SketchCrawl 24: Grand Central Market

It was a beautiful day for the sketchcrawl this past weekend, and there was a great turnout! Almost double the number of people from last time. I told a bunch of my friends from the animation classes i'm taking and about 5 of them showed up. Grand Central Market was an interesting place I've never been to and there were so many things to look at. I was tempted to draw some of the neon signage (actually draw the shapes of the tubing, not just write out what the signs say) but instead I gravitated towards the GIANT gumball machine.

I drew more people this time, which I'm very proud of. I'm particularly fond of the janitor sketch, although I'm not quite sure what ended up in his left hand. It was supposed to be a lunch tray, but it just didn't work.

After sketching for a number of hours we headed over to the Bradbury building across the street. It had beautiful and incredibly intricate architecture and lots of stairs and ornate railings...and it scared me. I chickened out on the architecture and went back and added color to the sketch of one of the sketchcrawlers instead.

I stayed until about 6, although I was really done drawing around 4. I did do some crazy animal doodles during that time: monkeys, sheep, and then an awkward cow based on the Dana Lyons song "Cows with Guns". Darn you Steve and Lisa for introducing me to that song. I can't stop playing it....

Parade of Cats

I've started the next semester of art classes with my Character Design class on Tuesday. We cut out geometric shapes and put them together any way we wanted to create a cat. Then we had to do more organic thumbnail sketches based on our creation. Here is my slew of cats...and a duck.

I have art and taekwondo classes 4 days a week, so I will most likely be doing bulk postings on the weekends. Don't expect anything until this sunday. I have a concert friday, and Sketchcrawl and the Terrible Yellow Eyes gallery show on saturday. This is a very busy week for me!

Illustration Friday: Strong

It's still a work-in-progress, but i'm really having fun with this piece. My only wish is that I had scanned the pencil drawing first, but that's ok. The face matches the pencil drawing fairly closely, but the pants and the shirt are slightly different...I also didn't spend even a third of the time on those that I did on the face. I also used photo reference to help with the expression! It made things MUCH easier, and once I had the drawing done to my liking, I found I really didn't need to look at the reference again for shading, because I shaded in crucial tones, such as the brow shadow, and the puckers in the bottom lip, chin, and cheeks. I've also been reading Peter de Seve's blog, so I'm being inspired by his work.

I will finish this up later and post an update once it's done. But now, to bed!

Illustration Friday: Impatient

One month later and our house is still not back to normal. I still have no scanner/printer hookup, or webcam to call my niece and nephew. But at least our computers are off the dining room table again.

I finally did an illustration for illustration friday. It's been a while! He was inspired by my drawings of eagles from the zoo. I'm not sure if he's an eagle...he's some wacky sort of bird. I colored him with the replacement colored pencils I bought from the art store, about 7 colors in all. I just had them nearby, saw that they made a nice color palette, and proceeded to sharpen all my brand new pencils. :)

23rd Sketchcrawl: Echo Park

I participated in my first sketchcrawl yesterday! It was a lot of fun, but unfortunately I forgot to bring a camera. There happened to be a festival going on in the park this weekend, so there were MANY things to sketch. I didn't draw as many people as I wanted to, but I'd been itching to practice drawing buildings and urban scenes.

There was a group of street cleaners that I wish I had gotten a picture of to sketch later. They all had identical shirts, but different tools and different body types/postures. They would have been fun to capture in the sketchbook.

Sorry for the bad quality of the images. I don't have a scanner hooked up at the moment due to chaos in our house. I had to photograph them as best as I could with the iphone.

Illustration Friday: Worn

After drawing pandas all (last) week for my Traditional Animation Basics 2 class project, I decided to draw....pandas. This little guy sums up how worn out I am at drawing pandas, but I still think he's cool. I had fun coloring him and then adding all the crazy tiny pandas everywhere. For some reason this is making me want to read Zen Shorts. hmmmm......

