Blank Paper

Inés and Izzy

2011-08-30T15:02:00.000-07:00

Digital, Adobe Photoshop.

Inés and Izzy ...Progress

2011-08-27T19:59:00.000-07:00

Lulu and Lisette

2011-08-22T18:24:00.001-07:00

Final colors and all!

PS - Lulu is the French bulldog :)

Lulu and Lisette in Progress...

2011-08-19T19:03:00.001-07:00

It's been a while, but that doesn't mean I've been idle!

2011-07-31T22:10:00.000-07:00

So here is a little taste of a test of what I'm putting together.

I'll leave you to ponder the meaning of its existence...

...at least until I decide to tell you what this is all about!

This is just a color test, and is obviously a hasty throw together of lines and colors, but... I wanted to share something, so here is Miss Hermia Potts! School teacher extraordinaire!

Snow White and Rose Red

2011-05-04T03:06:00.001-07:00

I'm working on some character designs for the fairy tale of Snow White and Rose Red. The name "Snow White" is a translation from German to English, so although the character shares the same name with the other Snow White, it isn't actually the same person.

Anyhoo, these are just some of the character design sketches. There are three more characters I'll post sketches of next for the story. And if you haven't read it before, check out a synopsis here: [link]

The Littlest Unicorn

2011-03-23T13:44:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be re-designing my website soon and I was trying to think of themes and characters to put on the main page and everything, so I came up with a few and this little unicorn was one of them. Not sure if I'll use her, but I still think it's hilariously cute anyways.

(done in pencil and copec markers).

Sketch Page!

2011-03-18T15:47:00.000-07:00

Here's a page of sketches that I wanted to give some love too since many of them will never see final colors.

Hellboy and Liz

2011-03-03T04:41:00.000-08:00

I've been going fast to get this piece done tonight to print for Emerald City Comicon this weekend, and I'm pretty happy with the way it's turned out! There was one element I left out because I didn't have time to finish it, but eh, maybe I'll add it when I get back and have "free-time" or something.

Hellboy is probably my favorite comic. I'm not the hugest fan of super hero comics mainly because of the art styles, but HB is done so well, and I admire Mike Mignola so much that I just can't stop staring at the pages. Plus, Hellboy and Abe are two of the most likable super heroes. Anyhoo, this is mostly based off of the second Hellboy film, Rise of the Golden Army. Liz is great too because she's super sassy and not stereotypical at all of female characters in comic movies. And besides, I think Hellboy and Liz are adorable in the movies!

One down...

2011-02-22T03:14:00.000-08:00

Finally spent the weekend working on Harry. And it seems like he's good to go! Whoo! I'm really excited that I got this finished. I wasn't sure what to expect in the final results, but I think he looks pretty sharp!

Almost done!

2011-02-19T19:57:00.000-08:00

Harry continued...

2011-02-18T01:01:00.001-08:00

Okay, all the shapes are in, just gotta do the rendering!

Amelie parte deux!

2011-02-16T23:51:00.000-08:00

My Amelie portrait needed some fixing so I fixed it and now I'm actually happy with it!

So here's the fixed/final version.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T12:41:00.000-08:00

I seem to be on a coloring roll lately. I had been planning on making this illustration for Ryan for Christmas, and then his birthday, and now for Valentine's Day because I just didn't have enough time! We were so busy from December through January that it was impossible to get a second in to do personal art. Anyhoo, this is a shot from Amelie, one of his favorite films, (and also one of mine) so it was a lot of fun to make!

Happy Valentine's Day!

At last!

2011-02-12T23:11:00.000-08:00

I know that a lot of times I post things on here that aren't finished. I post the progress and I never post the finished piece. Well, today, that has changed. While being inspired by the Harry Potter illustration I'm working on (yes, still working on it!), I took a break to finish coloring another piece that I started ages ago. I feel like in the last two months my digital painting skills improved so much that I was able to finish this piece in about three hours from where I left off.

I will definitely be making prints of this, so if anybody wants one, let me know!

PS! - Click to see the HIGH RES version! :D

Harry's first words!

2011-02-11T01:21:00.000-08:00

At last Harry Potter has a mouth! Now he can speak all the Parseltongue he wants!

The clothes will be much faster. The only thing I'm really worried about is the hair... I've never done hair in this coloring style before and I'm a little nervous... we'll see how it turns out!

Color Me Hogwarts.

2011-02-10T13:48:00.000-08:00

Just posting progress of a small few pieces that I'm working on for Emerald City Comicon. The original pieces are posted in older entries of my blog - but I didn't have a good Ron and I didn't have Harry at all. So I'm going to repaint the ones that were done terribly a few years ago, and make them look super awesome now.

Ryan and I will be going to the convention in March, and I can't wait! Whoo! I love Washington!

PS! - I will post more as I get further along :)

Chevy Chase... and a Samoyed

2011-02-07T01:39:00.000-08:00

When I was home for Christmas break, I watched The Three Amigos with Ryan and the rest of the family. I forgot how much I love that movie. And I also love Chevy Chase. So I drew him as his character Dusty Bottoms. And a dog. Yay.

Le fabuleux destin d'Amelie Poulain

2010-12-16T20:19:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite characters in cinema has to be Amelie Poulain. And so, of course, a portrait of her.

