Geisha

I tried a different method this time. This is from the sketch on my previous post. I used that sketch as a guideline and colored over it. I really think that makes my work flow faster and more enjoyable. I also can see my mistakes easily by flipping the canvas horizontally and making sure things are even. That way I can see it from a different perspective =)

This was "smoking". I really got bored with it and how ugly it was so I just kept messing around with it until I was satisfied. I went through many different processes. I kept painting and painting and even blurred the whole image and painted some more.

I forgot to mention, I didn't win the contest for Artemis. But I did get contacted about entering a new contest. It's a character sketch contest for the character Calvin Ring, you can find out more here. I was discouraged I didn't win, but it's not enough to get me to stop. I've been very busy lately/ mind is dead. I'm also very nervous about drawing a guy. I don't have a lot of practice in that area so I'm afraid the guy might look feminine but we'll see =(.

smoking

OKAY, I apologize if this is really scary. It definitely needs to be worked on more. It's probably the nose or something and around the mouth that's making it scary.

mermaid

I've been working on this mermaid for some time now- on and off. It's just been really difficult to do, mainly because I had trouble with the hand. I'm also not sure what to do about the dress. I wanted the fabric to look like seaweed or something close to it.

My Progress

This image illustrates my progress since I started my journal class. You can definitely tell that by the end, my work has improved greatly.

Hair 1

Click on the image to view it larger!

I worked on this for days on and off for hours at a time. I'm actually proud of myself, not necessarily because of how it turned out, but because I was so dedicated and persistent in working on it. This is the first painting I've done that wasn't in one sitting or given up on. I have a lot of unfinished paintings still in PSD format haha. This is definately the first of a series of hairstyles. I will keep practicing hair as much as I can. I can then gain some more skillz and continue my journey of self-improvement. I see my painting skills developing, but I see that I'm becoming more patient and persistent as a person.

Moving

So, I'm moving soon. The 22nd is going to be a busy day. I will have to go get the U-Haul at 8AM then move stuff and drive over at 12PM to get the keys. Then move the rest of the day until about 5:30PM to get my expedit bookcases from someone who lives in St.Paul (craigslist). I'm still excited even though I know it's going to be a lot of work. We're painting the day after we move in so we can get the furniture arrangement placed after that. I want to paint the living room and bedroom a light grey (different shades for each.) I love the color of this bedroom, but unfortunately we'll be living in a basement level apartment so this color would actually be too dark with our tiny window in the bedroom. It's so beautiful and serene =)

Drawing Wavy/Curly Hair

This is SO HARD, but I know in the end it's gonna look good. I've decided to just practice hair as much as I can since I love hair and all and I honestly haven't drawn people that don't have straight hair. This is my first practice of hair and hopefully there will be more to show after this. I'm definitely gonna keep re-working this until I think it's perfect or damn near close to it.

Artemis Finished

So I finished Artemis for the contest. I'm not sure when the winners will be picked, but the deadline was today. Let's see what happens!

in progress

I didn't use any references for this just to see how it would turn out. I think I'll consider myself somewhat of a good artist when I'm able to do things without references and just from my mind =)

I want to go for a sort of medieval sort of look, but we'll see what happens.

experiment

Face Practice + Wavy Hair

This is a note card I did image transfers on with my hand-written notes for a class. The brown part is from a brown paper grocery bag. I did a triple process for that area. The transfer of brown paper to the notes then the notes to the card.

Did some more experimenting of course with image transfers. I did this to a drawing and used txt from magazines as well. I really wanted to have a lot of textures involved. I used black watercolor for that dark drippy effect =)

I'm not sure what I was feeling the other day when I made this. Zac was at work and I was thinking about the little things we say to each other.

I haven't really been doing much lately besides cramming a lot of work last minute =(. I've slowly felt myself becoming lazy and all I think about these days is moving out of my apartment, which is a long time from now. I also haven't worked on Artemis for the contest and it's due July 15th. There is also a drawing I must to of a mermaid with pearls in order to get a DeviantArt subscription. I need to get my act together and motivate myself first by cleaning my messy apartment. There are papers and underwear and art related things all over the place!

