Day Ninety Six

That was one quick weekend! It’s strange, though; I find myself looking forward to the enormous amount of work this week is sure to present. I can see the end of the insanity (at least schedule-wise...much of the insanity is probably here to stay) and am ecstatic to be finishing this year of schooling around two months ahead of schedule (sorry, people, this much work requires a little bragging). Today was one of those days in this blog that I plan, before beginning, to “just get it over with” and make something quick and easy. This was also one of those days that I was swept up in it all and fell deeper in love with art. What was going to be a quick pencil sketch before bed turned quickly into a full-on project with research, careful shading, color, and *gasp* A HAND!

house-coat n.  A woman’s informal garment to be worn around the house.

Although I already knew what a house coat was, I did a little research to get ideas about styling in order to do a glamorous, vintage take on today’s word. Immediately after reading today’s word, I thought of a very sophisticated woman who, although she was simply lounging around, did not in any way lose her glamour or beauty. In fact, I tend to think that an effortless, raw look intensifies it.

I took photos throughout drawing today’s piece in order to show the steps taken to create it.

I began, as usual, with a pencil sketch and then inked it to increase the definition.

After this, I took a bit of black pastel smudged on a q-tip and did some shading.

Finally, I took another q-tip, this time with red pastel on it, and colored her “house coat”. After several layers of pastel to get the color correct, I was finished.

I am very pleased with the way this turned out; I have never before drawn a character in this position.

I hope you enjoyed today’s post; thank you for reading.

Xx

-r

Day Ninety

Oh, gloomy Mondays... Although I have no excuse to be complaining about being tired (my schedule is dictated entirely by my record-breaking teenage sleeping patterns), it never stops me from doing so. Maybe some art will wake me up? Worth a shot...

I shuffled over to my dictionary this evening to find that its spine had been fully broken, and the cover had been ripped!! Although I admit that the living room floor is not the safest place for an unprotected, pocket-size dictionary, I suspect foul play.

So my dictionary, despite its sorry condition (I may be introducing it to a smidgen of duct tape before long) offered up a great word for today’s project.

pig-my n., pl. –ies A very small person or animal; a dwarf.

Having slowed to a halt at the towering height of 5’2”, I can definitely identify with today’s word. I wanted to illustrate a very small, very fashionable young character for today’s piece. So, I grabbed a piece of posterboard and a few pencils and began.

After I had finished the character, (and noticing the illustration had taken on a French-y theme) I decided to continue with the piece and add a background. I thought a street lamp would add a nice Parisian touch to the piece. I soon realized that (duh) I wouldn’t be able to show the “lamp” of the street lamp in order for the perspective to be correct (she is, after all, pygmy size). So, I decided to add another lamp a ways behind her. I used smudged pencil in order to convey a sense of romantic fogginess.

I hope you enjoyed today’s post; thanks for reading!!

Xx

-r  

Day Eighty Eight

Phew! Late post, people...apologies.

Today’s word is one that I think I don’t appreciate enough. When constantly striving to be best, first, different...whatever you may wish to be, it is hard to appreciate just how great the middle can be. Not that you should aim for mediocrity; far from it! But, I think it’s important to remember to give yourself a chance to appreciate the usual.

u-su-al  adj. Ordinary or common; regular; customary.

With today’s word, I wanted to illustrate an obviously stylish, driven, and (most likely) a workaholic character embracing the “usual” in terms of dress. I love conveying intelligent women who are serious about going out and accomplishing things without losing their femininity, grace, charm and elegance. While today’s character has a relaxed, slightly undone look, each aspect of her has still been carefully chosen to give a carefree look. In other words, I tried hard to make her look like she tried hard to look like she wasn’t trying hard. A lot for a piece of paper and a few smudged lines of pencil? I say never, but I’ll let you decide:

Thank you for reading; I hope you have a great night (or day, for those of you who retire at a decent hour).

Xx

-r

Day Eighty

Today was a sleepy day. Time seemed to alternate between speeding by and dragging on endlessly. I managed to squeeze in a couple hours in the darkroom and emerged with a couple prints.

I experimented with the new(ish) technique of scratching the photo in order to get rid of parts of the emulsion.

I really like the look of it on the left side of this photograph, but I don’t think it works as well on the right. I hope, sometime, I will be able to find the appropriate use for this technique. For now, I will keep trying.  

Today I decided to get my drawing “mojo” back. Things in the illustration world have been a bit...blah...as you may have been able to tell. With 285 days left in this project, I can’t begin thinking of it as a chore, or I won’t be able to stick with it. So, picking up my dictionary with gusto, I got down to work.

Today’s word took me a while to figure out; I had quite a bit of the piece done before I knew what direction I wanted to take it in.

di-ver-sion n. The act of diverting from a course, activity or use; something that diverts or amuses.