Sketchy Sketches from Thanksgiving Weekend

2010-12-01T11:47:00.000-08:00

Coming back to The Lamp Post at Fillmore and Pine sketches! I would still love to do this short, and if I'm actually going to attempt that, I definitely need to work on my character designs for animating it. So here's the new redesign of Persephone and a street for the style of the layout design.

And for yuks, a sketch I drew of Ryan while we were watching John Adams. Err I mean, a telling portrait of a young president. Yeah, that's it.

I love Halloween.

2010-10-25T00:53:00.000-07:00

Yay for dressing up like a cat for Halloween!

(And no, I don't think this will be my costume this year...).

Missing my boy.

2010-10-11T01:52:00.000-07:00

So what is a girl to do? Draw him of course.

I'm such a nerd-o-tron.

GASP! Bro-Bot!

2010-09-19T15:29:00.000-07:00

Just doing some fun little character designs.

Robots rock. Even if they are "bros".

Concept Character Sketches

2010-09-02T22:53:00.000-07:00

Coffee Shop Continued...

2010-08-30T20:40:00.000-07:00

::UPDATE::

Still going!!

::/UPDATE::

Just so you know....

Still working on it!

The Bear and the Bow was a better name... but still!

2010-07-30T16:58:00.000-07:00

Maybe I'm late to the party, but damn, if I'm not excited about this...

Brave (formerly called The Bear and the Bow) is a new animated film from Pixar that will be coming out in 2012 set in 18th century Scotland about a Scottish princess who dreams of becoming an archer (according to the BBC). And if you can believe this, it's directed by Brenda Chapman, who was the first American woman to directed an animated feature film in 1998 for The Prince of Egypt. Knowing that the first American woman to direct a feature animated film was only 12 years ago really makes my blood boil. There are thousands of talented female directors, animators, storyboard artists and character designers and 1998 was the first time one of them was given a chance to prove it to the world? Sometimes the film industry disgusts me. I hope that this gives a boost to the confidence of all women in animation to keep pushing ahead in their paths to doing what they want to accomplish. Sexism in the art and entertainment industry needs to be stamped out.

I can't wait to see this movie.

All about the Atmosphere

2010-07-22T19:53:00.003-07:00

I'm trying to get my digital painting up to bar and aside from the fact that I just love colors, I want to be able to paint characters without so much a reliance on lines and more on texture and color instead. This is yet another work-in-progress. I plan to finish this one for sure since it seems to be coming along really well and that's always inspiration to continue working.

Atmosphere

2010-07-22T19:53:00.001-07:00

Just Digitally Painting...

2010-07-02T18:43:00.001-07:00

I'm not really doing much that I can post but I figured I'd post a little color study, digital painting that I'm working on. It's for a character age meme. This is a character I randomly made up for it called Audrey. This is her at 13.

Brown Bagging It... sort of...!

2010-06-21T13:19:00.000-07:00

Not quite finished with the shadows yet, but I wanted to post it already because I'm feeling antsy like that.

Pen and digital colouuuuuuuurs.

Pocohantas?

2010-06-19T18:45:00.001-07:00

Sketched today from a magazine photograph. I really want to work on my perspective when drawing people. Thought this was a good place to start.

Black Kitties Are Good Luck

2010-06-15T00:48:00.000-07:00

Finally got around to coloring this Halloween Card that I drew for a friend last autumn.

Halloween is the bestest holiday ever... clearly, as I'm posting about it in June!

PROOF!

2010-06-07T12:21:00.000-07:00

...that I haven't fallen off of the face of the earth!

I just had a dryspell of drawing for about a week and a half and couldn't draw much I was actually okay with having drawn. So here is proof that I have drawn some things and that they weren't all bad.

I've been daydreaming about getting a vespa, and it reminds me of Roman Holiday with Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn zipping around Rome. So that's where this one sketch came from. The other sketch is a Victorian house here in SF, via the reflection of it in the window of The Grove, while sipping lavender lemonade with my boyfriend on Saturday morning... :)

I like to draw Fruits!

2010-05-26T12:50:00.000-07:00

I love to sketch from the Japanese magazine Fruits. It's a street fashion magazine that has high res, full-body photos of lots of crazy and overly stylish girls in Japan. It's a great way to push my outfit design, and hair styles. Unfortunately most of the poses they are in are pigeon-toed with surprised expressions on their faces, but sometimes you find some poses that are real gems. Either way, fun to draw, and always the full-body, which for me is important. I don't like drawing just heads. I need more work on arms and hands. Feet and legs are probably my favorite thing to draw anyways, so getting to draw them is always a plus! (Wow, that was probably the dorkiest sentence I've written in months...).

Obviously the kitty wasn't in the magazine.... =^.^=

Progressive measures must be taken...

2010-05-24T12:54:00.001-07:00

...And by that I mean, I shall post a progress of my (insanely slow) coloring process. Okay, I'm being a bit harsh on myself, I was and have been feeling sick since last Friday, and I'm also experimenting with new coloring processes so it's not as if I'm just naturally slow at this stuff. I can whip out watercolor paintings in a couple of hours. So, just give me time to get over my perfectionista personality while I figure this stuff out and get to feeling better in the process. I've also been researching a lot of Mary Blair art to get help on how much linework I should include in the illustration as opposed to just flat color.

On the other side of things I have a few sketches from Sketch Bomb! on Saturday. I was feeling okay enough to make it out to that which was nice because I got to meet some awesome new people, and do this awesome sketch that I'm turning into an illustration; the theme was take something from a film for grown-ups and make it for kids. Naturally I turned to the most icky things I could think of.... severed limbs... wood-chipper... Steve Buscemi...

