Hey folks!Today is the first day of Inktober, something I’ve been wanting to do for a couple years now. Inktober is a drawing challenge to create one ink drawing a day throughout the month of October. It was started in 2009 by Jake Parker, an artist whom I admire and respect.My current challenge to myself is to hone my inking skills while drawing more frequently and embracing the position of “Finished, not Perfect”. I need more finished drawings in my life, and less perfection.I will be posting an inked drawing every day this month. I do not promise perfection. In fact, I know some of these drawings may be downright crappy. But I promise to show up. And if you’re an artist (or an aspiring artist), I encourage you to show up to. Just click on the Inktober logo above to learn how.With that, I’m grabbing my sketchbook and uncapping my inking pens. Inktober, here I come!
War Flute
Presenting your daily dose of ridiculous silliness!
Definitely dreamed I was a commanding officer in a future sci-fi space army. My weapon of choice? A flute. Did we win? Not so much... :P
Oil Painting Study at IMC
While I was at the Illustration Master Class in Boston, I picked up oil painting again. (Well, I actually oil painted in college, but let’s just say that oil paint and I parted on bad terms). Yet after studying fantastic artists like Rebecca Leveille Guay and Dan Dos Santos, it began to dawn on me that there were more than one way to use oil paints (shocker! I know…)So before the week at IMC was out, I was determined to crack open my tubes of oil and get some paint on my hands. After all, I was surrounded by oil painters—was this not the best place to give oils a second chance?After watching Dan Dos Santos’ painting demo, I asked him for some pointers and suggestions for an oil study I had started. I showed him the simple sketch I did, loosely based off of a bad reference photo I found online.
Half-expecting the “just keep trying” speech that some people give, I was surprised when Dan kindly offered to help walk me through the steps. But first he reminded me that if I’m painting realistically, I’ll have to have proper lighting for accurate referencing. (By the way, did I mention that I’m terribly lazy at acquiring good reference shots? “I can just figure it out in my head…” always seems to be my lame excuse.) But I was there to learn, so I grabbed a couple friends to help take a photo of my face with better lighting. Using the lighting reference shot, I shaded my sketch and showed it to Dan.
He gave a couple suggestions (move the eye back a bit and broaden the neck slightly—it’s amazing what other people see in your drawing that you don’t), then instructed the next step of spray fixing the pencil sketch, and then toning it with a couple light layers of burnt sienna acrylic washes.
Next, Dan showed how to seal the acrylics and create a matte base for the oil paints by covering the piece with a couple light coats of matte medium mixed with molding paste (spelled like “molding”, yet pronounced like “modeling” pasted. Why? One of the mysteries that the world will never know…)After the matte medium/modeling meddling molding paste mixture dried, it was time for the main stage production: oil paint! I felt my heart beating fast as I hefted my box of archived oil paints to the table where Dan was sitting, nervous of totally botching up this beautiful medium in the presence of so many professional oil painters. But Dan was ever gracious and helpful as he arranged a basic limited palette with which I could start, and showed how to lay down the first base layers.
Next, Dan had me mix three different swatches of skin tone, and lay them in while heavily referencing my lighting photograph, all the while being careful to not muddy the shadows that I had previously put down.
Things started to blend together as I continued to paint, and Dan demonstrated a few handy tricks when it came to facial features.
Also, it is essential to maintain proper nutrition throughout long bouts of painting...
“The Passing of the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup” Recreated in the style of the Sistine Chapel (Courtesy of Christine Rhee)
But eventually after all the focusing, hard work, (and peanut butter cups), it all was worth it. I was pleased with my first oil study that I had done in over seven years.
I still have a lot of practice to do, but it’s a start. Thanks Dan for the crash course!
RavenCon Wrapup & Upcoming Tidewater Comic Con
Hey friends!Just dropping in for a quick update to say I had a really amazing time at RavenCon last weekend! Met a lot of cool people and made new friends and contacts. This was my first time hosting a booth at an artist alley and felt that it went very well. My booth received a positive response and sold lots of cats, dragons, and turtles.