I wanted to draw a very business-like character who’d gotten distracted. I wanted the “diversion” to be something colorful; something childish.

I started by drawing a pencil sketch and then going over it in pen; I planned to use pastels and didn’t want the pencil to smudge with the pastel when I blended the pigment.

Then, I used a different color of pastel for each balloon and blended the pastel to give the balloons a smooth look. I really like the way this came out; I’m happy to have my “mojo” back.

I hope you enjoyed today’s post; thanks for reading! I hope you have a great weekend!

Xx

-r

Day Seventy Nine

Ah, more snow. I’m cuddled up with a hot cup of cocoa, basking in the warm glow of both my laptop and the TV. (You know, because staring at just one screen is soo 2010) Frequent peeks out the front door have confirmed that it is still snowing, still cold and still winter. (I thought we’d escaped it for a while there, but no such luck.)

Today’s word shocked me. Not because of the word itself, but because of its timing. I spent a while thinking about what exactly, out of the thousands of possibilities, I wanted to create using this word as inspiration.

E-gypt n. A country located in northeast Africa and southwest Asia.

Immediately, of course, “Egypt” brought the recent revolution to mind. Although I do not claim to know every detail, I did follow the revolution as best I could. Although there were many things about this revolution that both inspired and fascinated me, there was one image that struck me most. Beyond the masses of people, the incredible speed of political change and the images of people gathered on and around tanks, there is one image that has stayed vividly in my mind. This image is the hundreds of thousands of people in Tahrir Square stopping to pray. From the moment I saw the first photograph of this, I was amazed by not only the dedication of the Egyptian people but by the beautiful work of art created by a synchronized movement of hundreds of thousands of people. Although I have never put much faith in, well, faith, I am fascinated by this gesture.

So, for today’s piece, I decided to illustrate Egyptians praying in Tahrir Square. It was difficult to get the angle of the bodies correctly but, after a hundred or so, it got a little difficult.

I wish this drawing could have been better; it does not do the incredible feat of the Egyptians justice. Ah well, I’ll get there eventually.

Thank you for reading; I hope you enjoyed today’s post. Have a great weekend! (Yes, I know it’s only Thursday but I think we deserve to celebrate the coming weekend early.)

Xx

-r

Day Seventy Seven

After yet another long, long school day (Is is ONLY Tuesday???) and a short break for dinner, it was time to begin today’s piece. Earlier this afternoon, I had been sorting through my supplies and found a couple teeny little canvases. Because they were so adorable, and because I grew tired of the same flat pieces of paper, I wanted to try one out.

Originally, I had more of a classic idea of subject matter upon seeing today’s word but, after beginning to sketch, I decided to keep one of my mamas in mind and go with something a little more interesting.

Oh, right...today’s word...

ear-ring n. A piece or jewelry which is worn on the earlobe for decoration.

First, I sketched the ear in pencil. I added a few little circles to balance out the space.

Then, I painted in the drawing. Finding myself without any sufficiently tiny brushes, I broke the “heads” off of a few q-tips and used the sticks to paint with. I think, at first, I didn’t realize how difficult it would be to get the coloration of green glass to be believable. At the end, I still hadn’t reached my goal. I think I could improve a lot on this piece, but I do like the way that this painting came out.

Although I probably would not stretch (STRETCH! not GAUGE, people..."gauge" is NOT a verb) my ears to this extent, I have always thought it looked beautiful. 

I hope you enjoyed today’s post; thanks for reading!

Xx

-r

Day Seventy Six

To say today was a long day would be a gross understatement. After finishing school around 7 (I’m not sure I’ll really finish school in 5 weeks with a workload like that) I took a short break for dinner and an episode of House. After finishing a delicious chocolate chip cookie, it was time to get to work.

I flipped through the dictionary exhaustedly, and came to a stop at a word that went well with the lingering chocolate chip cookie taste in my mouth.

ta-ble-spoon  n. A unit of measurement; large spoon for serving food.

It made me think of the excited anticipation that comes with beginning to bake a delicious dessert. With every added ingredient, you push closer to creating something delicious. Although I have not baked in a while I know this feeling well; often, as a young kid, if I wanted a cookie, I had to make one (with the aid of my mother calling out directions from the other room). I remember pulling a freshly baked cookie from the tray and, seemingly impervious to any amount of tongue-searing molten chocolate chips, chowing down.

I wanted to illustrate this feeling of excitement in today’s piece. I used my amazing white pen to add a little shine to the eyes and convey a sense of the eyes’ direction.

I hope you enjoyed today’s post; thanks for reading!!

I hope your Tuesday goes better than mine is most likely to!