What else could go wrong?

On Saturday night, I scanned my illustration friday drawing and saved it to my computer before going out to celebrate my friend's birthday. Got home really late and went straight to bed. Woke up Sunday to a swimming pool in my living room that was rapidly encroaching on our computers. One of the attachments to the bathroom sink had broken and was flooding everything. Yay.

Long painful story short, our house is in disarray and we just now got one computer back up and running. Since it isn't mine, I still can't post my illustration friday picture. Hopefully we'll get mine back up and running before the next IF post is up. Beyond that, we're trying to do our best to get back into routine after being really frustrated and bummed out the past two days.

Illustration Friday: Drifting

I don't know what it is about the Illustration Friday topics that makes me want to do the least obvious thing related to that phrase? I guess my brother-in-law is right. I'm just ornery.

This sketch was a result of a confluence of inspiration (oooo! big words!) First, I spent the last portion of my workday on friday researching urban youth imagery (aka, graffiti) for my current book cover project. The bright colors that street artists use are incredible and inspiring. Second, I was catching up on my illustration blogs and I started reading Irene Gallo's posts about the illustration masters class (which I hope to attend one day). Looking at the assignments offered during that workshop, I was immediately drawin to "steampunk wizard of oz" it sounded like fun. Third, I got slightly confused between what steampunk is, and what my husband likes: cyberpunk. At least I got the goggles in there!

Thus, the urban steamcyberpunk drifters.

Fleeting Turtles: stage 1

I'm working on a finished illustration of the Fleeting turtles post I did for illustration friday back in April. This picture is about 1.5-2 hours into working on it, although I didn't include the final line art in my count. I'll post more pictures as it gets further along, but I don't get to work on this as much as I would like to because of my art classes.

I've gotten a lot looser and bolder in my work since I started working in colored pencil a few years back. For an illustration of topiaries I did a long time ago, I meticulously rendered each tiny leaf ON the trees. I ran out of time and I had to loosely lay in a background, and I remember getting more compliments on my background leaves then any of the meticulously rendered leaves. Go figure.

I'm also using this nifty invention for artists called a grayscale chart! It tells you how dark (or not) your colors are, so you can get the proper values in your work. I've had this chart for years tucked away in a drawer and I came across it again recently. Since I've long had the trouble of working too light, I'm going to try ACTUALLY using this chart for once to give my illustrations more depth and presence. So far, I've only hit a 4 in my tones--10 being white, 1 being black--so I still have further to go to push the darks.

Illustration Friday: Unfold

"Little Joshua got more then he bargained for when his paper airplane began to unfold..."

I haven't posted an Illustration Friday drawing in a while, so it feels good to get back into it.

I'm not quite sure just WHAT little Joshua's airplane turned into...a paper viking robot duck? No matter what, he's kinda cute and silly...pretty much what you'd expect from me. He was fun to draw, and the airplanes were too. Except for the one at top center that didn't work as well as I hoped. I also couldn't even begin to write the technical manual for this origami robot...

Zoo...week 1

I am taking a class on animal drawing at the LA Zoo (through the animation guild) and I had a pretty successful first week. The teacher wanted us to loosen up our work and try drawing without looking at the paper, use continuous linework, or draw with our off hand.

My most successful drawings of the day were partially blind...i'd occasionally look down to see if I was more-or-less on track. what I liked about them was the fact that I got in so much more detail then when I tried to use the construction approach to building the animals (think boxes and spheres to create the volume).

I also used my brush-pen a bit and enjoyed working with that too.

My husband is awesome!

Yay! He got my site running again. Huzzah for the husband!

Technical Difficulties

Most likely, you won't be reading this until after the problem has been solved. There have been technical difficulties on my end...namely, my website is down. It is down for the very silly reason that the domain name registry was not renewed on time. Oops. We are working on solving the problem and hopefully we'll be up and running within a day or so.

Regardless, it sucks. (especially since I haven't posted anything since May 17th!)