I found a kitten/cat the other day. It was in a kennel abandoned in my apartment's lobby with a free kitten sign. I took it upstairs and I've had it since. I don't think I could have just left it there- it was really scared. I don't know how long it was there for, but nobody seemed to care about it. It's a little under-fed, but I've been giving it a lot of yummies and milk. I'm disappointed that the previous owner didn't take time to find it a loving home and just left it in the lobby. Any stranger could have taken it home and who knows if it would have gotten a good home or not.

Eyes

Eyes are amazing. They show the depths of our soul, in other words, they are full of expression. Just by looking into someone eyes, you can get a glimpse of what they're feeling even if it appears like they are feeling something different on the outside. With a glance or a gaze, it's easy to become speechless at how much beauty a person's eye can hold.

I wanted to experiment with sewing and paper so I used acrylic paper because I liked the texture and two contrasting colors of red and light blue. At first I kept things very loose and unplanned, but I feel the composition is balanced because of the colors chosen.














This was my second try at sewing on paper and this time I tried to be more conscious of my composition. I decided to do a repetition of T's because it was easiest to sew them and looked pleasing to the eye. The blue "T's" stand out in the cluster of red "T's". It does get a bit claustrophobic at the bottom, but I feel that it added to the composition since everything seemed pretty balance beforehand.

I kept a simple composition and filled the whole space with a face and wanted the rough texture of text to contrast with the face itself.

I tried out the image transfer technique with text print outs and mixed it up a bit. I first drew a face and used a little bit of ink mixed with water to add subtle shadows. I used a brown pen to outline some of the hair and found I didn't like it so I blurred it out with more layering of text. I think I'll definitely experiment more with mixed media and more image transfers =)

Sliced Thumb, Lost ID

Zac was taking a nap and I was cutting up some new artwork with an x-acto knife. I was holding some cardstock down on a piece of paper and using it as a straight edge (not a good idea). I went really fast trying to get a clean cut on my paper only to find that I got a clean cut on my thumb. It started gushing out blood and so I yelled at Zac to help me. I went to the bathroom and tried washing the blood off and it just kept gushing out more and more, at this point it was all over my left arm. After about fifteen minutes or so it stopped, but it stung like crazy and the cut was halfway through the tip of my thumb, across the nail. When I had it under the water it was freaking me out because I could feel the pressure of the water moving my nail down. Zac called a taxi and we waited out on the steps for about 20 minutes. When we got to the hospital, I looked in my wallet for my ID and it was GONE. They said it was okay though because I had my insurance card on me. We sat in the emergency room for about 2 and a half hours. The doctor took out this HUGE ass needle and stabbed my thumb in different places with it to get it numb. (Still numb right now.) The needle felt really deep and when he took it out, some of the medicine squirted out of the hole. It was all gathered up and puckered where he had injected me. Gross. They cleaned it up and told me I should keep the nail on so it wouldn't grow back strange. They decided not to give me stitches and instead bonded the nail tighter to my thumb. So after that Zac and I had to walk home from the hospital because not a lot of buses were running at the time. It took about 30 minutes and I rushed into my apartment in the hopes of finding my ID. Unfortunately it wasn't there so I was even more angered since this was a really shitty day. I was going to post an ad on craigslist in the lost and found section thinking maybe that would help at least a little. When I went to confirm the post in my e-mail, I found that I had an e-mail from wells fargo, but not an ordinary one. It was of a banker I had met before and I'd taken his business card. Apprently, when my ID dropped out of my wallet, it dropped out with my MCAD ID, blockbuster card, and his business card so the person who found it dropped it off at the Wells Fargo!!! This would all be great news, but why does everything have to get so bad and disguise itself as being good in the end? So that was my day.

You'll Never Know

I just finished this digital painting, although..I kind of was supposed to work on homework today. =D

A bigger version can be seen here.

Image transfer of Artemis

I thought this transfer turned out beautifully. The print looked horrible because I was messing with my printer settings, but I'm glad I decided to do a transfer with it instead of just throwing it away. I really like the composition and how it fills up the whole page. The eye came out really clear and the rips just add to it's eerie texture.