...there is a pink rainbow in the colored version! Betcha just can't wait to see that!

Sketches from yesterdays.

2010-05-20T10:24:00.000-07:00

Sketches from reference from National Geographic.

Just so you know I'm not a loser...

2010-05-19T09:57:00.000-07:00

A progression of my slow coloring skillz! Here is Marie Antoinette on her way to being colorful!

So you see, I am in fact still working on art! I've just been super busy the last few days! I spent Sunday and Monday traveling on a trip to Yosemite with my boyfriend and his brother and his roommate. It was tons of fun! By the employee lodges there were all these cool trees with flowers growing upwards on the branches so it looked like they were lillypads floating in the air. So here's a couple, little photos from the trip that I thought was really pretty... obviously taken with my crappy camera on my phone! I really wanted that blue bike in the background....... mmmmm bike....

(There was a bear at the bottom of this waterfall and no one ran away screaming! ...People are pretty dumb in national parks!)

Etchy-Sketch

2010-05-14T14:17:00.000-07:00

Watched Marie Antoinette last night while I was sketching, so the first thing I ended up drawing was her in her Austrian outfit because I love the simplicity of it and the colors. The whole over-the-top French style is just gaudy most of the time. Plus she had the cutest little pug, Mops!

I also wanted to work on a drawing meme which was draw a character age 5, 13, 17 and 25. I only got to 17, so tonight, I have another sketch to do, then color them and post the meme probably on Saturday.

Uncanny Rogue!

2010-05-13T11:58:00.000-07:00

So the other night, Ryan, and I were sketching at Cup-a-Joe's and I decided that it was time to start doing some fan-art to get more people to find my stuff. I've always been iffy on drawing fan-based art because I don't like using other people's characters for my own benefit. Though it seemed like a good idea to at least just draw characters I love, so Rogue was the first one to pop into my head.

She has always been my favorite X-Men character, and I love her sassy expressions, not to mention her bold, white streak of hair. So this is my little tribute to Rogue. Ryan is supposed to post the sketch he drew of Gambit sometime so we can both be super nerds together. <3

Also... I sketched the Dalai Lama.

Yay Buhddism!

Prudence Final Colors. FOR SERIOUS.

2010-05-10T11:47:00.000-07:00

I just had to make a decision on Prudence's design. This seems simple and easy for me to draw consistantly. Also a semi-final design of Simon. I just gotta settle on some designs or I'll never get to the animation part!

Next time, more character pages of these two and hopefully a final drawing of the merman!

Drunk Sketches!

2010-05-08T13:36:00.001-07:00

I don't usually draw when I've been drinking but last night I was at a pub with Ryan, Laura and Mike and there was a minute where I was all alone at the table while people were getting drinks and so I busted out my sketchbook. It sort of turned into a random drunken sketch jam!

Thinking about drawing hands while drunk is really probably the hardest thing I've tried to do, so I attempted to draw my right hand... it didn't turn out so bad drawing from life strangely enough o.O

Florence + the Machine

2010-05-06T11:54:00.000-07:00

Now I realize that I said I was going to post a progression of the viking, and I will, but I was sketching last night and it turned out pretty uncool so I had to fix it this morning and I feel better about the drawing now. I'm going to turn this into an illustration so I'm trying to get it to be perfect and when I try to make things "perfect" it turns me into a crazy person. Swearing at lines and eraser shavings and such.

Anyhoo, been listening to Florence + the Machine a lot lately and I <3 that girl's voice and songs so much I had to just do an illustration of her, so this is the starting point.

Listen to Florence + the Machine sing "Dog Days Are Over" here! You won't regret it.

Viking Sketch from Sketch Bomb

2010-05-03T00:38:00.000-07:00

Drew this a couple of weekends ago for Sketch Bomb and I really liked how the character came out so I really want to do something with him.

I'm too sleepy to really get started on this coloring, but I just cleaned up most of the lines (not quite really with the giant mallet or the squished dragon...) and I want to post a progression of how this goes. I'm really trying to do the post something every day thingamaroo and since I probably won't be working on anything tomorrow after work because Ryan gets back from LA tomorrow morning <3 <3 <3 and I haven't seen him for three whole days. (I'm a goober, I know this.)

So yay... pencils and beginning layout....

So sleepy....

ZZzzzZzZzZzzZzzZZzZzZZZzzzzzz......... .... .. .

Colormania.

2010-05-02T11:33:00.000-07:00

Okay maybe not mania. I still suck at doing colors digitally. Here's a test. Hmmmm.... :-/

Not Halloween? So what!

2010-05-01T11:08:00.000-07:00

"Blah blah blah blah..."

2010-04-28T10:56:00.000-07:00

Sometimes when I'm sketching at cafes there are very chatty people I end up getting stuck next to. Last night was one of those nights. Ryan and I were sketching at The Grove and these two girls next to us were having a completely contrived conversation about guys and how scumbaggy they all are. I ended up sketching the really obnoxious one because this girl would just not stop talking about all of her ex's and how "stupid" she was when she was 20 and how boys don't have feelings and all about Chicago and how she was "sooooo over it. Seriously, I'm like SO, SO, SO over Chi-Town."

