Don't come here anymore...Go there.

Since blogger isn't good enough to make me happy, I've moved to Wordpress.
Click here to visit the new site.

WTF Blogger!

You call yourself real blogging tool? Pah! You're nothing but a cheap-rate, two-bit piece of crap that does nothing for my artstic soul! In fact, if I were to draw on a napkin, eat it then crap it out - that crap would be more artistic than blog spot.

To sum up - You suck blogger. I'll see you in hell. And Wordpress.

Vampire Hunter B

Today I did some work on the Thomas Blackhall picture. JRD is hoping to post the story on his site soon so I have to kick it into gear. I will definitely post a link to his site again when he publishes the story. I'm pretty excited about reading it, too.



So I took the original Blackhall sketch and I did a second draft. It's been changed a bit to suit what I feel the character would be like. It's a little less cowboy-y and a little more...well...I dunno. I can't explain. This draft says to me "I am here to slay your vampires". I don't know if that's really what Thomas Blackhall's into, but it's certainly a good look for him.

Practice Targets and Pedro The Cowboy

It's getting late and it's been a long day. I'm pretty tired, but before I get to bed, let me share with you my not-so-artistic-but-creative project of the day - practice targets!

JRD got himself a new toy to play with and he asked me if I could conjure him up some targets. I thought our son might enjoy painting with me, so I employed his help on the project, too. He's been watching his dad play some video games recently and he drew some of the enemies from said game for us to practice shooting. I drew a few bullseyes and, just to change it up, a person-shaped target. With the person-shaped target I got our son to lie down on the board and I traced around him. Then I made all the porportions a little bigger 'cause I felt kinda bad about making a child-sized target. Initially I was just going to paint the person black, but JRD asked me to put a mean face on it, so I figured if I was putting a face on it I had to make the rest of it look like a person, too.

Then I decided it would be a cowboy. Named Pedro.

What's Behind Door #1?

Click on it to find out!
I was searching the intertubes for things of interest this morning and I found that image at POE [photographers of etsy]. I only just found this site a while ago but I'm *really* enjoying the photography posted on the site so far. In fact, I think I'd like to work on my own photography sometime in the near future. I haven't worked with this medium in quite a long time - or at least, not with any artistic aspirations - so it should be fun.

Aside from just thinking it's a nice photo, though - this is the kind of image that makes me want to learn how to use Flash. Doesn't that knob look like you could just reach out and turn it? What if you could open that door to somewhere else entirely? JRD insists on crushing my dreams and tells me that Flash can't really do the job I'm hoping for. But maybe there's a better program out there? Maybe one day you'll come back here and find a door to somewhere else just waiting to be opened...

Yeah, they migrate here in the early spring...

Okay, so here's the deal. I know that this picture isn't exactly the greatest work of art ever. I just took one image and pasted onto another. Here's why it's cool - don't tell anyone...but I've never done this before. Shhhh! So I'm allowed to have a little pride in learning a new technical skill, right?

Besides, I think our yard looks nice with tropical birds. It really detracts from the barren, snow-covered waste look. Thankfully we have some green here now...but there was a time...shudder

As an extra I'd like to leave you with a link to one of my favourite sites - How Stuff Works. It's an article the oh-so-aptly-named Marshall Brain wrote about how Adobe is planning on adding some new tools to help dumb down Photoshop for us stupid-folk. ;p

Workin' On A Theme

I haven't put anything on paper today, but I've been poking about for some inspiration for my site. Like I mentioned before, I haven't found a nice theme yet, so I've been planning on using some of my own artwork as a banner and maybe making up some kind of background image. I'm going to have to start with pencil (as always), but I'd like to finish it with acrylic paint or maybe watercolor (or both?).




I found some images on google to start me off. I always find it easier to have a starting image to adapt. I'm not exactly sure of what the composition will look like when it's done, so I've gotten images in various poses. I don't really know the basic body structure of a bird, so it helps to have pictures when trying to judge on whether or not the scale is correct. I especially like the picture of the plumage and how it shows the wide array of color in the seemingly white feather. I'm excited about trying to duplicate that look. We'll see how it goes...

Also, as a side note, I found this picture while searching the google. Maybe not the best fit for my theme, but it's adorable and I love it so.

Stupid Weather Garbage Face!

Okay, so, living in the country means that I don't have the best internet connection. Most of the time that's not a huge deal, but when the weather gets bad it can become a problem. We had a storm and I lost the internet for a day. Annoying, but not the end of the world. Sorry nothing got posted. I'll have to make it up to you with something good today.

I'm still having some issues with getting to know photoshop, but it's coming along. I drew this comic a while ago as a sort of homage to one of my favorite shows, Iron Chef.

Today's Secret Ingredient Is...

Doctor says I need a backiotomy

I'm feeling a little tired and a little guilty today. I've got a case of what my husband calls "The Sims". Symptoms include trouble sleeping, forgetfulness, lack of interest in everyday activities, reduced appetite, and a severe drop in productivity. The doctors say there's a treatment that could help, but it will require a great deal of willpower.

