Not so pleased with the shading job. I should have done something with the value of the sky. Maybe I should have stippled instead of using lines? Or a smaller pen? I don't know, but I would like to color this at some point.
This is for drawing class, and turned out rather well in my opinion. It was about a 5 hour pose. It'll probably go in my portfolio, even though they don't want to see rendered drawings. I think the structure works very well here, and I've been told a lot of my drawings are "too caricatured." I guess that's what you get for doing drawings all meant for Calarts for two years

Yesterday I went to talk to my drawing systems teacher about some of my portfolio work. She was very helpful. I also think she rather likes me and wants me to get in because she asked what I felt the weakest in, and I told her character design. She promptly found a 3rd year animation student during our class right after that and let me go out and show him my work so he could help me. And helpful he was. He had a lot of useful critique on my character, and after class I sat down to go about redesigning him. It looks a lot stronger now in my opinion, although I will have to redo all that work I've already done.
I'm also going to talk to another 4th year student today as well. I'm loving all this help, it's been incredibly useful.

Here's that thing I mentioned before that we did the first day of drawing systems this semester.
And here's a stamp design from 2D, with donuts....mmm...makes me hungry. Everyone thinks it's a reference to Tim Hortons, but they forget I'm American, and in America we buy our donuts from grocery stores like normal people.


I've found it really hard to get stuff done because I've been really depressed lately. :/
Today I woke up and could not get out of bed. I kept berating myself in my head, and also encouraging myself at the same time to do it. It seemed to cancel each other out. I had managed to keep asleep until 11:30, but I finally had to wake up and eat something. But then it was right back into bed, just sitting there for hours, willing myself to fall back asleep and to skip the whole day. Every time I took a breath my heart rose and dropped like a stone into water. Plunk.
I finally managed to get myself up after a good cup of chai, but I'll be damned if it isn't tempting to crawl back into bed and pull the covers over my head and make the whole world go away. I really need to get this sheridan stuff done though. Everything I do I end up redoing like 3 or 4 times. It sucks.
I don't know what to blame this on. The time of year, the stress of this portfolio, the change of my class, my diet, my lack of going outside....it's probably a combination really.
I'll get through this, I always do. Until then, everything is sort of at a stand still. Personal art, social life. It's all frozen, just like everything outside right now.

Some Work I've been Working on

Besides portfolio work of course. I won't post any of that til it's all done and sent in.

Went to extra life painting....sigh...I love painting.


This below down here is from last semester drawing systems. Never got around to posting it I don't think. 'Sok I s'pose
Here is my latest from drawing systems...still need to shade it and add some detail. I just realized my obsession with dragons. Also trees. You can't see it here, but I've been drawing a heckuva lot of trees these days.
Drawing class we did that annoying charcoal thing you do with erasers. I hate it, it's so messy. Bleh.

3D has been pop-up books...I could have put more effort but it's portfolio crunch time and I need to make priorities. Mine is based off Mary Oliver's poem "Rage" ....my 12th grade english teacher would have loved me if I had done this in her class....bet it would have gotten me an A too, she was a huge fan of the fine arts.




A yep.

It's a snow day and I have a lot to catch up on...so I'm gonna go do that now

Whatsup in Painting Class

^--Oh hey, look who got a 4.5/5, the first A I've ever gotten in color theory. Booya.

I enjoy painting when it comes out mildly the way I thought it should in my head. Well, not the last one, but still

Hark! A real update!