Like I said, an awful conversation to have to be sat next to, and exaccerbated by the fact that she was speaking at a volume usually reserved for Ringmasters in a circus.

But either way, I got a hilarious sketch out of her antics and a bunch of others that made me feel pretty happy. So, yay. Oh and one mini-self-portrait of me trying to think of what to draw because I couldn't think of what to draw. Mmm paradoxicalities.

New Bugses and Colors!

2010-04-23T00:11:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to figure out how to actually do color well so that it's not just flat colored blah-zay-blah typical stuff that I do.

The reason I haven't been posting things every day is because I got myself stuck on this picture and I'm finally close enough to finishing it that I feel like I can post it. I'll probably fix it up some more, but for now, it's in a semi-final state of being.

Yay for Bugses.

Here's the original pencils...

Half-Done

2010-04-17T12:04:00.000-07:00

So I promised to try and put something up every day. That obviously hasn't quite happened, but to at least keep up something while I work on other art projects, here's a half inked sketch, that was ruined by me starting to ink it.

I'm not that great at inking super cartoony stuff - if it's more in the illustrative side I'm all good, but for some reason, smooth lines with pen are my current nemesis.

I might just make this into an Illustrator project...

Lighten up!

2010-04-14T01:32:00.000-07:00

So obviously I've adjusted my blogger to be more light-hearted with the change of the seasons to spring. (And the fact that I hadn't changed my layout design in over two years!).

So to celebrate, here are my random sketches that I've been doing on card paper lately.

They are markedly attemps at making my drawing skills stronger by forcing myself to deal with the lines I draw and not being able to erase. Also, these are practice for birthday cards I've been making lately (apparently half of my friends were born in April or late March!).

Anyways, here we go again, gotta post a sketch or something every day.

I always dream too big, but at least I dream, right?

Keith's Birthday Card!

2010-01-19T00:34:00.000-08:00

It's not quite his birthday yet but I jus finished my adorable boyfriend's birthday card! Last month in December he and I both had the same idea to go ice skating on the same night (without mentioning it to the other until we were about to meet up). I've always loved ice skating - I'm not great or anything, but I took lessons when I was nine and 10 and I used to go every year for my birthday; Keith on the other hand was not exactly Dorthay Hamill on the ice. So I helped him around and we had a lot of fun going in circles, trying to avoid overly-confident Cal kids who kept running into walls (or each other) in Union Square while the big, Christmas Tree was being strung up with lights.

Happy birthday, Sweetcheeks! ;)

Autumn Smoke

2009-10-05T18:34:00.000-07:00

- - - - - -

I'm working on some new ink illustrations for fall...

I can't decide which color scheme feels more like autumn to me. But I have a tendency to make lots of my characters blonde because yellow is my favorite color and I'm biast! But I really just like both color schemes equally.

Maybe I'll just offer two different color prints...

Etsy Store Up and Running!

2009-10-04T23:30:00.000-07:00

Check it out peeps! Danielle and I figured out a bunch of store stuff tonight and I've put up temporary images to make it look nice and purdy while I post the first things which are my Birdie Hooks.

Enjoy! (And don't be afraid to pass it along ;) )

TheOwlAndTheBunny.etsy.com

Etsy? Etsy!

2009-10-01T01:20:00.000-07:00

So here's some pieces I've created to sell up on etsy.com - a totally rad site for handmade and vintage things. A few months ago I realized that I was sick of throwing my keys on the floor by my bed and forgetting them on the way out andh aving to run back into my room and search for them so I decided to do a little venture into crafts to make a key hook. Well, lo-and-behold, three or so months after the initial idea popped into my head, I've created the one that I needed and a few others to sell on Etsy! So I'm really hoping that these are practical and artsy enough to sell. I'm posting it here first since I'm not ready to set up the seller account yet (it's 1:15 in the morning... I'm so exhausted from the photographing and photo-editing!)

Without further dragging on and on and on, here are my hooks - for jewelry, keys, scarves, headbands, belts, you name it!

Also, a detail of the sides of the wood panels - covered in decorative map paper of old London. And an image of the way each will be wrapped and boxed when sent off!

My life will never be the same...

2009-09-09T13:18:00.000-07:00

Monday night I lost an irreplaceable piece of my heart. By no stretch of the meaning of the word, I lost my soulmate; my other half that would always be there for me and filled any emptiness that would infiltrate my happiness.

Swifty passed away.

I must have told the story of how I came to meet him so many times to people. It's so hard to describe to people what he was to my family, but mostly to me; it hurts to say "my cat" or "my pet" because he wasn't either of those things. He was another part of our family. He may have been a cat, but I couldn't claim ownership of him. He did whatever he wanted to do most of the time, and I was there to help him, and he was there to help me. I remember crying so many nights over my self-esteem or over never being loved by someone, and wishing that there was a real man in the world who gave me the full love and independence that Swifty had. He would have made a perfect human, and he tried to be one most of the time. He was bothered by the fact that after four years of sleeping in my room with me, that he had been sent to live with the other cats in the laundry room (with a flip-flop door to the outside). My allergies didn't let any of the cats wander around the upstairs any longer, so there was no choice. He knew he was always welcome to come upstairs to visit though, and he could open the front door with his claws hooked around the edge to push it open with his head. I used to hear the beaded curtain in my room start to jingle as he barely brushed it and moments later he would jump onto my bed to wake me up.

