My Black Hat

Still recuperating from the flu/cold thing, but no fever so I went back to work today. Staying home and sleeping all day when I wasn't coughing my head off was getting a bit boring anyways. But tonight after work...I knew it -- I'm starting to feel congested, dammit.

Shadow Sick

Evidently whatever strains of flu were in the flu vaccination that I got this past fall were no match for the variant that one of my co-workers brought back from China after Christmas. I have the flu. I feel like my body went through a meat tenderizer. I can't concentrate and I keep forgetting what I was about to do. I'm coughing so much that my voice is all hoarse and squeaky and I can't sing with my favorite songs. :( At least I'm not congested or all stuffed up. Maybe that's simply a later punishment just when I think I'm getting better...

I hate being sick.

Didn't feel up to coloring my hair today even though the pink is so faded only a few strands show on my bangs...so I did it with a quick sketch and Photoshop instead.

More Gabriella

I keep thinking of Gabriella sitting in her late father's study, writing in her journal of the horrors she sees of the Black Death all around her. So, that's where I went with this quick sketch. I also made her a bit younger than the previous sketch.

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While I was doing some research this afternoon, I ran across a bit of creative writing via the EOS Books blog to Wired that had me coming up with my own little six word stories, like this one:

Comforted, she slept. Hungry, he ate.

For some reason, I keep thinking of Goldilocks...as dinner.

Gabriella as The Italian Plague Doctor

Interesting topic over on this week's CHOW: The Plague Doctor. To give the character more emotional context, the brief has the following account from a fictional character who was supposed to have lived during the time:

“My name is Gabriella. My father was a doctor, and I learned from him how to treat various maladies and to set bones and which herbs and mixtures and such would treat this illness or that.

“My father, he died two months ago from the Black Death. I did not know what to do, so I donned his mask, gown, his boots and stick and gloves, and try to care for those I can.

“I try to help. But they die anyway. So many. I bring the flowers and perfumes, the hot drinks, the blessed artifacts, leeches – I even smoke like a man now to ward the Death away from me! The laxatives do not seem to work, and I hate covering the poor souls in mercury and placing them in ovens to burn the disease out. They scream so….

“May god have mercy on our souls, for I do not believe anyone shall survive…”

Another nice little twist in the brief, while the account is supposed to be from Italy in the mid to late 1300's (or 14th century), the image the art director posted in the brief for the Plague Doctor is actually from the 17th century. Which sort of means the artists can be a bit creative with how they interpret the costume design.

The above is my initial quick rough sketch. I'll post some more explorations over the rest of the weekend. Since the due date for this exercise is tomorrow, it will have to be a quick series of studies and one color version picked for the final round. Although I may choose to do a tighter illustration later like for the Herald when I have more time to spend on it. We'll see.

Whatever...

Well, I joined the Women in Toys non-profit organization today. I was a bit surprised (okay, disappointed) to note how long it's been since some areas were updated. My membership is for a year, so we'll see how that goes. Hopefully, I'll get to meet some of the ladies at the Toy Fair next month.

Posted another quick random evening sketch, no relation to vacation...just my mood.

Small Steps

Decided to enter the upcoming Spectrum 15 contest so I've been digging through last year's bits and pieces to see what 2-3 options I should send. Trying to think positive...like: Hey, you won the local middle school student competition with your sci-fi poster entry for "Reading - It's out of this World!" back in 1978...

Bah.

Meanwhile, I'm doing the internet rounds (I'm such a research whore) to seek out and find upcoming creative workshops for myself (preferably local) to improve on my art (tolerable) and writing skills (needs improvement). Unfortunately, it appears that everyone is picking the same weekend in February to hold their event which means I'm probably limited to one option. Although I'm already trying to figure out ways to attend at least two of them: the DFW Writer's Conference and the ConDFW (Peter S. Beagle!!! and Donato Giancola!!!). The North Texas chapter of SCBWI will be holding a critique for writers and illustrators that weekend as well; but it's something they do just about every other month so I can hold off on that one. I've attended several times before in prior years for some input and encouragement when I was still doing alot of internet and design consulting and trying to get back into children's illustration (educational or otherwise). Plus, there's the NYC Toy Fair which my Art Director mentioned he'd like me to attend this year...it would be my first visit (this after almost 4 years of developing product designs for toys and such) so I'm curious to see what it's all about.