My table! :)
The best part was being able to share my love of illustration to others and seeing people getting excited about my art. Hours and hours of working alone in my studio is totally worth it to see a little girl’s face light up with delight at the sight of a dragon. :)Thank you for those of you who came out to see me! And a huge thanks to my amazing hubby for supporting me in my art endeavors. Love you babe! :)
And be sure to stop by Tidewater Comic Con coming up May 21-22, where I will be hosting another table. My table will be A409, and I will be selling my usual wares. Come by and say hi!That about wraps it up for now. Time for me to hit the studio and start drawing--see you at the Tidewater Comic Con! :)
May 21-22Virginia Beach Conference Centerhttp://tidewatercomicon.com/
The Ume Archer: A Story of Mishap and Redemption
When I say, think of a Japanese flower, what is your first thought? I’m guessing it was the Sakura (or cherry) blossom. Almost everyone has heard of the Sakura blossom, but have you heard of the ume blossom?
Ume (pronounced OO-mey) is better known as the Japanese plum, or apricot. These flowers appear on trees in mid to late winter, and are some of the first flowers to bloom in the New Year. They come in a variety of pinks, whites, and reds and—unlike the Sakura—have a very distinct, sweet scent (almost like cotton candy).
In mid-winter, when everything else is brown and dead, these little quiet beauties are a delight to behold.
As much as I enjoy the Sakura trees in spring, I almost have a greater appreciation for the ume—since during the winter is when I most desperately desire a sign of spring. And not only does the ume tree deliver, but it tends to last much longer that the tertiary Sakura blossoms. I like to think of the Sakura as a flirtatious younger sister to the older—yet more mature—ume blossom.
But enough with the tree-talk. This is a blog about art! So what do I do when inspiration hits? Make a picture of it, of course. :)So in winter of 2014, I decided to undertake a watercolor picture featuring the beautiful ume blossom. At the time I was also interested in Japanese archery (Kyūdō). I figured that the ume blossom and art of kyudo shared a lot of attributes and a quiet, humble—yet strong—personality.
I started my process normal enough: stretched my watercolor paper onto a board, let it dry, and then sketched the image onto the paper.
Then I arduously masked the entire image so that I could cover the background in a coffee stain.
Typically when I do the inking stage, I use a simply croquil dip pen. But this time I wanted to try something different. I decided to go with a brown micron pen. And then when I started to apply watercolor...DISASTER STRUCK.As soon as the water touched the micron pen, the ink bled faster than I had time to realize my abysmal mistake. In a split instant—after hours of research, sketching, masking and staining—my beautiful little kyudo archer now looked like the blueberry girl from Willy Wonka.
A micron pen may have gone flying clear across the house, jettisoned by a few choice words.Needless to say, I was demolished. I felt my picture was ruined.I tossed the image in a corner of my room, not wanting to even look at it. Having deemed the picture irreconcilable, I restarted the entire thing on a whole new board. But after a few days I grew demoralized from the project and just decided to shelve the whole thing indefinitely.
Several months went by when I happened to have some friends over for brunch. When I was showing them around my art room, one of my neighbors caught sight of blueberry-face and remarked how incredible she thought it was. Skeptical and rather amazed by what she saw in the painting that I did not, I explained to her what had happened, and to my astonishment she remarked that she didn’t see the flaw in it and would have bought it in an instant. The next day I looked at it again, took a deep sigh, and decided to do my best to save little ume archer.It took some forethought, some careful reworking, and a little faith--
--but little Ume Archer was saved. :)
I still now had a whole second archer drawn out and ready to be painted. I didn’t want to waste another good picture, so instead I decided to finish her in the style of the white ume blossom. I chose to douse the background in sencha (green) tea.
It’s really interesting to see the similarities and differences between the two. Perhaps they are sisters?
After this entire experience, I realized something…When you think something may be ruined, maybe it just needs to be redeemed. : )
Illustration Challenge: Weeks 9 - 11
Jess here! Still playing catch up with the next three images for the Illustration Challenge (a weekly themed drawing challenge that you can find here on Facebook). I'm practicing my digital skills, with a little bit of watercolor thrown in the mix. Enjoy!Week 9: Texture
Sakura SunsetHeaven and Earth steal a kissPlease last forever
Week 10: Night
Nightfall and Splendor
"I can lift up my eyes to YouI lift them upI can trust that my help comes soonLove quickly come!As You cover the hills in nightfallAnd a blanket of stars abovePlease remember my broken heartAs I lift it up Lord"
-Echoing Green
(Photoshop & Easy Paint Tool Sai - 2ish hours)Week 11: Green
New things are growing in a world of green...