Dragon Blossom

This is my newest piece, Dragon Blossoms, created for our very very good friends Jenny and Philip and their son Gavin. I've been promising them a piece of art for years now, and I finally made good on my promise. We gave it to them today, and they loved it and I got an "ooohh" and a giggle from 2-year-old Gavin. Obviously, it was a hit all around!

The blue pattern/color on her kimono matches a plate I got for them years ago, and this piece is a nod to my first oil painting of a little girl in a kimono holding a giant umbrella while tea rains down and turns into flowers. Philip always liked that piece and wanted it or something similar. I tried a couple of different compositions, but wasn't happy with any of them, and once I drew this little girl, I knew I had the perfect drawing for them.

If only it had a ladybug or frog....well, Jenny, maybe next time!

Illustration Friday: Contagious

Achoo!

I couldn't pass up using this piece I did last year as this weeks Illustration Friday. It gave me a very good reason to finally get it scanned and in my digital gallery.

I'm very happy with the irradiated tones of greens and yellows in the piece. I had a lot of fun working on this one. This was the result of a month+ of a continuous cold. I used my artwork to vent my frustrations, and I think it turned out rather well.

This is NOT the promised piece that I mentioned in a previous post, just a great reason to post more of my finished artwork.

Still to come...

I posted some of my zoo sketches, but then I felt that the image sizes were too big, so I took them down and will repost tomorrow at a better size. I might also just pull out my favorite drawings from the bunch since there are about 10 pages of sketches, 5-6 animals per page.

Monkeys and Giraffes...oh my!

I've been killing three birds with one stone with these animal drawings: 1. practice drawing animals, 2. create some fun (and simple) animals for my friend's daughter's room, 3. do some character studies for my Traditional Animation Basics 2 class. In the TAB2 class, we're going to be using the 12 weeks to create a 30-second animated PSA! How cool is that?

Since I never animated before the TAB1 class, I'm kind of nervous, but I'm going to jump right in and give it a go. If nothing else, I feel that I'm really good at brainstorming, researching and coming up with ideas/unique perspectives.

All the realistic-looking sketches are from photos off the internet, but the cartoon-y ones are my original creations. Besides for the 3 crazy giraffes, my favorite one is the mom and baby giraffe. Incredible original photo here. I may have played up the size of the baby's ears a bit much, but they make him just too cute!

Sneak Peek...

Well, I should finally have some finished art up for you soon! I'm estimating that I will be able to get finished up with my current project and have it all scanned and ready by early next week. In the meantime, here's a little hint of what is to come:


Next, I think I'll be working both on my Fleeting Turtles piece and on Onion Boy. I think I want to have them both going at the same time so I don't get bored. Also, I'm starting Onion Boy off with a LOT of sketches and studies. I want to get his face more expressive then the original images, and get him a better dog....I'm thinking a beagle, because I want one. Also, we have one that lives in our complex that I like to pet and say 'hi' to.

The paucity of posts

There is a reason for the shortage of posting artwork on my part. While I was in Florida visiting family, my grandfather gave me a draft of his memoirs to read. I read all 42 single-spaced pages in one sitting. I was so fascinated by his story and seeing him both excited and embarrassed by showing someone else his work. We talked a bit about the memoirs, and one of the things I mentioned was that I would be both happy and eager to design a book cover for his work. That is, after all, what I do for a living.

In the course of things, I also agreed to edit his memoirs, and so I have been hard at work on his project. It is VERY slow going, and it makes me have so much more respect for all the editors that I work with. They look at words every day, day after day. I couldn't do it; it's tiring. I'm going to start working on the first cover comps soon, so hopefully I'll post some of my graphic design work for once.

As much as I want to further my own art skills, I am very passionate about giving my surviving grandparents another reason to keep excited and interested in life. Luckily for them, they have a very large family that gives them many reasons.