I am loving my drawing systems assignment....I had to take a picture of a building (a cabin I grabbed off google images) redraw it (as seen above) and then totally change it up and make something different...still a WIP but I managed to kill 2 hours working on my modified building today when I should have really been doing some homework due tomorrow...oh well.
Now that we're past all the boring "draw boxes in perspective" crap, I'm really enjoying this class. Our first week our teacher gave us an in class assignment to do a quick composition of buildings on a sheet she gave us, we all had to vote which ones were our favorites and mine was one of the ones that won ^.^ Yay extra credit!
But yea....layout is kind of like solving a math problem, except that I actually know how to do it. It's fun, it's challenging, and yea....I like it, even though I'm only kind of mediocre at it.
Some sketches of cats and random animals I made up over break. Got a white china marker and brown paper. I love it, but this was my first go at it and I think I kind of went overkill with the white
Our drawing class last week had the same pose for an hour and half....this becomes really tiresome when you're only doing line drawings. Sigh...We start value this week and I am excited.
I have only gone to extra life once in the past two weeks *guilty look* I'm kind of burnt out on it, but I really need to go and get some drawings for my portfolio, although I have quite a few I still like but couldn't fit into my calarts portfolio from last semester...We'll see. I'm not terribly worried about the life drawing portion of the sheridan portfolio, that's probably what I'm best at actually.



I painted this cat in gouache. Maybe to add in as a personal work...if not I'll frame it and give it to my mom. I bet she'd be thrilled. I was thinking of her and our calico cat when I did it anyway
Aaaaand another random sketch. Of no one, just effing around.


I did some really cool painting in Color theory last week that I really really wish I had taken a picture of it, because it was headed in the style I've always really admired. I'm so happy I have a new teacher this semester, he doesn't scare me or stress me out nearly as much as my last teacher, and his technique is very different, it's refreshing. He's been showing us a lot of paintings by Lucian Freud, which I am really digging.
I also did a cool pop up in 3D during class last week. I didn't take a picture, but I'm sure I'll get it back soon. I have a really great plan for our pop-up book assignment and it might turn out really nice if I actually work at it.

Ayep.
I have been way too preoccupied with socializing and being sick lately. I guess I missed my friends and stuff, although it has been kind of weird not having classes with any of them now. Going to class is rather mundane, now that I have no friends. I am hoping to make new friends in my new class, but I'm struggling a bit. Half our classes we're not supposed to talk in because we have models or a really crazy teacher (coughcoughdrawingsystems) and yea.
But I have been in three alcoholic-party like settings in the past week and it's been very distracting...and last weekend I got super sick and sat in bed all weekend reading Harry Potter....which has also been very distracting since now I'm on a mission to reread the whole series in lieu of my renewed/remembered love of fantasy novels and the fact that I'm going to start rewriting some old stuff I had.
I really miss the days when I did nothing but read all the time. I ate fantasy novels like I eat pasta. It was great, and reading Harry Potter reminds me of how much an escape it is. It spurs my creativity and motivation to be so much more....It's wonderful. Everything feels simple when I'm reading.
42 days til the sheridan portfolio is due. I never thought I'd care so much about it, I mean, after all, it's calarts I really want to go to...but sheridan might be nice too....ugh. I don't know anymore. And a little part of me just wants to run off and write young adult fantasy novels for the rest of my life....It's very confusing.

Help!

So, I posted this in my DA journal, but considering no one really reads that, and I really would like some help, I thought I would post it here too, in case any wandering soul can help me:

I really, really, REALLY want to get better at digital painting this year. I was wondering if anyone had any tips, or knew any good tutorials out there for me? Whenever I open GIMP and get out my tablet it's like someone stuck a pencil in my hand for the first time ever, I swear. It's embarrassing, what with everyone I know pooping out amazing paintings all the time. Besides, it's something I've wanted to be able to do since maybe 7th grade...and I still have no idea how

Also, I got this really neato brush pen for christmas. It's a Kuretake brush pen and it looks super cool, it's straight from Japan. Which is sweet and all, except everything written on the box in in Japanese and I've never used a brush pen before, so I have no idea how to load the ink. Does anyone out there know??

I haven't updated in what feels like ages. I know all 1 and 1/2 of my faithful readers are really upset. I have a lot to say about the past few weeks, but I don't have any drawings to post so I'm kind of holding out until I do.
I'm also feeling the pressure of portfolio crunch time for sheridan, since it feels like everyone in the world is applying, because pretty much everyone in MY world is applying. Literally, every other kid I see in the hall is my competition. I don't do well with competition. Ugh.
And it's winter, and I always get a little depressed in winter and today was discouraging to my emotional health for other reasons. So yea.
I'll have art to share soon enough though, I've got some great things going on in my head.