(Watercolor & India Ink - 3 hours)Dave the Moon Man
So many of you may have been wondering where I was for the last several months. You may have been thinking, “Hmm…no new art, no updates, no pulse—is she dead?” Yes. Okay—no. Although I may have felt deadish several times as I was Photoshopping into the wee hours of the night. For the last several months, I have been working on a project called Dave the Moon Man.
Dave the Moon Man is a song written by Scott Twynholm and Stuart David, members of Scottish indie-pop band ‘Looper’. It tells the story of a young man and his intrigue with the 1969 moon landing.
When I first heard the song fifteen years ago, it was simply a catchy song in my music library. Performed in spoken narrative, I became very familiar to the story and to this day it evokes adolescent memories of stargazing on warm summer nights.
In more recent years I began to truly listen to the lyrics, and realized the depth and complexity of the story. Here is a young man trying to find his way in life, and one night reflects upon the incredible concept of a human setting foot on the moon. To Dave, nothing is more impossible than that, and that made everything else achievable. It inspires him to dream and hope.Though as we all know, hopes and dreams do not come without opposition. As he delves deeper, Dave finds theories that question the validity of his inspiration. Eventually Dave reaches an impasse where he must choose to believe or relinquish his conviction—and subsequently—his source of inspiration.
As I worked on this project, I realized how much I related to Dave. Many things inspired me in my childhood, and I dreamed big. Though as the years passed, those dreams have been assuaged by hardships, obstacles, and doubt. Life is hard, and it is difficult to be a dreamer in a world where discouragement is real. Though like Dave, I too have a choice. Do I choose to give in to the hopelessness and pessimism that life throws at me, or do I choose to persevere and listen to the voice of inspiration that compels me forward? It may come as a faint whisper at times, but it is still there.I know my choice—what choice will you make?---------------------------------------------------------------
View the entirety of the comic though these links:
And while you're at it, check out Looper--they have some neat music!
The Strongest Flower
As the drifts of snow piled higher and higher outside my little abode, I knew that I’d be in for a long winter. In more ways than one.
I had just gotten back to Japan from the states while my husband Cody was still finishing up some training for the Air Force. It was a two month long training session, and we were one month down. That month I enjoyed an extended stay with friends and family in Washington. But now that I was back in Japan, I suddenly felt the sharp ache of being away from the close connections of home and husband.Stay busy. That was my mantra. Though honestly, it’s hard forging your way as a self-employed artist. Your workplace is your drafting table in the next room, and your boss if your own self-discipline and will. Going to work means that I need to somehow push all other distracting things aside and making myself stay focused on the goals at hand. Some seasons I’m right on track and making headway. Other times, it’s not as easy.February was one of those times. I quickly found that many things that I came back to do turned out to be less time-consuming that I had originally thought. I had a lot more time on my hands, which ironically made it harder to stay focused and busy. I began fretting and doubting my decision to return a month early. Waking up and going to sleep in an empty house (spare the cat) was taxing, and it was a slog to keep moving on through the days. I even considered hopping a flight back to the states during one emotional meltdown. It was a good thing that it didn’t work out, but dangit….it was hard.That’s when I remembered the crocus.The crocus is a flowering plant part of the iris family. It grows from a bulb and appears anywhere from late winter through early spring. Despite its delicate nature, it can force itself up through the snow to display blooms varying in colors from pinks, yellows and purples. Throughout many cultures, it has been known as a symbol for hope and strength, since it perseveres even through the icy grip of winter.There are many ways the God speaks to me, but perhaps one of the most strongest and clearest is through the language of flowers. I felt the immediate connection. Seeking out a few photographs of crocuses I took years ago on my mom’s old Nikon SLR, I posted couple pictures around my workspace and one on my bathroom mirror. Every time I would glance at my calendar or brush my teeth, I saw those pictures of the crocus. I am a crocus. I would tell myself. I may be small, I may feel weak, but I will push through. I can do this.
The days ticked off, one by one. The snow eventually melted, and I even acquired a little clump of crocuses that I put in a pot outside. After a warm spell last week, I was delighted to notice plump purple buds poking up through the leaves. I watched them over the next few days, and--like a faithful friend--those delicate, strong little flowers proved themselves once again.
Also, Cody gets back on Sunday. : )