Illustration Friday: Heirarchy

"There be only one hierarchy in the west....MINE!"

I haven't posted to Illustration Friday in a while, so it feels good to be posting again. My original sketch was about the hierarchy of siblings, but my husband rejected that. When I showed him, I got a shrug of the shoulders and "Eh..." So I tackled the concept again this morning and am much happier with the overall result. The thumbnail in the upper left was my second attempt at getting the body movement down and I used that as the study for the final sketch.

I think he'll be added to my list of sketches to turn into final pieces. Everyone who regularly posts finished color illustrations every week has my respect because all I get done are sketches.

LA Times Festival of Books

I went to the Festival of Books at UCLA on Saturday, and of course, went straight to the children's stage. I'm just a big kid, after all. I got to see a number of author/illustrators, including Robin Preiss Glasser and her Fancy Nancy series, Eric Carle of The Very Hungry Caterpillar fame, and Anne Dewdney and her Llama Llama series. While I loved listening to Eric Carle speak and it was fun to watch him draw, I think Robin stole the show with her outfit and her 'explorers extrordinaire.' Having a better seat for Robin Price's may have helped too.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to meet them, as there were hundreds of people there in groups. One adult would sit with the kids and listen to the authors/illustrators, and the other adult would stand in the looooooooooooooong autograph line. *sigh* Maybe next year, I'll try to go with Jenny and her son, Gavin, or Mahta and her son.

The only person I wanted to see that I didn't get to see was Jarrett J. Krosoczka, who's blog I follow. I was just leaving class about the time I went on stage. I did get to meet a number of other illustrators and authors who were in some of the booths around the childrens area: Sunny Seki, Renee Ting, and Mark Teague. I bought their books and got autographs from them all. I walked away with 6 children's books for myself, 2 for friends, one young adult book, and a very large bag of cotton candy.

...Oh and a number of sketches I did while I was there. I'll post those seperately.

Robin Preiss Glasser and her explorers

...the great seat, which I lost because I was hoping to get an autograph.

Anne Dewdney

Eric Carle drawing

The closest I got to Eric Carle

Sonny Seki

Mark Teague drawing a dino for me!

Sleepy...

I missed drawing class today. It sucks, but I'm too exhausted from traveling last weekend and all the activities at work this week. After spending a few hours with MANY rambunctious 8-9 year-olds, I think sleep is on the menu. More drawing and posts to come, including one of my favorite drawings from life drawing last week. But for now, bed.

People in airport

Faces

Travel and drawing

I went out of town this weekend to visit my grandparents. It was a very good trip and I got some sketching done while I was traveling. Drew the plane above...the first time I've ever really drawn a plane. I'm pretty happy with it, although I think I foreshortened the body of the plane too much--planes are BIG. Really happy with how the wing/engine turned out. Friday, I'll be posting a number of sketches that I've had in my sketchbook for a bit and have been meaning to get up here. (Tomorrow I have class).

In particular I want to post the drawings I've been working on from the Facial Expressions book I got for my birthday. Some of them are frustrating, some of them I like a lot. All of them are good practice. As I am determined to get better at faces and people so I never can use the argument "I can't" again, so are my friends determined to help me. Thanks to everyone who has supported me and continues to support me.

Illustration Friday: Fleeting

"Once a year, with no explanation, all the turtles went fleeting."

This was a LOT of fun to draw. It's the kind of illustration I like doing the best: silly, whimsical and cute! I also liked researching all the different sails to use on the 'boats'. One day this WILL be a full-color illustration.

The story of stuff

I just watched a really interesting online video about the consumer economy:

Story of Stuff

It will really make you think about your life and things you are doing well and things you (I) probably should change. It is moments like these where I wish I could work on graphic design without having to print all the disposable marketing materials.

