Day 11: Turning Point

Day 11 is "A Turning Point in Your Life"

I met Ken at Toys R Us, where we both worked. We fell in love on a dorky, rainy night after work, and we've been together ever since. Its been nearly 4 years... and I can't imagine life without him. I wouldn't even be in the art-field anymore if I hadn't met Ken.. pre-Ken, I was going to go to an east coast school and study English. When I saw how much fun Ken was having as an animation major, and how happy he was, I realized that I should be doing what I love too.

Day 10: Favorite Candy

Chocolate.
I love me some chocolate.
I especially love peanut-butter with chocolate... aka Reeses' Peanut Butter Cups.
For illustrations sake, I kept the wrapper on the chocolate in the picture... this could end badly, lol

A good friend of mine suggested that I work with the dry brushes to get rough edges and texture... he said it would add some extra interest. I think I agree, I really like the effect :)

Day 9: Favorite TV Show

I watch a lot of TV... this isn't possible. But I've always wanted to draw Dwight... :)

Day 8: Favorite Animated Character

Day 8 is favorite animated character, which is Ariel. A big "duh" for all my friends :)

Influence Map

I've been busy with commissions and being sick lately.... so I don't have anything new to show off yet, sorry :(
But I did this Art Meme that has been all the rage on DeviantART this week, and thought I would share it here too.



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In No Particular Order:

1. Don Bluth:
I loved Bluth's movies as a kid. When I realized who he was as an "adult", I fell in love with his work. Great expressions, very fun animation and design!

2. Mary Blair
Lots of bold colors and shapes, and great textures.

3. Shane Prigmore
I don't know what to say... I love his work. I love the simple shapes, I love his sense of color and design, and I love how much he can convey with a few well places lines and textures.

4. Adam Hughes
Adam is a master at painting a pretty face. I love how he paints his skintones for his ladies, and I adore his attention to detail without over working. I try to remember that less can look like more when I work because of Mr. Hughes.

5. Brittney Lee
Brittney does these amazing sketches that she then turns into paper collage-type sculpture-painting-things, haha
I've seen a lot of artists doing this lately... but something about hers in particular just blow me away. She reminds me to try new things, try new mediums, experiment...

6. Disney Movies
When I've been down and out for a long time, I watch a Disney movie for some artistic inspiration. Usually its The Little Mermaid... but any Disney movie will do. I find my favorite parts and frame through them and try to figure out what makes the scenes so appealing to me: Expressions, Silhouettes, Movement... etc...

7. Dean Yeagle
I just love the exaggerated proportions and how he captures the "ditzy pin-up" look... though he swears up and down that Mandy is intelligent

8. Shedd Aquarium/Museums/Zoos
I live next to the Chicago Museum Campus, so I try to go out and sketch at the Shedd, Field or Lincoln Park Zoo as often as I can. What I learn about shape and form out in "the field" definitely helps later on when I sit down to draw something fully-realized.

9. Nate Wragg/Art Of Books
This particular Mr. Pricklepants is by Nate Wragg, who I love, but represents a greater whole: Art of Books. My boyfriend and I buy them up left and right, and we adore them. They're great inspiration!

10. Chris Sanders
Chris simply draws lovely women and adorable animals/monsters. He also inspired me to learn to watercolor

11. Van Gogh/ Michelangelo/ Da Vinci
I love to look at the greats. I love their sketches, their paintings, their sculptures... very inspiring. I try to remind myself that they started out like the rest of us: with a pencil and a piece of paper.

12. Amanda Conner
Amanda is my role model. She draws wonderful characters with unique expressions... something I need to work on. She's also an awesome and unique person, and a very successful female artist. I hope I'm as cool as her someday.

13. Glen Keane
We all love Glen. If cannibalism were a viable practice, I would throw Vegetarianism to the wind and take a good chunk out of Mr. Keane as to gain his mystical powers.

Day 7: Favorite (Live Action) Movie

Day 7 is favorite movie.
My favorite movie is definitely The Little Mermaid... but since there is a day for animation, I decided to change this to favorite live-action movie. Which, for me.... Princess Bride is up on the list.

Day 6: Favorite Book

Okie Doke-- so it would be impossible for me to choose a favorite book. I blow through a book every week or so... and whatever I'm reading at the time is my favorite. Right now I'm reading Harry Potter, though, so here is Harry, he is very hardcore :)

Day 5: Best Friend

Ok... maybe calling it "Day 5" is misleading... but I'm keeping it, haha-- its the fifth day I've had time to do this ;)
Bear with me-- its super duper quick, but this is Whit :) Shes purple cause I felt like trying something more graphic-ish... and according to Whitney, her favorite colors include Purple and Green.... but she might be mistaken.

SSRAC.Com Commission

Another commission, this one was for Mocha, owner of www.ssrac.com
Lots of fun!

Again, this piece is not to be distributed, copied, traced, referenced, or otherwise used without the written consent of the owner.

Blushing Bride

Here is another commission-- I was asked to create an "Alternative Bride", I chose to try to render a character who seemed otherwise like a typical bride, aside from the leg that is peeking out from behind the slit in her dress. This was a lot of fun, I'd never tried to represent a tattoo before :)

I've been keeping very busy-- and as such I had to stop my daily sketch post :(
I'm really mad at myself, I know there shouldn't be any excuses... I've just been so caught up with commissions and figure drawing and everything. Please, make fun of me until I start them up again... I really need to be peer-pressured into doing this, haha

I WILL finish them, I promise, I don't want to back out.

As usual, the below is watermarked for a reason. Please do not copy, distribute, trace, reference or otherwise use this work.