Artemis Update

It's coming along..slowly since I'm only working on her during my free time =)

Crazy

I had a dream that I went on a horror rollercoaster with a bunch of other girls and in order to survive the rollercoaster you have to avoid getting hit by sharp objects or objects that look like maces smashing into your head and killing you. Apparently, I had lightning reflexes and a good enough body to avoid getting crushed by all the dangerous objects coming my way. Maces were always coming at your head from the sides at all angles and you had to keep moving your head to avoid them. I like jumped up and held onto something on the ceiling and jumped back onto the coaster when blade encrusted logs went through all of the coaster- it was strange. I only got a couple scrapes and bruises and it was some sort of contest so I won in the end. Then I had another dream that Max and Jason stole ALL of my clothes except for the clothes I was wearing. They said they were altering them and making them better which consisted of putting holes in inappropriate places, but then I found out they were holding all my clothes captive at some place for an event that required you to check out clothes and wear them or something. When I got there I was pissed at them and was yelling at them asking how they could be so damn disrespectful and not even ask me before taking all my clothes. There was even a part where Max was trying to cheer me up and saying my gladiator sandals were still there and we went and looked and it wasn't there and he was like oops that must be before we started the check-out logs, which means SOMEONE STOLE THEM. So, I was even more infuriated and walked out the door and he followed with Jason. Then Max tackled me in the grass in order to cheer me up and Jason was already sitting in the grass or something and I wasn't that mad anymore and it was normal. Then everyone else and Ben were sitting in a van I owned for some odd reason and we just listened to music and chilled and I woke up.

new printer

So, because my printer broke down yesterday and I use it extensively, Zac and I went to Best Buy at the Mall of America. The previous night I researched what printer I should buy, but I somehow got convinced to buy a different printer that I ended up hating and being frustrated with at home. But it took an hour to get to the mall and another to come back so I suck it up and eventually got it to work. I originally wasn't going to get this particular brand and model, but unfortunately I couldn't remember that when I was at the store. I didn't want to get it because the other printer I wanted had better photo quality prints (they're also the same price) and the ability to print double-sided. But anyway, Zac and I got these cute pictures taken in a photobooth. The first 3 pictures were trial runs and look kind of bad, but I think the last one is cute =)

Random Ideas + Embedded Images

After I did this embedded images project I felt really inspired. I unfortunately only got to do one because my printer started making clicking noises and squeaks. This embedded image gives off a feeling of serenity to me. The colors are varied, but relaxing just like the transfers of trees in what appears to be the background. My random idea about consisting of this process would be to fill a whole journal full of embedded images and perhaps do drawings over them. I would also like to incorporate more of my interest in fashion in all my future drawings. =)

Voice, Sensibility and Content

I've been thinking a lot about what I want this blog to be. I've always wanted something professional like design-milk or apartmenttherapy with a personal touch. I realize I don't have the html skills or patience and dedication to do that. I was doing one of my projects today of embedding images into my journal and my printer broke. I was so angry at it- I just wanted to kick it. And I guess I can be emotionally sensitive in that way. I felt like the printer was purposely not working to frustrate me. But every other day is like that and I feel like this blog should be all about what I'm feeling and there's nothing professional about that. It's personal and free and that's how I am so why try to be something I'm not.

I've been having a lot of trouble deciding the banner for this blog and I still don't think I've settled. My previous banner originated from the title page of my journal, which has been the inspiration for my last banner as well. It's just all very frustrating.

Semiotics

I created a new icon for my deviantart page from an image I made. I really like the simplicity of this design and I think I might print it out and put it up on my wall to remind myself to be more optimistic. =)

I've decided to enter a contest.

So, this basically will be my first contest. I'm really excited and trying to balance my summer college classes with doing side projects of my own. One being this portrait I am basing off my little cousin and the second being this contest painting. I'm not usually this active so I'm pretty proud of myself for having something to do every day.

Colors Illustration

This is my <3.