Running to Catch up

Shame on me. Two months. Summer months, but still a long time to go without updating. I am going to try to get back to blogging; not just here, but visiting other blogs like I used to. I miss it. I use Facebook to do much of my networking but I miss the interaction and inspiration I receive from visiting blogs and seeing what everyone is doing. So...more blogs; less Facebook.

So, where was I? Here's the update on the Morrigan assignment. I ended up finishing her digitally and not very well. I hope to get back to the sketch and finish her in oils.

 Last month I received an email asking if I would be interested in illustrating the 2016 Astrology Calendar for Llewellyn Worldwide. It's the biggest commission I've ever accepted and though nervous, I'm actually excited to take on the challenge. Here are my thumbnails for Aquarius (my month). I haven't heard back yet but did get their permission to post any progress shots here on my blog.

That's it for now. Next post will be about my experience at Fantasy Con.

WIP on Final Assignment

Bad Kim!! Can't believe it's been over a month. In my defense, I have been sick with some respiratory bug that put me in bed for well over 2 weeks. But I'm up and running again and trying desperately to catch up with my assignments. Here is one that is for an Art Director next week. Many know him as the head of Art Order, a wonderful art blog that issues challenges to artists. I've never met Jon Schindehette but those who have consider him one of the nicest people. He is currently the Creative Director for Treehouse Brand Stores. Among many things, they provide fine art prints for gaming fans. He gave 4 assignments to choose from. I picked the one for Morrigan from Dragon Age. Here's the sketch, photographed and then played with in Photoshop. The last one has some corrections from Rebecca. Have to work fast on this one.

Heron Girl II

I haven't forgotten about the first version of Heron Girl BUT after Rebecca Guay posted a demo video on her website of her painting, "The Visitor", I had to try it. For the first time in a long time, I wasn't battling with the painting. I could actually SEE the finished painting in my head before I began. No scanned sketch this time either. I started on a 300 gm sheet of Arches watercolor paper.Sketched in the face and heron and reeds and then sealed it with 2 layers of acrylic matte medium. I then proceeded in oils, beginning with an under-painting just like Rebecca did in the demo. 

Here's the final. 11"x 14".

And she sold too!

Heron Girl Progress

I've been busy working on commission and SmART School assignment. Here are some progress shots of  Heron Girl as I try to bring it to a finish.

 Finished sketch.

 Rebecca's paint over in Photoshop.

This is a photo of my first pass of oil.

Portrait Artist this post is

Kamille Corry.

 Just look at those hands!!

And We're Off!

I have started SmART School once again with Rebecca Guay. This time, I am doing the every other week study course, so that frees up time to finish the book...hopefully.

First things first. Here's another portrait artist and an example of her work followed by my the first steps of my first assignment. 

Johanna Harmon

Our assignment is to come up with a cover for a hypothetical "Art of...(me)" book. Something that will most represent my work in a collection of my best work. Great assignment because it really made me dig deep and think about what is it that speaks "Kim". She emphasized that we need to focus on our strengths and build from there. I knew I wanted to include a compelling face and try for graceful lines. I started there.

 Head Study

 Composition study #1

 I felt it needed more room on the bottom.

Composition sketch #2

This is the sketch after Rebecca has worked her magic. Proportions were off on woman. Lengthened her body and eliminated her background hand, giving her a cleaner silhouette. Worked on dress and narrowed the frame. She also fixed a tangent and defined shapes. Now to get better reference for body and dress and redo.

Missing SmART School

I can't believe it's been a month since I last posted. Summer as been very busy and so blasted HOT!! I am so ready for fall and cooler weather. Are you listening Mother Nature??
I am skipping SmART School this semester because I still must finish this commission plus I have some personal "stuff" going on that I can't ignore any longer. Plus, I need to get my website squared away with a store for my prints and do some reorganizing. I did notice that SmART School is now offering PayPal Bill Me Later which might make a difference in people's ability to afford it. Dividing the enrollment fee by 6 is much more doable for me. Just thought I'd spread the word. I will leave you with this quote from Rebecca Guay:

"The people who succeed in this business are the ones who are being deeply true to their work and doing a LOT of it to make it perfect (and don't let the inner demons and fears of failure or inadequacy rule them when they claw their way to the surface)."

By the way, Rebecca is having a one-woman show next week. Check out her beautiful, evocative work.