I missed the Austin/Dallas Sketchgroup meet-up in Austin this past Saturday. But, I'm hoping to attend the next one which is supposed to be in the Dallas area. Hopefully, this time I can drag along some of the guys I work with as well to bring some additional flavor to the mix. :) In the meantime, it looks like there will be some, (maybe alot) of people getting together to be part of the 17th Worldwide Sketchcrawl on Saturday, January 19th. I think I may observe it quietly at home...whilst at work on my FTM&L portfolio projects. I have entirely too many sketches and fewer final pieces as it is. And most of my in-house art (that I like) I cannot post as of yet.

Posted some random sketches...which includes a couple of doodles from vacation:

Possibilities

Happy New Year!

I had a rather fantastic Christmas family vacation up in the Canadian Rockies at a nice little place called Chateau Lake Louise. If you ever have the chance to go (at least in winter), I highly recommend it! It's been rather a long time since I've been around that much snow at Christmas time (don't get that kind of stuff in Texas), I'd never been to Canada (another cool factor)...and I've never been skiing either, so it was great to finally do so. Snowed a bit every night and some nice little flurries now and again during the day, but we also had some nice clear days, too. The weather was pretty fantabulous, I think. A lovely international crowd from guests to staff, too. Plus so many fun things to do without having to leave for nearby Banff or Calgary: snowshoeing, ice skating, sleigh rides, singing Christmas Carols, attending an outdoor Nativity pageant (I stayed inside where it was warm and watched from the windows, heh), catching snowflakes on my tongue, breathing in that fresh mountain air, ice hockey, spending quality time with the family, spa massages, checking out the breakfast/dinner buffets and eating at excellent restaurants, checking out the cute Aussie and Canadian men (ha), walks along the frozen lake to see the glacier (before it all melts due to global warming)...plus alot of other activities that were available that I simply had no time for -- hey, this was a vacation after all! Took entirely too many photos but got a few good ones for my photo album as well as reference for potential Christmas design projects. The above photo is me sitting on one of the lakeside benches facing Lake Louise -- it just happens to be rather buried by about 3 feet of snow. As I understand, last year they finished the season with about 16 feet. D'oh! So here are few of my photos:

However, my time away on vacation (before, after and during) rather limited my computer work (like, not at all other than "the job"), so I chose not to stress about developing the CA Queen Medusa challenge in time for today's deadline. It looks like there are some interesting submissions coming in from all skill levels, too! Did manage to do a wee bit of sketching (see below) when it first started, but I don't want to rush the project, particularly since it's now for my own satisfaction and not for a client (i.e. no money). On a positive note, since it fits in well with my art theme of "Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends" for my portfolio update, I'll still work on it and finish it. And post my the progress here and in my CA sketchbook for instructive feedback, of course.

This next one is most likely the layout I'll develop -- the Young Queen transforming into the Medusa (Crete and Minoan costume influences) and stepping into her new reign as Character Concept Artist Muse with her Gorgon sisters guarding her back:

In other randomness, my poor tv finally died this past December....I knew it was about to go since it had been limping along earlier this summer with some odd color squiggles and occasional green screen oddities -- I bought it brand new in 1997 (?) after my college b/w tv croaked (yes, I didn't realize that Scully had red hair back then), so it's given me a pretty good long life I suppose. Funny, it just happened to die at a pivotal "fires from hell" scene while I was watching the 2nd Hellboy animation DVD, "Blood and Iron".... Hmm. Anyways, I've been shopping around for a new tv both online and in stores to see what I like, will most likely be getting an LCD that will somehow both fit in my tight budget (which has already had a shock when I saw how much the flat panels cost just for a screen size close to my old tv) and on my current tv stand/entertainment center. Interestingly enough, I've found that without the tv and not watching various shows as part of my daily or weekend schedule I seem to have more time in a day to do other things (reading, drawing, etc)...and that time isn't moving quite so rapidly somehow...or I'm getting stuff accomplished more quickly. Which is making my tv shopping drag on, too, since I'm not rushing to get a new one. Except that I'm wanting to desperately watch LOST when that starts up again, so I think that's probably my new tv purchase deadline, heh.