I could never imagine my life without him in it. He lived through so many things in his long life; a broken hip bone as a one year old; a bout with a horrible disease that claimed three of our older cats when he was seven; he lived with a heart murmur since he was nine and the vet told us he wouldn't live much longer; and for the past three years he had an overactive thyroid that he had to take pills for twice a day - seven years after they told us he wouldn't live much longer. The thyroid eventually caused problems with his kidneys and he had lost so much weight in the last eight months that he was mostly skin and bones the last time I held him in June this year. It broke my heart, but he was still himself. The bright blue eyes and the regal face; he never looked much like ordinary cats. People always called him the baby tiger as he was twice the size of an average cat and his nose wasn't small and square but long and distinct.

His fur wasn't long but medium length, but his tail was long with orange and white fur. I remember teasing him with his own wriggling tail as a kitten and brushing the soft tufts of fur that curled out of his ears and holding his pure white paws in my hands. He would climb up on the top of a cabinet just so he could press his cheeks to my forehead to tell me how much he missed me.

I was eight years old when I met Swifty. If I'd never met him, I wouldn't be who I am today. I wouldn't have the compassion or the confidence or the knowledge of love that he gave to me. I know he loved me back, and I only have one regret; that I couldn't be there with him in his last moments. I didn't want it to end this way, but I knew he couldn't live forever the way he was. I've never felt this void before, and I know it's not the only void I will ever feel, but it's the missing of his proud purring, the painful, but loving doughing of my skin, and his very presence that I will always miss... and most importantly never be able to forget.

I love you so much Swifty. So much this doesn't do justice to how much you are already missed. I love you.

More Fall Obsession

2009-09-07T01:31:00.000-07:00

I haven't been able to draw in over a month, so even though I'm just being a dork and designing clothes, at least I'm drawing again!

Want. Fall. Things.

2009-09-05T03:07:00.000-07:00

I've been cruising etsy.com looking up all the awesome things that I can't afford on there and thinking that I should start putting things up for sale on there that I couldn't afford for other people who can afford it.

But aside from that, in my sadness of no infinite monies, I decided to draw the outfit I want to create instead. It's kinda sorta like having these things... except not at all :(

The jacket was the best so I stole its color scheme!

It's getting out of hand....

2009-07-29T12:54:00.000-07:00

I've drawn so many revisions of my merman story that it's getting far too complex.

I think I will just finish it in storyboard form and not worry about animating it.

For the short department, I will do this short that I storyboarded out years ago (except the last two shots lol).

It's just easier and people won't ask as many questions. I don't want any pointers or help on it because the more "help" I get from people, the more they steer me away from what I was trying to say with my boards and it turns into a three-ring circus. It's not that I don't appreciate what people have to say, it's just they try to make stuff too, what you might call, "Pixaresque", which is fine if you have a lot of time and want to do a ten minute short. I want to do a short short.

I'm confident I can acheive this with this little story.

To begin again...

And when you see where they are standing from far away, the two hillsides come together to form the shape of a heart. And that's the end. Ta-da! Simple! Parfait! Done.

1854.

2009-07-23T04:11:00.001-07:00

Sketch to see if I could still draw. *sigh* Don't you just hate those days/nights? At least I think there is some talent and skill left in these old mitts.

Archer akin to Robin Hood mahaps?

2009-07-19T02:15:00.000-07:00

I've just been working on linework a lot lately. This was a character design sketch I did months ago. So I decided to render him out. I think he's pretty shabangin'.

Spanish Rose?

2009-07-17T02:01:00.000-07:00

Will I ever finish one thing at a time? Probably not.

2009-06-26T02:22:00.000-07:00

More (better) sketches of Pru(dence) from my short. Yay!

Hopefully I can do the storyboards tomorrow!

Change of plans...

2009-06-21T13:13:00.001-07:00

Well, I've decided not to finish this piece of artwork for the originally intended receiver. Now it's just going to be finished as "random jedi project".

I'm adding shadows and lines... not sure how the shadows are working, but I think it's coming along okay...

Any suggestions would be swell since this is not my usual style of rendering!

Also I'm going to try and do some texture on this once I finish the line work and shadows.

Getting to know you, getting to know all about you....

2009-06-17T01:24:00.000-07:00

All too often, I am reminded of song lyrics when thinking of blog titles.

Here's some more character sketches of Prudence. I'm much happier with this character design; drawing her is like drinking water; it's simple, clean and easy.

I used a few photos from Alix - aka, the Cherry Blossom Girl on her site as reference for a few of the poses. She's got some amazing photography up there, mostly of herself, which is crazy because she sets up the shots and then poses for them with a timer or a switcher. She's a fashion major (she might have graduated by now) in Paris and so her stuff is usually about the clothes, which is fun too. Either way her site is fantastico, so go enjoy the loveliness!

http://www.thecherryblossomgirl.com/

Man, I'm totally giving shout outs lately. I guess I gotta give respect where it's due!

Character Sheet Redesign (Sorry this title is desperately lacking in the cleverness department!)

2009-06-16T01:39:00.000-07:00

After realizing there was no way I could animate Prudence the way I had drawn her in the previous model sheet, I decided a revamp of her character was in order. ...Also, a revamp of the story. Working on the storyboards. I finally have my inspiration back! Apollo is finally smiling down on me!