Bad Blogger

It's been a month since I last blogged. Between working on the children's book and assignments for SmART School, St. Patrick's Day and Easter, it's been a busy month. Plus I built a new website, this time without paying anyone to do it for me. If any of you have been thinking of taking the next step and putting your work out there beyond a blog, I highly recommend Weebly.

After completing "Barcoded", Rebecca wanted me to create another pretend book cover with the same character, as if this one was a sequel. This assignment has been a great exercise of "stepping into your illustration" and understanding the character you've created. As usual, it has been a slow and torturous process that has become my 'method'. Nothing comes easy. I knew I wanted her on a journey and in this second cover, Rebecca asked that I show a secondary figure, even if it's a mere hint. I had to show more of her body too.

 I did several trial illustrations with her holding the staff, which I had designed with aboriginal symbols. For some reason, she looked too stiff holding this very diagonal, straight object. It just wasn't working for me. I then put her in a more organic setting with a sort of misty atmosphere, losing some edges here and there. This face is taken from a very obscure photo I found on the internet. I found some others but they were poor quality, but I did my best.

I have two versions and I think I'm preferring the sepia one over the grey. I like her gaze looking directly at the viewer. We will see what Rebecca thinks come Monday. 

"Barcoded" Final

"Barcoded"

Oil and Colored pencil

Decided to go back to the original title of "Barcoded" since it implies more of the human cataloging concept I wanted to convey.

"Barred" Update

Continuing with this assignment, I played around with one other concept of her living in an underground tunnel. Used two colors in photoshop and ended up with a more graphic feeling.

After talking with Rebecca, I returned to my first concept, but created a dome behind her, probably influenced by some of the dystopian literature I've read (Under the Never Sky) and added some barbed wire and fencing to the landscape. 

I ghosted the image and printed it out on watercolor paper, wet stretched the paper and then added a coat of acrylic matte medium. I then proceed to apply very light layers of colored pencil to her face, followed by another layer of matte medium to seal it. I will now continue with either acryla gouache or oil glazes.

"Barred"

Brain Freeze Leads to Brain, Freed.

JANUARY 28, 2013: Received SmART School assignment.

Central character is a female wizard about 14-16 years old. She has grown up on her own in a future dystopian( or past dystopian environment). She is VERY beautiful, but also unusual looking.She has one blue eye and one brown eye, and you need to show me enough of her face so this clear. She should be strong but have an undercurrent of vulnerability.

JANUARY 28 - FEBRUARY 11: Worked tirelessly on assignment. Downloaded over 200 images from Pinterest and Google search to encourage ideas. Results: 7 measly thumbnails.  NOTHING I liked. Here is a sampling from my uninspired brain.

 Even tried one in Photoshop, hoping it would help.

FEBRUARY 11:  LESSON DAY. While awaiting my turn during my online class, began sketching some photo reference I didn't use because I liked the expression in her face. After 30 mins. I scanned it and included it in the School Dropbox.

GUESS WHICH SKETCH SHE LIKED?? yep. The one that came as an after thought. I know all my work helped me to get to that sketch but I have got to figure out a short cut.

Rebecca cleaned up the silhouette by eliminating the hand and cut and pasted her to another one of my failed thumbnails. Concentrating on values and abstract shapes she gave me the above reworked sketch to develop.

Here's the refined sketch before I added a hint of color on it. I love the idea of a tattooed barcode, distinguishing her from the mainstream society. I need to refine the background cityscape but I'm finally excited to proceed now that my brain is no longer stuck in No Idea Land.

This experience was like remembering the answers to a test AFTER the exam. The brain relaxes, allowing information that was caught up in the cogs and gears to once again flow freely. Why did this assignment have me so paralyzed? Expectations? Image Overload? Who knows? 

Just hope some of you can relate....yes?

Final Smart School Assigment

Our final lesson for Smart School is this Friday. We will meet with David Saylor from Scholastic. He was the AD for all 7 US Harry Potter books illustrated by the wonderful Mary GrandPre. His assignment was for us to do either a book cover or poster for Harry Potter. He challenged us to show him in a different way. I ended up building on sketch I drew awhile ago with digital textures and color. This assignment challenged me more than any of the others. Here is the result. Thanks for all the instruction and guidance, Rebecca. We'll see how it goes on Friday.

Harry Potter

"The Boy Who Lives...On"

Arwen....yet again.

 So, back to Arwen. Yeah, guess what happened? I lost the sketch again. Blast it! Lost the transparency of the paint too. So, I started again. And I think I prefer this new one much more.