I'm also taking time this weekend to finalize my New Year's Resolutions list -- doing so seems to help me focus my efforts and work on key strategies (in other words, what is my method of attack to achieve my goal) when I actually write them down as opposed to just thinking about The Goals (creative and otherwise) in general. Yup, didn't meet my goals for 2007. In any case, here's an idea of what I'll be working on in the next year...in no particular order...er, the much more detailed adn final goals and strategies list (ForMyEyesOnly) will be posted on my home studio bulletin board.... :)

• writing
• submit story proposals
• maintain the sketchbook(s)
• update the portfolio(s)
• tighten storyboard roughs
• new freelance submissions
• attend workshops (to learn, practice, network, and challenge myself, not teach)
• maintain a regular exercise routine
• practice the piano and flute
• volunteer with the local humane society
• consider possibilities (creative and otherwise -- ha)
  

Well, we'll see how it all goes this year!

"Happy New Year...Time for a new start, time to chase the monsters back with sound and fury."
- Marjorie M. Liu, Holidays Are Hell

My Queen's Herald: the Work-In-Progress

So, this is the final version that I submitted. A fun little project that I enjoyed participating in even so it was mostly last minute crunching (I was sick most of Saturday, bleh, so no artwork), especially since it stretched my skills a bit and forced me to make painting decisions rather quickly in order to meet the Sunday midnight deadline last night. While I wasn't able to include everything that I wanted to, I'm pretty happy with what I ended up with; and the best part, I can continue working on it so that it's a bit closer to the vision in my head, and finish the bits I had to leave out. Yay!

I really enjoyed the research for this particular project, too -- from learning about heraldry and all the rules (I ran out of time to fully include the design idea in my banner), to learning about various types of armour and associated weaponry....to finding reference photos online of what I think is an attractive man (part of the extra criteria I mentioned before, heh). Yup, that part was particularly difficult....so many interesting choices. :)

Anyways, here are some of the progress shots from the initial revised thumbnail layout I mentioned previously to the final color that I posted in the CHOW 99 thread.

Thumbnail of my revised layout:

Progress 01: Working on the detailed pencil
(hot press illustration board, 2H pencil)

Progress 02: Working on the detailed pencil
(hot press illustration board, 2H pencil)
I initially was planning on doing two illustration boards with the Herald on one board and the background scene of the Queen and her entourage and the gateway (the black frame -- gateway art wasn't completed to meet the deadline), but time was running out so I ended up doing less detailing for the underdrawing and planned on painting it all instead...depending, of course, on how much time I had left at the end. The Herald, though, being the main subject of the piece needed to be detailed and finished even if I couldn't get to the background.

Progress 03: Final detailed pencil
Scanned in sections and composited in Photoshop at 240dpi, approx. 10"x14". The final detailed underdrawing took about 4 hours time and included pulling references (armour, etc.).

Progress 04: Color decisions and blocking in elements
(elements are on various layers):
I wanted the Herald to pop from the background and I was already planning on him being warm red with layers of color over that so that's what I blocked first. I also wanted the background to be green (think forest) with cool blue undertones to provide some nice secondary lighting as well as be a nice compliment to the Herald...and with the right mix of colors the overall color choices would help maintain the fantasy look that I was going for.

Progress 05: Focusing on painting Herald
(the handsome face - most important!):
I wanted a rather detailed face for my herald, since I was trying to create an interesting and attractive character (at least, to me). So that was my initial focus. Once that was finished I planned on working broader rather than one small area at a time.

Progress 06: Still focusing on painting Herald
(close-up of the almost finished face and his little fierce dragon announcer):

Progress 07: Still focusing on painting Herald
(close to final paint of Herald):
At this point, I was seriously running out of time so I stopped creating progress JPGs and simply focused on finishing the concept. So, for my final post, here are a couple of detail shots of the submitted piece.

Next up: CHOW 100 - Medusa the Queen!
Whee!!!

Oh, that Herald

Did a couple more quick sketches of my Herald after doing some thinking of the layout. I didn't feel that the pose as it was in the initial sketch was very dynamic. He's just kind of standing there, isn't he? Anyways, there's also the point that the Queen (maybe that's who it is in the back, maybe not) is rather far away from her bodyguard (remembering the brief). However, my original thought was that this particular Herald of mine was one of several in attendance to the Queen at this particular function. But, without me telling the story (and since I'm planning on leaving alot of the detail out of the background to focus on the Herald), how will the viewer know?

So I'm rethinking the layout, too. Not sure I'll have time tomorrow to sketch some more (don't have time at work, that's for sure...too busy) so Saturday will have to be crunch time since I want to get this concept finalized. And that means a bit of color, and definitely tighter lineart.