What might you ask gave me this inspiration? Well, part of it was sheer willpower to force something out - like striking a wet match, it's fairly improbable, but hardly impossible. So I started the character yesterday at Bittersweet Cafe on Fillmore St and then tonight after looking through some amazing sketches and rough animation on this fantasmic blog that posts artwork by the brilliant Glen Keane: http://theartofglenkeane.blogspot.com/2006/05/pocahontas.html

I finally got the true inspiration to draw all this. More to come.

Color Palettes, Hooray!

2009-05-06T01:10:00.000-07:00

So the way this works: The story will start out in very colors 75% desaturated. It's supposed to give the feel of more sad, depressed, and aged story. It's not until the glowing light from the merman's tritan appears that the colors begin to brighten up. The bottom one is if I decide to use any normal lighting at all.

Here's my first color studies of different palettes.

Story Reel Revisions

2009-05-03T15:46:00.000-07:00

Well, I've already decided bits and pieces that I don't like about this new cut, but I decided to put it up anyways, just to keep track of the changes, and maybe any other suggestions people might have.

I'll leave you to it then.

Storyreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeel!! GASP

2009-04-01T01:43:00.001-07:00

For the past two weeks I've been pounding out storyboard thumbs. I want to finish a short film by this summer. I know that seems ambitious, but holy cow, I can work when I want to. I realized that last night when it was suddenly 1am and I hadn't looked at the clock since 10pm. Much like tonight actually... except it's now 2am. I'm just waiting for my quicktime file to finish rendering out in after effects. This is a rough-run through, and there are things I haven't drawn very well through, like the beginning - you will actually see the man and woman's face who are in silhouette, and Prudence (that's the girl) won't start walking immediately; she will be looking in at them and then start walking away obviously distrought. Maybe even wipe a tear away as she turns. Also, the shot where she is looking back at the ship (which is drawn terribly!) you'll see the shadows and silhouettes of all the people inside dancing around. Also, the man in the locket picture is the man you see at the beginning with the woman.

Anyways, it just beeped at me so I'm going to check it out and upload it!

p.s. - there's sound too!

Ooh! Being sort of productive!

2009-03-20T03:39:00.000-07:00

I have no witty comments for today.

Boo, I suck.

Sketchy sketch.

2009-03-03T19:27:00.000-08:00

Something I realized that I hadn't done in a while was post actual sketches instead of final pieces. So here's a couple sketches from a sketchbook that I now realized is NOT good for scanning. Consider this my lesson learned.

What does one do when one is sick?

2009-03-02T21:05:00.000-08:00

...color apparently! Hooray for color! Coloring is pretty much my favorite part of doing an illustration. Perhaps it's just the kid in me hoping to be able to prove that I can color within the lines!

Back to being bored and sick now.

America's Outlaw Crush

2009-03-02T01:50:00.000-08:00

I actually started this over a week ago after I finished watching 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford'. The film is a spectacle of the best kind, and I highly recommend seeing it if you love history, cinematography, hot men, and a fascinating take on the the life of Jesse James.

p.s. - Fun fact (I wrote "fun 'cat'" the first time round, I need sleep!): The film was mostly shot in Alberta, Canada, near Edmonton, a place I've been lucky enough to visit more than a few times. It's twice as gorgeous as Missouri, so I can see why they filmed there instead!

p.p.s. - I forgot to mention that I updated my website! Not really anything except I centered everything and made the background black... so yeah... hopefully updating it soon with more artwork and a real update! www.ceydran.com

p.p.p.s. - I did these illustrations tonight too but I don't have enough time to color them, so here's the line drawings! Colored versions tomorrow hopefully!

p.p.p.p.s. - Wondercon was awesome (except the creepy lady who ruined my chance of having a real conversation with Wendy Pini!! *shakes fist*). I finally got my Claire Wendling book and I must say I'm overwhelmed with joy. My life is now complete. Well okay, it's like, I got one box checked off... I still have to invent bee-mittens.

p.p.p.p.p.s. - sorry for all the postscripts!

Little... Green Riding Hood? Olive? Guacamole?

2009-02-23T02:10:00.000-08:00

Again with the sleep thing. I'll do it soon enough! Just let me post this and then I'll go, I swear.

Oh, and, one thing before that; Slumdog Millionaire won best picture? Really? I don't know, this last year sucked for film that weren't of the comic book genre. I'm hoping that with the way the shitty economy is going, we'll get better quality independent films this year. Yay economic crisis!

And the lights went out in San Francisco...

2009-02-17T13:11:00.001-08:00

Yes, I could not make myself sleep while I had this illustration to do. And it was coming up on 5am (what was I thinking still being awake?!) and right when I was putting the finishing touches on the colors... the power goes out. Yes, at during the rainy rain storm outside, the power cut to my computer and I'm retarded because I know I should have a surge-protector but I have been too cheap to buy one.

In any case, I now put off going to work on time to finish the illustration for reals.

Partially inspired by: 'Just Like Honey', The Jesus and Mary Chain.

the inspiration fairy visits me at midnight

2009-02-10T02:13:00.000-08:00

i couldn't even think of going to sleep till i finished this. maybe now my creativity will be appeased.

i heart winter.

Where have I been?

2008-11-05T22:57:00.000-08:00

Sorry it's been weeks since my last update. Health things and work has sort of consumed my life lately, but I do have a slew of magnificent sticky note drawings to quench your artful thirst.

Yeah. This is what I draw when I'm too lazy to do sketchbook drawings.