Here are the steps. I started with a sketch. 

 Scanned into PS and started building around it. I knew I wanted her back lit and of course, the banner needed to be included as well. Tried to frame her with the tree in the foreground.

 Needed two hands to show her looking at the banner.

 Then I warmed it up some more and added the leaves.

Trying for a looser look. Applying color as I would paint. I think her hands might need improvement and perhaps more length. I will get my midweek critique tomorrow. I also feel I need to thicken one of the branches to give it more variation. That's all for now.

Eowyn, Shield Maiden

It's back to the drawing board for my painting of Arwen. Lost the transparency that I was trying for with the paint. IN the meantime, worked up this portrait of Eowyn. Digital color on Graphite Sketch. Still have so tweaks to make on it.  SmART School will be ending this month and I will miss it terribly...the instruction, fellow students, and motivation.

Happy Halloween

Wishing you all a happy and safe night of trick or treating.   

May your neighborhood candy spree be free from ghoulish, grasping trees. 

Be on the look out for high-flying bat riders 

bringing you Halloween cheer. 

Assignment #3 SmART School

 While I'm waiting to set up a decent photo shoot of my finished "Bats" picture, I've moved on to my third assignment with SmART School.

WARNING: A plethora of geekiness is about to ensue. 

After Samwise Gamgee, two of my favorite characters from LOTR are Eowyn and Arwen. One of my all time favorite quotes from the books is from Eowyn, when she is asked by Aragorn, what she fears most.
 "A cage. To stay behind bars until use and old age accept them and all chance of valor has gone beyond recall or desire."   
 You go, horse-girl! Poor Arwen hardly gets any lines and yet, her story, which is even more minimal in the books than it is in Jackson's movies, encompasses a life of sacrifice, love and hope and powerful influence from afar. It was Arwen who would chose mortality over immortality to remain behind and support the cause of men. It was she who gave Frodo the Evenstar, a necklace with a white stone, which would aid him when the darkness of his injuries troubled him. But probably the saddest part of her story is her end which can be found in the Appendices of the final book. At Aragorn death, she leaves her son and daughters and travels to Lorien, to the place she and Aragorn first met, Cerin Amroth.

 "But Arwen went forth from the House, and the light of her eyes was quenched, and it seemed to her people that she had become cold and grey as nightfall in winter that comes without a star. Then she said farewell to Eldarion, and to her daughters, and to all whom she had loved; and she went out from the city of Minas Tirith and passed away to the land of Lorien, and dwelt there alone under the fading trees until winter came. Galadriel had passed away and Celeborn also was gone, and the land was silent.

"There at last when the mallorn-leaves were falling, but spring had not yet come, she laid herself to rest upon Cerin Amroth; and there is her green grave, until the world is changed, and all the days of the life are utterly forgotten by men that come after, and elanor and niphredil bloom no more east of the Sea."

It's like she simply fades away in the land that had once been so enchanted and protected by the power of Galadriel's ring, Nenya. Nothing to mark her grave but the falling golden mallorn leaves. So sad. To my knowledge, there isn't an illustration of this. I thought I'd give it a try.

Here are some thumbnails:

 

 This one (below), I developed a bit more and in the process had an interesting experience as I "stepped into the picture". It's a small thing but was quite significant for me. Wondering how Arwen would feel and what she would take, if anything with her, it came to me that she would take something that held personal significance for her and Aragorn. Leaping Legolas!! (light bulb moment)... She would take the banner of Elendil that she fashioned with her hands and sent with her brothers to give to Aragorn prior to him taking The Paths of the Dead. The banner of black cloth was unfurled at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields to reveal the emblem of Elendil figured in mithril, gems, and gold; this became the first triumphant public announcement of the King's return. It infused Aragorn with hope in a time of terrible despair. That's what she would take. I knew it.

Though I liked the one above, Rebecca felt like she had see something similar...not with Arwen, but with someone else. At first that bothered me and then it came to me that this was a similar composition to Sam Weber's WOT illustration . I can always return to that one but the point of this class is to take criticism and advise. Both she and Eric Fortune liked this one out of the bunch and I developed it further. 

 She felt I needed to extend the length slightly, which I did, plus I added the banner and changed her left hand, trying to make it look more delicate. 

Next I did a quick color comp in PS. I think I might need to add one more of the stone steps and change some of the background treatment. Waiting to hear back from Rebecca this week.

Okay, relax....geekiness concluded (until next post).