I haven't done any sketching today, but I'd like to share with you a rough draft I did yesterday for some story illustrations I'm doing for JRD. He's asked me to come up with some small line drawings to put in the page breaks of his current writing project. This is the first of them. Still just a rough draft, but I think it's coming along nicely.

Redecorating & Killing Chipmunks

Ruminating today on how I want my site to look. Not very pleased with the limited amount of themes blogger is presenting so I think I'll work on something myself. I have an idea but it might take some experimenting on the computer.

Speaking of which, I've been meaning to better acquaint myself with Adobe Photoshop since I've been working with it lately. Y'know, maybe take it out for dinner and a few drinks before I decide to commit. It's been suggested to me that I take a tour of the lynda.com site, so I'm pretty excited about that. My sister-in-law also just sent me some information about a university program for 3D Animation, Art and Design. It sounds like something I may enjoy. If anyone out there has taken any similar program I'd certainly love some input on how it has panned out for them.



So I've had a little time today to scan some things onto the laptop. This comic is one I drew a few days ago. I frequently take walks with the baby and I often see the neighbor's dogs roaming the countryside around our house. This day in particular one of them decided to give me a present. I guess I'm making a good impression on them. Good doggies. pat pat.

Semi-Productivity

Hmmm...today was a nice day, but not a very productive one. Artistically, anyway. I didn't have a chance to work on any of the floating heads, but I did get a bit of drawing in here and there throughout the day. I worked on another comic, as well as a separate project doing page illustrations for JRD's writing. I'd love to share them with you, but unfortunately I didn't think to scan my pages before the baby went to sleep (in the room with the scanner).

So, as an apology I give you ~ JRD - In Floating Head Form ~ . This is the original avatar I made for my husband using his tablet. Obviously a little rougher than the other two images, but it was an "only" draft.

Y'know...maybe he was just having a rough day when I drew him. He looks tired. Must have been before his morning coffee.

Floating Heads

So I promised I'd put up some work today. I have a few small cartoon renderings of people that I've been working at on and off for the last few days. Initially, my husband (JRD Skinner - the brilliant writer of skinner.fm::work blog of fiction) had asked me to create a comic avatar for him. Once that was completed, he requested that I make one for our lovely wife, May (of Maytunes). I figured I may as well make one for myself, too, so I got down to sketching.

After a conference with my models and a slight readjustment to May's comic hair, everything seems to be in order. The sketchs I'm posting are the rough drafts of the comics I did of May & I. I have to admit that I kinda cheated when doing the sketch of Mr. Skinner. I drew that piece using his tablet laptop and photoshop, so i don't have a rough draft to show you of that one.

Really, I had been hoping to fiddle with both of these images before posting them here, but I just don't think it's in the cards for today. Besides, now you can all be impressed when I get it touched up in photoshop and it looks much nicer.

New Day, New Post

So, getting right down to business - today I'd like to talk about one of the many projects I'm working on.

As I mentioned in my last (first) post, I have been working on drawing some comics. This idea initially came from the mutual love my husband & I share for the Webcomics Weekly guys (*I love you Scott & Kris*). I'd have to say the Penny Arcade had a lot to do with it as well. I had never been introduced to the subject of webcomics until meeting my husband and I've got to admit that I'd never really thought of it as a form of art. After reading some of their work and listening to some podcasts we decided to start a project together.

My husband is a writer so he made some scripts for me that we were able to discuss and come up with illustrations for. I can't put to words how valuable his input has been. Needless to say, one of my largest problems in consistently creating new comics is simply not having anything I deem worthy of saying. My husband, though, has been very helpful in not only writing some of the material for the comics but also in encouraging me to carry a notebook where I can quickly and easily jot down any ideas that come to mind. When I hear something funny or one of my children does something ridiculous I can simply write it down and come back to it later.

Of course, that brings me to my next great obstacle - finishing what I start. What I really need to work on is actually following through on the scripts/line drawings that I've started and failed to complete. I'd like to get a few of the more polished comics put up on the site so you can get an idea of where I'm going with them. I'm thinking it might be interesting to show the process of how a comic gets from being a few lines of text to a completed work as well.

So posting some work will be my big priority on the site for now. Alas, babies demand my time, but I hope to have something up for you to look at by the next post.

Thanks for visiting! :)

Let's see if we can do this...

So after some internal debate I've decided to write a blog. I'm not 100% sure on is direction yet. I'm thinking it'll be a nice way to get some art projects of mine a little more organized. Let us just say that I've had "difficulties" starting and finishing various artistic pieces I've come up with. I'm hoping this blog will give me the motivation to see my projects through to the end. As an added bonus I'll get to share my work with anyone who's interested in viewing it. What I'd like to do with this blog is share my thoughts, ideas and processes while I work on my art. See, it's win/win for everyone involved.

I'm working on a few projects right now, the largest of which would be the comic my husband and I are collaborating on. I have quite a few pages of work for this project already and i hope to start posting a few of the more completed works here soon. I have a series of paintings, mostly ideas for future works that will tie in with each other, waiting to be put to canvas.

I don't want to give away too much just yet since who knows how this will all turn out. I hope I'll learn something about myself and my art by working on this blog, but most of all I hope that I can remain consistent in my work. Wish me luck!