It's amazing what you can get out of a 2.5x2.5in sketch.

more goblin chic-ness

2008-09-14T11:23:00.000-07:00

Yay I got in an art show! New Art 08 at the Hotel des Arts. It's next Wednesday. I'll post the time of the event when I find out ASAP.

**FOUND OUT ABOUT THE SHOW!

HOTEL DES ARTS
447 Bush St (Between Kearny and Grant)
Show opens at 5:30PM

Hope to see you there!

I like giving each painting its own post, so I have more new ones than just this but yeah, whateva, hold yer horses, you'll get the rest soon enough.

"As Gob as my witness, I'll never go hungry again!"

2008-09-10T01:40:00.000-07:00

'Scar-let O'Scare-a'

Okay, maybe not.

I've sort of abandoned my "making models into goblins" dogma - now it's just mostly inspiration from a model and then I make a totally different painting. Seriously, if you saw the reference for this you'd think I posted the wrong photo - you can't even see the girl's hands in the photo. I think I got the reference for her shoulders and the bow... yup that's about it. Anyways, ramble ramble ramble - enough rambling. Goodnight.

Goblin Chic Part IV

2008-09-08T03:05:00.000-07:00

I know these two don't look hardly anything alike but I really didn't like the colors on the model for being the colors of my goblin. And I just spelled half of the words in that sentence wrong before correcting them, so I need to go to sleep. It's late. I think I'm turning into a goblin myself. Maybe that means I have a chance with David Bowie.

Okay - okay enough ridiculousness. Goodnight.

Goblin Chic Part III

2008-09-06T03:51:00.000-07:00

My scanner is so crappy - I can never get the colors to look the same, they always look washed out... boo. Oh well. I really liked the color scheme of this one's hair and hat. However a black coat would have been just too lame. I think a good rule of thumb is to avoid solid black areas at all cost in non-graphic pieces of art. It's just a hole for the viewers eye and sucks all the attention out of the rest of the piece.

Ernimahoo... I need to go buy more of these boards, they're the key to my ugly obsession.

Gentlemen prefer blondes.

2008-09-05T00:55:00.000-07:00

Erm... well, usually anyway...

Goblin Chic

2008-09-04T01:28:00.000-07:00

For the longest time I never really knew how to apply my love of beauty and grotesqueness to my art in the same attempt. I've finally done it. Beauty is extremely dull. The perfection and lack of imperfections takes all the life and interest out of a painting. And so, I've come to start my project of turning high fashion models into hideous goblins, and I'm quite excited at the prospect of more pieces, but it's 1:30 in the morning and... well, maybe I have time for one more.

-original reference-

The Horned Goddess

2008-09-03T21:42:00.000-07:00

So I've started doing paintings on rad these watercolor boards that I only found out about last week. Since I'm a complete moron when it comes to acrylics and oils, I haven't been able to really just do a watercolor painting and be done without worrying about the paper wrinkling and framing it and all that bullshit, so I'm really excited about this mini project!

This is the first one I've done, and honestly, it turned out really well after I'd all but completely given up on it. I think that once you start to worry less about the perfection it ends up working out much better. Now if I could only think of something for the next painting... I haven't been feeling so well lately so my inspiration sort of only comes in short spurts. I think I'll peruse my Brian Froud art book for Labyrinth. Be ready for lots of gross creepy goblins or something soon!

I need a haircut.

2008-08-29T00:38:00.000-07:00

Yeah. This is a self-portrait. I just put Photoshop on my computer today so I was excited to try it out. However, uninspired and so what's easiest when you're uninspired? Draw yourself! Woo!

Lady Sings the Blues

2008-08-05T16:05:00.000-07:00

I can't even begin to say how much I adore her.

So I drew a picture instead.

"There's snowflakes in the sky, and geese are flying high, but it's April in my heart again..."

I couldn't have said it better myself. Thank you Billie.

In-Progress/Scary Street

2008-07-24T00:37:00.000-07:00

Yep. Just threw a quick background on an unfinished character clean-up. Partly because I'm lazy but mostly because I don't know Corel Painter that well and my Photoshop 7 wouldn't install on my computer... so... damnit. I need CS... *sigh*... Oh well.

Working re-design for Persephone for The Lamp Post at Fillmore and Pine.

WHOO!

2008-07-17T01:06:00.000-07:00

First sketch with my new tablet!!!!!!!!!!

It's nothing special, but I"m excited. So, yeehaw.

Little Woman.

2008-06-18T00:47:00.000-07:00

It's almost a month late - but I did the inked illustration on the plane flight to Spokane on her birthday last month. I can't believe you're 21 already. Way to make me feel old!! <3

Pin-up!

2008-06-10T22:52:00.000-07:00

So yeah, I did this really fun pin-up illustration for my buddy Matt's comic (well he's the artist) - Wonderdog, Inc. It'll be debuting at Comic-Con this summer so if you're going... you should pick one up! And I'll love you forever! Or at least until one of us gets too clingy and then the little differences in opinions lead to huge fights where we're screaming at each other in the middle of a restaurant about how 'someone' forgot to ask for ketchup and we end up breaking up right then and there and so one of us throws the other's belongings out the fourth story window of our lovely apartment and the other has to move back home to Wisconsin to live with their parents. I'll love you until then.

XO

Glasses Chic

2008-05-19T14:03:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I wish I could wear glasses... but not really. I look terrible in glasses.