Xx

-r

Day Seventy Five

Where did this weekend go? I’m 100% sure that someone snuck in and stole about 20 hours from me. Grr! Oh, well. Today’s word went perfectly with this confusion, and what I’m sure I will struggle with tomorrow.

This word, of course, brought to mind a large stack of books, and the frustrations that every school child faces.

Before I continue, I will tell you the word...

ed-u-ca-tion n. The process of being educated.

As I thought about starting into this week’s work, the things I dwelled on the most were the distractions I continually face. Being a student whose education (or lack thereof) is pretty much entirely up to me, I know all about the temptation to throw down the books and go play in the sun. For today’s piece, I wanted to illustrate struggling with the temptation to walk out on the boring stuff in favor or something more immediately rewarding.

I liked that she looked as if she was almost buried by the books in this drawing.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a great last few hours of your weekend.

Xx

-r

Day Seventy Three

Today was definitely my kind of day. It was sunny, crisp and clean with a slight cooling breeze making its way through downtown almost timidly (as much as any breeze is capable of being timid). I finally finished off an old 36 shot roll of 35mm film today. My absolute favorite thing about film, especially 36 shot rolls, is that usually, by the time I have used every shot on the roll, I can no longer remember the shots that the roll might contain. So, when the film is finally pulled from the sink and taken off the reel, the shots it contains are remembered anew. This is the reason I remain (mostly) loyal to film photography-there is nothing that makes hard work more rewarding than a little wait and a lot of mystery.

Although I was hoping to come to you today with some form of magnificent breakthrough, I present instead a sort of steady, slow progression towards something different. Maybe it’s better this way; I have time to steer myself calmly towards new ventures. For now, I will press on with the skill and direction I currently posses.

Today’s word is a lovely one. I thought immediately of long afternoons spent in my mother’s herb garden as a child. I would pinch and clip and pluck until I had gathered a make-shift “kangaroo pouch” (made with my t-shirt) full of flowers and herbs. Trotting back into the house, I would make a strange, often overpowering brew. My favorite flower, though, was always...

lav-en-der n. An aromatic plant having spikes of pale violet flowers; light purple in color. lavender adj.

In order to convey the softness and relaxation that I associate with lavender, I decided to use watered-down paints on heavyweight backing board.

I first sketched the stalk from memory, and then looked up images of lavender to make sure I’d drawn the buds correctly. I painted a color similar to that used on the stalk as a background and used a yellow background to make the lavender stalk stand out. Before I painted on the yellow, I smudged pencil around the outside of the stalk to dirty up the color a bit. I wanted the colors, even the yellow, to remain muted and calm.

I hope you enjoyed today’s post; have a great weekend and thanks for reading!

Xx

-r

Day Seventy

Ah, day seventy. I’m not sure what it is about every time I reach another ten days, I’m disappointed in what I create. Oh well, that’s just how it goes.

After a long, long day stuck in the house, it was time to work on today’s post. Today’s word reminded me of a phase of drawing ridiculous eyelashes I’d gone through a while back, and I decided to repeat it today.

feath-er n. One of the light, hollow-shafted structures that form the covering of birds.

I began by drawing a figure at the center and then adding vertical pencil lines and a few feathers around her to add a background.

Although this is not my favorite piece, it’s growing on me a little. Her hair never quite seemed to fit in; it reminds me of my own hair the morning after going to bed with it wet-chaotic.

Thank you for reading; I hope you enjoyed today’s post.

Xx

-r

Day Sixty Seven

After finishing off the last few prints, and packaging up the Valentine’s order, it was time to head out to the Mama’s. Julia Child taught us how to make super complicated, super delicious mashed potatoes and, after eating as much (or more) food as I could, it was time to settle down at the table with some paper and a pencil.

I absolutely love today’s word. Maybe it’s just due to Johnny’s adopted last name, but this word makes me think of the delightfully grimy, often angry, always outrageous punk scene.

rot-ter n. A person who is really bad.

I love this definition. It is so simple; it’s almost childish. So, back to those *#$% punks... I wanted to illustrate a loveable “rotter” as opposed to drawing someone truly mean-spirited. I thought to myself, “What better to embody my idea than a strong, outrageous punk girl?” So, this is just what I drew.

I must say that I’m not entirely satisfied with this piece; I think there’s quite a bit of room for improvement, but it’s a start. I had a bit of trouble deciding on attire; the classic “punk” style is not one I am familiar with illustrating. However, after spending a semester of 8^th grade doing research for a paper entitled “The Origins of Punk” (Oh, how “angry-14-year-old” of me), I had enough exposure to get the basic idea. I stopped just short of adding safety pins; I desperately wanted to avoid going the Hot Topic route.

Thanks for reading, those of you that are; have a great night and continue to enjoy your weekend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nlX7P0nhaI

Xx

-r