It made me think about wanting a simpler life, and I remember watching design shows where people moved to the middle of nowhere, built their dream home and live leisurely with their focus being on family and spending time together. I always wondered why they did that and if they would be bored...then I realize that for the first week or so I probably would just want to read, read, read, but eventually I would get tired of reading and miss working on art, then I'd work on art. I think I would eventually find a balance of reading, art, family and fun that I could enjoy...Maybe I just need to go 'Under the Tuscan Sun' and get a ramshackle house that I have no clue how to fix up but enjoy the journey and the people along the way. I could see it...one day...

Illustration Friday: talisman

This actually turned out a lot softer then originally intended. I guess I just like pretty things.

New Blog Header

I posted a new web header that actually matches the name of my website! Imagine that. Eric think's it's too big, even though it is the same size as the previous header. What does everyone think? Do you like it? Should I shrink it? Should it be more colorful?

Daily Sketch 29: Zoo on Saturday

Here are many of the sketches that I did on Saturday when I went to the zoo with Tabla. I didn't realize just how many sketches we did until I started scanning them. The most frustrating animal of the day was the giraffe, particularly because that was the one I wanted to draw the most. Eric suggested that I try drawing them a bit more in my whimsical illustration style. I suggest more practice.

Huntington Gardens flowers

I finally got out to the gardens by myself to do some drawing. I had a good time. I also went to the zoo yesterday and drew lots of really sketchy animals. I'll get out there a few more times before posting those sketches. I like the colors better in the drawing than the scan, but it still looks good.

Illustration Friday: poise

The cat burglar had to use poise and balance to haul away all the goods.

It's been two weeks since I posted any artwork! Eeep! Up until then I was doing so well at posting regularly. I guess I'll just have to draw more and get back into the daily posting mode. I'm going to the zoo tomorrow, so I should be able to post some great sketches this weekend, as well as some I did earlier this week that I didn't get to post due to technical difficulties.

In life drawing, I've been having trouble with building the structure and getting the squash and pull to look right, so here's some practice. This was the second attempt, since the first one was feeling a little stiff. I'm very happy with this. I think I may try to do a repeat of the 'Legendary' post and do a finished version in color...and perhaps with an outfit and some hair too. Maybe a slight tweak to the left arm, moving the elbow up to see the back side of the arm a bit.

Any suggestions on hairstyles or outfits? should my burglar be a guy or a girl?

Procrastination, Frustration...and Technical Difficulties

The posting has been nil for the past week and a half. I only have myself to blame. I have been re-reading books when I'm supposed to be doing art. oops.

I've also been frustrated with the 'facial perspective framework' that I've been learning in figure drawing on how to build a face drawing to get accurate perspective and depth. While I know the basics of the planes of the face, it frustrates me to no end, particularly when all the 'faces' look like identical androids instead of the people I'm trying to portray. I have particular difficulty with lips, since they are the most malleable and expressive portion of the face.

After ranting and procrastinating and growling in frustration...to the point that my husband commented on it, I decided to step away from faces and draw some nice peaceful penguins. That helped get me back in gear. Tonight I drew some cartoon turtles and then went on to some 1-5 minute people sketches. Eric sent me information on free stock photography, so I'm using NationsIllustrated (keyword search: people) to get interesting faces/people to draw.

Unfortunately after running updates on an unrelated program, I broke Photoshop. sigh. I've been needing to rebuild my machine for a while now, so this might change my Sunday plans... Now that I'm drawing again, I'll keep drawing and scan everything and post once my programs are up and running.

Illustration Friday: Legendary

The bull's fear of the mouse was so legendary that the rest of the herd laughed.

After illusions of epic grandeur with a victorious female knight standing with her helm under one arm and a waving banner grasped in the other hand, this is the resulting sketch. I need to find a balance between anatomically correct people and the looseness and character that this sketch has so I can start replacing animal figures with human figures and draw all the fantastical images that are in my head.

I am loving this sketch and want to create a finished piece with this at some point.

UPDATE: I gave myself four hours to color the cow and had a lot of fun with it. Enjoy!