Oh, and I finally got my hair cut. I was getting tired of trying to see through my bangs - felt like an English sheepdog. But, there's still a nice bit of pink along with the blonde. Whee!

The Queen's Herald: rough sketch

Over on the CA forum, one of the weekly concept challenges is designing The Queen's Herald (although for this particular one, 2 weeks dev time has been given, although I'm only just starting today with the due date on Dec. 9th).

So...what is a herald? The internet has quite a variety of definitions, of course. Anything from the medieval horn-blowing announcer or a tourney score-keeper to a diplomat; a knight in shining armour or a commander of armies to a police constable.

However.

Per this particular character's artist brief, the Herald is "...a powerful member of the Queens' court, announcing her arrival and departure, and acts as her body guard and protector. A knight of unrivaled power, The Herald is the one who champions the Queen and all her ventures. This character must be powerful. Watch your anatomy - we need a heroic, but believable character. This character needs to look the part - poised, strong, in control even in adverse situation. The character needs to be executed in a more realistic manner - no cartoons or comic styles will be accepted."

I need a temporary break from my own stuff. This will do most nicely. I particularly am also enjoying the added spice of the, er, creative suggestions from the "private" section of the CA forum, heh.

That Neo-noir film

Went to see Blade Runner "Final Cut" last night at the Dallas Inwood. Great film to see on the big screen. Had some fun discussion with my friends both before and after the film. We got there a bit early to have some chat time in the bar before the movie. It was all good. :)

Brought back to mind of another Halloween costume I threw together several years ago (my how time flies...): I dressed up as Pris. That was fun. Stuffed my long hair up under the short platinum wig, got a studded dog collar to wear around my neck, and painted my face and hands white, and finally did that black streak across the eyes. I still remember dancing in the window over at one of the clubs in West End...heh.

Yup, that would be the inspiration for the above quick sketch. Eh, still need to fix that arm...it's not right and is bugging me. Later, maybe.

Rough Color

Just throwing in a bit of color under the sketch to help me make some decisions about how I'd like to finalize the background and the light direction, etc. Having some fun. :)

It was a Happy Halloween

Presenting my costume for this past Halloween...

Yup, my substitute costume turned out to be a Goth fairy -- something I have always wanted to try and hadn't gotten around to doing 'til this year. It's the stockings, ya know; not the wings that are the big attraction. That and it goes so nicely with my pink-streaked hair.... I had the wings from another occasion, and used the same glittery skirt from last year, although trimmed it a bit shorter and tattered it more; got some new stockings to match my nice arm warmers, touched up the pink in my hair, threw on a black babydoll t-shirt from my closet, slipped on my lovely Weitzman boots (I briefly thought about wearing hiking boots, but I liked the pointy toes of my Weitzman's better) and had some fun with the make-up before heading off to work.

Sadly, no -- the reality didn't quite match my imaginary vision of myself (the above sketch), but I still had fun. :) Wait 'til you see it all in color...it boggles the mind. Ha.

Fun with...

...costumes! As complicated as my idea has gotten from its original conception (think kindergarten school play as the basis for the first amusing idea), I think I'll probably end up wearing a t-shirt with the message "YES -- THIS -- IS my COSTUME". I'm sure I'll at least win 2nd place...ha.

However, I'm still moving forward with the process, cause now I'm curious to see what I actually end up with, even so it won't be ready for the office Halloween Showdown. Especially since it involves trying to be crafty with stuff I haven't played with before. I love a creative challenge. :)

Hmm...I wonder if I can make a little door for my little plush owl to pop out of, a la a cuckoo clock....

Midnight Geese

Last night I'm lying in bed writing my "one-paragraph-a-night" bit of story in my spiral notebook, listening to the north wind starting to blow as the cold front blew in...when I hear the wild geese crying out as they flew by overhead.

Their calls were so sweet and melancholy.

It was just a couple minutes past midnight -- I was curious enough to check my cellphone on the nightstand (it's my 2nd alarm). Then, a few minutes later, another flock flew by. Or were they circling overhead? I don't think so; somehow the calling voices sounded different.

