. <3

Sorry for the image-less update. Tomorrow I will likely have some dragons for you.

Charlies

I feel like I have so much to share! But I promise this is my last post for today.
Thanks to The Dainty Squid, I found this odd drawing application: play with it. According to The Dainty Squid, this program is a drawing tool that "makes you look like you have mad skills, even if you don't". I feel that it's a good description.
At first the application was fun to play with and I was impressed at its abilities to accurately and effectively fill spaces and such. A lot can be achieved by one simple stroke of the mouse (or tablet).
Here's what I came up with.


See, I have a trio of animal skulls that I adore.
A spotted skunk, a badger, and a coyote (seen above).
Skulls (particularly animals) hold my artistic attention more than anything I've ever drawn. It all started with designing gothic cartoon characters wearing skull masks, then copying pictures out of science books. Then I bought skulls of my own. They've appeared in several of my pieces since then. Come to think of it, let's compile a timeline of my skull buddies right now!

Skull 1: Coyote.

Coyote was my first. He is special because of his missing tooth in the front left, just after the canine. I love him terribly!






Skull 2: Skunk.

Skunk was, of course, second. He is often pictured in more lighthearted and cute pictures. (I use "cute" very lightly.)





Skull 3: Badger.

Badger is my newest and turning out to be my favorite. The proportions of badger skulls are so beautiful.





Animal skulls, at first, may seem creepy. And I get a lot of weird looks when I tell people that I collect them. People associate dead animal parts as creepy, cruel, and gross.
To me, I am immortalizing these particular animals with art. They will be remembered and honored as beautiful beings long after they were trapped or hunted. And to me, that's doing them a great service.
Perhaps that's why I enjoy drawing and painting animal skulls so much-- or maybe it's just because they're so gosh darn fun to illustrate. It is likely both. :)

The d10 of Fate

Today I shall set my plan into motion: The d10 of Fate. (d10 = ten-sided dice) I have a list of 10 artistic, constructive, enriching activities. When I find myself done with a day's work, I shall roll my d10, and it shall tell me what number on the list I should occupy my time with.

My list consists of this:
1. Paint/draw something
2. Write (my book)
3. Bake
4. Read a book
5. Sculpt
6. Walk, hike, or explore
7. Sew
8. Clean
9. Play with an animal
10. (free space for any short-term endeavor)

I'm starting this plan so that instead of bumming around on silly websites, I'll actually get something done! I'll force myself to obey the dice's every whim.
I am on my quest for productivity! Hoo-hah!

Aloe Vera is my Best Friend

Burns are healing nicely, but I have to go to work again today. I'll volunteer to do all of the cleaning instead of frying, this time around!

That aside, here are some art things.

You can tell a lot about an artist by the way they paint.
Me... I'm an impulsive, impatient, messy painter who likes to let the paint wanter and do as it pleases across my little plastic folding palette. (I adore this palette, no joke. Some of these watercolor blobs are 3 years old. Watercolors last forever!)

I once heard of a painter who used acrylics. He would put each shade, tint, and hue of every single color he could imagine in little cups, perfectly measured and ready for him to dip into whenever he needed an incredibly accurate painting. That's the closest, I think, that traditional painting gets to digital painting. That artist is Michael Whelan, the fantasy artists who did most of the paintings for the Dragonriders of Pern series.


And here's my latest painting I'm working on:

I'm a huge fan of maned wolves (or kalaks). They're incredibly fun to draw, but most of all: exaggerate. Those long legs and scruffy black manes are too irresistible for me to not play with visually.
Every artist has their common subjects. Mine happen to be maned wolves, animal skulls, and skeleton keys.

Already, A New Post

Yes! I was checking my updates on DA the other night and came across this magical photograph.



Her name is Peggy, and she is a caracal living at the Oregon Zoo. Caracals are a wild species of cat who live around Western Asia and Africa. Something interesting about caracals are that their pupils are round, not slits (like other cats).
And check out those ears!
When I first saw this photo, I immediately thought of an Egyptian hieroglyph. The ears curved to make a shape like those headdresses Egyptian gods wear. Like this (figure on right):


The lady who took Peggy's photo above is a really awesome animal photographer. She hangs about the Oregon Zoo and documents the lives of the animals there, it's really quite fun to get to know all of the animals through her beautiful photography. Check her gallery out here!