Sure bert/Sherbet.

2008-05-17T02:37:00.000-07:00

For the longest time I thought it was pro-nounced "sher-bert". I've come to realize that I wasn't the only one. Anyways these colors remind me of the rainbow-flavored kind (is rainbow a flavor?). And so do these hot days.

I don't know if I like the real gradient or the blocky gradient better. Hmmm...

Prettier than I intended it to be.

2008-05-16T01:06:00.000-07:00

Bohemia.

I dunno about the colors :-/

Plaid.

2008-05-13T00:12:00.000-07:00

I [heart] plaid.

Pin Stripes!

2008-05-12T02:05:00.000-07:00

Yeaaaah. I think I should make some prints, of these, what do you think??

hello again. it's been a while.

2008-05-11T20:45:00.000-07:00

nothing special. but something.

props! (please?)

2008-02-16T01:10:00.001-08:00

Yay! Viz dev props for my Holy Grail artwork. Wheeeeeeee!

et voila!

2008-02-15T02:14:00.000-08:00

c'est finis! click to see it all big 'n stuff!

Holy Grail!

2008-02-14T13:16:00.000-08:00

Yay! Finished exactly half of the character designs for Monty Python inspired characters! Gonna do a props page too! Whoo! The other three will be done by tonight!

Rollin'

2008-02-09T15:50:00.000-08:00

It's almost 6am... we'll make this brief.

2008-01-31T05:50:00.000-08:00

Villainess....

How disgustingly adorable.

Finally a new story idea I came up with last night while passing off into slumberland with little Nemo... about a girl who lives in a little hut on a giant lillypad in a lake tucked away in a high mountain valley. She can't remember how she got there, or where she is, but she remembers everything from her life in a small desert village, before waking up suddenly in this strange green place. Someone left a baby in the village, a strange light-skinned baby who was obviously not from the village, and when elders declared the baby was a gift from the gods for a sacrifice, the girl ran away with the infant. Only her older sister has been looking for her as the village deemed her banished. The first night she ran off with the infant, they were ambushed by masked figures and then she only remembered waking up on the shore of the crystalline lake. The only safe place for her was out in the middle of the lake on one of the lilypads because of poisonous snakes and nocternal predators at night were a threat.

And so here is the first page of visual development! Whooooo!!!!!!!!ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....

HMMM.

2008-01-17T15:41:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking. For someone who went to school for animation I sure don't do a whole heck-of-a-lot of animating. I'll be working on new animations this weekend for sure. I'll post my progress soon enough. The last time I did that though, my not-even-half-finished progress video of my wolf run has garnered 2,000+ views on YouTube.com. Ugh. It's not like I don't want people seeing my work, but seeing something that is just a crappy progress video isn't exactly the kind of attention I want. Oh well. Any press is good press as they say, right? HMMM.

Anyways, I'll leave ya with thumbnail sketches of some character designs I'm going to do of the Monty Python boys from the Holy Grail.

Blank Paper

Inés and Izzy

Inés and Izzy ...Progress

Lulu and Lisette

Lulu and Lisette in Progress...

It's been a while, but that doesn't mean I've been idle!

Snow White and Rose Red

The Littlest Unicorn

Sketch Page!

Hellboy and Liz

One down...

Almost done!

Harry continued...

Amelie parte deux!

Happy Valentine's Day!

At last!

Harry's first words!

Color Me Hogwarts.

Chevy Chase... and a Samoyed

Le fabuleux destin d'Amelie Poulain

Sketchy Sketches from Thanksgiving Weekend

I love Halloween.

Missing my boy.

*GASP!* Bro-Bot!

Concept Character Sketches

Coffee Shop Continued...

The Bear and the Bow was a better name... but still!

All about the Atmosphere

Atmosphere

Just Digitally Painting...

Brown Bagging It... sort of...!

Pocohantas?

Black Kitties Are Good Luck

PROOF!

I like to draw Fruits!

Progressive measures must be taken...

Sketches from yesterdays.

Just so you know I'm not a loser...

Etchy-Sketch

Uncanny Rogue!

Prudence Final Colors. FOR SERIOUS.

Drunk Sketches!

Florence + the Machine

Viking Sketch from Sketch Bomb

Colormania.

Not Halloween? So what!

"Blah blah blah blah..."

New Bugses and Colors!

Half-Done

Lighten up!

Keith's Birthday Card!

Autumn Smoke

Etsy Store Up and Running!

Etsy? Etsy!

My life will never be the same...

More Fall Obsession

Want. Fall. Things.

It's getting out of hand....

1854.

Archer akin to Robin Hood mahaps?

Spanish Rose?

Will I ever finish one thing at a time? Probably not.

Change of plans...

Getting to know you, getting to know all about you....

Character Sheet Redesign (Sorry this title is desperately lacking in the cleverness department!)

Color Palettes, Hooray!

Story Reel Revisions

Storyreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeel!! *GASP*

Ooh! Being sort of productive!

Sketchy sketch.

What does one do when one is sick?

America's Outlaw Crush

Little... Green Riding Hood? Olive? Guacamole?

And the lights went out in San Francisco...

the inspiration fairy visits me at midnight

Where have I been?

more goblin chic-ness

"As Gob as my witness, I'll never go hungry again!"

Goblin Chic Part IV

Goblin Chic Part III

GASP! Bro-Bot!

Storyreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeel!! GASP