More studies: Vasilissa

Did some more studies at today's sketchgroup meeting over at HP Books. It was good to see so many people today! Well, I managed to volunteer myself to help out with the development of a new blog for the Dallas Sketchgroup. Sort of based on some suggestions that I made to the mailing list after the meeting announcement went out last week...and, hopefully, with the addition of alot of good feedback from the other artists in the group this coming week.

During today's sketch session, I focused primarily on Baba Yaga's infamous hut, as well as giving some thought to the skull fence that surrounds the yard. Didn't have any bone references with me so I didn't add the ribs and the other random bones that I was thinking about while I was sketching the fence...but I may yet add those in later. Also did some rethinking (and alot of draw:erase:draw) on Vasilissa's running pose. I think I'm finally satisfied. So, that would be the below scan of the latest tweaked layout for the one illustration I'm doing based on my re-interpretation (like, urban fairy tale) of the classic Russian fairy tale, Vasilissa the Brave and Beautiful. Col-erase pencil over my ink jet printout... I've posted previous rough sketches for that...sadly, I'm still working on it. Well, actually, it's a good thing since that means I haven't abandoned it and am scheduling time to be with it. :)

Tweak:

Original:

Feeling so sleepy....

But, I have more artwork I'd like to do this afternoon and later this evening, among other little apartment chores, before I call it a night and sit down with the latest book to read before bedtime. Just got in some new stuff to check out. I'm a bit fascinated with one set since it only caught my eye because the premise is so similar (in some respects) to one of the stories I've been working on for the past 2 years. And I only started writing that one because of a wee interesting dream I had (like people haven't said that before...isn't that how Frankenstein got thought up and then written by Mary Shelley?).

And there's a lovely storm to look forward to late this evening...there's a cold front coming.

Whee!

Other Progress

I've found that I can get my in-house high-res illustration work finished faster and without a major headache (the little ones will always occur) by planning and working with certain points kept in mind:

1.) Figure the art will be used for a variety of projects...not just the one the original request was for (for example my worst case scenario -- it gets blown up to 10 feet high when the first request was for letter-size)
2.) Get the layout approved, but make sure there's enough stuff around it to allow for various formats (vertical, horizontal, round, diamond...whatever fits)
3.) Realize that other projects may take priority so it will have to be set aside at various times to work on other concepts
4.) Realize that it may get cancelled and never finished; or it may float back up after a year and need to be completed -- quickly

While I'm doing my painting in Photoshop (I very rarely work with Painter), I start with the high res sketch...usually scanned at about 450 dpi and the working file maybe about 11" x 14". From there I'll do a quick pass with the background and make up a palette for the major colors. Key elements I'll do what I call a middle color pass, under the lineart, usually just a solid color to separate the elements into individual layers. Gives me a chance to see if the color scheme is working or not.

Since the file size gets pretty big with too many layers (125MG/900MG as shown in the Photoshop panel at lower left the way I have mine set up), I generally do the background details first with various layers, and then merge them before I work on the main characters. I want to keep the 2nd number under 800 MG as that in my experience, keeps Photoshop and my machine happy. In any case, I definitely save iterations of my projects (version01, v02, v03, etc.). That way if things change, or the file goes wonky, the art gets used in another project, or whatever...I still have a file somewhere with enough layers to more rapidly do the updates requested...or at least have enough art that I don't need to start from scratch.

And the images posted today are from one such project that isn't finished. Another work-in-progress, in fact. Ha.

The first image with the red silhouettes shows a part of the initial sketch with flat color to break up the art for the detail color passes. The second image shows updates to the character lineart and positioning (I wasn't happy with the original sketch...but not because I didn't do it...) and some of the color choices I was making for the character on the right; and that I'm close to final on the background art. After I'm satisfied with the middle value coloring I've done under the drawing, I'll do an "over-painting" layer. Basically, a layer over the lineart with the detail painted over the lineart and the middle value coloring. My final steps will be to add final highlights and shadows over the entire piece once the character detailing is complete. Basically, start broad and work over the entire canvas; then spiral in for the detailing; then back out again for final tweaks. Makes sense to me, anyways.

The close-up view of the deer at the top shows some of the overpainting in progress, the lineart, as well as the middle value coloration under the sketch. BTW I cropped all of the images in to focus on the characters...there's alot of elements to the sides that aren't included in the posted images shown here. You can also see that the illustration is in no way complete...particularly since all the detail at the moment is in the head of the animal; and the background trees are still floating above the snow... Maybe one day I'll get to finish it. :)